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INFOSEC Instituteu Nightmare

kaisersoze28kaisersoze28 Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
July 31, 2015
I am writing to officially document and express my extreme dissatisfaction following my recent experience as a training participant at the InfoSec Institute.
After the first few days and inadequate facilitation, it was abundantly clear that the training would fail to live up to its claim of a 93% pass rating, hands-on training and Microsoft partner experience. I called the contact number on the web site and sent at least eight e-mails regarding the fact that every single person in my class failed the first exam. This seems like an unusually high number given your self-proclaimed pass ratings. Other students did the same with no response from anyone at all the first 24 hours. After a lack of response and unclear direction on how to move forward with the training, I was forced to re-arrange my travel plans and return to work where I had to explain to my leadership team why the training did not meet my expectations or deliver what it claims to offer.
A few important things to note regarding the training, materials and instructors, that are backed by others in my class.
  • The entire class failed the first 70-410 exam Wednesday afternoon/evening.
  • The training prep class did not follow the syllabus or schedule as advertised. I was given 3 different syllabuses and none matched.
  • The website indicated 9 full days of intense instruction with no outside distractions yet we were let go every day before 5 p.m. and one day as early as 4:15 pm.
  • The website claims a proprietary Intense School Server 2012 R2 boot camp is designed to assist you in gaining a level of proficiency that can only be taught through hands-on labs, simulations, and the real-world application of skills. The class did not offer one hands-on lab, or one real-world scenario.
  • The website claims InfoSec is the most-awarded Microsoft training company. InfoSec is a Microsoft Gold Partner and recently won the Editor's Choice award for best virtualization Training. Recognition at this level is the result of thousands of quality student experiences in our boot camps. Yet, the class used third-party practice questions from a website named Ensurepass. Via the website the instructor only had one user account that the entire class used. This alone is a violation of the license agreement with Ensurepass. We had great difficulty even getting the software to work. One of the students actually figured out the issue and brought it to the instructor’s attention.
  • Because of difficulties accessing the website, we did not get the practice questions until the second day of training. As a result we had less time to study.
  • The class room projector has proved to be nothing more than a distraction in the class as nothing on the instructor’s screen displays with clarity on the screen.
  • Our books for training from Skillpipe were not provided until late on Monday and not at the beginning of class. There were also issues with the software related to the Skillpipe books. This did not allow us to follow along during the first day of class.
  • The exam’s practice questions from an outside vendor we were given were not the same questions as are in the actual tests.
Needless to say, the 93 percent pass rate was not achieved. The end result is that out of the 41 tests that should have been taken, only one test was passed and most of the students did not even take additional tests because of the lack of study material made available to them to be adequately prepared.
I still have not received an actual phone call from the company now nearly three weeks after the incident. I did receive one email that stated the following:
Hi James,
Our company policy for students who leave a course early is that the student is not entitled to a refund, a resit or any travel re-imbursement.
I heard from my boss regarding your request and we are offering a resit of the MCSE course with updated VCEs and 2nd-3rd shot vouchers for the first exam. We will not be updating the courseware since the material hasn’t changed.
We will not reimburse you for the travel.
I don’t believe I, or any of the other students that left, should be penalized for leaving the training early/before completion because I couldn’t get in touch with someone from the Institute itself to help direct me in my search for answers and next steps. The instructor was no help either and knew very little himself, saying himself, “I’ve only been employees for two months.”
After little response from your company to find a resolution, I am now involving my attorney and am seeking a full refund for the following:
  • Training cost $4,500.00
  • Travel reimbursement $1,500.00
  • Meals and misc. $ 250.00
  • Lost wages $2,000.00
Sincerely,

James Sullivan

Any questions or comments pleas call my cell 9542980107





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