Revv — Revv - Dumping charges of faulty vehicle on customer

Website:

www.revv.co.in

Booking ID : 11352130

Date of Incident : 11th December 2022

We are a family of 4 and booked a Hyundai Creta for a single day via Revv. We had to make a round trip from Hyderabad to Warangal which is about 350kms in total.

The night before our journey, at 11:30PM, we get a call from Revv saying that our desired car was damaged by previous leaser and that a replacement car of Maruthi Ciaz was available. We decided to go with it but they didn't reduce the cost even though its listed price was less than Creta and didn't have features like reverse camera.

The vehicle was fine till the return leg of journey. As we were entering back into Hyderabad, we noticed a strong burning smell from the engine. It was persistent for a while. Then, the vehicle lost it's pickup even when we press the accelerator. Noticing something was wrong, I pulled over to the side. We opened the bonnet to check, and we got a strong burning smell. We called up Revv customer care. They picked up quickly but didn't provide any assistance to help with my situation. They just told us to contact our pickup person who was due to pick it up after 3 hours. When we called him, he said to either try to reach our home by driving slowly or leave the car locked there on the side of the road and the key in the inside of the front wheel. The latter option sounded a bit fishy and risky as we didn't want to be held responsible for a stolen car. So we decided to finish our journey home.

We slowly rode the car home, not pressing the clutch much and reached our home with lot of shouts and abuses from vehicles behind us as we were driving too slowly. It was a very stressful situation for us as we (me and my husband) are elderly above 55 years old.

I called Revv during the incident and even the next day explaining the grievance it cost us. They mentioned, they would take a look at the car and get back.

Now, after 3 days, they get back saying that the clutch failed and blamed it on our driving. And they had the gall to ask us to pay an extra 12000 Rs for the repairs. This is the part which is really unfair and sounds nefarious.

First off, the car we got was not which we first ordered and an inferior one. Next, it looked like it was driven for quite a bit - the odometer showed 10000 kms when we got it. And we only drove it for 350kms and it is not like we are inexperienced drivers. I am a doctor and have been driving my car since the last 20 years. I drive daily to my clinic, and I know pretty well how to drive a manual car on heavy traffic and highways.

It shocks me that while I am complaining for a refund of my trip for the inconvenience they caused, they get back asking me to pay an extra 12k in repairs. Also, thinking of their assistance during our breakdown was to call the pickup person and wait, I feel lucky it happened when we were close to home than midway on the highway.

Revv mentions that the vehicles they lend are "mechanically sound". My only question is this : How can a "mechanically sound" vehicle break down in 350 kms o[censored]se in a single day by a sane driver? And how can you blame it on the customer when you have no evidence for the same.

This is my first time trying to rent a car for self-drive and I am left with a painful experience of this whole industry. I tried calling Revv's customer care but they weren't helfpul.

Looking at other posts here, it looks like a common practice for them (https://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/revv-a517982.html ).
Beware.

- Dr. Madhavi