Ola Electric Clears Air On Complaints, Says 99.1% Of Them Resolved

Ola Electric Mobility Ltd. has claimed that nearly all of the complaints registered with India’s consumer protection authority are now resolved, even as the stock of the country’s largest electric two-wheeler maker takes a beating on the stock exchanges.

“The company has provided the requested information and clarifications in response to the show cause notice issued by Central Consumer Protection Authority,” Harish Abichandani, chief financial officer of Ola Electric, said in an exchange filing on Monday. 

“In fact, we wish to emphasise that out of the 10,644 complaints that we have from the CCPA, 99.1% were resolved to the complete satisfaction of the customer as per Ola Electric’s robust redressal mechanism.”

Ola Electric, India's largest electric two-wheeler maker founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, has seen its monthly sales slump and market share erode amid a broken after-sales experience. The company’s service centres across the country are overwhelmed by complaints and scooters awaiting repair. The product quality itself has repeatedly come under question.

On Oct. 7, Ola Electric informed the stock exchanges that it has received a show cause notice from the CCPA to explain within 15 days the alleged violation of “consumer rights, misleading advertisement and unfair trade practices”. The action follows more than 10,000 complaints received by the National Consumer Helpline in the past one year over the quality of Ola Electric scooters.

Since then, the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries has ordered an investigation into Ola Electric’s service-related issues. The Automotive Research Association of India, or ARAI, has commenced an audit of the Bengaluru-based automaker.

To be sure, Ola Electric has started taking corrective measures to fix its service problem. The company has launched the so-called HyperService to expand its service network to 1,000 touchpoints by the end of 2024, from about 400 at present. The company also aims to train 100,000 mechanics on the machinations of an electric scooter.

Ola Electric is also taking steps to shore up sales and claw back market share. 

The company has launched a festive-season scheme, which offers a general discount of Rs 5,000 on all its offerings and Rs 25,000 on the S1 X 2 KwH—the cheapest electric scooter in its line-up. That, however, drew the ire of the ARAI as the massive discount reduced the ex-factory price to less than Rs 75,001—the price at which the company claimed subsidy under the PM E-Drive EV subsidy scheme. Ola Electric has clarified that the pricing is for select inventory only.

On Monday, Ola Electric shares fell 6.09% to Rs 81.66 apiece on the BSE even as the benchmark Sensex ended the day 0.09% lower at 81,151.27 points.