[bijims]

A MAJOR UPDATE ON THE THREAD
Since my last update on 27th April 2024, a lot has happened. I will list out the events below:

On 29th April 2024, a service technician from Ola visited my home to get the panel gaps fixed, although he tried his best, he couldn't resolve most of the issues except one, under the touchscreen display.

Then on 15th May 2024, I received multiple calls from top-level Ola Executives from Bangalore including from the Backend team, CRM Head and so on, the Backend team helped me resolve most of the software issues regarding "Scooter Issue, Please restart the Scooter" when reversing, the issue of Hill Hold Control not working most of the times, especially when travelling with pillion, the Proximity Unlock had become better just for a couple of days, but considering it is still in Beta, I guess glitches are expected.

The same day, the CRM and Service team offered to fix all the panel gaps on my scooter if I brought it into service at the next available date. Soon after an executive from Ola Peramangalam called and booked me an appointment on 19th May 2024, he assured me all the panel gaps would be fixed by completely removing all panels and refitting them and the same would be fixed in 4 hours if I were to bring in the scooter by 10:30 am. I obliged but was not sure how this would be fixed, but still with hope that the issue would be fixed, I dropped off my scooter for service at around 10:10 am, I called the executive who booked my appointment before dropping the scooter off, he was on leave but assured the work would be done. The service centre personnel entered my details in the register and I left my scooter with them hoping for delivery in 4 to 5 hours (by 3 pm at least).

So at around 3 pm, I called the service centre personnel to enquire about the status of my scooter, I was told they tried refitting the panels but the gaps just wouldn't go away. So they are going to try refitting different panels to see whether it is an issue with the panels on my scooter or any issue with the scooter itself. I said fine and asked them to let me know once the work was done. But with no calls or updates from their side on the issue, I decided to go to the service centre to see the work they had done around 5:15 pm. When I entered the service centre, I found that they had refitted my original panels back again. So I am not sure if they tried refitting other panels. nonetheless, they said the work has been done, and I think considering the time taken they have tried refitting other panels and decided to refit my original panels back again as the issue couldn't be rectified, moreover, they say that they had done so to no avail, so I believe them and they have tried their best on the job, but still, all of the panels gaps remain, especially the one over the left side speaker which is not seen on any other OLA scooter, when questioned on this all the service centre personnel agreed that it was a manufacturing defect and it is not one seen in any other scooter, the other panel gaps were however visible in a few other scooters as well but not all of them. Anyway, after an entire day of mine lost on this panel gap issue, I had no choice but to come back home without any progress and with the same panel gaps as before. The only thing they were able to slightly improve on was the extent of the gap above the front speaker, the gap has reduced by the slightest of margins but the gap still exists and they agree that it is an issue specific to my scooter only.

So, I have to say that the service centre personnel tried and did their part, but when a scooter has been manufactured with inherent physical defects, what can they do to rectify the same, it is for the company to fix these inherent panel gaps, from the factory side before despatch to the experience centres, with proper Quality Control which I can see Ola is not doing at all.

To conclude, I can just say that I am left with a product with an inherent defect whereby panel gaps just can't be rectified, whereas many others are lucky enough to get ones with none while some with just a couple or less. The fact that Ola tried to rectify the issue based on customer feedback is welcome but the issue remains unresolved still. Moreover, I have to say the service centre experience has improved since the last time I visited in March and the number of scooters waiting for service has reduced to a dozen or so unlike the last time when I could count over 30. The attitudes of the staff are welcoming as well.

So, all I have to say is Ola's practice of registering scooters before sending them to the Experience centres where we do not get an option of a PDI, and have no choice but to accept the scooter as it is already registered in our name has left many with scooters with inherent defects, huge panel gaps and issues, I am one of the many with such an inherent issue where panel gaps can't be rectified, and I am sad to say that I am stuck with such a scooter. The glaring panel gaps are an eyesore and you always get the feeling you are having a substandard product with low standards of Quality Control, it is evident that this is the case as many other scooters also have abnormal panel gaps but none have the one above the left speaker which I have, such is the product I have received where I have abnormal panel gaps which no one else has and it hurts me to say that I regret and feel sad to have bought a scooter with such inherent Quality and panel gap issues, one among those which no other scooter has.

I understand that those in Ola have taken note of the issue, but taking note just doesn't solve the problem the fact that I obeyed your instructions to send the scooter to the service centre to rectify the defect wasting a whole Sunday with nothing to show for it and the panel gaps remaining an eyesore just like they used to is a testament to the fact that this is not an issue which can be resolved the service centre team and needs something else to be done.

And finally, a word to all potential Ola customers, if you are concerned with the aesthetics of a product like me and would like your scooter to be devoid of panel gaps or at least expect it to be even panels gaps with properly fit panels, please don't go for any Ola product, it is evident they haven't exercised any Quality Control in respect of this matter and there is a limit to what the service centre staff can do to rectify the same, and the fact remains that most of those defects and panel gaps will most likely remain even after you send your scooter to the service centre for rectifying them and you may have to live with these defective products for as long as you own them

If there is anything that Ola can do on this matter, they should try to proactively address the same and do it as soon as possible or it is the confidence of customers that is getting lost in your poor quality control practices, you may sell 1000 or 2000 scooters a day, but when you sell scooters with these defects, it won't be long before the market understands that there are better alternatives to choose from and moves on.

I sincerely hope that OLA rectifies this matter at the earliest, as in my opinion, this remains a major issue with Ola scooters which otherwise remain a well-rounded option in the fiercely competitive 2-wheeler EV segment.

Hoping for the best.

I have attached a few pictures of the body panels after the refitting just for your reference.

FRONT PANEL GAP ABOVE TYRE (SAME AS EARLIER, NO CHANGE AT ALL)


YOU CAN SEE THERE ARE NO PANEL GAPS TOWARDS THE RIGHT BUT KEEPS ON INCREASING TOWARDS THE LEFT, Moreover, the panel is a bit inward and not aligned with the other panels properly on the same level (SAME AS EARLIER, NO CHANGE AT ALL)


A Paint defect which obviously can't be rectified by Panel refitting (SAME AS EARLIER, NO CHANGE AT ALL)


THE PANEL GAP ABOVE THE SPEAKER, ONE WHICH NO ONE ELSE HAS (REMAINS THE SAME AS BEFORE, the picture was taken in poor light so not as clear as the earlier one but the issue remains unchanged


NOTICE THERE ARE NO PANEL GAPS AT THE TOP BUT KEEPS INCREASING MOVING FURTHER DOWN

[bijims]

ANOTHER UPDATE ON THE THREAD
Finally, after raising my concerns, the Ola Service head and his team contacted me and offered to replace all the panels and rectify all the defects and panel gaps on the 20th of May whereby he offered to send his best technician to my home to pick up my scooter on the 21st of May by 9:00 am and return the scooter to me by 6:30 pm.

So, I obliged and he arrived at 11:00 am and I showed him all the panel gaps and inconsistencies in the fittings. He assured me that he would fix them and get my scooter back to me by evening. At around 8:30 pm, he called me and asked me if I required the scooter today itself or if tomorrow would be fine, Since it was raining and late, I told him it was fine if he delivered it to me tomorrow.

So, today at around 10:15 am he arrived with my scooter and told me all my scooter's body panels had been replaced, I can see it is true as the scooter is devoid of the OLA logo in the front and he has corrected most of the inconsistencies in the fittings and panel gaps apart from a couple. So I understand that he has done his absolute best and the panels were all new. However, despite the same, two gaps remain uncorrected which I feel can't be corrected as it is a defect with the scooter itself.

The Panel Gap which no other scooter has, remains uncorrected


A Panel Gap which some scooters have, others don't also remain uncorrected


So To conclude, I have to say the OLA Technician who came yesterday to take my scooter, whose name is Jishnu I believe has done the best he could and corrected most of the panel gaps apart from the two pictured above which were the two main ones as well, but the other glaring inconsistencies in panel alignment have been corrected, However, From this ordeal all I can understand is the product is poorly engineered as regards fit and finish and that is the only reason why these two-panel gaps remain uncorrected.

Hopefully, Ola takes note and correct these as soon as possible.

[bijims]

Hello, BHPians!
I am sad to say that my brand new scooter was involved in an accident on 10th June 2024 at around noon, I was near the parkway of my home slowly getting into my gate when a Bike rammed into the back of my scooter and sent the pillion seated behind me flying, she had a few injuries to her arm and feet, while the rider who rammed into me also suffered injuries to his hand, by the grace of god, I was left unscathed.

However, since it was a mistake on his part, I requested him to claim his insurance to get the repairs done and the damages fixed, on contacting his insurer (IFFCO TOKIO), they outright refused to admit the third party liability on account of the legal difficulties involved and long time required to get the third party claim, Now I am in a fix, He hit me, My scooter is damaged, I am left without a vehicle for commute, my pillion suffered injuries and I had to pay the hospital bill and now his insurer outright refuses to admit the third party claim, asking me to file an own damage claim for nothing of my fault, I am losing on my 50% NCB which I had accumulated and transferred to my policy and would have to pay at least Rs.1214 more next year, and onwards, due to me losing my NCB.

From the looks of it, now it is as if whatever happens, it's my fault and I have to take my OD cover, I enquired with my insurer Digit and raised the claim and my Vehicle Repair Order was received today from the insurer's side whereby it was communicated that the vehicle should be sent to the Ola Experience Centre MG ROAD Thrissur which was reiterated by Claim coordinator as well as from the Digit Customer service personnel who helped me raised the claim through a phone call on their official number.

Upon transporting my vehicle to the Ola Experience Centre* MG ROAD Thrissur via pickup vehicle, I was informed that no repairs were to be done at Ola Experience Centre MG ROAD Thrissur and the transporter had to transport the vehicle to Peramangalam. Because of this, I had to transport the vehicle back again due to the fault from THE INSURER DIGIT'S side because THEY mentioned OLA Experience Centre MG ROAD, moreover, the customer service personnel over call also reiterated the same* I had to incur an additional expense of a huge sum just because of your company's, your customer care executive and your claim coordinators negligence.

I also have to give it to OLA for opening up a namesake service centre at Thrissur where absolutely nothing can be done and for having the audacity to give the name of this service centre to Digit for repair purposes.

Such is the lack of mismanagement at OLA and Digit, that I am at a huge loss apart from medical, no claim bonus and to add to that additional transportation costs.

[AgastyaXV]

Btw, the new gen 2 IMO looks better than the gen 1, as the tail light is sleeker, unlike gen 1's which looks ugly TBH. Yes the handle of the ola is high, but the advantage of it is it is much more stable. You get used to the height, but the amount of stability it has for a scooter is great (its more stable than N Torqs, unless the road is uneven where N Torqs suspension is better) The scooter does 108+ kph (google maps gps speed) so it is pretty fast, having the longer wheel base, shorter steering angle, taller handlebar just helps it in this case, commuter friendly? nope, but atleast it makes sense for the ones who push the scooter further.

You do get used to the button position, but the problem is, NONE of the buttons are easy to reach, so you have to adjust your grip to press, which is annoying. Also the biggest flaw is the horn/headlight button. Normally in scooters, the button is wired in series with the battery and horn/lights, so it works instantly, but in the ola, the button triggers the computer, which later turns on the horn/light, so there is a lot of lag, and since the button isn't of really good quality, there has been multiple times when I have pressed the horn button, or pressed the hi-beam to simulate flashing, but it doesn't even turn on, and for horn, you cant trigger it every time if you press on the side

Side stand isn't the strongest, but guess what, its probably because of loose screws. My S1 pro gen 2 was delivered with loose bolts, I also live in Bangalore, so its impossible for them to have gotten lose just in transit. The future factory workers honestly do not even tighten shit, or just strip them. The stand has 2 bolts, one of them just fell off within the first month (less than like 600-800 kms) and due to it, I parked the scooter, but the stand collapsed on its own, cracked the body panel due to it extending, and damaged the entire left side. Ola was just telling to claim insurance, but I escalated it, twitter wasn't of any use, as they just closed the tickets later/opened tickets of some random issue but once I wrote an email, they arranged RSA (wasn't necessary, neither do I have care+) and replaced all parts free of cost. It would've cost me 9-12k but yeah. So just tighten the stand and see if that fixes it, as many bolts/screws are not tight. (That is if the stand is moving at the base, not the stand return spring tension)

Yes the seat is weird. The seat to start with is too high, my mom cant even reach comfortably, and to make the boot big, they made the seat wide at the extreme start, so if I sit at the front of the seat, I can flat foot, but my arms are crunched like a T-rex, and if I move back, since they made the seat wide, I am on my toes, and I am 5'9/5'10, so that is annoying. The chassis design of the ola is weird, so you notice the weight of the pillion A LOT MORE, so it would be very hard for women to control for a scooter.

[AgastyaXV]

Hey there,

My Ola is currently at like 3600 kms on odo, and I too am facing the motor bearing noise. I wanted to know if your issue has been repaired/if anything has been done at all. It is 100% the motor as the motor spins faster than the rear, and given the frequency of it, it definitely was it. Sounds like a weird dying chicken squeaky toy in my case if anyone is wondering. I raised a ticket and took it to SC, told them the issue, even showed them the video, and explained why it was the motor, as if I was accelerating/regenerating, where there was more load on the motor/bearing, it was silent, but the moment you let it coast, the sound comes. To fix the issue, this is what they did, they undid my swing arm, which I knew wouldn't fix the sound, weren't able to align it, so they wedged a torque wrench in the swing arm to align it, couldn't get it to align, so basically put the scooter on jacks (they welded brake rotors on a metal stool and lifted the scooter on it) and then opened the other side so they could loosen it up and align it, and they were like, done, no noise. With the rear wheel being in the air, I just showed them that the issue is in the bearing, and what they did accomplished nothing, to which they said, please pick the scooter at 6 we will have it ready by then (they had to go for lunch). I didn't have time to wait till 6 so I left and took the scooter again the next day, they probably just sprayed WD40 in it, so the noise is less, but regardless it still persists.

I was also getting a clicking sound and feel from the front suspension when it is pressed, e.g. bumps or while braking. This is a common issue in gen 2 scooters (pro/air/x/x+) They opened the front panel, opened the handlebar linkage, probably reseated the bearing and reassembled everything, but now the handle doesn't turn as freely anymore, to the extent if I have to make sudden turns e.g. to avoid pothole, I cant.

Honestly I'm just annoyed at Ola's incompetence and will probably just do all the maintenance myself.

Ola cant really void my warranty because I wouldn't be messing with the electrical system, and warranty on any physical part is basically useless because the workers cant really do anything, and my scooter is just returned in a worse state then when I sent it.

[gharika]

3rd party insurance is a well established fraud by the insurance companies, forced multi-year insurance at the time of purchase raises the initial cost, then no easy way to transfer it if you sell it within that 5 yr (2 wheeler) period. Then cases like this where they have audacity to refuse.

[YK85]

Originally Posted by bijims

Hello, BHPians!
I am sad to say that my brand new scooter was involved in an accident on 10th June 2024......
Such is the lack of mismanagement at OLA and Digit, that I am at a huge loss apart from medical, no claim bonus and to add to that additional transportation costs.

[ATTACH=wrong ec in VRO.jpg]2616971[/ATTACH

If you have the time, energy and funds you can take the third party insurance provider to court and claim both damages and punitive compensation.
Of course, this is assuming that you can still prove the accident was caused by the biker.
Otherwise, there is no option except to swallow the loss and move on.
Let's face it, this place will never be like Europe or Middle East where people calmly exchange insurance details in the event of an accident and things just get done without any hassles.
Out here, the only intent and the default action of any company or organisation, public or private is to cheat.

[HillMan]

Originally Posted by bijims

Such is the lack of mismanagement at OLA and Digit, that I am at a huge loss apart from medical, no claim bonus and to add to that additional transportation costs.

This is not fair.

Try X (Twitter). Message grievance to finance Smt Nirmala Sitharaman @nsitharaman, @FinMinIndia, @hosuri54 (ceo of iffco tokio) and @iffcotokio
Do not rant, keep the message short and precise asking for help to resolve.

Also send an email with the details of claim like your post here to chiefgrievanceofficer@iffcotokio.co.in copying complaints@irdai.gov.in (Insurance Ombudsman)

iffcotokio grievance-redressal

Hope you get a favorable response and closure.

[Silmaril]

Originally Posted by bijims

Hello, BHPians!

insurer (IFFCO TOKIO), they outright refused to admit the third party liability on account of the legal difficulties involved and long time required to get the third party claim

Attachment 2616971

If you have written proof of this, approach the insurance ombudsman with all relevant docs. They do a good job and won't be much hassle. If there is no proof, do you have a police report, which I dare say you might not since the other party already agreed their fault. Simultaneously also get the repairs carried out from Godigit and provide justification to insurance ombudsman of this being daily driver. Cheers.

[Nd-gtr2014]

Originally Posted by bijims

Hello, BHPians!
However, since it was a mistake on his part, I requested him to claim his insurance to get the repairs done and the damages fixed, on contacting his insurer (IFFCO TOKIO), they outright refused to admit the third party liability on account of the legal difficulties involved and long time required to get the third party claim, Now I am in a fix, He hit me, My scooter is damaged, I am left without a vehicle for commute, my pillion suffered injuries and I had to pay the hospital bill and now his insurer outright refuses to admit the third party claim, asking me to file an own damage claim for nothing of my fault, I am losing on my 50% NCB which I had accumulated and transferred to my policy and would have to pay at least Rs.1214 more next year, and onwards, due to me losing my NCB.
Attachment 2616971

Rejection by IFFCO Tokio under third party is following the general practice which unfortunately is not known to the general public.

It is a reality that third party claim would be cumbersome as it would require an FIR and other legal steps. So the insurance companies in India have done an agreement with each other which is known as "Knock-for Knock Agreement" under which the insurer/insured of one company will not claim against the other company in cases like yours and both parties will file for claim under their respective own damage policy.

For more information on this you can google this clause and you will find information on any insurance company's website. I am sharing one link from Bajaj Allianz : https://www.bajajallianz.com/blog/mo...agreement.html

So in future please be aware that you will have file under your own policy so do take compensation from the other party for the loss of NCB and the deductible you will have to pay at the spot. Sharing of insurance policy details and all doesn't work in India like it does abroad.

[bijims]

UPDATE ON THE ACCIDENT AND INSURANCE CLAIM
First of all, I would like to bring to the notice of any potential Ola customers who buy insurance from Digit through the Ola Website to take note that although an Add-On of Road Side Assistance is shown, in reality, you get only Breakdown Assistance which is not the same, Pictures attached:

What they tell you that you would get when you buy the Insurance


What you get after purchasing


This makes a lot of difference as you will get assistance only in case of vehicle breakdown, and not any towing services for transport to the nearest workshop. I learned it the hard way and had to incur a lot of expenditure to get the vehicle to the nearest service centre, which was another ordeal.

Anyway, I got my vehicle back yesterday and I have to say, the communication from Digit's side is very poor as I had reiterated earlier (they told me to bring it to one service centre where no repairs were going on and had to transport to another service centre over 10 km away, which made me incur double the towing expenditure.) However, the repair and claim process went well apart from the unprofessional, rude and disrespectful attitude of the Digit claim coordinator who wasn't willing to accept his mistake and the difficulties (financial, logistical, and delays) caused due to it.



The claims personnel from Ola was very cordial, and he got the vehicle repaired right on time as per VRO (28th June 2024) and I received my vehicle on said date.

So, the claim process went by, but now the real problem is I had to incur a lot of expenditure (hospital bills, lost NCB, New number plates. Belt cover not covered in insurance, towing and many more) which amounted to a huge sum of money out of my pocket for something which is not my fault and now am at the mercy of the one who caused the incident to get my money back.

Such is the state of affairs, but I am grateful that something that could have been much worse only ended up this way, Anyways I am hoping for the best.

Finally, I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to all the BHPians who provided their valuable advice in this matter which helped me get over this issue. Such is the beauty of this forum that I had so many members reaching out, Thank You All!