Zoom Car — disputing the unreasonable damage charges of rs. 10000 and demanding accountability for negligence

Website:

zoomcar.com

This is with regards to booking id: jps62dcrg and case: 827932.

Had made a booking for zoomcar vehicle between 23rd apr and 29th apr [6 days]. On 2nd day of the trip itself, the car lost its balance a little and brushed through the guard rails on the hill road which caused a dent/scratches on the side of the car. When we got the mechanic to replace the tyre, the mechanic told that the car had lost balance due to one of the tryes getting flat. He also mentioned explicitly that the tyre had already gone a poor repair job and that the puncture was an old one.

Although i thoroughly checked the vehicle before picking it up but there was no way to check the poor repair job of the earlier puncture.

Also as per zoomcar's policy, i had immediately called there customer care and informed them about the incident.

To verify what the mechanic said, i asked their customer care team to verify the maintenance history of the vehicle and specifically of the tyre. Even after repeated calls and email exchanges (At least 6-8 times), zoomcar has been dodging this question and not answering the same. From the start, when i was assured by the customer care senior exec on call that they will get to me after checking the maintenance history of the vehicle to incompletely answered emails - zoomcar hasn't even looked into the complaint - they just want the money recovered without taking responsibility for their negligence whatsoever.

The incident could have been a major accident if luck was not on my side that day. Poor maintenance of the vehicle had directly resulted in not only damage of the car but had put the life of my family members at risk.

There's has been no clear clarification on this point from zoomcar except that they have been busy asking me to repay the unreasonable damage charges (Flat rs. 10000).

Below is my first email communication to them for reference (Pls note that i have written several follow up mails on this and each one of them have been replied with a 'template customer care response'.

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1) the damages are of minor and cosmetic nature at a couple of spots on the car. Given that maximum limit for any damage is 10000, feel that the charges applied are unreasonable. I have been a zoomcar customer and has been in all sorts of situation with you guys and hence, i am not sure why such prohibitive charges have been levied for minor/cosmetic damage.

2) the car was handed over in a sub optimal conditions. Front right tyre was damaged when the car was handed over. I only figured it out later when the tyre got punctured and i consulted the service station which was fortunately a couple of steps away when the tyre got flat. The service station confirmed that the tyre got flat due to a poor repair job (On the puncture that had happened on an earlier occasion) on an earlier occasion. This was immediately reported to zoomcar customer care as well and i am still awaiting a satisfactory response on the same since i was told that the details would be checked and communicated to me.

3) upon reporting of the said incident in point 2 above, the zoomcar customer care executive insisted that i shouldn't get the damaged tyre repaired. This put the whole journey at a huge risk since i wasn't left with any spare tyre should another flat tyre were to occurr (I was only at the 2nd day of my 6 day booking when this incident happened)

4) i was traveling with my family and i strongly feel that actions from zoomcars end had put not only the journey but my family (Who were traveling with me) at risk.

Right now, i only see unreasonable charges levied on the trip that too without any communication whatsoever on the issues reported earlier over call explained above in points 2-4.

Hoping to hear back from you guys at the earliest. I can be reached on my registered phone.
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I want this forum's help in getting the maintenance history of the vehicle that was given to me. Zoomcar should investigate internally but transparently if the tyre had undergone a poor puncture repair job in recent past. Expecting zoomcar to take responsibility of the incident which happened on account of their negligence failing which amounts to complicity and cheating the customer.

Regards,
Abhishek