April 1, or the April Fools day, is a day when you take anything that is told to you with a pinch of salt. But for Mumbaikar Sushil Narsian, what he half-suspected was a prank turned out to be a true story.
Narsian was charged with a whopping Rs 149 crore bill for a simple Mumbai ride that should have cost a couple of hundred rupees at the most.
Here's what happened.
Narsian booked an Ola cab from where he stays in Mulund West to Vakola Market on April 1. He was assigned a cab. Unfortunately, the cabbie's mobile phone got switched off, and he wasn't able to find the residence of Narsian on Google Maps.
To Narsian the cab looked to be stationary on the Maps, and so he decided to walk towards it. On reaching the driver's location, he did not find the cab.
What he did eventually find out was that the cab had been cancelled by the driver a while back, and he was charged a preposterous sum of Rs 149 crore for the trip he did not even take.
Had Ola played the sickest of jokes with him, he wasn't sure, for he had only booked a journey of around 22 KMs, which would have roughly costed him Rs 200-250.
Even the Rs 127 in his digital wallet linked to Ola had been debited.
He complained to the cab-aggregator's social media team, and they instantly credited the Rs 127 from his account, and removed the Rs 149 crore bill that was charged to him.
@SushilNarsian Thanks for pointing out the glitch, Sushil. We've corrected the issue at our end.
Here's a small token of our gratitude. Pls check your DM pic.twitter.com/jxeJ3unlLD— Ola (@Olacabs) April 4, 2017
"Initially, I thought it was an April Fools' prank," Narsian told NDTV.
Narsian will also be given a discount for the next 25 rides he takes till May 31.
Even though he faced a Rs 149 crore ordeal, he has become a mini celebrity in social media.
"Soon, you will be called for panel discussions on NDTV. And a call to the next season of Bigg Boss isn't far behind," teases his friend on Facebook.
While another jokes whether he had booked a cab to Neptune or Pluto.
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