Ola
Ola taxi service admitted to overcharging a man who paid a $1,200 toll.

NEW DELHI (Diya TV) — Indian taxi aggregator Ola shocked a passenger with a bill of Rs 83,395 (around $1200) for traveling a distance of about 350 kilometers, from Mumbai to Pune, and back.

The company later the amount to Rs. 4,088 later and finally, waived off the full amount afterward.

Kamal Bhatia, a Ghatkopar-based businessman, summoned the taxi to attend a marriage in Pune. Joined by his wife and two daughters, Bhatia made the trek back to Mumbai the same day. Bhatia said the family left for Pune at 6:30 am and reached back home at around 9:25 pm after attending the marriage. He was shocked to see the bill of Rs. 83,395 when the driver gave him the invoice.

The bill showed that he had traveled 7,092 km and used the cab for more than 14 hours.

“We were there at the wedding through the day and started for Mumbai in the evening. We reached our place at 9.25 pm. When the driver, Rakesh, closed the trip, I received a soft copy of the bill. I went numb for a moment as it showed the amount as Rs 83,395,” he said.

Bhatia originally voiced his displeasure to the taxi driver, who also conceded a mistake had been made. The driver instructed him to contact the Ola customer service center. After a heated discussion with folks at the call center, the company said the mistake was the fault of the driver.

“I had never imagined that I would be a victim of such a hefty bill. Even if I traveled by plane to Pune, it would not have cost so much. It is common logic that a car cannot cover 7,000 km in 14 hours. The coordinator agreed there was an error. Finally, I was charged for 347 km. I paid them Rs 4,088 and gave Rs 100 to the driver as tip,” he said.

As mentioned previously, Ola waived off the full amount and refunded the money.

Again just recently, a Hyderabad man, Ratfish Sekhar, received an equally shocking bill of Rs. 9.15 lakh for traveling a distance estimated at Rupees 5000. Realizing the technical error, the company revised the amount and apologized for the mistake.

Ola Cabs & competitor Uber have both burned through cash to capture market share in the fastest growing taxi markets in the world. Ola claims to have 80% market share in India and as the CEO told Diya TV, they are pretty confident, they will continue to dominate. Just this week, the online Cab company announced a partnership with the Indian Utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra.