Shine.com — Interview Call Feature Service

I’m listing down all the details of the events.

1. I received a call from Mr. X to avail the interview call feature services(“Service”). This service was initially offered to me for INR 2359/-.

The Sales pitch for the above conveyed the following

a. I was told that INR 2359/- is what I have to pay.

b. The revenue that Shine generates from this deal is actually from the Employers as a percentage on my CTC upon successful conversion.

c. Success ratio is 98% and I will be featured exclusively to the employers.

d. The Relationship Manager will guide me on my resume.

This seemed like a usual practice. Now, on the presumption that INR 2, 359/- is what I have to pay for the Service and also given that the brand name that shine.com has, I went ahead with the Service. I paid INR 2359/- on[protected]. Please take note: Mr. X asked me to make the payment while he is on call with me…which I did…on a real time basis.

2. Thereafter, Mr. Y was assigned to me as the Relationship Manager/expert advisor. He heard me and told me that he will work on my profile and get me results within 7-10 days. Further, I was told that there are companies/employers who are willing to offer X+50% of my CTC. I was told that 90% is his effort, 10% will be mine…which I was okay with…Up until now I was completely okay with the conversation.

Thereafter, I was told the following:

a. For me to avail the Services (which was offered to me at INR 2359/-), I had to verify my personal and professional documents. Two invoices popped up- INR 5192 for educational verification and INR 9202 (together INR 14, 394/-) for professional verification… This suddenly became a precondition for me to avail the Service which was initially offered to me at INR 2359/-… I was shocked to see this…Why wasn’t this communicated to me before???... I didn’t subscribe to pay INR 14, 394/-…this is the disclosure which should have been given to me at the time I was having conversation with Mr. X. Please tell me if this is really fair???

I have a simple question. Since when did the verification process become this expensive? From what I know, cumulatively it shouldn’t cost more than INR 1500/- to INR 2500/- and that too on the higher side …. Why is this borne by an employee??... These background verifications are just a phone call away… If there are travelling costs involved for physical verification…this should be bifurcated….. If you think otherwise, it would be very helpful if they could justify the INR 14, 394/-… This is a cost which cannot be afforded by all…. including me…. and is very very significant…

b. I was told that this is a small investment for the future benefits that I will get…and Shine is a reputed organisation… and with this small investment I will have the possibility to get the benefit of X+50% as CTC….

c. Despite my understanding of point (a) above, after listening to point (b) and given the fact that Shine.com is a reputed organisation, I went ahead with this. Giving the benefit of doubt to Shine…

d. Totally up until now, I had already paid INR 16, 753/-. Again this payment was done while Mr. Y was on a call with me…

e. Following which I repeatedly asked if this is the last set of payments that I have to do? I received no answer to this…This question was dodged by saying that these are investments and are for my benefit….

f. Later on, Mr. Y released another profoma invoice of 17, 700/- for Job and Interview assistance…. Seriously!!!???!! Now suddenly this became the precondition to avail the interview call feature services…. For the Services which initially was offered to me at INR 2, 359/- now has suddenly shot up to INR 34, 453/- …. These are step by step preconditions…Things I didn’t ask for…I couldn’t really afford…. How is this fair?

g. Conversation with Mr. X made me believe that Job and Interview assistance is part of the Service offering under INR 2, 359/- and the actual revenue that Shine will be generating, will be from the employer…

This is lack of disclosure, misinformation, lack of communication and can be construed as a white collar crime …I clearly fell for the unethical sales trap… After realizing this, I told Mr. Y that I don’t want to avail your Services which I thought was of INR 2359/-…. I was told by him that a refund cannot be given….”Why wasn’t this communicated to me earlier” I asked him…He then, after making all the payments, drops me an email which says “We don’t have a refund policy”. After making all the payments.

You need to understand that there is a clear difference between:

“We don’t have a refund policy” and “You have NO Refund Policy”. There is a huge difference between the two….

Coming back…. Mr. Y told me that in the payment gateway, below there is a T&C (3 pages) which somewhere says that Shine doesn’t refund…. Are you expecting me to read this while Mr. X and Mr. Y are on a call with me and asking me to make the payments immediately and are constantly following up like in a typical salesmanship like manner….Sales can be conducted in a very ethical manner by giving full and absolute disclosure at the beginning… Please understand this….

After having said that I have a few questions below:

1. Why wasn’t the above no refund disclosure given to me beforehand?

2. Why weren't all the other costs which surfaced up later on (hidden costs which far exceeded the INR 2359/-) disclosed to me before? This is a system flaw and needs to be addressed to…

3. Why isn’t there a grievance redressal channel? These complaints/concerns should be kept confidential for the benefit of all.. It has to be raised and resolved within closed doors…

Please help provide me and the people who have been affected by this with two resolutions:

1. All disclosures should be given beforehand…Costings of every aspect…One cannot be hooking people with INR 2, 359/- and then preconditioning them to pay an extra INR 32, 000/-…This is clearly a gimmick and I can’t allow people to fall for it….

2. This is the worst kind of experience that I’ve had…and that too coming from an organisation like Shine…. I don’t want any services (because of the above reasoning)….I want to be refunded…This is my hard earned money…

Request you to look into this please