Zoomcar needs a reality check

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Editor's note: When Naveen Sai made a booking on the Zoomcar app to rent a car and go from Mysuru to his hometown in Andhra Pradesh in April, the only hassle he was worried about was getting electronic passes to travel during the national lockdown. However, things went south when Naveen’s e-pass got cancelled and he had to abort his Zoomcar booking. He waited for the refund—and continues to wait. “I had to make at least four bookings, and each time, it would get cancelled for many reasons. This has meant that Zoomcar owes me about Rs 86,000 in refunds. I am yet to receive a single paisa from them in the past five months,” says Naveen, who works in the IT industry. Despite calling customer support and messaging the company on social media, there was no response, but for an automated message that the delays were on account of unforeseen circumstances and a refund would be initiated soon. Shivam Jain, an entrepreneur from Jaipur, echoes these complaints, saying he is yet to receive refunds totalling about Rs 15,000. Shivam says that …