Pune Guy Books An Ola Cab To Get Home Safely. Cab Driver Turns Out To Be His Worst Threat

If you are a woman who travels by cabs regularly, then you must be way too familiar with warnings like: “keep texting on the way”, “pretend like you’re on the call with someone”, “keep track of the route on Maps” and etc. Because nobody in their wildest dreams expects cab drivers to mistreat men, or threaten them.

 

But it happens, it’s a reality, and Shaiju Mathew, a guy from Pune shared his story of how his cab right one night unexpectedly turned nightmarish:

 

Shaiju shared the entire story on a blog and this is what it read as:

Before you board an OLA cab next time, be careful as your life might be in danger. Had one of the most nightmarish experiences with Olacabs tonite. I am in my hometown Pune and I booked a share cab with both onboarding and offboarding information, however, the driver who came to pick me half way through the trip said that he cannot drop me at my place as my home is outside “his service boundaries” and if had to drop me at home then I have to pay him extra i.e. Rs.12 per kilometer. I had already made a wallet payment and didn’t understand the logic to pay extra because the destination was not outside the city limits and even OLA later confirmed to me because if it had then the APP wouldn’t pick the location. He said if I do not pay he will hit me and throw me out of the cab after taking me to an isolated place with no electricity or people around.

Scared that he would harm me, I told him I will pay him the extra money and called Ola Customer Care and pretended to talk to them as if I am talking to a friend in a calm and composed way in English. The customer care was half as responsible as they kept on disconnecting my call even after knowing my situation. They kept on telling me I should not pay anything extra without understanding the situation. Finally, I threatened the customer care rep of lodging a police complaint if the situation is not handled that’s when one of the high and mighty supervisors called the driver and asked him not to charge extra from me and if he charged me they will take him off the list.

The driver got into an argument with the supervisor saying he has been told by the Ola trainers and managers to take extra fare for any destination beyond their service boundary from the customer irrespective of the customer having paid the money through wallet in advance. As the driver was engaged in an argument with the supervisor I got down from the cab some half a kilometer away from my destination and got away unnoticed.

I do not know how a company like OLA can hire drivers without doing a background check? How safe can a customer feel with such reputed companies? If tomorrow this driver comes to my home and harms me or any of my family members who is going to take the responsibility? As I am writing down this experience here I got a call from OLA team trying to sympathize with me and my situation with a “I understand” dialogue. How can any of the Ola employee sitting on a plush chair warming his ass understand my situation and danger I was subjected to? Highly disappointed! The vehicle number is MH14CX5363 and Driver’s name Sagar Sawant OSN: 5052253… Time to do rectify your mistake and go beyond I UNDERSTANDS and APOLOGIES!!!

 

Shaiju, while speaking to Storypick, said, “They are saying they will sack the driver… but my point is after they sack the driver… in retaliation if he does any harm to me or my family members who will be responsible?”

Shaiju’s fear is quite valid, and he is worried about his family’s and his own safety.

 

Shaiju also added, “Ola is saying my complaint is confidential and the driver will not know but they are failing to understand that the driver knows everything as this incident happened yesterday night and he was fighting with the Ola supervisor on phone when I escaped the cab.”

Image source
Image source

 

It doesn’t matter if it’s an Ola or an Uber or any other company. As a radio taxi company that vows to work for the convenience of its customers, their safety and comfort should be your topmost priority.

Image source
Image source

And if you’re not able to keep up with that, then there’s something seriously wrong with your company ethics.

Thanks to incidents like these, the next time you book a cab from a radio taxi service, you will think twice.

📣 Storypick is now on Telegram! Click here to join our channel (@storypick) and never miss another great story.