“OYO is a scam,” was a common emotion among social media users after a customer of the hotel booking company claimed that she was forced to sleep on the floor at the Railway station because of OYO.
In an Instagram video that has now gone viral, the woman shared a clip from the railway station platform, recounting how she was forced to vacate her hotel room just an hour after checking in, despite having a confirmed online hotel booking with OYO.
“OYO can make you sleep on the platform,” she wrote.
In a lengthy post, the Instagram user ‘loverseraaa’, said she had booked a room with OYO for a night because “I had train in the morning and my home was quite far in the city”.
“But oyo being oyo, the hotel manager gave me check-in after verifying the online booking, but after 1 hour, he knocked on my door and said, ‘Owner called, and this room can’t be given at this low price. The price listed on the online platform is wrong, and you have to pay extra’,” the customer wrote in her social media post.
She then called OYO’s customer care for a resolution, but things only went downhill for her from there.
She was first shifted to a different hotel in a “very shady” place with no one at the reception. “I called customer care again. He said the hotel owner was not picking up and then asked me to relocate again.”
This other hotel was 7 km away from the location she was in, and since she had a train to catch and OYO had nothing to offer near the railway station, she opted to get a refund instead.
But even that did not go smoothly and the OYO customer was asked to contact a different branch that handles refunds.
“Since there was no option left and I was late enough to check in any new hotel, I decided to stay at the station. And here I am, sleeping on the platform,” she shared.
LiveMint reached out to OYO for a comment and is awaiting a reply.
Here’s how the netizens reacted:
Several users shared that they, too, have faced a similar issue with the hotel booking app OYO. Many users called the company a “scam” and called for its ban.
“OYO has lost all credibility. Don’t trust them, I’m speaking from experience,” a user said.
“Still people are using OYO? Its better to move to other platforms which provide better customer care and list only genuine hotels,” another added.
“OYO should be banned, New companies should emerge in this sector. Then they will learn by the loss. Indian customers are underestimated,” a social media user demanded.
“OYO is a scam; I have experienced the same,” a netizen exclaimed.
“Oyo is dead, do not book with them,” said another user.