How did we report? 17 Reuters journalists @RiddhimaTalwani @RishikaSadam @aditishahsays @followthemani + team reported this story over 4 months. We visited 35 Ola service centres in 10 states, interviewed 36 service staff, 40 customers & reviewed 100s of online posts.
What we found? Ola is battling service backlogs; customers are angry as there are few booking slots & wait times are long. Staff at more than half the centres visited said demand outstripped their workforce or their supply of spare parts. Some centres are overburdened
The service woes are a new challenge for CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, India's answer to Elon Musk. Aggarwal, 38, often says: "Tesla is for the West, Ola for the rest". Ola is already valued at $5.4 billion & backed by SoftBank and Temasek.
The Ola boss is a man in a hurry.
The Ola boss is a man in a hurry.
Let's get into more details now. Aggarwal's Ola is a market leader & is zipping towards an IPO after going from zero to 338,000 e-scooter sales in about two years. His high-tech scooters, which also have music features, are loved by many
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But there are some strains in the service network. Thane workshop near Mumbai is an example. Reuters reporters went there twice in Sept and Oct. We found 100+ scooters both times. A service manager said number of complaints are up from 200-300/month to ~1,000. Pix by @Francispix
This one Ola e-scooter was parked alone there at the Thane service centre. Bird poop, dust, uncovered...
Customer Khubeb Koradia, 25, said the Thane centre took three weeks to fix his software-related issues.
The workshop "looked like a scooter graveyard".
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The workshop "looked like a scooter graveyard".
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What does Ola say? In August, Ola boss told Reuters in an interview customers were "voting with their wallets every month" by snapping up Ola EVs. He acknowledged service issues & said Ola was "aggressively" bolstering its network by adding 100 centres, hiring more technicians.
He dismissed much of the online outcry on service issues as "mudslinging" by rivals.
He walked out of the interview when pressed on service issues, saying he'll speak later about it.
Ola later said Reuters reporting didn't accurately capture scale, quality of service operations
He walked out of the interview when pressed on service issues, saying he'll speak later about it.
Ola later said Reuters reporting didn't accurately capture scale, quality of service operations
In January, Ola's Aggarwal had pledged customers would be able to bring their vehicles into a hub and receive same-day service in most cases. One such post on Ola service website is about Rohan Jhajharia, who says his scooter got fixed the same day... but.....
What the website doesn't mention is the appreciation post followed his public criticism hours earlier. "It's been almost 2 months since the S1 Pro has been sitting DEAD in my garage," Jhajharia had posted, tagging CEO Aggarwal for help.
Another problem: booking service slots on the Ola app. The website says Ola is "always at your service." Customers told us they struggle to book slots, or get any in some case.
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