Mumbai: Car rental firm customers struggle to get refund

Akash Chillal

Customers of car rental company Zoomcar have a common problem - they have been struggling to get refunds from the company for months but repeated calls and messages to their customer care service have not yielded any results. In a similar case, Malad West resident Dev Khanna had rented a car from them for a trip to Matheran with friends in December last year, but he is yet to get a refund of Rs 3,499, which includes petrol expenses, from the company. Despite several attempts to get in touch with the customer care executives, Khanna has failed to get a response. Complaints put up on their Twitter page just yields a common response from the company, which says that they are facing technical issues and that the refunds would be processed soon.

Roshan Gupta, digital marketing official, says he is yet to get Rs 3,978 despite a month passing

All wait for refunds
Zoomcar's Twitter page is flooded with grievances of customers, who have availed their services and are now waiting for refunds of their deposits and petrol expenses. Some who had cancelled the service in advance are also in the same situation with many waiting for refunds for three months now. Speaking to mid-day, Khanna said, "I am in my last year of graduation, and for a student like me Rs 3,499 is a big deal. I have been trying to get in touch with their customer care service and help section of the app but there has been no response from their end."

Zoomcar's twitter page is full of customer complaints

Roshan Gupta, a digital marketing official, had booked a car for three days for a family picnic to Malshej in November last year. He returned the car and uploaded details of his petrol expenses on the app. "I was supposed to get Rs 4,513 from them of which they refunded Rs 535 on the day I returned the vehicle. But the remaining Rs 3,978 have not been refunded yet. I waited for 30 days as per the company policy, but when they did not revert back, I called them. Still there was no response from them. Then I raised the issue on Twitter, but I received recorded messages. Finally, I told them that I would wait till January 15 and lodge a complaint against them," added Gupta.

Even after all of this when he did not get an update on the refund, Gupta filed a complaint with the Consumer Court on Tuesday. "Some will say that it is a lot of hue and cry over Rs 4,000, but it's my hard-earned money and why should I give it up? And considering the number of complaints on Twitter, it seems they are a habitual offender. This needs to stop somewhere, hence I filed a complaint,"
said Gupta.

Technical issues
Meanwhile, members of Zoomcar Associate Programme (ZAP) have also faced similar issues. Akash Chillal, a Pune-based innovation expert, was associated with ZAP through which vehicles can be rented to Zoomcar and earn money in return.

"I had become part of the programme for two years and after it ended, I was supposed to get Rs 24,000 and other expenses worth Rs 5,000 from the company. I've been trying to get my money back since August last year," said Chillal. "I have spoken to the marketing head of the company through emails but all that I got to know is that they are having some technical issues and the money would be refunded," he added.

When mid-day reached out to Zoomcar via Twitter, they said, "Thank you for reaching out to us. Please allow us sometime, we shall check your request and get back to you shortly". But mid-day didn't get a further response from the company.