K Srinivasan
NISHA Gowri, a Bengaluru resident, has been so frustrated with her Ola scooter that she decided that the only way to sort out founder Bhavish Aggarwal at the Cooper Scooter Company was to warn potential customers of the scooter to desist. The lady’s scooter had a big signboard right in the front that read: “Dear Kannadigas, Ola is a useless two-wheeler. If you buy one, it will only make your life harder. Please do not buy an Ola Electric scooter.”
Not surprisingly, her social media post on X quickly went viral with multiple others venting this, the quality and service of Ola EVs.The poor lady’s scooter has seen multiple breakdowns and software glitches. And all this, after having paid upfront, the entire cost of the scooter and having had to wait to acquire it.
Website Marksmen Daily reported three weeks back that “Ola Electric’s service centres have been inundated with a relentless stream of customer complaints, with the number spiking as high as 6,000-7,000 per day on some occasions. This overwhelming influx has left the service staff feeling overwhelmed and customers increasingly dissatisfied. From battery malfunctions and range drops to jammed wheels and non-functioning sensors, the litany of issues reported by Ola Electric owners paints a picture of a brand grappling with quality control challenges.’’
Perhaps the most serious case is that of 26-year-old Mohammad Nadeem, who faced constant issues with the two-wheeler. Nadeem, who is from Kalaburagi in North Karnataka, was unhappy when his issues were not resolved. Having spent Rs 1.4 lakh on the scooter, Nadeem found that within days it had technical issues with the battery and sound system. When repeated complaints failed to resolve the issue, Nadeem, a mechanic set the Ola Electric showroom in Kalaburagi on fire. Fortunately, there were no causalities but six scooters were damaged.
So, why is one giving all this background? It is to highlight the recent spat on X between Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal and stand-up superstar Kunal Kamra. Kamra was the one who set the cat amongst the pigeons with his aciddrenched response to a post by Bhavish of the Ola Gigafactory with a heart emoji. Kamra sarcastically retweeted the picture with his value addition: “Do Indian consumers have a voice? Do they deserve this? Two-wheelers are many daily wage workers’ lifeline… Nitin Gadkari, is this how Indians will get to using EVs? Consumer Affairs, any word? Anyone who has an issue with OLA Electric leave your story below tagging all….” And add insult to injury he added a picture of an Ola’s office with multiple Ola’s scooters gathering dust.
Failure to realise
An enraged Bhavish shot back: “Since you care so much Kunal Kamra, come and help us out! I’ll even pay more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career. Or else sit quiet and let us focus on fixing the issues for the real customers. We’re expanding the service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon,” And it went on and and on and on.
What Bhavish Aggarwal failed to realise is that Kunal Kamra wasn’t speaking for himself or scoring brownie points; he was representing the larger matrix of the Nishas and Nadeems of this world who are helpless against the start-up chutzpah of the likes of Bhavish Aggarwal who are adored by the venture capitalists and the pink papers and can be seen to do no wrong. At the end of the day they need someone to stand up and speak for them and one should appreciate Kamra for holding the flag for them. It also speaks volumes for the lack of a strong consumer regulatory framework that would otherwise have wrung Bhavish Agarwal and Ola by now for how they are running their operations.
Examine frustration
Arson can never be condoned. It must be condemned. But it is important to examine Nadeem’s and Nisha’s frustration and a hundred others like them. At times like these, it pays to be humble, polite and contrite. Bhavish was the exact opposite. As Kamra said he was an “arrogant, substandard, prick”. Humility to critical to success. Bhavish Aggarwal needs plenty of it.
