[Resolved] Zoom Car — no help after breakdown for 4+hrs in a highway and charged with rs.10000 as vehicle damage

sab7394

from Salem, Tamil Nadu

Address:	560038
Website:	www.zoomcar.com

At the first place it’s really hard for us to know how to react for the way we are being treated by a reputed company like zoom car.
We have booked honda jazz [booking id: jps62jun5] which started on 16-dec-2017 5:00 am. We arrived at the zoom car office in thoraipaakam, chennai and after verification we were handed over a car. We checked the interiors and outers of the car before taking it up. I believe that being a company that runs car rental services across 25 cities it’s the bound duty of the company to check the car before handing it over to the customer which was ideally not done in our case. First and foremost we were asked to get the permit (We were traveling to andhra from tn) by ourselves which delayed our journey by an hour and we were tormented by the time we got it.
We thought the journey will go smooth after that but we were totally downhearted when we noticed that the front left tyre wasn’t in a good condition and we had to pump up the air in both of the front tyres and the spare tyre as well. At this point of time we reached out to a folk on the garage (Thoraipakkam ofc) and he assured that the tyre can go up to 500kms being safe and sound. Having spoken to him we continued the journey.
We did abide by all the rules of zoom car and while returning we noticed a spark out of our front left tyre, at this point we were forced to replace the tyre. We replaced and continued the rest of our journey only to find that spark came out the right tyre as well. By this time we reached ponnamalle, chennai and it was 12:15 am.
We reached out to customer care and were pissed off since we didn’t get a proper response from them. I would like to highlight that there were female friends travelling with us and we were bothered about their security. Not even in the worst of nightmares we imagined us standing on the lane at 12: 15 am without any assistance. We were in the highway for 4+hrs without any help from the zoom cars.
We were informed that the towing vehicle would come and we waited and waited and when we were affronted we received a mail stating that we can hand over the keys to nearby security person, i wonder how on earth will you guys trust a unknown security guard and ask us to leave the keys with him, but even at that point we waited till the tow vehicle came up. Instead of having a source of gratitude for us zoom car has sent out a mail to pay rs.10000, in addition to which there was a note stating that legal action would be taken if we failed to pay.
We were in a call with customer care persons who assured that the amount paid for the remaining hours, state permit charge & fuel charge would be refunded. They told us that we can opt a taxi for drop out of which first 50 km would be free and the amount for the taxi would be refunded.
Here we haven’t received any refunds instead charged with rs.10000 as damage charges. After reducing the permit and fuel charges we are requested to pay rs.6400. Meanwhile taxi charges haven't taken into account.
Not giving a thorough check up while handing the car was a mistake which totally zoom car has to take up. We need our refund amount that we spent for state permit, fuel & taxi charges.
We had such a bad experience with zoom car that we definitely won’t recommend zoom car to our buddies.

Regards,
Sabareesh

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Jan 26, 2018

Complaint marked as Resolved

Zoomcar customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.

Verified Support

Dec 25, 2017

Zoomcar Customer Care's response Hello Sabareesh,

Greetings!

We did check the above issue and we understand your disappointment here. Kindly note, we do follow a strict protocol in ensuring that the vehicles are well maintained and is double checked before the vehicle handover.

Upon checking, we see that the vehicle was provided in good condition. As there was an impact in under chassis during your reservation, the steering link rod got damaged and the wheel alignment was changed. Due to which the tyers has worn out by one side.

As you have damaged the vehicle the charges are levied for the same and we regret to inform that we will be unable to reverse/alter the same.

Appreciate your understanding in this regard.

Regards,
Appachu
Zoomcar

Dec 27, 2017

Updated by sab7394 Hello Appachu,

As mentioned by you, you have given double checked vehicle then may I know why the tyres got worn out? Please clarify with your professionals before telling the blame on the customer.

Alignment may change when we ride the car with uneven tyres. The tyres without grip (even after double check) may also lead to change in alignment.

The ultimate root cause for this damage is worst tyre given to us and you made us as the victim of your fault. We are clear, that we adhere to all road rules and followed the Zoom car instruction.

When we noticed the tyre condition was bad, we have informed the Zoom car garage person (Thoraipakkam, Chennai) by morning 10:00 AM. As he told the tyre will go more than 400Km, we continued your journey. Also before taking Andhra Pradesh state permit we called him and got the confirmation aswell.

Please ensure your flaw process once again and refund us all the refundable amount (2900(permit) + 700(fuel) + 530(cab) = INR 4130) which we requested already.

We are not liable to pay for this damage as there are glitches in your maintenance process.

Please do the needful for our refund and put an end to it.

Regards
Sabareesh