A consumer commission has dismissed a complaint against cab aggregator Ola over a two-day delay in returning a passenger's car keys left inside a cab, the Press Trust of India reported.The Mumbai-based commission said the time needed to coordinate the return of a forgotten item in a large city could not automatically be considered a deficiency in service. It also said dissatisfaction with generic customer support emails was not enough to establish deficiency without proof that reasonable help had been denied.The Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (Suburban) recently rejected the complaint filed by a Ghatkopar resident against ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, which operates Ola.The complainant said he had booked an Ola cab on June 17 and paid a fare of Rs 330, but accidentally left his car keys in the vehicle.
After realising the mistake, he made several attempts to contact the driver through the mobile application. The driver voluntarily returned the keys on June 19 without charging any additional amount.
However, the complainant approached the consumer commission, alleging that Ola's email support system sent generic replies, failed to provide an effective resolution and did not offer basic emergency assistance.After examining the records, the commission noted that the cab journey had been completed and the complainant had not alleged any specific deficiency related to the ride, the driver's conduct during the journey or the fare charged, PTI reported. The commission said the complainant lost immediate possession of the keys because he had inadvertently left them in the cab and that the driver later returned them voluntarily."Considering the distances involved in a metropolitan city like Mumbai, the time required to coordinate, communicate and arrange the return of a forgotten article cannot, by itself, be treated as evidence of deficiency in service," the commission said.It also noted that the complainant recovered his keys without incurring any additional expense.
The commission said no material had been placed before it to show that Ola had "deliberately withheld assistance, caused the loss of the keys, or adopted any deceptive or unfair practice".Concluding that there were insufficient grounds to establish a deficiency in service, the commission dismissed the complaint without awarding costs.- Ends(With PTI inputs)