Beware of Scam: Pragmatic Leaders (YC W21) is a company that claims to offer a product management course with the promise of training and placement. However, many students, including myself as part of cohort 20, have been disappointed with their experience and have fallen victim to their pay-after-placement model.

Pros:

1. Access to experienced mentors in the field of product management.
2. Access to course content.
3. Opportunity to practice mock sessions with mentors through the Truemerit portal.

Cons:

1. Pragmatic Leaders charges a security fee of Rs. 35,000/- through a loan company. After a few days, the loan amount will be shown as Rs. 1.27 lakh, which needs to be paid in one go, not in EMI. Despite claiming that it's an EMI, it's not.
2. They expect students to apply for jobs through Naukri portal.
3. If a student is not selected by the 4-5 companies that Pragmatic Leaders refers them to, the company may terminate their association with a flimsy excuse and demand payment of the full amount, claiming that they have done their best and cannot help further.
4. They expect students to apply for jobs through Naukri portal.
5. If a student is not selected by the 4-5 companies that Pragmatic Leaders refers them to, the company may terminate their association with a flimsy excuse and demand payment of the full amount, claiming that they have done their best and cannot help further.

Explanation of the Initial Onboarding Process

1. Pragmatic Leaders will ask you to submit a refundable deposit of Rs.35,000.
2. This amount will be converted into a loan with their finance partner, which was previously Fibe and is now a different company.
3. After completing your 10 weeks of sessions, you will see that the balance due is Rs.1.28 lakh, which you need to pay in a single installment.
4. While on the call with the PL team, they may mention that you can pay in easy EMIs, but in reality, you have to pay the entire amount at once.

Training Period

1. After completing the 10-week program, you will receive reminders to finish your resume and portfolio.
2. Once you complete your assignments and submit your documents, you might not hear from the team anymore. If you do not initiate any contact, they will terminate your contract and send a legal notice asking you to pay the remaining amount of Rs.1.28 Lakh.
3. They might refer you to some companies, but it's not a guarantee. Even after the referral, they might still terminate your contract and ask for the remaining amount.
4. If you do not use their resources or get placed, they will still ask you to pay the remaining amount.
5. The "pay after placement" claim is a myth. It's a tactic to sell their 20k course for a fee of Rs.1.28 Lakh.
6. The course content is not very relevant, and better preparation material can be found on YouTube.
7. At some point during the course, they will ask you to sign a Non-Objection Certificate (NOC) on their truemerit portal. This document absolves them of any liability for placement or session quality issues. They also state that they will take legal action against you if you write a negative review.

They will use any possible means to terminate your enrollment, and the information displayed on their website is completely fraudulent. Many students have fallen into their trap, with only 1 out of 20 students in their batch actually getting placed, and 98% of students getting terminated. Getting a refund is also unlikely, as they often claim that the negative reviews are fake and refuse to provide any refunds.

It is highly recommended to read reviews on Quora and other websites, and consult with people on LinkedIn before enrolling in their program. If you still decide to proceed, please do so at your own risk as you may easily fall into their trap.

In the event that you dispute the termination and try to communicate with them via email, they may respond with a message similar to the following:

"When you enrolled in our program, you signed an agreement between yourself and PL. The academic fee for the program was INR 2,70,000, which is divided into two parts: tuition fee and placement fee. The tuition fee, which includes the refundable deposit of INR 36,500 and the training fee of INR 1,28,500, was paid by our financial partner to PL for the academic phase."

The details regarding the Tuition Fee are mentioned in the agreement under clause 2f. As per the agreement, upon completion of 10 weeks in the program, the learner is required to pay the Tuition Fee of INR 1,28,500 for the Mentor services used, in addition to the Refundable Deposit. The Tuition Fee must be paid in full and can be paid through the ES app before the due date mentioned on the app to avoid any late payment charges.

It's important to note that the financial loan issued by ES is directly linked to the agreement tenure with PL. The duration of the agreement with PL corresponds with the loan agreement tenure with ES. The ES system automatically calculates the loan closure date based on the agreement tenure. For example, if the program started on 19th February 2022, then the loan closure date would be 19th December 2022, which is 10 months from the start date.

The placement rate is less than 20% in the last few cohorts, not a single person in cohort 27 got placement or any related support, yet everyone was extorted to pay Rs 1,60,000 because of the loan agreement they signed.
They don't have to pay back if they fail to place you because the loan is your name, and they file cases and send goons to your home against you if you don't pay up.
They have hijacked the Trustpilot review system, don't trust the positive reviews there.
https://pdfhost.io/v/KKF8kz9To_TrustPilot_fake_reviews

I am sharing my experience with Pragmetic Leaders about their Pay after placement program for Product Managment

How is let me explain it to you

Initial Onboarding process & explanation
1) They will ask you to submit a refundable deposit of Rs.35,000/-
2) They will convert that amount to a loan with their finance partner and it will open up your credit limit of Rs.1.28 Lack
3) Once you complete your 10 weeks of sessions in your finance(Loan) account you will see that the balance due it will show is Rs. 1.28 Lack which you need to pay as a one-time fee (But as per the agreement they will say you need to give it in EMI)
4)PL team will say that you will with easy EMI, not the one-time payment but it's false.

During training
1) Once the 10-week program will over they will send some timely emails to complete your resume and portfolio, that's it nothing else apart from that. Doesn't matter if you complete it or not they will send saying that we have reminded you and you haven't done it, its not our fault. No one will come and even ask you a single time or for personal support.

2)Once you complete that and all their assignment here you will be finding almost no communication with the team, and if you haven't contacted them they will terminate you and send you a legal notice to pay Rs1.28 Lack

3) If you complete these things and after some time they might refer you to a few companies( usually they will not) and after that also they will terminate you and ask for the Rs.1.28 Lack to pay (Basically their finance partner will make pressure on you, not PL)

4) If you are not using their resource or nor got placed or nor taken any PM or any other placement as well they will ask the money
5) Its a myth that they say pay after placement, it's a way how to sell the 20k course on a fee of Rs.1.28L
6) The course content you will not find very relevant and you can find better content on youtube for the interview preparation
7) In the middle of the course they will ask you to sign a NOC which says that you will not raise a voice against them if anything goes wrong in terms of placement and session we are not liable and you mention any bad review also we at PL will take legal action against you

They will terminate you and will find almost every possible way to terminate you.

The data shown on the website is 200% fake and multiple students are getting into their trap, only 1 out of 20 students in their batch get placement and 98% of the students they use to terminate and hardly any candidate got the refund if not placed, They will say that we will share the report card for you, you are posting a fake review on another website.

Read reviews on quora and other websites and consult people on social media you will find many fraud cases. IF YOU WANT TO GO AHEAD GO AT YOUR OWN RISK BUT YOU WILL DEFINITELY BE IN THIS TRAP

You will fight with them on email for the same and after some time they will message you something like this

"The Academic Fee is charged for learners in the program. When you enrolled in the program, an agreement was signed between you and PL.

The Fee of the program was INR 2,70,000
It is divided into 2 parts
1. The Tuition Fee - which is INR 1,65,000 (which included the RD amount of INR 36,500 plus the Training amount of INR 1,28,500)
2. Placement Fee
As with any other institute, the Financial partner paid the Tuition fee to PL for the Academic phase which was INR 1,28,500 + 36,500.

All this is explained in the agreement. Please refer to the table under clause 2f. It is mentioned in the agreement when you spend 10 weeks in the program, you are liable to pay the Tuition Fee. The Tuition Fee is INR 1,28,500 for the Mentor services used. This Tuition fee has to be paid in one go and can be paid on the finance partner app itself. And, the fee needs to be paid before the due date shown on the partner app, to avoid any late payment charges.

Please note, the financial loan issued by the finance partner is directly related to your agreement tenure. To explain: The duration of your agreement with PL is directly related to your loan agreement tenure.
Their system takes your agreement date for the loan closure also.

Also, this company does not have any registered office anywhere, If you want to check try to send any draft it will come back, they will claim that the office is in Gurugram, but no office address you will be able to find.

If you will ask for the address you might get it if you are enrolling for the course but I am sure that the address will not be legit

As a revert they will say that we are not victims, we don't do anything they will sound like it's not our fault blah blah, It's your decision if you want to go in this trap ahead.