I am applying for a graduate course in the US and approached Princeton Review for the same. Before making the payment, I inquired about the details at the New Friend\'s Colony branch. The person I contacted was Priya who gave me the details of the Admissions Counseling Service (ACS). I asked Priya whether the course fee (Rs. 28,600) included the application charges and her reply was, “yes, it does”. I was also told that 5 diagnostic tests for GRE were included in the package and would help them shortlist universities. Based on this information I chose to enroll for the service over others. I enrolled for the service in the 3rd week of august and made the payment. It was only after I had made the payment that I was made to read a contract which clearly stated that the application charges were not covered under this service. They appointed me a counselor who told me that no tests were included in the service. Feeling cheated, I asked them not to start the university selection and refund my fee to which they refused.

I called at all the numbers I could find and asked them to connect me to the ACS manager. During the next 3-4 days, I was contacted by 4-5 people several times having to explain everything in detail, but to no avail. My counselor, Anubha said that since I need to spend lakhs on my admissions, I shouldn\'t be concerned about a mere Rs. 28,600. Priya refused to accept her mistake saying I must have misunderstood what she said, but since she just said a “yes” in answer to my question, I don’t think I could have interpreted it any other way. When I contacted the people concerned, they refused to take any action and some of them were rather rude. I mailed the country head and some other senior employees of Princeton Review whose contact details I found online. After a very long wait I got a call from someone who introduced himself as the “ACS head”. Like everyone else, he tried to convince me that I was mistaken and then he tried ‘bargaining’. He offered to pay for the courier charges for one application for me and give me one diagnostic test for GRE.

It has been six months since I enrolled for this course and have had no contact with my counselor since then. She never tried to contacting me. I threatened them with legal when I asked for a refund but I can’t afford a lawyer on top of the 28,600 I have lost. Shortlisting and applying to universities already involves a lot of stress and all this added to it. I request you to look into my case and help me.