April 07, 2009
Rating
7th April 2009
Dear Sir or Madam:
I wish to bring to your notice an incident pertaining the ANTS franchise located 48, 3rd floor, S & S complex (next to Kamat Hotel) Bowring Hospital road, Shivajinagar, Bangalore 560001.
My niece Payal Ramchandani from Barcelona, Spain enrolled for a course in Photoshop on 23rd Mar 2009. Your regular Photoshop course is for 30 days. Since Payal was going to be in India was in India only up to 5th April, we opted for a short 12-day course that was specially created for her with amazing speed. Payment of Rs. 5000.00 was made for a 12-day course although your regular 30-day course also costs Rs. 5000.00.
During initial consultations with Ms. Gayathri, we were assured that the entire syllabus would be covered with intensive training and if need be extra classes provided to finish this course by 4th April 2009. A very rosy picture was painted. The syllabus to be covered was not provided to us in writing and we were assured sufficient study material would be provided for home study.
In hindsight I realize that there is no way Photoshop could be completed in 12 days and this was an effort on the part of the franchisee to milk the consumer with false promises.
There was also one public holiday in the above period and one instance where the teacher did not show up, effectively reducing the course period to 10 days. No arrangements were made to make up for the classes lost and no extra classes were provided in an effort to complete the syllabus. At the end of the course no completion certificate was provided.
I called Gayathri this morning to bring to her notice these deficiencies. To the point of being rude, she replied that the study material is provided only for the 30-day course and on no occasion is a printed syllabus provided. Very convenient when you are unable to complete the syllabus.
My conversation with her this morning shows her âwho cares attitude, the fees have been collectedâ. Her tone also suggested âdo whatever you can, we give a damnâ. A complete change from the sugary sweet reception that we received before enrolment.
I as a member of the Bangalore Commercial Association have requested the secretary to send a copy of this letter to all members (Totaling around 400 in the vicinity of your franchise). The Bangalore Commercial Association recommends NIFT and Animaster as preferred computer education institutes for its members and I was working towards including your institute too due to your proximity to commercial street.
Payal will also be returning to India shortly to take up this matter with you. I definitely will take this matter to the Internet forums. Before Payal joined, I had enquired about a course on web-development (6 Months) costing Rs. 20000.00 for myself. No prizes for guessing whether I will join. I am sorry though Payal had to undergo this ordeal.
Thanking you
Yours truly,
Raju Mansukhani
Poonamâs
65, Commercial Street,
Bangalore 560001