ZigOpinion: The Ola Saga And What Went Wrong?

Ola has been in the news recently thanks to the recent feud between Bhavish Aggarwal, the CEO of Ola electric and comedian Kunal Kamra. The feud began with Kunal Kamra posting a tweet about the condition of Ola owners who are facing issues with their scooters. 

Now the issue has cascaded into something bigger, with the brand getting a notice from the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA). In this article we will be exploring what happened and also give our take on why and how it reached this point.

How It Started?

The Twitter feud between Ola CEO and comedian Kunal Kamra started when Kamra posted a tweet about the condition of Ola’s servicing network, with a photo of Ola scooters lying out in front of the showroom.

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 EV’s? @jagograhakjago any word?
Anyone who has an issue with OLA electric leave your story below tagging all… pic.twitter.com/EhJmAzhCmt

— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) October 6, 2024

Bavish Aggarwal was quick to respond, and he asked Kamra to join Ola if he actually cared about helping customers. He also said that the brand is working on expanding the service network and all of the remaining backlog will be cleared soon.

Since you care so much @kunalkamra88, 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 service network fast and backlogs…

— Bhavish Aggarwal (@bhash) October 6, 2024

The exchange didn’t go down well with many netizens who considered Bhavish’s response to be a bit too harsh. Ola Electric has been dealing with a lot of issues with their service networks and there have been many cases where disgruntled customers have taken things in their own hands. We recently came across one extreme case where an Ola owner set fire to a showroom!

Where Things Have Gone?

This feud brought a lot of attention to Ola Electric, with many netizens coming out in support of Kunal Kamra and some standing with Bhavish Aggarwal. The Twitter feud aside, there has been some real world implications, like the brand’s shares seeing a 11 percent drop in price in a matter of just 24 hours.  

There was also a list of customer complaints building up. There were 10,644 complaints registered at the National Consumer Helpline since September 2023. Out of these, 3,389 were related to delays in servicing and other similar issues. The issue has resulted in a show-cause notice being slapped on Ola Electric by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA). With so much happening, Ola Electric seems to be in trouble from all sides.

Why Is This Happening?

A lot of these issues seem to be happening because Ola electric has been selling a fair bit of scooters. The brand has been consistently at the top when it comes to sales numbers out selling their closest rival by double the amount of scooters sold.

This rapid expansion hasn’t been followed by a similar expansion in the amount of service centers and trained professionals who are able to fix issues quickly. Ola Electric has claimed that they are working on expanding their service centers, and fixing the backlogs.

Another issue the brand has been dealing with is poor quality control, something Ola e-scooter have been dealing with. Hopefully this will also be fixed soon and an amicable solution for current customers dealing with issues will be found soon.