Pune Consumer Court asks ed-tech company to pay ₹50K compensation to customer

The victim identified as Supriya Neralkar of Chinchwad had filed the complaint against BYJU’s learning application through advocate Pavankumar Bhansali

PUNE The Pune District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has pulled up educational technology company BYJU’s and its brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan for not providing education services after accepting the payment to a consumer.

The Pune District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has pulled up educational technology company BYJU’s and its brand ambassador Shahrukh Khan for not providing education services after accepting the payment to a consumer. (REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE)

The victim identified as Supriya Neralkar of Chinchwad had filed the complaint through advocate Pavankumar Bhansali stating that BYJU’s learning application accepted ₹15,000 through online payment for the education course of her child for classes 4 to 12 and was asked to pay the remaining amount of ₹ 1,10,000 through EMIs. The company had promised to refund the amount if the course was not according to her requirements, however, when she asked to refund the ₹15,000 the company refused. Also, BYJU’s had already taken a ₹ 1.1 lakh loan without her consent, the complaint stated.

Despite repeated reminders and notices, when BYJU’s did not refund the amount and took back their K-12 Lenovo Tablet, Neralkar moved to the consumer forum in March 2019. The case was filed against BYJU’s the learning app, Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, Raveendran Byju, Riju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath and actor Shahrukh Khan. The court also issued notices to them but they neither appeared nor sent any representative.

After going through the documents submitted by the complainant, the forum decided the case and directed BYJU’s and others to refund ₹15,000 with nine per cent interest since October 14, 2018, the date when she had made the payment. Additionally, the forum has ordered the company and others to pay ₹ 50,000 as compensation.The court has also directed the company to submit a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to ensure that the loan amount against the Neralkar is paid and she is not required to pay future EMIs.

HT tried to get in touch with BYJU’s, however, no response was received.