No question of mis-selling, sales team doesn't have rights: Byju's to NCPCR

Says that by design, every sale is unapproved until it is verified by a triple-layered audit mechanism that reaches out to the interested customer through SMS, audio and video calls

Edtech giant Byju’s attended a meeting on Friday at the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), in response to the summons issued by the body last week.

Byju’s urged NCPCR to consider the fact that the summons was issued on the basis of a single media report which made sweeping generalisations based on inputs from unnamed sources that comprise a tiny fraction of its large user base. Byju’s said it cannot possibly verify the authenticity of the article because the media house refused to share either the data points it referred to, or the sampling methods it used to select those data points. The Bengaluru-based company has over 150 million registered learners.

“Byju’s categorically stated that the question of ‘mis-selling’ does not arise because its marketing professionals do not have the authority to close the sale of a product at the point of sale,” said the firm in a statement. “By design, every sale is un-approved until it is verified by a triple-layered audit mechanism that reaches out to the interested customer through SMS, audio and video calls.”

Byju’s was represented before the commission by Pravin Prakash, one of its founding partners. He said Byju’s is a responsible corporate citizen that only has the best interest of its students.

The company explained that the completion of a sale happens at the central level. It said the firm does not encourage, order or incentivize its sales staff or managers to pursue customers who are uninterested in or unable to pay for its products. It said a reputed international consulting firm in an independently conducted rigorous survey unequivocally confirmed this recently.

On the question of financing, Byju’s clarified that it does not directly offer loans to its users. In order to assist students that require financial support, where requested, the firm said it connects the parents of such students to reputed third-party banks or financial institutions.

“It is impossible for any sales executive to get a loan approved merely by making a potential customer sign some documents,” said the firm. “The sale is concluded only after independent verification and approval by the institution providing the financing option.”

Regarding its refund policy, Byju’s stated that it has a robust written refund policy for all products and services. At every purchase touch point, the customer is informed about the terms of the refund policy. It also stated that 98.5 per cent of the refund requests that are submitted to it through official channels are processed within 48 hours.

The firm also highlighted that its Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 70, which is an independently measured metric of user satisfaction, is the highest in its industry.

Byju’s also informed NCPCR that it has already provided free courseware to more than 55 lakh children from underprivileged families through its Education For All (EFA), the social initiative arm. The firm added that the sales personnel have been encouraged and enabled to recommend every parent, who wants to learn from Byju’s but cannot afford it, to the EFA team. It works with over 175+ NGOs to make learning equitable and accessible for everyone. Thousands of such students have been transferred to EFA under this initiative.

According to the media reports, the NCPCR chief on Tuesday said it came to know that Byju's is allegedly buying phone numbers of children and their parents. The reports also alleged that the firm is threatening them that their future will be ruined if they don't buy their courses.

NCPCR had earlier summoned Byju’s chief executive officer and founder Byju Raveendran, asking him to appear in person on December 23, according to the media reports. The matter is related to the alleged malpractice of hard selling and mis-selling of its courses for students.