What Can a Meritshot Counsellor Actually Promise You? A Written Record

Because a verbal promise you can't check isn't a promise

By Parv Rastogi, Assistant Admissions Manager at Meritshot Last updated: August 2026 · Applies to: all Meritshot programs · Reading time: ~20 minutes

What's in this article

Has Meritshot overpromised in sales calls?
What is a Meritshot counsellor not permitted to promise?
What can an education counsellor accurately tell you?
Is a verbal promise from a counsellor legally binding?
What do the CCPA rules say about education sales claims?
How do I protect myself in any counselling call?
What should I do if this happened to me?
What do these terms mean?
Frequently asked questions
The bottom line
About the author

Has Meritshot overpromised in sales calls?

Some candidates have told Meritshot that counsellors described placement or internship outcomes in ways Meritshot's own contract does not support — naming specific companies, or implying salary figures that were presented as expectations rather than possibilities. Where that happened, it was wrong, and it was our failure rather than a misunderstanding on the candidate's part.

We're not going to characterise this as candidates misremembering. When someone spends a significant sum on the strength of a conversation and the conversation turns out to have overstated things, the party that made the statement owns the problem.

Meritshot is publishing this article to make that structurally harder. Not by asking you to trust our sales team more, but by putting in writing exactly what a Meritshot counsellor is and isn't permitted to say — so that if the call you have deviates from this page, you'll know immediately, and you'll have something to point at.

Key points

No Meritshot counsellor is authorised to guarantee employment, a salary figure, a specific company, or an internship at a named organisation. If you're told otherwise, the statement is unauthorised and this page is your evidence.
Meritshot's Student Policies already settle this in writing. Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, placement assistance is classified there as an ancillary educational service, and the policy states that any marketing communication referencing "placement support" refers exclusively to facilitated access and preparation services, not an assured employment outcome. A verbal promise contradicting that is unenforceable, which is exactly why it should never be made.
Salary figures are indicative, by contract. The policies state that any representation of average or highest CTC reflects historical outcomes from previous batches and does not constitute a contractual guarantee of future earnings — a position taken under the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.
The written agreement overrides anything said on a call. Every candidate should get material claims in writing before paying, from us or from anyone.
If a counsellor overstated something to you, the grievance process covers it, and it carries published response deadlines.

What is a Meritshot counsellor not permitted to promise?

This is the most useful section on the page, so Meritshot has placed it near the top. These are statements no Meritshot counsellor is authorised to make. If you hear any of them, the statement is unauthorised — regardless of how confidently it was delivered, and regardless of who delivered it.

If a counsellor says this	The accurate position
"You'll definitely get placed."	Meritshot provides placement assistance. Hiring decisions belong to employers. No outcome is guaranteed.
"We'll get you an internship at [named company]."	No counsellor can commit any specific company to taking you. Companies decide who they interview and who they hire.
"You'll earn ₹X lakh after this program."	Meritshot does not quote expected salaries as expectations. The Student Policies state that any average or highest CTC figure reflects historical outcomes from previous batches and is indicative only, not a contractual guarantee of future earnings. Compensation is determined by the employer against its own pay bands, your demonstrated expertise, market conditions and location.
"Our students all get placed."	Untrue of any institute. Ask for the denominator, the time window and the definition of "placed" behind any percentage — how placement assistance actually works.
"We have a tie-up with [company], so you'll be hired there."	A hiring partner is a company that may hire. A partnership is not a hiring commitment for any individual.
"You'll get X interviews."	Interview opportunities are finite and allocated on assessed performance, employer criteria and market demand. No fixed number is promised per student.
"This price is only valid today."	Meritshot's fee is determined by eligibility assessment, not by how quickly you decide. Ask for your fee in writing and take the time you need — what the fee covers and what most learners pay.
"You don't need to worry about the attendance requirement."	Attendance below 75% restricts placement support and delays certification. This is in the Student Policies and no counsellor can waive it.
"You'll finish and be job-ready in [unrealistically short period]."	Plan for the program's stated duration plus a job search of one to six months or longer — why programs take the time they take.
"Don't worry about the refund policy, we'll sort it out."	The refund terms are in the agreement and they are narrow. Nothing said on a call changes them.

If any of these was said to you, we want to know. Not because we'll dispute it — because a counsellor who says these things will say them to the next person too, and that's a management problem we can only fix if we hear about it. The escalation route is set out below.

What can an education counsellor accurately tell you?

Plenty — and the accurate version is still a reasonable case for a Meritshot program. The overstatement isn't necessary, which is part of what makes it so damaging.

Here's what a counsellor is on solid ground saying:

Accurate statement	Why it holds
"Placement assistance includes resume review, LinkedIn optimisation, mock interviews with practitioners, aptitude preparation, technical and HR interview preparation, and referrals to hiring partners."	This is the defined scope of the service, in writing.
"Your profile will be shared with hiring partners, with your consent, once you're placement-eligible."	Accurate, including the two conditions.
"Here is the median fee our learners actually paid last year, and here is what you specifically qualify for."	A verifiable figure beats a discount framing — Meritshot publishes both.
"Here are alumni from this program. Speak to them — and find others yourself on LinkedIn."	Independent verification is encouraged, not managed.
"Here is what makes someone placement-eligible: 75% attendance, submitted assignments, an approved capstone, passed assessments, professional conduct, cleared fees and submitted documents."	These are the actual conditions, and telling you upfront is fairer than surfacing them later.
"Here is your program calendar with the end date, in writing, before you pay."	Specific and checkable — see how Meritshot protects end dates.
"I don't know — let me find out and send it to you in writing."	The most trustworthy sentence a counsellor can say, and the one most under-used.

Notice what's missing from the accurate list: certainty about your outcome. Nobody selling education can honestly offer that, and a counsellor who does is either untrained or under pressure to convert. Both are Meritshot's responsibility to fix.

One asymmetry we'd rather name than have you notice. Meritshot's Student Policies are strict about students misrepresenting themselves: providing false or exaggerated information to a hiring partner can mean immediate disqualification and permanent removal from the placement programme, and the policy cites the Indian Penal Code and the Indian Contract Act alongside it. Misrepresentation in an enrolment application is grounds for termination.

Those rules are reasonable. But a policy that governs the student's honesty in that much detail, while saying nothing about the institute's honesty toward the student, is unbalanced — and this article exists partly because that gap had real consequences. In July 2026 Meritshot amended its Student Policies to hold its own representatives to an equivalent standard, with the same specificity. The obligation now runs in both directions.

Is a verbal promise from a counsellor legally binding?

Not in the way most candidates assume — and the real answer is more useful than a simple yes or no.

A verbal statement that contradicts it does not create an entitlement, so a counsellor's promise of a guaranteed job cannot deliver what it appears to offer. But that is only half the position. A misleading representation that induced you to buy can still be actionable in its own right, separately from the contract — so an institute cannot make a promise verbally, contradict it in the paperwork, and treat the paperwork as a shield.

Both halves point to the same practical step, which protects you in every purchase and not just this one: get material claims in writing before you pay.

There is a regulatory framework behind this. India's Consumer Protection Act, 2019 treats misleading representations that induce a purchase as actionable, and the Central Consumer Protection Authority's Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements, 2022 apply across every sector and every medium — including what is said on a phone call.

The direction of enforcement is clear. In November 2024 the CCPA issued specific guidelines for the coaching sector that explicitly prohibit claims about selection rates, success stories, job security promises, assured admissions and guaranteed selections, alongside false claims about course duration, faculty qualifications, fees and refund policies. By the time those guidelines were published, the CCPA had already issued 45 notices to coaching institutes and imposed penalties totalling ₹54.6 lakh on 18 of them.

Whether those sector-specific guidelines extend to professional upskilling programs like Meritshot's is arguable — they were drafted with exam coaching in view. The 2022 guidelines, which apply universally, are not arguable. Either way, the standard Meritshot holds itself to is the one described on this page, which is stricter than the regulatory floor.

Meritshot's Student Policies settle this explicitly rather than by implication. Placement assistance is classified there as an ancillary educational service under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and the policy states that any marketing communication referencing "placement support" refers exclusively to facilitated access and preparation services, not an assured employment outcome.

Read that carefully, because it covers more than the contract's fine print: it covers what our marketing and our counsellors say. A counsellor promising an assured outcome isn't stretching a claim — they're contradicting a clause that already defines what their own words mean.

The same applies to money. The policies state that any representation of salary figures reflects historical outcomes from previous batches and does not constitute a contractual guarantee of future earnings, a position taken under the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.

That's the document you sign. A verbal statement contradicting it does not create an entitlement, which is precisely why no counsellor should make one — it cannot deliver what it appears to offer, and it damages trust the moment the gap becomes visible.

Three practical consequences for you:

Read the agreement before paying, particularly the clauses on placement, refunds and attendance. If something you were told isn't in there, it isn't part of what you're buying.
If something matters to you, get it added in writing. A counsellor can email you a specific, accurate commitment. That email is worth more than an hour of enthusiastic conversation.
Under India's consumer protection framework, misleading representations that induce a purchase are actionable. We'd much rather resolve a complaint directly and quickly than have it reach that point — but you should know the protection exists.

What do the CCPA rules say about education sales claims?

India has specific, enforceable rules on this, and almost nobody explains them to the people they protect. Here is the short version.

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 makes misleading representations that induce a purchase actionable. The CCPA Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements, 2022 apply across every sector and every medium — including what a salesperson says on a phone call, not only what appears in an advertisement.

In November 2024 the CCPA went further and issued Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024, which explicitly prohibit:

claims about selection rates, success stories and exam rankings that cannot be substantiated
job security promises, assured admissions, and guaranteed selections or promotions
false claims about course duration, faculty qualifications, fees and refund policies
using a successful candidate's name or image without their written consent

Enforcement is real. By November 2024 the CCPA had issued 45 notices to coaching institutes and imposed penalties totalling ₹54.6 lakh on 18 of them.

What this means for you as a candidate: a verbal promise of guaranteed placement isn't merely unreliable — depending on how it was framed, it may be a prohibited representation. You do not need to prove intent to complain about it. You need a record of what was said, which is why getting material claims in writing matters so much.

What it means for Meritshot: the standard on this page is stricter than the regulatory floor, deliberately. Complying with the minimum is not an achievement worth advertising.

How do I protect myself in any counselling call?

This works on Meritshot and on every institute you speak to. Counselling calls are high-pressure by design: you're talking to someone whose job is conversion, often with limited time to think.

Before the call

Write down your questions in advance. Fee, what's included, placement scope, support duration, refund terms, attendance requirements, what happens if you don't get placed.
Decide in advance that you will not pay on the call. Nothing legitimate expires in an hour.

During the call

Ask every question that you have clearly. "Could you email me that?" is a complete sentence, and it costs a counsellor nothing if the claim is accurate.
Ask the disqualifying questions. What kind of student does not succeed here? What does this program not do? If I complete everything and get no offer, what specifically happens? Vague or defensive answers are informative.
Ask for the denominator behind any statistic. "95% placement" means nothing without knowing of whom, over what period, counting what.
Note the date, the counsellor's name and what was said. Not adversarially — it's simply what you'd want if there's a dispute later.

What should I do if this happened to me?

Tell Meritshot, and be specific. The more precise the account, the more actionable it is.

If you haven't enrolled yet: don't. Not until the discrepancy is resolved in writing. Ask for the accurate position by email and compare it with what you were told. If they don't match, that's your answer about the conversation — and possibly about the counsellor.

If you've already enrolled:

Write down what was said, when, and by whom, while you remember it. Include any emails or messages.
Raise it informally first with your academic coordinator or the admissions lead, ideally within about a week of realising.
If that doesn't resolve it, submit a written complaint to the Grievance Officer at support@meritshot.com or through the LMS grievance portal, within 14 days. The grievance policy covers conduct complaints against Meritshot staff, which is the category a counsellor's claims fall under.
You'll receive acknowledgement within three working days and a written outcome after an investigation completed within 15 working days.
Proceedings are confidential, and retaliation for a good-faith complaint is itself a violation of our Code of Conduct.

On what a grievance can and can't produce. It can produce a finding, a correction of what you were told, action against the counsellor and, where appropriate, a remedy. Where a claim is upheld, the outcome is handled under Meritshot's Student Policies: a written finding, a correction of what you were told, and disciplinary action against the counsellor. Your refund entitlement remains the one set out in the Fee, Refund & Cancellation Policy — a grievance finding does not create a separate compensation scheme, and we'd rather say that plainly than imply otherwise. It cannot retroactively create a placement guarantee, because that isn't a thing any institute can offer.

If you remain unsatisfied, India's consumer protection framework covers misleading representations that induce a purchase, and the National Consumer Helpline (1915) can advise on the process. Students are using it in rapidly growing numbers — NCH grievances relating to coaching institutes rose from 4,815 in 2021–22 to 16,276 in 2023–24, which the Department of Consumer Affairs attributes to growing awareness of pre-litigation redressal rather than to a sudden collapse in standards. We would much rather resolve this directly — but you're entitled to know the route exists, and an institute that hides it isn't one worth trusting.

What do these terms mean?

Term	Definition
Placement assistance	Preparation, portfolio building, mock interviews, aptitude and interview coaching, and referrals to hiring partners. Does not guarantee employment, job role, salary or company selection.
Hiring partner	A company in Meritshot's network that may hire. Not a commitment by that company to interview or hire any individual learner.
Placement eligibility	The status reached on meeting attendance, assessment, project, conduct, fee and documentation requirements. A counsellor cannot waive any of these.
Unauthorised claim	A statement no Meritshot counsellor is permitted to make, including guarantees of employment, specific companies, internships at named organisations, or salary figures.
Written summary	The post-call email confirming fee quoted, program, inclusions, support duration and refund terms. If a claim isn't in it, it isn't a commitment.
Misrepresentation	A false or misleading statement that induces someone to enter a contract. Actionable under India's consumer protection framework.
Misleading advertisement	Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, a representation that falsely describes a product or service, or gives a false guarantee likely to mislead consumers about its nature or quality. The CCPA's 2022 guidelines apply this across all sectors and all media, including verbal claims made during a sales call.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Meritshot counsellor guarantee me a job? No. No counsellor is authorised to guarantee employment, and Meritshot's enrolment agreement states that placement assistance does not guarantee placement, job role, salary or company selection. If you were told otherwise, the statement was unauthorised and we want to know about it.

Can a counsellor promise me an internship at a specific company? No. No institute can commit another company to taking you — companies decide who they interview and who they hire. A counsellor naming a specific employer as a guaranteed outcome has made a claim they cannot support.

A counsellor told me I'd earn a specific salary. Is that reliable? No, and Meritshot does not quote expected salaries. Compensation depends on role, city, prior experience, interview performance and market conditions, none of which an institute controls. Research entry-level ranges independently and use the lower end of what you find.

What is a hiring partner, exactly? A company in our network that may hire from our learner pool. It is not a commitment by that company to interview or employ anyone. The meaningful question is how many partners actually hired in the last 12 months, and for which roles at which experience level.

Is a verbal promise from a counsellor legally binding? Your enrolment agreement is the operative document, and it states placement is not guaranteed. A verbal statement contradicting it does not create an entitlement — which is exactly why no counsellor should make one. Get anything material in writing before you pay.

What if what I was told doesn't match the agreement? Stop and resolve it. Ask for the accurate position by email. If the written answer differs from the call, believe the written answer — and treat the gap as information about that conversation.

How do I report a counsellor who overstated something? Raise it with your academic coordinator or the admissions lead first, ideally within a week. If unresolved, submit a written complaint to support@meritshot.com or via the LMS portal within 14 days. You'll get acknowledgement in three working days and a written outcome within fifteen.

Will complaining affect my application or my treatment if I enrol? No. Retaliating against someone for raising a good-faith complaint is a violation of our Code of Conduct. Reporting an inaccurate claim costs you nothing.

What happens to a counsellor who is found to have overpromised? A confirmed case results in formal reprimand, and depending on severity and whether it has happened before, termination of employment. Stating that publicly matters, because a standard with no consequence attached is a preference rather than a rule.

Can I get a refund if I enrolled based on something inaccurate? Raise it through the grievance process, which produces a written finding. Where the claim is upheld, the matter is handled under Meritshot's Student Policies — a written finding, correction of what you were told, and disciplinary action against the counsellor. That process does not create a separate compensation scheme. Separately, the standard refund terms apply: cancellation before the start date returns fees less a processing fee; withdrawal within seven days of commencement returns 50% of the remaining fee, less costs incurred; after that, no refund applies.

Are Meritshot counselling calls recorded? Only with your explicit consent, which the counsellor asks for at the start of the call. You can decline, and declining does not affect your application or the fee you're quoted. This reflects India's data protection framework, which requires clear notice before a call is recorded — and you're entitled to ask about the retention period.

What if I already paid and now feel misled? Act quickly, because the refund windows are narrow: full fees less a processing fee before the start date, 50% of the remaining fee within seven days of commencement, nothing after that. Raise the grievance in parallel — the two processes are separate and the deadlines run independently.

Does this mean I shouldn't trust anything a counsellor says? No — it means treat verbal statements as provisional, which is sound practice with any large purchase. Most of what a counsellor tells you about curriculum, structure and process will be accurate. It's outcome claims specifically that require written confirmation.

Is overpromising by education counsellors regulated in India? Yes. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 treats misleading representations that induce a purchase as actionable, and the CCPA's 2022 guidelines on misleading advertisements apply across all sectors and all media, including verbal claims. In November 2024 the CCPA issued coaching-sector guidelines explicitly prohibiting job security promises, assured admissions and guaranteed selections.

Has the CCPA actually enforced this? Yes. By November 2024 the authority had issued 45 notices to coaching institutes and imposed penalties totalling ₹54.6 lakh on 18 of them, directing them to discontinue the advertisements in question. Enforcement in this area is active rather than theoretical.

Why should I trust this article when the problem was dishonesty in the first place? You shouldn't trust it on tone. Trust the parts that are checkable: the list of unauthorised claims is specific enough to catch in real time, the enrolment agreement is a document you can read before paying, and the grievance process carries published deadlines. This page is useful to the extent it hands you something testable, not to the extent it sounds sincere.

Can any education institute in India guarantee a job? No institute can guarantee employment, because hiring decisions belong to employers rather than educators. The CCPA's 2024 coaching-sector guidelines explicitly prohibit job security promises, assured admissions and guaranteed selections. Any institute offering certainty about your outcome is describing a contract clause with conditions attached, or making a claim it cannot support.

What's the single best question to ask a counsellor? "If I complete every requirement and still receive no offer, what specifically happens?" It's the question that separates a scripted pitch from an honest conversation, and the answer should be specific rather than reassuring.

The bottom line

A counsellor who overpromises costs you more than the money. This is why Meritshot treats it as a compliance matter rather than a sales style. It sets an expectation that shapes months of effort, and when the gap becomes visible it damages your confidence at exactly the point you need it — during a job search.

We can't undo conversations that already happened. What we can do is make the accurate position public, so that any deviation is immediately checkable by the person on the other end of the call.

So: no guaranteed jobs, no named companies, no salary figures, no waived requirements. If you hear any of those, the statement is unauthorised, this page is your evidence, and we would like to know.

About the author

Parv Rastogi is Assistant Admissions Manager at Meritshot, working on admissions standards and on how programs are represented to prospective learners. He works directly with the counselling team, which makes the standards set out in this article his to uphold.

If a Meritshot counsellor told you something that doesn't match this page, raising it through the route above brings it to his desk.

Placement eligibility conditions, refund terms, attendance requirements and the grievance process are set out in full in Meritshot's Student Policies & Guidelines.