Man Ties Faulty E-Scooter To Donkey, Parades It After Manufacturer Allegedly Ignored Complaints [Video]

A man in India staged a protest by tying his faulty e-scooter to a donkey and parading it across town, as the vehicle had allegedly stopped working a few days after it was bought.

A video of the incident, which took place in the Beed district of the western state of Maharashtra, has gone viral on social media.

The electronic vehicle displayed banners and posters urging people not to trust Ola, the cab-hailing service, which recently ventured into making e-scooters. The man had reportedly approached the company to file a complaint; however, they allegedly failed to respond.

A clip shared on Instagram on Monday showed the man walking with the two-wheeler as the donkey walked ahead of him.

The man, identified as Sachin Gitte, told ABP News [Google Translate showed] the e-scooter shut down just six days after he bought it. Gitte said after he contacted the company, they initially sent a mechanic, but nobody else has turned up since to repair it. Gitte said despite making several calls to the customer service, he neither got a satisfactory response nor a specific remedy.

Angered, Gitte tied the newly-bought e-scooter to a donkey and paraded it across the town with banners displaying: "Beware of this fraudulent company, Ola," and "Do not buy two-wheelers of Ola Company."

Gitte told ABP News he even contacted Consumer Forum, but they did nothing to repair or replace the scooter. Gitte had put in an order for the vehicle in September 2021, and received it on March 24, 2022, NDTV reported.

Ola hasn't responded to International Business Times' request for comment about the incident.

The cab-hailing company has recalled nearly 1,441 e-scooters after reports of several fire incidents. The Indian authorities have formed a committee last month to probe into the accidents and make remedial recommendations, Reuters reported via Yahoo.

"Our internal investigation into the March 26th vehicle fire incident in Pune is ongoing and the preliminary assessment reveals that the thermal incident was likely an isolated one," Ola said in a statement to ENTRACKR.

Ola isn't the sole manufacturer whose name got involved in the fire controversy, other Indian startups, Okinawa and PureEV have also faced criticisms for their e-scooter batteries exploding in the recent past.