[Resolved]  climb first — Non Refund of fees and cheating

Address:

Thane, Maharashtra

I have been cheated for Rs 2500 and most importantly i have lost my time for preparation and even my money is blocked. A person named ROHAN based at the main office powai, actually threatened me saying that i should not ask for my money as the owner of the Thane centre is a builder and so he may harm me. ROHAN even used abusive language while speaking to me. I was also similarly told that i'll get the refund in 1 day. NO REFUND has been given to me.

The details of my complain are as follows:
On 8th May 2012, I had visited the Thane branch for enquiry of coaching for banking exam (IBPS). The counselling was done by Mr Anish, who explained me in detail about the coaching that will be provided and the batch timings. He clearly mentioned the batch timings and days as Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and timings as 7.00 am to 8.30 am and the afternoon and evening batch timings. As I was interested in joining the morning batch and the timings suited me after some adjustments in my office timings, I paid a token amount of Rs 500 to Mr Anish. The fee for the course was Rs 5000/-.

I was interested in joining the 7.00 am to 8.30 am batch on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays only, because I m a working person and I had requested for half an hour concession on these 3 days to attend these classes. Also, I stay at a faraway suburb and coming to Thane everyday is not possible for me.

I was asked by Mr Anish to appear for a mock test next day (on 9th May 2012). When I went to the Thane Centre for the mock test on 9th May 2012 in the evening, there was no counsellor or centre manager present and the peons told me that they conduct the test. However, I was asked to pay 50% of the entire course fee, without which they would not conduct the mock test. I made cash payment of Rs 2000, to the office peon named Rohit. After this a mock test of approximately 1 hour was conducted. On finishing the test, the peon told me that the batches will start from the very next morning, however at a changed timing of 7.30 am to 9.00 am. As, it is not possible for me to take more than half an hour of concession in office timing, it was not possible for me to attend this coaching. I requested the peon to refund the fees paid immediately. He directed me to the Thane centre manager Ms ASHWINI GANGLA.

Ms ASHWINI GANGLA, gave me the option of different batch timing and extra coaching of 1.5 hour on another weekday. However, as it was simply not possible for me to attend the classes for more than 3 days a week, this couldn't be worked out. I again requested her to make a refund of the fees that I had made just an hour back. However, she refused to refund the fees on the pretext that the fees was deposited in the bank immediately and although she could deposit the fee, she couldn't withdraw money and refund the fees. As I have to travel longer distances, I requested her to make the payment on the same day. However, she said that it will take one day to make the refund. As she said that she will surely be refunding the fees, I also suggested her to make the payment in personal capacity and I would sign the requisite documents mentioning that I have received the full refund of fees and when the actual refund arrived she could reimburse herself. However, she refused this and then immediately withdrew from the commitment of making the refund. Later on, she again started saying that she will surely make the refund and it would be couriered to me by cheque at my address. I asked her to give me some sort of promise that the the refund will be made to me by giving it in writing. She refused to do so outright. So, I asked her if she is so sure of getting the refund can she give me some surety, since she has my address she can give me some thing worth my fees paid. However, the intention of Ms Ashwini was very clear that she would not make any refund as she refused to give anything as surety and even refused to give it in writing that she would refund the amount.

She then made me speak to one Mr ROHAN on phone, who claimed to be the Accounts Manager at Climb First and said was based at Powai. Just because Ms ASHWINI said that he would be processing the claim for refund I spoke to him on phone. Mr ROHAN immediately started threatening me by saying that he would hand me to the cops. He also threatened me saying that the Thane centre was owned by some builder and I must not mess with Climb First and not ask for refund. He again gave me the option of changed batch timing, which I refused for the same reasons as cited before and also because such threats made me believe that I should not be associated with this centre in any way. When Mr Rohan realised that I wouldn't agree to the changed batch timing option, he started saying that he would refund the money and would process the cheque on the very next day and would courier it to me immediately. When I asked if this was confirmed, he actually threatened that "if you dont receive the money, you can do whatever you wish to". So I began realising that I was just being taken for a ride and my money was gone as I wouldn't be able to attend the coaching due to changed batch timing and neither were the concerned people (the centre manager Ashwini and the Accounts manager Rohan) going to refund my money paid just a few hours before to them. However, as I was getting late to go home, I left the premises with the false commitment from Ms Ashwini and Mr Rohan.

Please note that, during the entire three hours that I was present at the Thane centre, Ms Ashwini kept on telling me to wait for 5-10 minutes and would actually keep me waiting for more than half an hour. And only on approaching her, would she 'remember' that I was waiting for her. On the next day (10th May 2012), Mr Rohan who had 'committed' that he would call me and give me the details regarding the cheque that he would issue for the refund, did not make any such call. So finally when I called Mr Rohan, he first did not remember me, then again threatened me that the Thane centre's owner is a builder and I shouldn't ask for my refund. He even said nasty things that "We had not asked you to pay us anything, so it is your fault that you have made the payment", "Your Rs 2500 is not a big estate, we pay a rent of Rs 2 lakhs per month for the Thane premises, your Rs 2500 means no big deal to us". During the entire day he would firstly tell me that he would call me in 10 minutes and never called back. He even lied that he is not in the office (he was in the office only, as I had called on the landline number and the receptionist handed him the phone!). On being unable to reach Mr ROHAN, I had also contacted Ms ASHWINI of Thane centre. She also similarly said that she would call me in 10 minutes and then stopped taking my calls and even made the peons lie that she had not come to the office (though i had spoken to her on the office number earlier).

Later in the evening, on 10th May 2012, one Mr Manoj called me 'claiming' that he was from the Services department of ClimbFirst. However, later it came to notice that he was from the marketing team . He again suggested some options of batches, saying that we will still refund your fees if you cannot take up this option. But by now, it was very clear from the conduct of the earlier employees I had interacted with that I was just being taken for a ride, so I refused and requested him to just process the refund which he had anyways said he will do. Even he promised that he will call on next day and give the details of the refund cheque. As expected, even he did not call the next day (11th May 2012). So I called him. He also seemed to remember me only faintly, but said he would send the cheque details the very next morning. Again as expected, he did not call. So I called the student helpline number and got his number from the executive.

When I called on this number I was shocked to hear that this Mr Manoj who spoke to me on 10th and 11th May 2012 was not from the Services department but was actually from the Marketing team and had falsely claimed to be from services and had falsely promised the refund.

The actual Service Manager Mr Manoj, very patiently listened to the whole thing and told me that he was completely unaware of the above incident. He also promised to look into the matter and would process the claim for refund after receiving my email. However, he also lead me to another person DEVASHRI MANTRI, who herself did not call me but asked her junior named RACHEL (ANDHERI). This girl RACHEL also made several promises and then disappeared. She mailed me the email id of DEVASHRI from the cell phone belonging to CLIMBFIRST. After emailing the issue to this DEVASHRi, when she did not respond, I again called up RACHEL, only to be shocked to hear from her that she was not RACHEL and the number from which she mailed me DEVASHRI's official CLIMB FIRST email id, does not belong to CLIMB FIRST and 'I' had dialled a wrong number.

After this incident it just became all the more evident that CLIMB FIRST IS A FRAUD ORGANISATION, ONLY INTERESTED IN STEALING THE STUDENTS MONEY. Till date i have received no refund of my money nor has any of the people called me.

I am very keen to see this organisation punished for cheating me of my money, wasting my crucial exam preparation time and peace of mind by harrassing me to no limits.

Looking at the number of complaints against them on the internet, I am sure they must be having a full time lawyer as their highest paid employee. Still, I am surely going to the consumer court against them.