Millions of Ofo users waiting in line to get their deposits back

As of noon on Wednesday, millions of Ofo share bike users were waiting in line to get their bike deposits back, China News reported on Thursday.

Early adopters of the Ofo share bike service were asked to pay a 99 yuan (14 U.S. dollar) deposit, a figure that was later raised to 199 yuan for new users. Based on this, between 1.1 billion and 2.2 billion yuan is owed to users.

Over 10 million Ofo users are waiting in line to get deposits back. [Photo: VCG]

At lunchtime yesterday, there had been no comment from Ofo or its CEO Dai Wei whether all of the deposits would be repaid, and if so, when that was likely to happen. Ofo had previously advised that it takes up to 15 working days to a deposit to be returned, however many users have said they are still waiting for the return of their deposit one and a half months after lodging their application.

An Ofo user told a reporter on Thursday morning that the number of users waiting for the return of their deposit had apparently decreased to 9.97 million from 9.98 million on Wednesday, but that at this rate, it could take her three years to get her deposit back. Some Ofo users unwilling to wait for news from the company have started lining up outside Ofo's headquarters in Beijing to demand their money back.

A broken Ofo bike in Chongqing, December 19, 2018. [Photo: IC]

Another sign of Ofo's deep financial woes was seen this week when the company's CEO was put on a blacklist of debtors by a court in Beijing's Haidian District that restricts him from spending money on luxury services such as plane flights or high-end hotels.

Ofo is not the first company to come under fire from the public over their failure to return deposits. Similar stories have emerged from other companies in what's become known as the sharing economy. According to a report by the China Consumers' Association that was released earlier this month, the number of complaints about sharing economy services has been on the rise this year as several companies in the sector have struggled and collapsed.