'Solid Scam': Bengaluru Man Shares Harrowing Experience With Zoomcar, Company Reacts

A Bengaluru man shared his experience of being “scammed” by Zoomcar, an online vehicle-renting company. He called the company unaccountable and slammed the brand for “collecting money” from customers.

Adithya Venkatesan took to microblogging site X and shared in detail his harrowing experience with Zoomcar. “Zoomcar has a crazy way to defraud customers, and it’s straight-up a scam. Here’s how it works. Once you pay up, they add the caveat of verification. Not before. AFTER you pay. And if the verification fails, there’s no way to get in touch with anyone and resolve it. This is despite having a Driving License, Aadhaar and all the relevant documents,” Venkatesan wrote on X.

He further called it a “solid dark pattern” of the company to “collect money” and refuse accountability for what ensues. “It’s a solid dark pattern that makes Zoomcar ‘collect’ money, and not be accountable for what ensues. Then, they just disappear And you can’t get this money refunded either,” he added.

Venkatesan also called out Zoomcar for not having “hassle-free way customer support” in place.

“Given the friction between car owners and customers, this is the very least they can do. More so when their tech is so inferior, and it’s near impossible to navigate the Rube Goldberg that’s their app,” he added.

“This is typical for someone who does not care for the customer, or their anxiety while planning a trip that involves their car. It’s irresponsible and one of the worst user flows I have ever seen. Don’t ever choose Zoomcar,” the user concluded.

Zoomcar Responds to User’s Post

Zoomcar took notice of the user’s complaint and clarified that they rejected his profile since they “observed a discrepancy between the face on your driver’s license.”

“Since you’ve cancelled the booking, a full refund has automatically been initiated and should reflect in your source account within the next 5-7 business days,” they added.

Other users also commented on Venkatesan’s post narrating similar experiences with the company. “I’ve had a pathetic experience once. The car was just not there and there was no one to contact. Customer care didn’t help at all,” one user commented.