Prometric ruined my weekend...

benleclair

I've read this site for a while, and decided to quit lurking and post after the horrible experience I had this weekend...

Anyway, here's some posts I made starting on Sunday morning.
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I'm one test away from my MCSE... At least I should be.

I went and took my 70-293 yesterday. First problem was although all of the test question would be on the screen, it didn't register. I'd select the answer and click next and it would say something about scrolling through the text and wouldn't let me proceed. I had to move the scroll bar even though it wasn't showing anything more!

Then sixty-three questions and two hours later I finally finish, clicking to end the test. Seriously like eight minutes later it comes up with their stupid survey. Yeah, survey, GIVE ME MY SCORE. Click through all that, then it grinds some more and it says "Congratulations, you passed. Your score is 782." Big smile on my face. Starts connecting to Prometric.

Hangs for ten minutes. The lady there does something to the computer. Nothing prints, I have no record of my completion. She calls Prometric who issue a ticket number. I promptly call their number, and even though it says open on Saturdays there is a message saying their office is closed.

So now my candidate history still shows "Pending" for the test yesterday. I have no record of my passing, no record of my score. Anyone else have this happen? I felt a load off after I passed, and now I have this other crap to deal with. You know what you don't need after worrying, studying and passing a test? Stress from the dang testing system!

Now instead of being able to relax for the rest of the weekend I keep thinking about if I have to take this damn test again... Especially since my score wasn't that great. (Stupid certificates.)

I guess Prometric decided I should study the source material some more!

EDIT: And Geez, don't get me started on their website. Their teamed 56k modems must be getting near the end of their lifespan.

And now the site is down for "scheduled" maintenance...

(And saying Prometric sucks isn't just because of this one incident, although it's definitely the worst.

I've been to three testing centers and have taken a variety of tests, and I never have the problems I have when using Prometric.)
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Monday

31 minutes on hold and counting...
44 minutes on hold and counting...
55 minutes on hold and counting...
65 minutes on hold and counting...

About ready to give up. System doesn't say anything about expected hold times. Just repeats crap music and "your call is very important to us."

(But not important enough to hire more than two $8 employees to answer the phone.) Nice partner you've got there, Microsoft.

EDIT: A message broke in and said "Due to an emergency our office is closed" and hung up on me.

Total hold time: 70 minutes.
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I called the local testing center, and they tried to redirect me to Prometric. I was hoping they would say something finally printed.

No such luck.

I'm just updating this because I see my topic is showing high in Google results. Maybe someone that can actually help will see it.

It's ticket S385718 if anyone is listening...

EDIT: Now the Prometric number answers with a message about the weather.

Not sure where they are located, but maybe every problem I ran into is related to the storm.

mrmcmint

Welcome to TE! and... nice rant!

Anyway...

I wouldn't worry too much to be honest. I have heard many stories about similar things that have happened, and most people who posted similar experiences say their pass was acknowledged.

I don't know what the problem was with telephoning them, but I've usually had a reasonable response from them so maybe they were having a bad day.

Keep us posted on what happens next, and congrats on that pass!

benleclair

Thanks for the reply and the welcome! I appreciate it.

Yeah, it was quite a rant. Letting this stress me out a little too much.

I finally got in touch with Prometric yesterday but unfortunately they had nothing for me. They told me they couldn't do anything, and I just had to wait ten days and then call them back if the status doesn't change. They seemed to blame the local office saying they hadn't received any results. I called the local office and they point blank said we can't help you, talk to Prometric. Now that's customer service!

At this point, I just want to study. If I need to do the 293 again, I want to read another book to improve my understanding (and my score!) I'd really like to be starting on the 294 books, but I'm waiting on them.

Kind of crazy! Reading a lot of stuff online seems to indicate all test results are uploaded nightly, so I don't understand the delay. The only thing I can think of is that there is a manual something that has to be done, and a lot of their people were out because of the big snow storms. (At least that's what I'm hoping!)

drewkeg

I had that happen to me twice. Both times I as you are, was stressed and couldn't relax. And actually one of those times, the score never came up so I was left hanging wondering if I even passed. I fortunately did have more luck with Prometric's customer service, but it did take some work. I first confirmed my passing score, then told them that I did not receive a printout and could they mail me a copy. I also asked for an email confirmation and an electronic copy. Maybe try the testing center again and speak to whoever is in charge of uploading the results to confirm that that was done and successful. Even though you're feeling real salty, maintain a positive and friendly approach so they want to help you resolve this.

Best of Luck!!

benleclair

Thanks for the reply!

I have been patient with everyone except I was a little frustrated at the lady at the local testing center because she seemed to have little interest in helping me and more interest in complaining about Prometric. She gave me the ticket number and as far as she was concerned she was done. She told me they have problems with Prometric all of the time, they hate it, they make only a few bucks each test and that they can't do anything manually to get my score or resend results. I think Prometric might need to be a little more stringent on who they allow to be testing sites.

I talked to Prometric one more time today and they still say they haven't received results from the local site. Their advice is just to continue to wait. If I don't have results by the end of the week I am going to see if they will give me a free retest. I had a Second Shot voucher on this, so hopefully they will include it. At this point, I'd rather retake the test than wait or deal with any more customer service.

unofficially_prometric

Ben,

I looked into your incident (ticket number) and see that as of writing this your results have been uploaded from AL## and you’ve passed. As a testing candidate myself I can understand the additional stress this caused you but rest assured – we have your result. From here it'll probably take just another day for everything to be processed to completion and Microsoft to receive your results.

Each Prometric testing center is independently owned and operated so if your experience was less then desirable there I suggest you try a different center in your area.

As for the website being unavailable Sunday morning, that is our weekly maintenance period.

Also, Prometric is based out of Baltimore, MD and your extraordinarily long hold time was likely due to the massive blizzard impacting much of the East Coast. I don’t work in that area of the business so I can‘t comment on why it took as long to get the automated message updated but hopefully you understand.

Thanks!

benleclair

I sincerely appreciate the response and I will definitely reevaluate my choice of testing centers. (Although this is the only center somewhat close. The others are 1.5 hours away.)

Again, thank you for taking the time to research my issue.

I tried to edit the title to "Prometric problems... (Resolved!)" but I'm not sure how. If a mod sees this, I'd appreciate it being changed. Thank you!

Todd Burrell

I have had a similar incident with my 70-270 test. I passed and got an error and I still have not gotten my results score sheet even though it has been almost 4 weeks. I have called the Prometric support number MANY times and gotten the same answer each time - they will pass the request along to a supervisor.

HOWEVER, my pass did show up on Prometric and Microsoft's website a couple of days after my pass. So I know I passed - I just do not have the actual score sheet and I'm about to just give up on it...

Good luck...

eMeS

This doesn't surprise me. Nor does "unofficially_prometric's" response basically blaming the testing centers surprise me much. Stay classy! Even if they are independently owned, in order to be a Prometric center they are to meet certain requirements to deliver exams. In the eyes of the customer the people administering the test centers are Prometric.

The last time I checked, Prometric was claiming to be a "global provider". Are you seriously telling us that this "global provider" only has one call center in Baltimore?

There is pretty much a pitched bare-knuckle battle in the private MCT cafe newsgroup that has been ongoing for sometime, between various instructors, training center owners, others and Microsoft Learning reporting bad experiences with Prometric and demanding that Microsoft Learning drop them for Vue. I wish you guys could read it as it is very funny at times.

I don't participate in that discussion, but it's fun to watch from the sidelines! Microsoft Learning constantly defends their "metrics" and everyone else relates example after example of exams that fail for one reason or another, poor customer service, excessive on hold time waiting for Prometric customer service (even when there's not a blizzard), score reports that won't print, and generally poor delivery from Prometric.

I really don't know what might help. I can say definitively it does no good to complain here, as many have previously. The surveys at the end of the exams clearly don't help, nor does complaining to Microsoft Learning, as they've received countless complaints and have chosen to do nothing about it....

MS

unofficially_prometric

MS,
I’m not sure what you’re looking for from me. I’m just a regular employee that was looking to help someone that had experienced an issue. We do our best to ensure that test centers adhere to certain quality standards but I’m well aware that there are many locations that could care less. Personally I understand that these franchises come off looking like extensions of Prometric corporate however they are not and I was simply trying to provide clarity, not pass blame. Furthermore, I had the luxury of knowing Ben’s testing location and therefore which contact center he would likely reach. A global company does not staff all locations worldwide 24/7.
In any event, I’m glad I was able to help. I would like to think that you can see my actions as an individual effort and appreciate them as so – good day.

eMeS

unofficially_prometric wrote: »

I’m not sure what you’re looking for from me. I’m just a regular employee that was looking to help someone that had experienced an issue.

I'm not looking for anything from you. I just think it's a bit odd that your customer couldn't get service through the normal channel, posts his experience on a message board, and then magically he gets service????

unofficially_prometric wrote: »

We do our best to ensure that test centers adhere to certain quality standards but I’m well aware that there are many locations that could care less. Personally I understand that these franchises come off looking like extensions of Prometric corporate however they are not and I was simply trying to provide clarity, not pass blame.

I can tell you for a fact that there are many postings here that match exactly what you say. Some test centers are no better than animal pens in terms of cleanliness. The thing that is really bothersome is that I know for a fact that for every exam I've taken at a Prometric site that I have completed the survey at the end of the exam, and have clearly communicated the state of the testing center. Others here have done the same for various testing centers across the country. And yet, with all of this feedback, nothing has changed.

At one point I considered offering exam services from our offices, and have seen the Prometric criteria for testing centers. It would appear though based on my experience and others that on paper there are requirements for testing centers to meet, but in practice none of this is enforced or regularly audited.

unofficially_prometric wrote: »

Furthermore, I had the luxury of knowing Ben’s testing location and therefore which contact center he would likely reach. A global company does not staff all locations worldwide 24/7.

Many do, and a reasonable approach would be to have some kind of continuity plan in place for when business can't be conducted out of the normal location.

A blizzard anywhere in the eastern US shouldn't come as a surprise.

unofficially_prometric wrote: »

In any event, I’m glad I was able to help. I would like to think that you can see my actions as an individual effort and appreciate them as so – good day.

I do think it's great for this one customer that you stepped up and helped, and it seems that Prometric needs more people like yourself. But how many customers went without assistance?

Were I in the business that Prometric is in I wouldn't want my employees handling customer service requests outside of normal channels. Simple as that. You took an risk and should be applauded for that, but from a corporate perspective you've implicitly confirmed that the normal channels don't seem to work, and you've explicitly confirmed that Prometric can't control the testing centers which it supposedly holds to certain standards.

MS

nickgailloux

Just to chime in on this, I've had my fair share of problems with Prometric too. One one test, the timer saying how much time was remaining started with 5 minutes and counted to 0, I was told to continue my test and not worry about it. I wasnt too worried about it because I usually finish tests with extra time, but not knowing how far along I was, was really annoying. I also worried it would just pop up at me at any moment and say I was out of time.

Then on my most recent test, the computer was infected with a virus, and it popped a message up in the middle of my screen litterly every 60 seconds, telling me about the infection. The test center staff told me to just continually dismiss it. Yeah, thanks a lot. Its not like I just paid you $125 to administer this test so you could take care of maintaining the computers so I can write my test in peace. Oh wait, I did pay you $125!

Devin McCloud

I took a test today, pc crashed and then through me back to the beginning. I saw the scroll bar error many times today. I kept trying to find a done button or anything to figure out why it would not let me go to the next question. I bet I lost at least 30 minutes all together. I guess I can't really complain anymore, since all previous tests I had to wear ear plugs to draw out the annoying tapping noise in the room. Not sure if it was from the camera or something else. Reminded me of an out noisy keyboard being pounded! Thank god they fixed that problem.

suprman

I took my 70-293 yesterday too, is my last exam to MCSE... study for 4 weeks, my screen appear CONGRATULATIONS YOU PASSED!!!

And also... test center was unable to print my result and website says pending

Its very stressing, study for weeks, get happy with a big smile when score appears and not im in doubt about the record of my result

Test Center gave me a ticket 5836285, Prometric Contact US said to wait some days =(

I wanna study to upgrade my MCSE (if I can say "My MCSE") to Windows 2008, but now i affraid about the result.


VErrrrRY FRUSTRATING

Dagged

I know thread is old but I took my first egzam since 2009. In 2009 I passed MCSA with prometric with no problem.
So I took 70-685 today (second attempt) and I was so happy seeing Passed score! But then I click next or exit and was a little bit surprised there was no end survey. Instead I had a message that I can't access prometric files and I need contact person who prepare exam.
I went outside and told the story to the guy who was in charge. He said they this is strange as nothing printed out. He went back to exam room and said that he reboot system. After this thankfully he printed out my scoresheet.
On prometric website exam still is marked as pending.

On on the second note exam cost me €150 but through Persons same exam €184! as Persons added VAT.

Anyway i hope result will be sent to Microsoft soon

Dagged

Rkdrummer20

Hi,
Do not loose hope you will surely clear in next attempt.
I have been lucky to clear some papers, joint study with friends help develop good understanding.