Journey of an iPhone lost in an Ola Cab

A couple of days ago, my wife accidentally left her iPhone in the back-seat of an Ola Cab during a trip to Malleshwaram. She realized the mistake after alighting and immediately borrowed a friend’s phone to try and call her phone. She then called me to convey the message.

I logged into the Ola App and called the driver’s number, who responded immediately. He said he could locate the phone in the cab and had it is with him. I asked him if he could go back to the drop-point and hand it back to my wife. The driver indicated that he already had another ola-booking and had to take a passenger to Koramangala. He said he would be returning to North Bangalore later in the evening and could return the phone back to us.

I also did a quick “find iphone” to verify it was live and where the driver said he was. At this point, I was reassured that

• The phone was not lost
• The driver admitted he had the phone and would eventually have to return it

I continued to track the phone during the day - from Malleshwaram to Banshankari, on to Electronic City, then to Sahakar Nagar, Hebbal to Banaswadi.

Later that evening, I called the driver who said he was in Nagvara area and if I could come there to pick-up the phone. It was well after 8 PM and I realized that although I knew the way to Banaswadi, I wasn’t very familiar with the neighborhood; and it would take at least an hour in traffic to get there. I requested him to stop by the next morning, and I would compensate him for the trip. 

I called the driver the early next morning, but he didn’t take the call. I continued to call him during the day and his number was switched off.  “find iphone” showed that our iPhone hadn’t moved from the location in Banaswadi though the battery was starting to run low.

I logged into Ola App to see if their customer service could help. Under contact-us, left item in the cab option, their message is simple: 

“You can view the driver details below on the screen. Please call the driver and arrange for a pickup of the belonging at a convenient location. If driver was unable to help you with your belonging, we request you to lodge a police complaint. We will cooperate in the investigation and provide the required assistance in recovering your belonging.”

I also called their customer care number and talked to an agent who reiterated the message. He said that since it was over 24 hours since I had “lost” the phone, I should file a First Information Report (FIR), after which their back-office folks would help in the investigation. On googling about similar cases, people had posted their experiences about filing a FIR with the police; hence, I wanted to do so as a last resort only since:

• The phone was technically not “lost” since the driver admitted he had it. 
• As many of us in India realize, it is more than a bit of a hassle to file an FIR
• Finding the appropriate police station to file the report would be a bit of a runaround: Would I have to file the report at Malleshwaram where the trip ended, or SanjayNagar, where the trip began, or somewhere, where the driver lived?
• Getting the Police involved too early might put the driver on the defensive
• I would also have to “cooperate” with the Police to eventually close the case

I decided to adopt a wait-and-watch for yet another day. I was willing to give the driver the benefit-of-doubt, especially since Ola and cab drivers do take on multiple shifts and have to cris-cross the city to earn a living. A reward for a forgotten phone is not sufficient to drive across the city and miss a peak-time earnings.  Early next morning (Day-3) I tried calling the driver, who didn’t pick up. I decided to email a complaint to Ola.

From Mohan

To support@olacabs.com

Hi

I need help in passing the message to the ola driver

I had used my ola account with phone number 974130xxxx to book a trip on 16th November. 

My wife forgot her iPhone 5s in the cab by mistake. Immediately after the trip I called and talked to the driver on his number 903525YYYY. He said he found the iPhone and had it was safe with him. 

The driver said he will try to contact me later in the evening on 16th. I have not been able to contact him since. 

I don't want to file a Police FRI yet since the Driver seems Honest. 

Please pass the message to the driver to contact me immediately and arrange to return my phone

My contact: 978789xxxx

Home: 080235xxxxx

Regards

Mohan

Trip details Wed, Nov 16, 08:25    

Mini•CRN 45781ABCd

From Main Road, Sanjaynagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

To 11th Cross Rd, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru

Driver XXX

KAXXXX54 . Indica

I got an immediate response from Ola Support:

##- Please type your reply above this line -##

Ola Mohan

We have received your request (Ticket 26709xxx) and our team is looking at it right now. If you have any questions or comments, please reply to this email.

Thank you.
Ola Support

Get quick help by clicking on the Support section in your Ola app menu or by visiting help.olacabs.com

***

Within 20 minutes of sending the email to Ola, I got a call back from the driver. He said he was in Madiwala and could return my i-phone. I said I could come and collect the i-phone, but he offered to drive down in about half-hour and suggested that I “compensate” him for the trip, which I agreed.

The driver turned up near our house in about half-hour (with a “friend”), returned the phone, collected his reward and left.

I thanked him and sent an email that “The Phone has been returned by the driver. Please thank him for the honesty and you may close the case”

Lesson learnt:

• Recall the message frequent fliers hear all the time? “Please check around your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought on board with you and please use caution…..” This applies equally to cab and Ola rides too
• It is important to be patient but persistent, especially if the “left/lost” item has been located. It may take a while for you to get it back in your hands
• Drivers are intrinsically honest, though they are overworked. 
• Misappropriating an expensive phone is not worth their trouble, especially if they can earn an honest  ‘reward’ or tip in return. 
• Try negotiating the return of the item, and threaten FIR etc only as a last resort

Smile on my wife’s face after she was reunited with her phone: priceless!  😄

Psst … You want to replace your office computer with an iPad? Sure. Do you want the SLA to go with it?

There was an interesting in Wall Street Journal that I was reflecting on over the weekend (Apple Macs Land on More Corporate Desks). The article chronicles how General Electric employees can now choose Apple over Windows PCs. Though the spotlight was on GE, the author adds “Apple has very little of the corporate computer market but is making progress, according to market researcher Forrester Research, which estimates the Cupertino, Calif., company will sell $9 billion worth of Macs and $10 billion worth of iPads to businesses this year, up about 50% from last year.” A tweet from Prof. San yesterday alerted me to another article, almost a corollary to the fist one titled “How management has failed at RIM.” The article chronicles the rise and fall of Canadian tech giant that that till few years ago was unstoppable.
These and other similar articles appearing in business press are a sure sign that business users are looking at adopting wider range of smart-devices at work. The popularity, ease of use and features of smart phones and tablet computers have been analyzed by tech analysts, digerati and bloggers but the Enterprise Architect in me continues to reflect on the implication of these technologies on business computing.

The shift towards personal choice of computing devices at work has interesting implications: Blackberry, that till recently was the standard-issue smartphone for business users is now losing ground. Business users who prefer iPhones or Android smartphones are tired of carrying two devices – one for personal use and another issued by their employers. Add to the mix the resurgence of interest in tablet computing devices, lead by iPad’s, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, BN’s Nook and several Windows based competitors.

Technology innovations in the space continue pushing boundaries of usability, restricted only by imagination. What began as a move from Personal Computers to Laptops a few years ago is leading to yet another seismic shift towards smartphones and tablet computers. The implication is clear: IT teams are increasingly getting requests from “IT user” communities to either expand the scope of computing devices that are approved for Personal (and Professional) computing at work. Most organizations still dictate a narrow array of devices that can be hooked to corporate networks for ‘business’ use.

Enterprise Architects, responsible for spearheading (and gate keeping) technology standards are coming to grips with the implications. However, for EA’s it is not just usability or “coolness factor” we have to weigh in while evaluating this push towards open computing. Security (of course), Support, Upgrades and updates, Integration and extensibility are just a few dimensions to evaluate while formulating an approach for corporate rollout.

 Traditionally, IS teams have been responsible for support of hardware, software and infrastructure required by ‘users’. This division of labor suited everyone well. Non-IT users could focus on their core competence - be it sales teams out in the field or bank tellers or reservation agents or nurses at hospitals monitoring patient records. For most system issues, users would call the IS help-desk that either walks them through the problem resolution or sends someone onsite to help. Service Level and Operating Level Agreements (SLAs/OLAs) were well defined and understood. By opting for personal choice of computing device, there are a few scenarios that begin emerge:

Scenario 1: Laissez faire Cafeteria style buy-and-bring-your-own-device to work. In this model, users will have to take on ‘personal responsibility’ for problem resolution for the devices they opt to acquire. For example, I opt to bring in an iPad to work (instead of my office issued HP/Dell/Whatever Wintel laptop) and just before an important client presentation, I encounter a problem with wifi and network access that I am unable to troubleshoot. Turns out it is a hardware problem for which I cannot call my IS tech support. I have to get in touch with Apple’s help desk and work through the issue.

Scenario 2: Expand scope of support with levels of service: IS team extends a list of “supported” systems to include emerging genera of desktops, tablets and handhelds. To control costs, one could contemplate level-of-service for device classes. For example currently serviced Windows desktops/laptops would get a “Platinum level” service that includes hardware, operating system and application support, Mac OS devices would get a “Gold level” service level and so on.

There are several other scenarios besides one can analyze but before that a few critical questions one would need the business users to answer: 

• How much of “ownership” is the typical business user willing to take in a Laissez faire model?
• What is the total cost(to organization) to be able to expand support and service levels for “All” devices - current and emerging?

Other interesting links on the topic

• Corporate users make the iPad connection -FT  
• Ready for work- Apple “Get secure access to email, calendar, and contacts via Exchange ActiveSync or open standards like IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV. With support for IPSec and SSL VPN and WPA2 Enterprise Wi-Fi, users can also connect to private corporate networks.”
• iPad at Work: The Essential Guide for Business Users
• Kindle Fire Presents Challenges and Concerns for Corporate IT