Bad Experience with EZIDRIVE (For Hire Chauffeur Services)

[Bopanna]

My better half doesn't drive and needed a temporary chauffer for her town trip. We have a 12-yo M800 which is single driven (by me). Wife found a temporary for-hire chauffeur service called ezdrive with reasonable charges and talking to the callcenter, we were assured of an experienced driver duly licensed to drive; so she booked for a daylong trip.

Driver named Mujahid Pasha turned up more or less on time, but as soon as he started the car, it was apparent he was not familiar with driving rules. He was tailgate-ing, late braking what not. And sure as hell, shortly into the drive, he misjudged braking distance and banged into another vehicle. There was no damage to the front vehicle, so my wife did not suspect any damage to own vehicle too. Rest of the trip, the driver drove subdued and safe. I only got to check for damage in the evening when I returned from office.

Dented bonnet:


Broken bumper:


Feeling sad as this is the first frontal collision our M800 suffered in so many years of ownership - all thanks to EZIDRIVE and the rash driver employed by them. Please beware of employing chauffeurs from this company; esp if you have a high end car or a newer one. I have lodged a complaint wit the company and I'll update about followup action.

 

[appus]

Re: Bad experience with EZIDRIVE

Sad to hear about the incident. He may be a cab driver / temp traveler driver who mostly do these kind of rash driving in Bangalore. Thanks for letting us know. The website you mentioned is ezdrive but the actual website is EZIdrive ('i' missing in former)

Tariff was how much? That may give an idea to everyone out here. They ask for registering /logging in to show the tariff which I did not. Do update us

 

[amit1km]

Re: Bad experience with EZIDRIVE

Really Bad. More of that you had paid him for his misdeed.
The third party service really sucks now a day. Take any service like security service,cab service,On line purchase service etc.
I don't understand why third party service take the customer as granted.If you are lucky you may get the correct service else god save.

See if you are lucky your problem will be resolved but chance is minimal.No intention to discourage you but this is how our system work.

 

[KALINGA]

Re: Bad experience with EZIDRIVE

Really Bad. Sad to see the ride in this state.
Please log a complaint on the website.
The company should pay for the damage.

When you are allowing a new driver to drive your car the thumb rule is check the Driving License approval date.

if it is very recent , let's say 5-6 month to 1 year then do not give your car to that kind of driver. They are new driver and experiencing on your car.

 

[appus]

Re: Bad experience with EZIDRIVE

I called them up.
They have a charge of 250RS for 4 hrs & 60Rs for every remaining hours. They say - Driver take responsibility if something happens. On asking again that is not company's responsibility, they agreed and said 'Company will take care of dents/accident'. Read few reviews online was not so convincing. Sometimes you get good driver and sometimes a real bad one who barely knows how to drive.

I wanted someone for Saturday afternoon as I will be in office and to bring my family to a restaurant near my office & take them back. (12+12 =>24 km). 250Rs is okay. But, dents - accident ! I cant take it.

 

[draneeshpm]

Re: Bad experience with EZIDRIVE

Hi bopanna,
Sad to hear that.Can understand your anguish,but luckily your wife reached home safely.
Regards,
Aneesh.

 

[anshuman8]

Re: Bad experience with EZIDRIVE

@ Bopanna and all.

Do not know, this might be your bad luck. My family had hired drivers for them multiple times when I was abroad. But no complaints so far. All drivers have been good and careful.

Sorry for you.

 

[Bopanna]

I called them up.
They say - Driver take responsibility if something happens. On asking again that is not company's responsibility, they agreed and said 'Company will take care of dents/accident'.

We followed up on our complaint. First, there was the usual stalling starting from

Handwave #1. Dent was already there, the driver just touched the other vehicle, so this dent cannot be because of the driver's fault

Our Answer: We have a picture of the car the previous day (luckily we had one).

Handwave #2. Ok, maybe the dent was due to this incident, but it wasn't driver's fault as the vehicle he was following braked suddenly

Our Answer: Showed the article in Motor Vehicle Act that says it is responsibility of the driver to maintain proper distance. Tailgating is clearly his fault.

Handwave #3. Ok, so our driver caused the damage - but we clearly say that responsibility of damage is with the driver. At max, we can give you copy of driver's license

Our Answer: Who will compensate for the lost no-claim bonus and the time the car will be in garage. So we are escalating to their MD using our "contacts".

When you are allowing a new driver to drive your car the thumb rule is check the Driving License approval date.

Nice tip. Unfortunately, my wife was in too much of hurry for the trip, so forgot to take due diligence. She had just seen that the driver possesses a valid DL, and not more than that.

Hi bopanna,
Sad to hear that.Can understand your anguish,but luckily your wife reached home safely.

Thanks for the concern. And I too am thankful that no damage to life or limb of my wife, the occupants of the other car, and even the EZIDRIVE provided driver who caused the accident.

My issue with the EZIDRIVE company is how they tried to handwave and deflect blame, and only relented when we showed clear evidence of the driver's fault.

My lesson is never to trust an unknown driver with your own car. In case of no alternative, look out for some telltale signs of trouble:

1. Unkempt state : may not have slept well due to overtime; or rare case drunk
2. Too new a license
3. Nervousness locating controls, fumbles with clutch/gear/brakes while starting
4. Doesn't do seatbelt/ORVM check

In case of no alternative, insist on keeping the original DL with oneself while the car is being driven by the driver.

Thanks everyone for their concern.

 

[appus]

Thanks for the update. Let us know the outcome of it.
After that, i checked few other websites who provides the Driver on call services. They clearly mention one of the 'terms & condition' as 'we do not take responsibility of accident occurred during driving by our drivers. we have a stringent test to check the driver's capability etc etc'

That says it !

 

[icecool]

There is an old saying " Alls well that ends well".. Since your wife reached safely, and that is what should be the major concern here. Accidents do happen on road and no one wants to accept his fault. Everyone stands for his side of story. No offence for anyone, but my experience is that these hire agencies are just money minting machines and they do not care about the customers. If you want a compensation from them, it will be a rude and long battle. (Reason I say so, you will and as per your answers, have logic in your counter, but frankly they keep that at home before coming to office and while you are negotiating). I feel this attitude comes from 2 reasons:
- they are locals and they gang up against you in case you try pressuring them at wrong points
- the judicial and law system of the country has many loopholes and they are confident to tap one just in case the issue escalates

I have a friend who has hired drivers from more than 20 different agencies in bangalore. Result, just have a look at his car. His 1.5 years car has had a dent and paint job more than 5 times and still there are lot many scars / injury marks to be filled. (he had to hire because he gets tensed in traffic or big highways. He can drive only in vacant residential colony roads)

My personal take on this is to get a regular driver of your known person for such small trip, else hire a cab. It may cost a little bit more but no tensions while reaching the place and days after (as in your case)

 

[cagebee]

Hi
I too have availed ezidrive service for my parents when they are in town, and the driver who came was good, very calm and drives very patiently, so i took his personal number and now call him directly a day before i need a driver, so far works fine, also the good thing is he speaks tamil, kannada and english.

Also i usually intract eith the driver explaining about my car and what route he is going to drive and tell him how i want him to drive.

Thanks
Anand

 

[AshishDhali]

I hired a on call driver from EziDrive Travels yesterday (June 26, 2014). They have THE WORST DRIVERS AND CUSTOMER CARE PEOPLE. I asked for only drop facility but the CC booked for 4 hrs and told me that charges will be Rs.330, but their website says it's only Rs.270. However, they were able to provide a driver, Syed Musabir, but I HAD THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE WITH THE INEXPERIENCED DRIVER THEY PROVIDED.
First of all the company claims that verify driver's ID, booking SMS on mobile, but the driver didn't have anything. The driver said "Now a days company has stopped providing Id cards". Somehow I saw his DL and it was issued in 2012, I thought that he will a good driver but he was the worst and most inexperienced. He was applying sudden brakes, then lethargic in shifting gear going at 60KMPL in 3rd Gear and didn't have control over steering.
He was so bad that he completely overlooked wires keep on the side of road and got multiple big cuts on bumper plastic. Initially I thought that it's not big but when I saw today morning I got a big shock to see the big damage. Since the company doesn't take any accountability of any damages, it's better not to use any of their services.
Somehow I came home then the driver started asking "I need Rs.430", however, the customer care person said it's Rs.330.
As per my experience, I DON'T WANT ANYONE TO USE ANY OF THEIR SERVICE, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE WORST.

 

[Kushal500]

First experience with one of the Ezi Drive drivers for a long route - 500+ kms and I couldn't have been more disappointed. They actually sent a death agent who had no prior driving experience on highways. He lost all his steam after first 300 kms of driving. He had no experience in mountain driving and I had to take the wheel in my hands despite paying for his time.

Twice, he missed major accidents on our way back - not sure if the driver had vision issues, but he couldn't see two large lorries right in front of our car. Again, I had to ask him to stop the car and take the charge myself.

His average speed of driving on a National Highway was 32 kms with a fuel milage of 13.6 kmpl. Horrible experience - if Ezi Drive is your only choice, my recommendation is to cancel your travel!

They sent us a death agent and by grace of God, we survived! That sums it all up!

 

[Sidd7hartha]

First experience with one of the Ezi Drive drivers for a long route - 500+ kms and I couldn't have been more disappointed. They actually sent a death agent who had no prior driving experience on highways. He lost all his steam after first 300 kms of driving. He had no experience in mountain driving and I had to take the wheel in my hands despite paying for his time.

Twice, he missed major accidents on our way back - not sure if the driver had vision issues, but he couldn't see two large lorries right in front of our car. Again, I had to ask him to stop the car and take the charge myself.

His average speed of driving on a National Highway was 32 kms with a fuel milage of 13.6 kmpl. Horrible experience - if Ezi Drive is your only choice, my recommendation is to cancel your travel!

They sent us a death agent and by grace of God, we survived! That sums it all up!

What a horrible experience. Now a days very few car owners keep permanent driver, most of people hire driver from local driver centers. Generally these driver centers do not have any online facility. We make a call on previous day and they send the driver in time. Mostly they [ drivers] are local fellow. Myself hired a lot of drivers when I was not competent enough to drive. But I never had such experience. The rate here is Rs.240/- for 5 hrs and Rs.50/-for additional hrs [ within city]. I last hired a driver 3 to 4 months ago I do not know whether the rate had been revised.

 

[PrabhatK]

Try this, if you had Bad experience with your old Chauffeur
Try Zimmber- Driver on Demand.
The Most Trusted Home Services in india.
Do Try.