Byju’s Autopsy — Can You Get Engaging and Effective Learning Here?
With just two comments on one review aggregation site, Bujy’s is rated 1.0 stars out of 5. In those two reviews, customers complain about the overall quality of their purchases and recommend staying away from the platform. With all that said, Byju’s is ranked 89th among Test Preparation platforms.
Okay, don’t worry, of course we didn’t base our Byjus review solely on two comments on SiteJabber. We checked other review aggregation sites as well. There are almost 300 reviews on TrustPilot, most of them calling Byju’s to be either a fraud or a scam, as well as a complete disaster.
And if you go beyond TrustPilot and Sitejabber and check lesser-known review aggregation sites, as well as Reddit, in search of flattering comments about Byju’s, your findings will be minuscule. Needless to say, the amount of negative reviews piqued our interest. On the one hand, the case can be considered closed. Most people find this platform unreliable and recommend staying away from it.
But, just like positive comments, negative ones may not reflect the actual picture. So, needing to figure out whether those negative comments were far-fetched or not, we started our investigation. And now, we present you with the results.
Are Byju’s Attempts to Empower Millions of Students That Successful?
When you enter Byju’s website, you can learn a lot of information that looks quite promising. The platform has over 50 partners, with Mark Zuckerberg among them. Byju’s main aim is to empower students by making learning engaging and effective with the use of AI. There are even links to Fox and CNN interviews with Divya Gokulnath, Byju’s co-founder. The site makes you wonder what could’ve caused that slew of negative reviews.
But it doesn’t take long for you to find some inconsistencies on Byju’s website. You see, when you enter the website, you see the claim that the service has over 150 million learners. Scroll down, and you will see that Byju is on a mission to empower over 10 million children by 2025. So, does the service have 150 million learners already, or is it planning to empower 10 million students by 2025?
Yes, you can point out that “children” is the key point. But, given that Byju’s offers services for students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, its target audience is children. Thus, the question of how many learners across the world truly use Byju’s is valid. What’s the point of announcing that you’re planning to empower 10 million learners when you already have 150 million of them?
Byju’s — Enhancing Human Potential With Data Leaks and Crime Allegations
Byju’s is an Indian international educational technology company that was launched all the way back in 2011. The company was co-founded by Byju Raveendran and his wife, Divya Gokulnath.
Based on the information from the article published in The Financial Times, by 2018, the educational platform launched by Byju’s had over 15 million users. Around a million of them were paid subscribers. Apparently, by 2025, the company plans to get 10 million paid subscribers. Yet, the number is nowhere near 150 million learners.
Everything was shiny for the company until 2020 when a data leak led to the data of over 200,000 users being exposed. Then, in 2022, Byju’s employees started complaining about unfair treatment. Then, the company’s Bengaluru office was raided by India’s Enforcement Directorate in 2023. The company also faced several lawsuits in the US court. And in February 2024, the Enforcement Directorate issued a look of notice against Byju Raveendran.
Several past employees were whistleblowing that Byju’s was pushing users to buy expensive subscriptions and products. Basically, they were saying that despite the claims that Byju’s is trying to make engaging and effective learning affordable for everyone, the platform offers prices that only wealthy people can afford.
We’ll discuss the prices later, but so far, the company’s criminal history seems to be more interesting than the one-on-one lessons it offers.
Communicating With Byju’s Support Representatives — Are They Effective?
If you want to communicate with the support directly, prior to registration, you’ll have to indulge into some sleuthing, as it’s not that easy to find means to get in touch with the support team. But we did all the sleuthing for you while writing this Byju review.
On the homepage, you will only find the email address to use whenever you have any inquiries. If you google “Byju’s support,” you will also find that same email address. However, if you get to Byju’s shop page, you will see a live chat. Obviously, you can communicate with salespeople there. If you have any luck.
You see, to get in touch with a salesperson, you need to leave your first and last name, as well as your email. We did just that and inquired whether it was better to buy a package with live one-on-one classes or a tablet with pre-recorded classes.
And we waited and waited and waited, just like we did while trying to verify claims about customer service when reading Preply reviews before.
After an hour of waiting and not getting a reply, we decided to quit our little experiment. To be fair, there’s no promise that you’re going to get 24/7 support service, but an hour without a reply in a live chat is beyond disappointing.
Byju’s Educators — Is 20,000+ Teachers Enough for 150+ Million Learners?
Another confusing aspect about Byju’s is the number of educators. While we can say that 150 million learners is far cry from the actual number of platform’s users, even the number that’s ten times less requires many teachers involved.
The service claims that it has over 20,000 educators. Is there any teachers’ page where you can see the educators that you can get for one-on-one live lessons? Nope. Similar to our Transtutors review experience, you won’t find much information.
If you check the packages, you can’t actually learn which teachers are going to help you learn this or that subject, but you can learn that there are two teachers to help you. One will explain concepts, while the other “pays personal attention” while you exercise the learned concept.
Who the teachers are and whether they have a degree in the subjects listed in the package is unknown. But maybe we’re spoiled after going through WritePapers reviews and finding out about its detailed expert profiles.
Byju’s Pricing — Enhancing Your Learning Potential Is Quite Exclusive
Given that the platform has been accused several times for offering live classes that are targeting wealthy people, we cannot avoid talking about Byju cost. Right now, the service offers its live classes with a 24% discount, for ₹24,000 (approximately $288). The standard price for live classes is ₹32,000 (slightly more than $383).
If you want to buy a tablet with pre-recorded lessons, it’s going to cost you cheaper. The standard Byjus price is ₹26,000 (⋍$312), but with a current 15% discount, you can get it for ₹22,000, which is approximately $263.50. So, if you ever had a desire to check Byju’s out, it’s the right time to do it. You can save up to $100, after all.
Many reviewers complained about the refund policy. The refund policy covers only live classes. If you cancel the option within fourteen days since the start of live classes, you are guaranteed a 100% refund. However, past users frequently mention that despite canceling their subscription to live classes on time, they didn’t get any refund.
Considering that we didn’t get a reply from a salesperson in a live chat, we won’t be surprised if refund requests are simply ignored.
Discussing Byju’s Quality — Are Those Live Classes Even Unique?
So, on the one hand, you have a package that includes subjects like math, science, English, and social studies, divided into many hours of concepts’ explanation and exercises. Even complaints about all that being useless aside, let’s figure out whether those materials are actually unique.
Turns out you can learn all the theoretical parts from elsewhere. There are a lot of YouTubers who provide the same information on any of the said subjects for free. Yes, you won’t find the same online tutor for all the subjects. Most likely, you will have to find the suitable ones one by one.
Yes, one-on-one practical lessons are more difficult to find. You’ll have to look for actual tutors who would help you solve various doubts for an hour every day and check everything that you’ve learned so far.
Oh, wait a minute, did we say one hour? There are lots of complaints stating that one-on-one lessons actually last about fifteen minutes. It’s hard to define whether it is a common practice for live classes or just a frequent misfortune for users.
Also, teachers are probably not listed anywhere, as they may be changed throughout the course several times. Pricking a personal tutor somewhere else would be a better option.
Byju’s Dedication to Customers and Personalization
Here, we’re going to talk about two things: one that is not promised and another that is promised.
No one promised dedication to customers support-wise, but that’s actually something that customers expect from the services they paid for. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with Byju’s. We were waiting for a reply for one hour without getting one. And we can see where the complaints about salespeople disappear right after customers pay for the package.
Now, let’s check out personalization, which is promised in the packages. The teachers simply follow their method, and that’s that. No personalized approach to any student. What teachers are doing is just following a certain set of rules. So, the dissatisfaction of multiple users comes as no surprise.
Byju’s Reliability and Safety
Given that there was a large data leak some years ago, it’s quite tempting to jump to the conclusion that Byju’s is not safe. But, apparently, that leak was just a misfortune. No reports of data leaks since 2020.
And what can be said about the site per se? User data is protected by SSL protocols that prevent any leaks. And the website is considered safe according to DNSFilter and Maltiverse. So, all in all, besides that one case of data leak in 2020, Byju’s is safe to use.
As for reliability, we didn’t find any complaints that Byju’s provides its learners with erroneous information. While the service doesn’t provide anything particularly unique and teachers can be neglectful toward their students, we can’t state that it is unreliable when it comes to information on subjects.
The Benefits and Downsides of Using Byju’s
On the one hand, we have a platform that offers an all-in-one educational solution for young learners. On the other hand, it is all provided by a business with a shady reputation for quite high prices. Byju’s promises personalized lessons, which it doesn’t provide. There’s also no customer dedication, and support service is absent. Hence, it’s hard for us to recommend Byju’s to our readers.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Byjus legit or not?
Unfortunately, we cannot conclude that Byju’s is a legit service. While it sticks to what it promises and our investigation didn’t find any illegal activity on Byju’s side, let’s not forget that the business has a lot of legal problems both in the US and India.
Is Byju’s a real service?
Despite all the legal troubles surrounding Byju’s, we can conclude that it is a real learning platform that offers students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade to prepare for tests and learn various subjects.
Is Byju’s expensive?
Byju’s has several packages with live lessons, which can cost you, depending on the availability of discounts, between $280 and $380. You can also purchase a tablet with pre-recorded lessons. Such an option will cost you between $250 and $315.
Is Bujys a scam?
While we didn’t find any proof that Byju’s scams its users, we shouldn’t forget that the service has been investigated several times in India and even faced several lawsuits in the US court. Thus, while we cannot say that the service is a scam, we suggest approaching it with caution.
Is Byju’s a fraud?
We didn’t find anything indicating that Byju’s is involved in fraudulent activity. However, the service has been investigated several times for fraud. Hence, we can suspect that something is not right with Byju’s, but it’s hardly related to its customers.
Is Byju’s a reliable service?
Unfortunately, with all our findings, we cannot state that Byju’s is a reliable learning platform. While it doesn’t provide erroneous answers in its live lessons, the attitude toward learners is quite neglectful. Thus, we cannot recommend Byju’s to our readers.
*Screenshots used for review and criticism purposes fall under the 'fair use' doctrine of the United States Copyright Law.
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