The government has asked cab aggregators to protect the interests of consumers and create a system for redressal of their complaints and related problems. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs in a meeting held today under the chairmanship of Secretary, Rohit Kumar Singh with all the App-based cab aggregators has instructed them to fix issues related to hygiene in cabs, bad service, immediate refusals, and training of drivers.

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During the interactions, the companies claimed to have a robust mechanism of redressal of consumer grievances. They however assured that concerns raised in the meeting will be duly taken into consideration. As regards the cancellation charges, they stated that it is levied to compensate the drivers for efforts made towards fulfilling the order.

All companies were directed to become convergence partners 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.

All online ride-hailing platforms were advised to take the above concerns with utmost priority and take remedial steps to ensure adequate protection of consumer rights.

The major grievances highlighted during the meeting were:

Deficiency in service

  • Lack of proper response from customer support
  • Pre-ticked boxes including add-on services such as insurance with the ride charges, without obtaining consent by explicit and affirmative action.
  • Driver refusing to take payment by online mode and insisting for cash only.
  • Higher amount charged despite going on the same route previously at a lesser charge
  • Unprofessional driver behaviour
  • Driver refusing to switch on AC when the consumer is promised AC ride on the app.

Inaccessible customer support

  • 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.
  • Automated pre-written support message is given to consumers without redressing the grievance.

Unreasonable levy of cancellation charges

  • User is not shown the amount of time within which cancelling a ride is permitted.
  • Cancellation Charges are variable and inconsistent.
  • The amount of cancellation charge is not displayed prominently on the platform before booking the ride.
  • Drivers, not willing to take the ride and forcing users to cancel the ride, which entails undue cancellation charges to be borne by the consumer

Fairness of the algorithms that calculate the charges for the user

  • If it is learnt that in case someone is using the OTA services consistently for going from point A to point B, the charges for him may be higher than somebody who is using it between the same two locations for the first time.
  • Users are not shown the algorithm or method used by the company to charge different fares for the same route from two individuals.
  • Due to this, users are forced to take rides at arbitrary fares which are much higher than what is charged ordinarily for the same route

It may be mentioned that grievances registered on NCH are at a nascent stage as not all consumers register their grievances on NCH.

An official statement has been issued by Uber in this regard in which Nitish Bhushan, Head of Central Operations for Uber India and South Asia said “We are engaged with the Department of Consumer Affairs and deeply appreciate the feedback provided by them and will continue to provide our inputs. We strive to be the platform of choice for riders and drivers alike and continue to invest in technology and customer support to deliver an excellent experience for them. We are committed to continually raising the bar – for ourselves, our industry, and most importantly for the people who use our services.”