Edgewood College/UpGrad DBA; potentially $11,250

[nikithewise]

Hello everyone,
It's been a while since I wrote a msg here. I have been busy working on my DBA courses diligently, even maintaining my "A" grades until I got unexpected news.

So UpGrad has scammed me!!! Edgewood College or University as it is now doesn't have a Tech and AI specialization. The university claims they didn't get sufficient students so they are not offering this. Only Leadership and Finance is available. 

Well I wasn't told the Tech and Ai specialization is conditional. I mean is that even a thing from a university????? I have never heard of it.

UpGrad refuses to refund my money, even charged my card inspite of telling them to STOP payments. They are telling me they can't do that, they have no control over this. I'm like WHAT??? You have no control over stopping recurring charges.. how is this even possible.

Their international student personnel came back after 3 weeks of me threatening them and saying sorry it was written on the website and brochure the course will only start if we get 10 students. I have the brochure...I actually got ChatGPT to basically go over it with a fine toothcomb... nothing, nowhere written 10 students... 

I went online... this site: Course: DBA & MBA from Edgewood College specializing in Tech and AI | RiseUpp... is still talking about Tech and AI and the course will start in 24th Sep... then I went looking for UpGrad brochure, not the one they sent me... and they have covertly added in small print... 10 students. My brochure didn't have this nor did the so called Aakash Shelar, the Admissions & Scholarships person ever tell me the specialization was conditional. Now they are forcing me to go to Golden Gate as I want AI or go to DBA in Edu... 

Actual conversation from this guy - "I understand, hence is it possible for you to move towards Edgewood Doctorate in Education(Ed.D) instead of the DBA, where AI is offered?" We also, have Golden Gate University as well that offers a concentration in Generative Ai. Then I got this: Also, the Tech and Ai part which I conveyed to you was true to every extent. 

The decision of Edgewood University to not include it, is beyond the scope of my designation to ask.... and before that I got this msg: Your profile is being handled by Pratiksha from the learning experience team. 

She would definitely get back to you, and I also checked with the finance team; your payment has already been halted.
... My payment was halted... and now they are saying we have no authority, you should have stopped the payment from your side this and that. It is a nightmare. I will never get back my money. So I don't know what to do. 

Any advice guys... what do I do here.. cut my losses or go ahead and get a DBA in a program that I never wanted or even know anything about. I mean the dissertation is like 300 pages I hear... I have no experience in finance or leadership. 

I even wrote to the Associate Dean about this. She confirmed the Tech and AI isn't available. I asked for an extension to choosing the specialization as I need to think. Do you guys think if I write a formal complaint to the university they will make UpGrad refund my money? And also I am curious, does this happen often in American universities? Specializations just disappearing? I mean I did my MBA from University of the People, which many talked about as being scam artists, low quality education, this and that, but at least I knew what I was going to study. It wasn't all in the wind.

Anyway, just to make other students aware that this can happen.
N!

Hey!

I had the same problem. At the end, I proposed to them several workarounds that could work for me, and we agreed to take the EdD Emerging Technologies courses instead of the Tech and AI courses. That's working perfectly fine for my scenario. Give it a try if you are interested.