Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and comedian Kunal Kamra were today engaged in a heated spat after the latter flagged the service centre situation of the company’s electric scooters.
The argument began when Mr Kamra took to his official X account and posted an image showing a large number of EV scooters being parked at an Ola service centre.
“Do Indian consumers have a voice? Do they deserve this? Two-wheelers are many daily wage workers’ lifeline… Anyone who has an issue with Ola Electric leave your story below tagging all…,” he wrote.
In another post, he responded to a user who said that Ola has a “pathetic service”.
“Worse is the leader has no reply,” Mr Kamra said.
His posts, however, irked Mr Aggarwal, who said that it was a “paid tweet” and asked Mr Kamra to “come and help” them out.
“Since you care so much Kunal Kamra, come and help us out! I’ll even pay more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career. Or else sit quiet and let us focus on fixing the issues for the real customers. We’re expanding the service network fast and backlogs will be cleared soon,” the Ola boss wrote on X.
Mr Kamra then responded to Mr Aggarwal’s post.
“Paid tweet, failed comedy career, and sit quietly. Indian businessman at their humble best… If you can prove I am paid for the tweet this or anything else I must’ve said against private companies, I’ll delete all social media and sit quietly forever,” he said.
Mr Kamra then tagged a clip of his standup act last year.
“On my failed comedy career here’s a clip from last year when I surprised an audience… Anything else you arrogant, substandard, prick,” he said.
Responding to his tweet, Mr Aggarwal again asked Mr Kamra to come to an Ola service centre.
“Chot lagi? Dard hua? (Did it hurt) Aaja (come to) service centre. Bahut kaam hai (We have a lot of work). I will pay better than your flop shows pay you. Show your audience how much you truly care and whether you’re only gas,” he said.
Mr Kamra then asked Mr Aggarwal to instead give a “total refund” to anyone who wants to return their Old EV and who has purchased it in the last four months.
“I don’t need your money. People not being able to get to their workplace need your accountability. Show your customers that you truly care,” he wrote.
Responding to his post, the Old CEO said they have “enough programs” for their customers if they face service delays.
“If you were a genuine one, you would have known. Again, don’t try and back out of this. Come and do some real work rather than armchair criticism,” he added.
Ola Electric’s Dominance Fading?
Ola Electric logged its lowest monthly sales this year in September, government data showed, as the firm saw its dominance eroded due to servicing network challenges.
Ola Electric, which made its stock market debut about two months ago, sold 23,965 vehicles in September, recording a month-on-month decline for the second consecutive month.
Its falling month-on-month sales have seen its market share decline for five straight months to 27% in September, from over 50% in April, the data showed.
The drop in sales comes amid scores of Ola Electric’s flagship S1 series EV scooters reportedly facing issues like malfunctioning hardware and glitching software.