"Improve Services": What Govt Told Cab Aggregators Over Cancellation Fees, Unfair Practices

The Union Government has told app-based cab aggregators including Ola, Uber, Jugnoo and Meru that they have to improve their systems and redress rising consumer complaints of face strict action.

On Tuesday, representatives of the cab aggregators met senior officials from the consumer affairs ministry, amid a rise in complaints by customers about the unfair practices used by them.

BCCL

Flooded with complaints

Last week, Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) Chief Commissioner had called a meeting of ride-hailing platforms like Ola and Uber for seeking details about their policies related to pricing and cancellation of rides stating that hey had received a large amount of complaints from customers.

In the meeting on Tuesday, officials told the at the scale of customer unhappiness against the cab aggregators, he said the complaints on the Jago Grahak Jago helpline are just the tip of the iceberg.

"We told them about the rising consumer complaints against their platforms. We gave them the statistics also. We have asked them to improve their system and redress the consumer complaints otherwise the competent authority will take strict action," Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said after the meeting.

BCCL

Come out with a solution

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare said the cab aggregators should immediately come out with solutions.

"The authority is likely to issue an advisory to ensure that unfair trade practices by cab aggregators are not carried on in violation of consumers' rights," she added.

Khare also said the government has communicated that there will be "zero tolerance against such malpractices" by cab aggregators.

In a statement, the Department of Consumer Affairs said online ride-hailing platforms were advised to take the consumers' complaints with utmost priority and take remedial steps to ensure adequate protection of consumer rights.

BCCL

The department, under the chairmanship of secretary, held a meeting with major online ride-hailing platforms, to discuss major issues which affect consumers in this sector.

During the meeting, Khare highlighted major issues which affect consumers while availing services through these platforms.

Most complaints on deficiency in services

Major categories of consumer grievances, as per the National Consumer Helpline (NCH), were highlighted during the meeting.

As per the data received from NCH, deficiency in services accounted for 56 per cent of the overall grievances during the period April 1, 2021 to May 1, 2022.

The major grievances pointed out during the meeting were deficiency in service, inaccessible customer support, unreasonable levy of cancellation charges and fairness of the algorithms that calculate the charges for the user.

"During the interactions, the companies claimed to have a robust mechanism of redressal of consumer grievances," the official statement said.

As regards the cancellation charges, the cab aggregators stated that they are levied to compensate the drivers for efforts made towards fulfilling the order.

"All companies were directed to become convergence partner in the National Consumer Helpline, to enable better grievance redressal for consumers and also compliance with Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and E-commerce Rules, 2020," the statement said.

BCCL/ Representational Image

Giving details about the consumers complaints, the Department said it included driver refusing to take payment by online mode; higher amount charged despite going on the same route previously at a lesser charge; and unprofessional driver behaviour

"No customer care number is provided on the platform; No details of grievance officer is mentioned on the platform to which consumers can address their grievance," the statement said.

AFP

Most customers face cancellation issues

According to a survey by community-based social media platform LocalCircles last month, 71 per cent customers continue to face ride cancellation issues by drivers of top ride-hailing platforms,

Over 45 per cent of app-based taxi consumers stated they were charged more than 1.5 times in surge pricing despite the threshold being set by the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020.

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