Booked a Delhi cab for 6 hours at ₹1,285, passengers shocked after final bill jumps to ₹5,662 with 240.5 km extra

A Delhi cab ride that was expected to cost a little over ₹1,200 has triggered allegations of an inflated fare after a group of passengers claimed they were billed ₹5,662 for a six-hour Ola rental.

The passengers said the app charged them for more than 240 extra kilometres they insist they never travelled, prompting them to seek help online after they were unable to reach customer support.

The person's name was not disclosed, and the account is based on a Reddit post titled, "Ola scam, need help."

According to the post, the group booked a six-hour (60 km) Ola rental at 10 am from their hotel in Mahipalpur to Yashobhoomi, where they attended an exhibition before leaving for the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) to catch their flight.

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Sharing a screenshot of the fare receipt, the user said the final bill totalled ₹5,662, including charges for an additional 240.5 km, along with tolls and other fees.

 

Read the viral post here:

 

 

Describing the journey, the passenger wrote, "We booked a cab for 6 hours (60 kms) from Ola Cabs at 10 AM and got picked up from our hotel in Mahipalpur and were dropped off at Yashobhoomi."

The group said they stayed at the exhibition venue until around 3:45 pm before heading straight to the airport. It was only after reaching the terminal that they realised the fare had shot up unexpectedly.

"At 3:45 PM we left directly for airport to catch our flight. We were extremely shocked and disappointed at the total payment the driver asked from us," the passenger wrote.

They added that while the booking initially showed a base fare of ₹1,285, they had expected only a modest increase by the end of the trip.

"At the time of booking the cab, the base fare that was displayed was ₹1,285 so we were under the impression that we would be charged around that or maybe more, but the total payment in the Ola app quadrupled to ₹5662 and we were charged for 250 km extra. Still don't know how."

The user also claimed they were unable to get immediate assistance from Ola, saying, "Tried contacting Ola help but due to it being a weekend, we couldn't get in touch with anyone from the team. Any suggestions would be appreciated."

The post drew dozens of responses from Reddit users, with several sharing advice and recounting similar experiences.

One user suggested that keeping Google Maps navigation running throughout the journey could help in the event of a fare dispute. Questioning the distance shown in the bill, the user wrote, "Always keep the google maps with navigation opened during, yashbhoomi in delhi right? He drove 240km?" The commenter further advised the passengers to contact Ola's customer support, adding, "Just call the customer support and explain the situation, hopefully you'll get the refund plus post it on the twitter."

Another Reddit user claimed to have encountered a similar issue with an Ola rental in Delhi. According to the commenter, the matter was eventually resolved only after escalating it to the consumer forum. "I had the same thing before in delhi on ola rental. Just go for emailing ola first about the issue to which they wont respond so after a week, complain about the issue to consumer forum, use chat gpt and make sure all the invoice id and ola complaint number is there," the user wrote, adding, "It will take a while but u will get ur money back for sure. I too got the money after 2 months."

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A third commenter shared a separate experience involving an airport ride with Uber, alleging that the driver demanded additional money for toll charges that were already included in the fare. "These fucking cab drivers are pathetic," the user wrote before recounting the incident. The commenter said they refused to pay the extra amount, arguing that "toll price is already included in the bill," and only agreed to pay if the toll did not appear in the final receipt. According to the user, "bill incudes of toll tax."

Ola has not publicly responded to the specific allegations made in the Reddit post.