E-scooter goes kaput, firm told to refund rent, pay Rs 3k relief

Bengaluru: A 21-year-old man rented an electric scooter through an online platform but the vehicle broke down within days. When the promised refund never came, he approached the district consumer disputes redressal commission, which recently directed Travel Tech Experiences and its proprietary brand Eveez, a mobile app, to refund him the rent with 8% interest per annum, apart from paying Rs 3,000 as compensation.
On May 6, 2024, Neeraj, a resident of Soladevanahalli, north Bengaluru, booked a white scooter through the Eveez app, where two-wheelers were rented out by Travel Tech Experiences, a Haryana-based company. He paid Rs 4,226 as rent for a month. However, he was provided with a model that was different from what he had asked for, and it malfunctioned five days later and was unusable. Thinking it was a battery problem, he got it changed, but the problem remained. He contacted an automobile company, which revealed the scooter was defective.
Agitated, Neeraj informed the app's representative, who admitted to the issue and promised a refund. Neeraj alleged that providing a faulty vehicle and not reimbursing the payment amounted to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice. Despite serving legal notices on Eveez on June 15, and subsequently to both parties on July 19, he got no response. Left with no choice, he filed a complaint with the consumer forum on Aug 22.
Both companies chose to be absent despite being served legal notices.
After reviewing all the documents and proof, including a copy of the online report, UPI screenshots, and scooter pictures, the commission observed that the scooter providers had not rendered proper service. The court also observed that Neeraj paid money for availing a service, and the same wasn't provided as promised — an act that clearly showed unfair trade practices and clear deficiency of service. The court ordered both Eveez and Travel Tech Experiences to provide the complainant a complete refund of Rs 4,226 and Rs 3,000 as compensation for deficiency of service, mental agony, and litigation costs.