Auto-rickshaw aggregator Jugnoo has accused Ola of deploying “unethical practices” to disrupt its business, a day after Uber filed a lawsuit against Ola alleging that the Bangalore-based company was using fake accounts to make bookings on its platform.
Jugnoo alleged that Ola employees have been creating fake accounts over the last 10 days to book and make cancellations on Jugnoo’s app leading to loss of revenue for the company and also affecting the income of auto-rickshaw drivers.
“Jugnoo accuses Ola of employing unethical practices to sabotage their business and aggravate the drivers who are trying to earn a decent living by plying auto rickshaws,” according to a statement from the company.
“About 20,000 cancellations through 800 fake accounts have been reported to occur during this period. These accounts are being used to book a Jugnoo ride and then cancel it after some time, sometimes switching off the phone after booking the ride,” according to the statement, adding that this is keeping the drivers engaged unnecessarily, wasting their time and not letting the genuine customers book their ride. Samar Singla, Co-founder and CEO at Jugnoo, said: “We witnessed this trend almost 10 days back when all of a sudden there was a surge in booking and the cancellation rate was equally high. We started mapping the areas where the bookings were being made from and invariably pointed at places close to Ola’s office premise.”
“We noticed this across three locations Gurgaon, Noida and Mysore where this activity was highly being employed.
“We have evidence to support our claims and will be more than happy to furnish the details if required,” Mr. Singla said.
Ola declined to comment on Jugnoo's allegations but it has denied the charges levelled against it by Uber.
Published - March 23, 2016 11:38 pm IST