Vankani got a text message from Ola at 11.41am stating that a white WagonR (MH02CR 5907) driven by Turkaram (9892334366) was on its way to pick him up and that 1.4 times peak charge was applicable on the booking.
For corporate employee Dippy Vankani, the wait for an Ola cab to pick him up from his Kandivli residence seemed endless on Friday with the radio taxi operator sending him the co-ordinates of the drivers after confirmation on booking, only to see the drivers switching of their cellphones and playing truant.
"I have an infection in my right leg, so I decided not to struggle taking an autorickshaw to the railway station as it was pouring. I have been using the services of radio taxi operators for quite sometime... I decided to take an Ola cab to reach any railway station from where I could take a train and reach my office in Churchgate," he said.
Vankani got a text message from Ola at 11.41am stating that a white WagonR (MH02CR 5907) driven by Turkaram (9892334366) was on its way to pick him up and that 1.4 times peak charge was applicable on the booking.
"I dialled the driver's number, but it was switched off. I was shocked when Ola made an automated call to me saying that Turkaram had updated in their software that the customer has cancelled the booking. I was then asked to confirm or deny the same and when I denied, the automated call responded that strict action would be taken against the driver and that they would fetch another cab for me," he said.
However, the same thing happened with drivers Masu and Firoz, who too had switched off their phones.
At 12.05pm, Vankani received another text message from Ola stating that one Rajesh (9699973999) was on his way in a white Go MH02CR 7813 to pick him up and 1.5 times peak charge was applicable on the booking.
"Rajesh too had switched off his phone. I also tried to book a shared cab and a confirmation for the same was again given by Ola. The driver, Santosh Kumar Pal, did answer my call once but disconnected it midway, and when I called him back, he cut the call. I was ready to pay peak time charge and had chosen various locations — Borivli, Mahim, Matunga Road and Andheri — so that I could at least start and reach somewhere from where I could take a train to Churchgate; I gave up when Ola sent me a text message saying that they were sorry and could not find a cab at my location and suggested that I use their app after a few minutes," he said.
After wasting almost an hour and going through the ordeal, Vankani finally got a booking with another radio taxi operator and reached office paying a whopping Rs1,021 that included 'peak time' charges.
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 "Dippy Vankani")
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