Sangareddy: Commission orders Ola Electric to refund ₹1,65,565 with 12% interest
Sangareddy : A district consumer commission at Sangareddy has partly allowed a complaint by a local journalist and directed Ola Electric and its showroom to refund ₹1,65,565 to the buyer, pay interest and modest compensation after finding deficiency in service.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Medak at Sangareddy, in an order pronounced on June 26, 2025, said the complainant, journalist Pyata Santhosh Kumar, paid a down payment and took the Ola S1 Pro (second generation) on finance but the scooter developed recurring battery-mileage faults and required repeated repairs. The commission found negligence and deficiency in service by the opposite parties and held they must jointly and severally: pay ₹1,65,565 with interest at 12% per annum from November 7, 2023 until realisation; pay ₹10,000 as compensation for mental agony; and ₹5,000 towards litigation costs. Time for compliance was fixed at 30 days from receipt of the order.
The order records that the complainant bought the Ola S1 Pro second generation on August 29, 2023, paying a down payment of ₹40,000 and financing the balance. The vehicle (bearing no. P53AWDC1CLA03373) gave satisfactory performance initially but developed battery range problems within six months, with observed range falling from the expected 140 km to around 90 km on a single charge. The scooter was repeatedly sent to the showroom for repairs, and job cards show multiple service tickets between September and November 2024. The commission noted the complainant’s frustration after repeated repairs and accepted that the problem persisted long enough to constitute a defect.
The commission rejected the opposite parties’ contention that there was no deficiency in service. Ola Electric and the showroom had argued that the vehicle was repaired, that tokens and job cards show work was carried out, and that the vehicle was ready for delivery after replacement/repairs. The forum, however, said the pattern of repeated repairs to a new vehicle, coupled with the complainant’s inability to use the scooter for months, amounted to manufacturing/quality defects and inadequate post-sale redressal.
The commission directed the complainant to execute necessary documents to transfer the vehicle back to the opposite parties (or their nominee) on receipt of the ordered payments. It also observed that, as there was no dispute with the finance company, the complainant must continue paying EMIs to the finance company until refund by the opposite parties is realised.
Key procedural and factual points
In case CC No.118 of 2024, filed on November 19, 2024 and disposed of on June 26, 2025, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Medak at Sangareddy, partly allowed the complaint filed by journalist Pyata Santhosh Kumar of Shivaji Nagar, Sangareddy, who appeared party-in-person. The complaint was against Ola Electric Technologies Pvt Ltd, with its registered office at Koramangala, Bengaluru, and the Ola showroom located on Mumbai Highway, Jyothi Nagar, Ramachandrapuram, Lingampally, Hyderabad. The commission found deficiency in service and directed the opposite parties to refund ₹1,65,565 with interest at 12% per annum from November 7, 2023 until realisation, besides awarding ₹10,000 as compensation for mental agony and ₹5,000 towards litigation costs, as recorded in the order dated June 26, 2025.
Evidence and reasoning
The complaint and record show multiple service job cards and media reports of the complainant’s protest over continued faults. Ola submitted service records and an RFD (ready for delivery) e-mail but the commission noted these documents either lacked adequate dating or did not dispel the pattern of persistent defects. The forum held that a new vehicle repeatedly requiring repairs points to a manufacturing defect and amounts to deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act. The commission therefore awarded refund with interest and modest compensation for distress and litigation.