Ola entitled to refund money to 7,000 users who were overcharged due to a glitch in the app Around 7,000 Ola users, who had been overcharged owing to the app’s manipulation by drivers, will get refund of the money they paid extra. Mumbai police’s crime branch, which investigated the case, said Ola has already returned around Rs 1.5 lakh to over 1,200 users and is in the process of refunding the rest of the amount.
The crime branch on November 1 arrested three Ola drivers who had allegedly manipulated the app. The accused would switch the app off and restart it below flyovers, and owing to a glitch, they would trick users to pay higher fares.
An officer from the crime branch (unit I) said a database of nearly 7,000 customers was prepared where it is suspected that they may have been overcharged due to the app’s manipulation.
“Accordingly, the amount charged extra has been refunded to customers using the app. Refunds have been made through UPI as well where payments were made via that platform. Those who had paid in cash are being contacted by the company for refund,” the officer added.
The Ola authorities could not be reached for comments.
The Mumbai police had filed a chargesheet against the three drivers and also mentioned that 33 other drivers, affiliated with the cab aggregator, had been involved in manipulating the app. The drivers had not updated their app and used it to increase the fare.
In the chargesheet, the crime branch said Rajesh Acharya, an arrested accused in the case and a former Ola driver, first spotted the glitch and started using it to charge increased fares. They then informed other drivers and charged them a fee for providing the outdated software.