DH Latest NewsDH NEWSLatest NewsNEWSTechnologyInternationalBusiness

Byju’s- nothing sells like marketing lies… here’s a prime example :

A behemoth tuition app originated from Kerala, now spread across the country and abroad for the past decade has now come out into the open With all their falsities clear as the day!

BBC recently reported a series of complaints and allegations against Byju’s app on its global edition website. BBC’s reports many case studies from parents and employees who lost money alleging scams by the company. As per the report from BBC, many parents raised complaints that they never received the full service and refunds as promised by the company.

Mr Singh, an accountant, claims he paid 5,000 rupees (£48; $66) upfront and borrowed another 35,000 rupees in a loan provided by the company for a two-year math and science programme for his child.

Mr Singh stated that the company offered him a free counselling session for his child claiming that would help the child’s focus on academics which he believes was actually an aggressive marketing strategy by the company.

A sales representative came to his house for free counselling and asked his son all kinds of challenging questions that he couldn’t answer. The desperate parents got demotivated about their child’s future and fell for this trap.

Mr Singh admitted to the BBC that he felt compelled to purchase the training. He alleges, however, that he did not receive the services he was promised, such as face-to-face coaching and a counsellor who would contact and inform him on his son’s progress, and they simply stopped all communications with him and stopped answering his calls.

There are many such complaints from parents about not getting refunds and services. Byju’s app has over six million users. The app was launched in 2011 as the world’s most innovative edutech startup.

In numbers of assets and turnover, Byju’s had skyrocketed. Many giant corporates like the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, named after the daughter of Facebook founder Zuckerberg have investments with the company. But in terms of service and customer-employee satisfaction, the company plummeted.

One of the company’s sales strategies is to constantly call parents on the phone. But parents told the BBC that sales agents never responded to their call when they asked for a refund.  Byju’s denied the allegations. The company claims that parents and students who understand the value of their product and believe in it are more likely to buy it.

Byju’s’ former employees also raise complaints against the company that they had to work 12 to 15 hours a day to reach the target assigned by the company. The excessive workload and toxic work environment ruined their mental and physical health. Former employees have told BBC that the company would terminate staff without giving prior notice claiming false allegations.

There are cases pending in many consumer courts in India regarding the poor services of the app. Three consumer courts in India have ordered compensation for complaints about refunds and non-delivery of services. No major media houses in the country have reported this huge scam by Byju’s. Instead, all of them were piled up with advertisements by the company. Leading Actors from all the major film industry like Shah Rukh Khan, Mahesh Babu and Mohanlal advocating the app for the children escalated its acceptability skyrocketing it to the level of a country’s leading business house. From there Byju’s never had to look back. No complaints about it ever surfaced and even if something turned up were effectively squashed and any follow up on it dealt by their hefty legal team.

In this way, a Keralite could amass millions through false promises to young students and even now their efforts continue relentlessly. This can easily be categorised into the level of a money lending giant who suffocates customers with interests and high handedness. Isn’t it time that people realised what a grand charade it was and how cleverly they were taken for a ride?

It’s Shylock taken another birth in the form of Byju’s.

shortlink

Post Your Comments


Back to top button