[Resolved] Zoom Car — No help from Zoom for 4 hours on the highway after a breakdown. Instead charged for 5k for vehicle damages.

chandrasekhar.lucent

from Bengaluru, Karnataka

May 15, 2016

Address: 560047

Website: www.zoomcar.com

After seeing/hearing several good reviews on Zoom from friends and relatives I decided to make my first reservation. But it turned out to be a nightmare.

I booked XUV from 05:00 AM 12 May 2016 to 11:00 PM 14 May. My BOOKING ID is JPS6VUSB0. I paid a total of 18590 INR including 5000 as the security deposit. We started to OOTY at 5:45 am on 12th May with kids, wife and elderly parents. After travelling 200 kilometers the vechicle started showing signs of bad clutch. The clutch pedal will not raise off the floor. The hydraulics to the clutch stopped working. It looked like the master cylinder has gone out. This happenned exactly in front of Gudlupet government bus stand at 10 am.

The response from Zoom customer care was not prompt. After making several calls to customer care, they registered a complain for the break down and informed us that Mahindra Road Side Assitance (RSA) will pick up the vehicle and tow it for repair. The complain number provided was 75046. Zoom did not offer any alternate vechicle for our trip though I mentioned that I have made hotel reservations in OOTY. Instead they suggested to make our own taxi reservations for the trip. They also said,
1) The amount paid for the remaining hours would be refunded.
2) That Mahindra would provide a taxi for one way drop to our destination OOTY out of which first 50 km would be free.
3) The amount for the taxi would be refunded.

Later a Mahindra RSA calls me around 12 pm and informs that the towing truck along with a custody person had been arranged and that they would be providing the taxi to our destination OOTY. After some time the 3rd party taxi operator arranged by Mahindra called me and said that we would have to pay a 2-way charge for the trip to OOTY and the car would be sent from Mysore which is 50 km away from Gundlupet. I was not ready for this option since we had to pay for 2 way and moreover we have no car for site seeing in OOTY. The hotel I booked was outside the city and a car is an absolute requirement. So I asked them not to make a taxi reservation.

Finally the custody person Sameer arrives at 1:45 pm.He inspected the vechicle and said that this was a hydralic failure and could also happen to the a brand new car and there was no fault of mine. We handed over the vechicle at 2 pm after some documentation. So I was stuck in Gundlupet for 4 hours. I had to make my own transport arrangements which costed me a heavily.

When I called the customer care on 15th May at 7:45 am they mentioned that INR 5OOO from my account has been deducted towards vechicle damages. When I asked the reason, they did not know why and said they would register a complain and that I would receive a call within an hour. The number given was 185382. They did not mention anything about refunding the remaining amount.

I am still waiting to hear back from Zoom.

Regards,
Chandrasekhar

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May 26, 2016

Complaint marked as Resolved

Zoomcar has finally refunded my booking amount, including the deposit and the fuel bills. The confirmation call was made from 08067481900 before the transaction initiated. The resolution took 2 weeks and I had to make several calls to their customer service number (080-60009000) and follow up with them continuously for 1 week before they mentioned that the entire amount would be refunded. The thing I didn't about their customer service is that they don't maintain the case history properly and I needed to detail the incident and the previous status each time. They kept saying that the refund had been initiated for almost a week. If they were to give me the correct timeline for the refund, I wouldn't bother calling them every alternate day. Thanks to consumercomplaints.in for offering this platform.

Zoomcar customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.

Verified Support

Jan 04, 2017

Zoomcar Customer Care's response Hello Chandrasekhar, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused during your reservation and for the delay in offering the resolution. We believe that you have received all needed information regarding the issue and have also got the refund. Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

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Comments

asingh6

Sep 30, 2016

We booked zoom car service for a trip to Goa. Forget Goa it lasted only 5-10mins. The moment we reached the heavy traffic area of Outer Ring Road the clutch in the car broke down in the middle of the road. This is not the problem.What followed next is a nightmare for any common person who takes up a rental car.
There was a very heavy traffic, it started raining, and the car broke down in the middle of the road. People started honking and abusing since we are blocking traffic. We came out of the car and started diverting traffic. We were drenched in rain. We called zoom customer service. They started asking what is the fault and we explained. They said please wait we will get back to you in 15 mins. After 15 mins I called again, and all they had to say is that they will only charge the money for 3-4 hours :D. After my multiple calls they finally seemed to have understood the problem. Even then one of the representative had the audacity to tell me that the road is a highway and he do not think that it will have any traffic. Anyways we waited and waited and waited and kept waiting, taking all the stairs and abuses of passers by. We asked if they can arrange a different cab they said NO. The representative told me that I can go ahead and book another car and zoom car will reimburse the entire money as a compensation. It took 2 hours for zoom car to reach HSR Layout-ORR (by this time the rental service that we booked had already come and was waiting for us to get rid of zoom car) which is like a very accessible location in Bangalore.
So we took the trip, of course we did not get any car to drive, we got a car with a driver. When we came back from the trip I called/emailed zoom car for the reimbursement. And guess what happens? all they have to offer is 1000 credit points???
This is a pathetic, shameless customer service

They have not even refunded our booking amount

Sukhwinder.Singh's reply, Aug 21, 2017

We faced the similar problem as well.

Altaf Kinara

from Chennai, Tamil Nadu

May 18, 2016

Zoomcar — Refund

Company deliberately holds the members security deposit and never releases even after the booking or the reservation ends. It takes weeks and sometimes months to get the money back and the reasons company gives are lame or unacceptable.

Zoomcar Customer Care

from Mumbai, Maharashtra

May 23, 2016

Verified Support

Dear Chandrasekhar,

Greetings!

We apologize for the delay in response.

We have checked with our team on this and we would like to inform you that we will refund full amount of your booking along with deposit amount. We also see that there is fuel bill submitted. We would be initiated refund for the same too.

We would be sending a link to your registered email id within 24 hr's asking for your account details. Request you to revert with required details the amount would be transferred instantly to your account.

Regards
Tejas
Social Media Team

chandrasekhar.lucent

from Bengaluru, Karnataka

May 25, 2016

Zoom team,

Thanks for providing your response. I haven't received any information on my registered email id asking for my account details. All I have been receiving is several calls from the customer care saying that my booking amount, including the deposit and the fuel bills would be refunded.

Can you process the refund at the earliest ?

Regards,
Chandrasekhar

Zoomcar Customer Care

from Mumbai, Maharashtra

May 25, 2016

Verified Support

Hello Chandrasekhar, we are sorry for the delay caused. Due to some technical issue the refund failed to be released. We have rectified the issue and have processed the refund. The refund is initiated through IMPS, you will receive a link to your registered email ID within 24 hrs. Please log into your Zoomcar account and then click on the link. Add your bank credentials and submit. The amount will be instantly transferred to your bank account.
Once again, we are sorry for the delay caused.

chandrasekhar.lucent

from Bengaluru, Karnataka

May 26, 2016

Thank you. My booking amount, including the deposit and the fuel bills have been refunded.

-Chandrasekhar

Shourya AashishRathor

from Hosur, Tamil Nadu

Jan 3, 2017

Faced similar issue, booked ecosport for 7 days it was brake-down for two days...no support by zoom car. worst service during trips.

Sukhwinder.Singh's reply, Aug 21, 2017

Right, we too faced the same. Too disheartening.

Snigdha01

from Amritsar, Punjab

Jul 21, 2017

Very Well stated Ankeet. It is indeed a number one Fraud company in India. We should all get together and fight against them and see that they doesn't exist in the business.

Afreen Shakir

from Shoranur, Kerala

Feb 28, 2019

A friend is facing a similar issue. Already paid 5.5k for booking and cat broke down within 50kms of trip because there was no engine oil. They were stranded in the middle of a highway and were told to reach their destination on their own. Now ZoomCar is threatening to pay up 10k for damage.