[Resolved]  Zoom Car — Severe negligence of responsibility! Zoomcar is putting lives at risk!!

Address:	Bangalore, Karnataka, 560008
Website:	www.zoomcar.com

Had an extremely unpleasant experience with Zoomcar. Rented a car for a long trip. The trip was planned out over multiple long stretches of hill climbs and descents through hairpin bends and narrow roads. I’m sure you know the kind of extremely prime vehicle condition needed to safely execute such a trip. But the car was nowhere close to that and the company and staff simply did not care about it! Below is a summary of the account.

No inspection of vehicle before handover
When picking up the car, there was absolutely no inspection done to assess the quality and condition of any aspect of the car whatsoever. From the outside itself the vehicle was visibly damaged in several places, but chassis dents and scratches aren’t much of a life and death problem. The tyres were also worn out, but seemed like they could pull through.

Non-Existent Front Disc Brake
We found this problem during the journey to Ooty (a hill station in Tamil Nadu) - involves over 30 hairpin turns. During the first hill climb, we could hear strange noises coming repeatedly from the right front wheel and realised that it would be good to have it checked given the nature of the journey ahead. Oblivious to the danger we were putting ourselves in, we continued our ascent. It was not until late at night that we finally completed the climb and reached a service station. The service attendant had a look at the problem and said that the issue was with the front brakes. But it wasn’t until he took off the wheels that we realised the extent of the problem. A brake pad is usually several millimetres thick. This one was barely 1mm! And both the front brakes were completely worn out!

Non Existent Rear Drum Brakes
We left early in the morning the next day from Ooty through a route with over 40 dangerous hairpin turns, only to run into the next issue soon afterwards. Hardly an hour into the journey, the rear right wheel started producing a strange noise. This was during a fairly dangerous descent down a narrow road with several sharp bends. In hindsight, you can say we barely made it out of there in one piece, because by the time we were at the next service station, we realised that the rear brakes too were completely worn out! And that's not the end of it - the wheel cylinder on the rear right wheel was cracked! So what? The brake fluid is just barely contained and any time the cylinder gives way, it would all just ooze out, rendering the ENTIRE BRAKE SYSTEM OF THE CAR absolutely unusable!

A detailed check reveals lethally low levels of engine oil
Since we’d noticed 2 severe problems in a row, we asked the service attendants to do a quick engine check. And guess what! Every car has a minimum quantity of oil it needs to ensure the engine does not cease mid-operation. This one had almost NO oil left in it! Even the service attendants asked on what grounds were we driving this car! Hang on, there’s more! The car was overdue for a service by several kilometres! Clearly, none of the gauges were working either because they didn’t report that there was anything wrong!

A flat irreparable tyre
Disturbingly enough, it doesn’t end there! Having spent most of the trip trying to fix problem after problem after problem, we were physically exhausted and psychologically worn out. So what happens next? One of the rear tyre starts loosing pressure! This as it was still in the garage while the car was still lying idle while it was already undergoing MAJOR repairs! While trying to get it repaired, the technician pointed out that the condition of the damaged tyre was actually so bad it could not even be properly repaired! At this point, we simply couldn’t care more - we needed an assurance that we’d get home and that we’d get home alive! Our weekend is ruined, our plans are ruined, we’ve lost a lot of money and we’ve spent a lot of money! Pretty much a trip to repair a Zoomcar!

Realization that Zoomcar never intends to do vehicle inspection
We’re returning and realise that we won’t be able to drop the car on time (and I think by now you know why), so we try to extend our booking. But what happens then? It seems the car is not available even half an hour after our set drop time!! This car that had no brakes, no engine oil and featured completely worn out tyres was scheduled for its next pickup barely a few minutes after we would drop it off! Deja vu? I hardly think so!

Conversations with Customer Care to extend the time for returning the car reveals a widespread apathy among employees.
We decided to call the Zoomcar customer care to sort this out once and for all (or so we thought!). Of course the first level of support could only assure us that we cannot extend the booking. You must understand that at this point, our concern was not about extending the booking, but rather about the safety of the next unfortunate customer who planned to rent the car. We demanded an escalation to the next level, which I believe was to a team lead.

I’d say the situation only went downhill from there, because after explaining everything that happened and informing him that we wouldn’t be able to drop off the car at the designated time due to several dreadful negligences from Zoomcar, the main problem he saw was that the next customer would be inconvenienced by a late delivery and that we would be charged a late fee! This was just too much for us at that point - we simply told him that we would NOT deliver the car on time and to inform the next customer WHY that was the case. We were infuriated enough that we even went ahead and asked him to tell the customer to book with any other service! I quarrelled with him for several minutes only to get the same clichéd response each time - we would be charged a late fee! He wouldn’t escalate the call to more senior management and after increasingly heated discussions, he abruptly ended the call! Some team lead! I know that HE ended it because I did not get a call back afterwards and haven’t upto this moment!

Looks like the entire company is apathetic
After returning to Bangalore, I sent out emails to the CEO and staff at Zoomcar explaining everything. It's been over a month and nobody has bothered to respond!! A purely materialistic company established solely for the purpose of making money with absolutely no concern for customers!