On 14th August(Late Night) I had booked an i10 Grand Self-Drive Car which was to be picked up from your Wadala Location at 9:30 AM on 15-Aug 2020. I had booked the car for a period of about 1.5 days and the car was to be returned on 16-Aug at 12 PM. Payment(of Rs. 5000 Deposit+~Rs. 2700 Rental) was made by me through Debit Card and I received a confirmation email asking me to visit "A block no 32 ground floor opp Wadala RTO office, Wadala, Wadala Truck Terminal, Sion, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400022" to pick up the car. When I reached the Wadala Address I was unable to find the location(as none existed there). At about 9:15 AM, 15 minutes prior to my booking I received a call from your call center No.+91 11 4555 3200 stating that I should wait at Wadala, they will ask the local partner to contact me.
They also mentioned that there was a defect in the car i.e. the car boot / dicky was not opening. Despite waiting for 15 minutes, at the designated booking time 9:30 AM I called the Myles Helpline No. 88822 22222 and was told to take down a number and that I should call up the local partner Mr. Allen on 97697 38638. At 9:30 AM when I called up Mr. Allen, he said that I should come to Kurla West where the car is located. When I refused, he said "OK I will come to Wadala but I haven’t received your documents and need to verify them first". He asked me to send me my Aadhaar Card and Driving License on his WhatsApp Number. I informed him that I had already uploaded the document online on the Myles Website when making the booking and I was not comfortable sharing them on Whatsapp. Mr. Allen asked me to contact the call center. He said he would bring the car to Wadala but would not be able to hand it over to me till he saw my documents, to which I agreed.
On calling the call center they said that they would send me a mail as there was some problem in their system and they were not able to access the Aadhaar Card and Driving License in their System. They said I could share the details with Mr. Allen. I refused to share the details on Whatsapp but was willing to show him the originals. On questioning the call center executive, I was told that Myles did not have any office in Wadala and Wadala was simply a "Virtual Location" for pickup of the car. I was surprised at this statement as I had travelled all the way from Cuffe Parade by Ola Taxi and there was not even a place to wait or sit at Wadala. I was waiting in the open on the road outside the Wadala Truck Terminal under intense rain. Even after waiting for a long time, I did not receive any mail and therefore called up Mr. Allen. He said that he would not leave Kurla till I sent him the documents on WhatsApp. However, I informed him that I was waiting for the email request from Myles, which I would reply with the attached documents. Mr. Allen arrogantly told me that he will not come to Wadala till I do not send him the documents on WhatsApp and said that I could go ahead and cancel the booking if I wanted. At this stage, I suspected that Mr. Allen did not have the i10 car or had already hired it out to some other customer and was simply trying to find an excuse to push me into cancelling my booking.
Since the email from the call center did not come through, I again called up the call center and they informed me that they have already sent the email. But upon checking it, I had received none. I finally asked them to send me their email address so that I could send the documents without waiting for their email. I once again sent the documents, which they confirmed that they received. Thereafter they once again asked me to call up Mr. Allen. NOTE: During this waiting period NOT ONCE did the call center or Mr. Allen call me up. Throughout I was expected to call up the call center and Mr. Allen. I once again called up Mr. Allen at about 10:15 AM i.e. about 45 minutes from the time of my initial booking. This time Mr. Allen said that I was too late and that I had asked him to cancel the booking. He said that he can’t wait for 45 minutes and that’s why the booking was cancelled. This was very strange behavior as Myles call center never mentioned this to me all through the time I was emailing my documents. Mr. Allen said that he did not care if I complained as he was not from Myles and he was a Local Partner by the name of Alliggo Rentals. I once again called up the Myles call center and asked them what to do.
They were surprised that Mr. Allen had cancelled the booking and asked me to wait there at Wadala. At about 11:30 upon again calling up the call center, they asked me to call up another local partner who had an i20 car and asked me to follow up with him as the car was close to Wadala at Sion Area. Since Sion is close to Wadala I agreed to go to Sion provided that I was compensated for the taxi fare. Upon calling up the local partner on 9867338444 the local partner once again told me to come to a slum in Netaji Nagar in Kurla West and pick up the car from there. When I refused, he told me that he won’t come to Wadala. I once again called up the call center and asked them to finally cancel my booking as they did not have any cars and were simply fooling around by making me wait in the rain, without even having a person present or an office or waiting area. The call center people apologised and cancelled my booking and agreed to refund the amount I had paid.
However, I also informed them that I will be taking compensation for the Taxi Fare from my place of residence till Wadala and back and also taking compensation for an alternative mode of transport that I would require for both the days. Within few minutes of me cancelling my booking, I received a call from 98672 85333 East-West Car Rentals, claiming that they are a partner of Myles and that they will give me a car directly and not through Myles. They told me to wait at Wadala and the same person calling from mobile number 9867338444 now said that he will come from Kurla with the car within 10 minutes. I flatly refused and immediately reported this behaviour to the Myles Call Center.
I am wondering what a female customer would have done if she was picking up the car alone? What would she have had to face? Would Myles have made her stand on the road in the rain?
Would she have had to share her documents on Whatsapp with an unknown person who is not even a Myles employee?
If Myles did not have an office at Wadala why did they give a false address of Block A No. 32?
Did Myles or Mr. Allen even have a car ready on that day for booking?
Can Myles be trusted in the future?