Ashok Raj Rajendran, the founder and CEO of AJ Skill Development Academy, recently accused Rapido of unfair prices after being charged Rs 1,000 for a Rs 350 ride. Taking to LinkedIn, Mr Rajendran revealed that he booked a ride from Madras Central Railway Station to Thoraipakkam, which is about 21 km away. He claimed while the Rapido app showed a fare of Rs 350, the driver demanded Rs 1,000 citing waterlogging in the area. "We negotiated down to Rs. 800, only to find no such waterlogging throughout the journey," Mr Rajendran wrote in his post.
The Chennai CEO expressed his frustration with Rapido's customer care service, saying, "When we reported this issue to Rapido, they simply closed the chat without even asking about the driver's actions." "Rapido if you're not concerned about your drivers asking for extra pay, why have an option asking, "Did the driver ask for extra pay?" Is it just for the sake of appearances? Your drivers are exploiting situations, and you are helping them, you'll soon face the consequences of this neglect," Mr Rajendran wrote, while sharing screenshots of his conversation with Rapido's customer service.
According to the screenshots, the company explained that the extra fare was due to a "discrepancy in the drop locations".
In a separate post, Mr Rajendran also said that the company responded to his complaint, saying that "strict action" had been taken against the driver in question and the fare difference had been reimbursed.
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However, Mr Ranjendran's post quickly gained attention on social media, with users recounting similar experiences.
"Drivers are taking advantage to charge extra these days. A year ago, I had a similar experience with Uber, but their support team was great-they refunded the excess after I sent proof of payment. This taught me the value of making online payments to avoid such issues," wrote one user.
"This has happened with me many times Rapido . And the worst part is that the money that is credited can only be used for booking bikes not autos. So if you don't use bike it goes waste," shared another. "nowadays these cab drivers have started cheating their customers a lot," expressed a third user.
"The sad truth in this is, all these big companies (who are not profitable), take action only when somebody posts in LinkedIn or Twitter and gains many eyeballs. Otherwise, Uber, OLA, Rapido and others just don't bother. Ashok Raj Rajendran - You are lucky that your post gained enough attention to attract Rapido's response!" commented another.
