Because the pandemic hit India arduous, customers additionally needed to modify to a brand new actuality and all plans got here to a halt with the lockdown. Flights, resort bookings and automobile leases canceled — many companies all of the sudden discovered themselves beneath a mountain of overwhelming quantities of refund requests with virtually zero money stream.
The startups working within the phase had two choices to select from — clear all invoices and cut back runway, or maintain on to all invoices and prolong the runway.
Whereas a method made the corporate guarantee its survival, the opposite maintained the goodwill of the corporate whereas risking all the setup. The selection wasn’t as easy, particularly amidst the descent among the many clients eagerly awaiting their dues. Some corporations did handle the disaster properly, for others, it simply received out of hand.
You will need to word that the Covid-induced disaster wasn’t the one cause for buyer grievances in opposition to corporations this yr — however it was undoubtedly a trigger for concern for lots of the startups. We additionally noticed corporations wading into sizzling waters with their stance on political points in addition to a number of complaints about edtech merchandise that made the headlines this yr.
Zoomcar — Prospects Demand Refunds On Social Media, Firm Stays Mum
Three months into the lockdown, a number of Zoomcar clients took to social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn to speak about their grievance in opposition to the corporate. In some circumstances, it had been 60 days since requesting for refunds for canceled bookings.
To make issues worse, there have been no concrete solutions from the corporate. “We agree along with your misery relating to the delay in getting a refund. Please be assured, our staff has been engaged on this, we’ll make sure the refund is processed as quickly as potential. We’re requesting your endurance within the interim.,” the corporate’s Twitter deal with would reply to all tweets with key phrases “Zoomcar” and “refunds”.
Some clients even took the matter into their very own palms and reached out to founder and CEO Greg Moran, however there was no response from that facet both. All their grievances fell on deaf ears. In response to Inc42’s queries, Moran stated that he was not conscious of any such situation or allegations made in opposition to the corporate. Though social media was full of clients’ anger.
However there isn’t a denying that the corporate was going by a tricky time in addition to their core providing got here to a halt with no signal of restoration. In keeping with sources throughout the firm, Zoomcar determined to maintain their staff on board and delay the refunds in the interim.
Learn our in-depth report right here.
NestAway – As Tenants Go away The Nest, The place Are The Refunds?
“I made a decision to vacate the home this June after the lockdown was lifted. After I raised a request to vacate on the app, it talked about that I might be paid again deposit refunds of INR 25,000 with out deductions inside 7 days, however this complete info was deleted from the dashboard the day after I moved out and I’m but to obtain any cash,” Siddhant Garg, a Bengaluru-based software program engineer, instructed Mint earlier in July.
This is only one of many claims NestAway was surrounded by July 2020. The lockdown and journey restrictions have been not too long ago lifted, work-from-home was instituted for one more couple of months at the least. There was no signal of a return to normalcy, so the migrated workforce did essentially the most logical factor — vacate their rented properties.
This rise in reverse migration has impacted virtually all startups working within the rental house, however issues received uncontrolled for NestAway. A number of clients moved shopper courtroom alleging fraud and extortion in opposition to the corporate attributable to non-payment of their refundable safety deposits. Some additionally took to social media to focus on their grievances and arranged themselves in apps like Telegram.
In June, NestAway spokesperson stated that the startups have witnessed a surge in move-out circumstances within the final 2-Three months, and has solved claims of about 3000 circumstances.
MakeMyTrip, Yatra.com, EasyMyTrip – On-line Journey Businesses Left To Pay For Cancelled Flights
As all touring plans got here to a halt with nationwide and world lockdowns, on-line journey companies (OTA) like MakeMyTrip, Yatra.com and EaseMyTrip discovered themselves within the muck of refunds regardless that they have been simply an enabler of journey bookings and never the sellers themselves. The platforms have been the primary to face the pent up anger of the shoppers as airways delayed funds.
However what might airways do, they too have been sounded by multiple-crore funds because the world got here to a standstill. In keeping with media reviews, extra tickets price INR 180 Cr have been booked within the first 9 days of lockdown, between March 25 to Could 3, throughout all personal air carriers. Indigo contributed to virtually 50% of tickets price INR 90 to 95 Cr.
Learn our full report right here
Digital Lending Apps – Straightforward Loans Flip Into A Nightmare
The Indian authorities has been aggressively pushing for monetary inclusion, creating a bigger scope for new-age digital lenders identified for his or her easy-and-breezy mortgage approval course of. Even earlier than the phase might take off utterly, it has witnessed some problematic points that must be handled on an pressing foundation.
At the very least 5 persons are identified to have dedicated suicide in latest months, allegedly as a result of harsh mortgage restoration strategies employed by these digital lending platforms. One sufferer of this alleged harassment was Abhishek Makwana, a author of the favored Hindi sitcom ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma’, who died by suicide on November 27.
Regardless of the mortgage dimension, the story of harassment stays the identical. It begins with well mannered reminders however turns into harassment, abuses of the shoppers and their family members even. Few clients Inc42+ spoke to have named the Purple Carpet app, amongst others, to have carried out such techniques.
In one of many incidents, the Purple Carpet app despatched threatening and abusive messages to a buyer’s fiancee and her father which resulted in a damaged marriage even earlier than it might occur.
Learn the Inc42 Plus particular report right here.
WhiteHat Jr – From Advertisements To Merchandise, A Host Of Points For Edtech Big
WhiteHat Jr is definitely essentially the most talked-about startup in India in the mean time. Based solely two years in the past, WhiteHat Jr already has achieved an annual income fee of $150 Mn, a subscriber base of 4.2 Mn customers throughout the globe and a takeover from the world’s most valued edtech startup BYJU’S. Nonetheless, the yr has additionally been full of controversies for this edtech startup.
The corporate’s promoting methods and aggressive takedown of critics has been some of the controversial features, palms down. Folks could argue that these points have been majorly raised by non-customers and critics on social media, who by no means truly attended their paid periods. However the controversies have undoubtedly impacted the corporate’s customers as properly.
WhiteHat Jr’s on-line repute administration staff’s inner communications got here public, due to software program engineer Pradeep Poonia. These chats highlighted how the coding for teenagers startups would suppress the voice of its clients giving real opinions concerning the product.
One of many clients had additionally reached out to the corporate’s CEO Karan Bajaj highlighting their grievances, nevertheless as a substitute of fixing it, the client was provided 4 free courses as a substitute.
Zomato, Swiggy – Political Chatter Goes Flawed For Supply Giants
‘To be or to not be politically right’ is a dilemma many companies face, however only a few have the abdomen to really do it. In occasions when being vocal about political opinion results in boycott campaigns, unfavourable opinions and a variety of on-line trolling, meals aggregator companies Zomato and Swiggy determined to combat the critics with their satirical tweets and upfront strategy.
For Zomato it truly began final yr, when a buyer complained to Zomato about how he didn’t need to be served by a Muslim supply govt. The meals supply enterprise determined to not let it slide beneath the carpet and replied “meals will not be a faith, it’s a faith”.
Since then, Zomato has not been one of many favourite targets in on-line outrages. The Deepinder Goyal-led firm has left no alternative to make its views on fairness fairly clear, and name out the bigotry. The corporate even ensured that they’ll look into their promoting methods when requested about their advertisements operating on Republic TV. Therefore, this results in one other #BoycottZomato development on Twitter.
Used to Zomato’s ‘liberal’ stance, quickly clients have been left shocked by Swiggy’s smug assertion that gained the hearts of many. A satirical tweet from finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s parody account learn, “Had an argument with my Bhakt buddy over a farmers protest. He stated that we aren’t depending on farmers for meals. We will all the time order meals from Swiggy. He gained.” Quickly the corporate jumped into the scene with their “Sorry we don’t refund training” assertion.
After all, as startups grow to be an increasing number of mainstream, we count on extra such public spats and controversies within the months to return. For now, you possibly can take a look at all our 2020 in Evaluate tales right here.
