Ola passengers are speaking up about a concerning theme surrounding the safety of the application, after a group of Kiwi riders realised similarities in experiences weren't just coincidence.
Users of the Ola app first took to a Wellington-based Facebook group to express their disappointment, with one sharing a situation that had taken place with a driver, and he wondered if it had happened to others.
"Ola driver just drove past us with a car full of people. Get the feeling he's just trying to get a cancellation fee. Has this happened to anyone else?" the user wrote.
The question triggered hundreds of comments of shady Ola driver behaviour, and two women agreed to share their stories.
Meghan McBreen told Newshub she tried to get in her Ola and another woman was already in there.
"I went to get into my Uber last night and another woman got in," she wrote.
"I managed to catch up before they drove off, and when I knocked on the door and asked why she was in my Uber, she said she was in her Ola. The driver went on to say he took both rides and was just going to cancel whoever didn't show up."
Fortunately, the other passenger was kind enough to let McBreen into the car and had explained she had ordered four Olas that evening, who had all cancelled as they approached her pick-up destination.
"He still charged us both for the rides and acted like there was nothing wrong with it," McBreen wrote.
"I don't know what kind of shit they are trying to pull but I doubt he thought he'd get caught."
McBreen told Newshub she had been left upset by the experience.
"This situation did cause a lot of anxiety for myself and the people around me," she said.
"With the sexual harm rates going up in Wellington's nightlife at the moment, it’s really disappointing to see that services people rely on to get them home safe failing them."
Newshub recently published statistics revealing 255 Wellington residents had reported being the victims of a crime in February 2020.
Paige Marie Frisby also commented on the Vic Deals post, and told Newshub that she estimates 90 percent of the Ola jobs she has booked don't turn up.
"They make sure they drive past your pick-up location so they can claim they picked you up," Frisby wrote on the Facebook post.
"I take photos of them now and email it to Ola to get a refund."
Frisby told Newshub she would "absolutely" avoid using Ola.
"The customer service isn't set up to help the customer - it took a lot longer to get a refund [than other rideshare apps]".
A spokesperson for Ola told Newshub that when it comes to situations like McBreen's and Frisby's, "safety is our top priority".
"We have a zero-tolerance policy against anything that compromises the safety of our passengers or drivers," the spokesperson said.
"Rideshare drivers are permitted to work across different platforms and do often switch between them on a trip-by-trip basis, however it is against our policy for drivers to accept a ride request prior to completing their current trip."
A law expert told Newshub Ola drivers who practice this kind of behaviour "may be in breach of the Fair Trading Act".
"Subject to the terms and conditions of the contract it may be a breach of that contract when the driver fails to fulfil their obligation to pick up the passenger," the expert said.
"It may also be a breach of the Fair Trading Act for misleading and deceptive conduct or an unsubstantiated representation that the service is going to be supplied."
