Athira Sethu
Kochi, 16 October 2024
Ola Electric, the leading player in the electric two-wheeler market, is facing issues with after-sales service and is witnessing growing complaints from customers. The company has roped in EY India, a global consulting firm to work with it on a project for transforming their service operations, reported the Economic Times.
Sources reveal the Economic Times that EY will assist Ola Electric in various areas. Streamlining business processes and managing spare parts inventory top the agenda, the report said. Recently, almost twelve EY executives joined Ola Electric for a three-month project that may be extended according to outcomes.
This move by Ola Electric comes after several complaints from customers, reportedly as many as 80,000 in a month, about service delays and spare parts. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued a notice to the company on those complaints, alleging breaches of consumer rights and misrepresentative advertisements.
Currently, Ola Electric runs around 400 service centers but looks to raise that to 1,000 by the end of the year. Still, an expert, looking at the numbers, says the focus has to be on upgrading the existing service stations rather than rolling them out, the report said.
In the past few months, Ola Electric has received increasing customer complaints regarding service quality, software issues, and hardware problems. This has led to sales volume and market share erosion for the company. The company witnessed a fall in sales volume from as many as 643,000 units last year to about 483,000 units in the first half of this fiscal year, according to a report from Elara Securities. Their market share also declined from 40.4% to 32.4% during the same time frame.
Despite these challenges, Ola Electric has seen a minor revival this month, with over 15,672 units as of October 14, which ups their market share to 34%. The company also suffers from internal issues, including a high turnover rate. For instance, three service heads left in the last two months.
In brief, as reported by the Economic Times, Ola Electric is now working to overcome the set of service issues with strategic partnerships coupled with well-planned expansion amid the strict scrutiny from consumers and bodies of regulation.
