After Uber, think twice before you cancel an Ola booking

Raveena Singhmoneycontrol.comBangalore-based Ola Cabs, which has been looking to take the fight to its US rival Uber, recently announced that it will charge a cancellation fee. For customers, this could be an unpopular step.Starting this month, the service provider will charge an undetermined amount if the customer does not cancel within five minutes of booking a normal cab and two minutes of booking a shared one.As per the new policy, the cancellation charge applies even if the driver of an Ola (from micro to E-rickshaws) finds that you aren't at your designated pick-up spot after waiting for you for ten minutes.The cancellation fee will be added to the bill amount of the next ride.This is in line with what low-cost taxi service providers like Uber has been doing since its inception. It charges Rs 60 on a cancellation done five minutes after making the reservations. Taxi for Sure, acquired by Ola, however, gives some leeway: if you pull out of your reservation before one hour of the journey you won't be charged. If you cancel your booking within an hour remaining for your journey time, you may have to pay 50 percent of a flat rate as decided by your commute provider. You will end up paying 50 percent of the minimum fare in case you are paying by the meter reading.Savaari, another player in the commutation market for out-station destinations, charges only if the booking is cancelled within 24 hours of the pick-up time. On a multi-day trip, the charge for the first day would be deducted from the total amount and the rest will be refunded whereas for a day trip, no refund will be given. Mega, Meru and Easy Cabs, unlike other radio taxi service providers, do not charge a single paisa, giving their users the flexibility of cancelling without hesitations. Though not widely known, if one finds the fine has been incorrectly charged, one can always raise a query and ask for a refund — a painstaking process.