Government tells Ola: Offer refund choices and invoices for every ride

The government directed Bhavish Aggarwal-led cab aggregator Ola to implement a mechanism which allows customers to choose their preferred method of refund. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food and Public Distribution asked the ride hailing platform to offer a bill, receipt, or invoice for every auto ride booked through its platform.
This comes after as per National Consumer Helpline (NCH) data, 2,061 complaints have been registered against Ola from January 1, 2024, till October 9 which cite charging higher fares than those displayed at the time of booking, failure to offer refunds and drivers failing to reach the correct location or dropping passengers at the wrong destination.
CCPA directed Ola to offer consumers the option to choose between refunds being credited directly to their bank accounts or provided as coupons during the grievance redressal process. At present when a customer raises any grievance on the Ola app, Ola only provides a coupon code which could be used for the next ride without providing a clear choice to the consumer to opt between a bank account refund or a coupon, the customer watchdog noted.
CCPA Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare said that “this violates consumer rights and the no-question-asked refund policy cannot mean that the company incentivises people to simply use this facility for taking another ride.”
The regulator also said that if a consumer attempts to access an invoice for Auto rides booked on Ola, the app shows the message “Customer invoice for Auto rides will not be provided due to changes in Ola’s auto service T&Cs”. This constitutes an “unfair trade practice” under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, it said, directing Ola to offer bill to its customers.