Fortinet Training Institute
StefStef
New Contributor

Pearson VUE - endless frustration with the most horrible IT company on planet Earth!!!

I sat multiple exams from multiple vendors during the last 2 months and one of them was Fortinet. All of the exams were the so called "online proctored exams" which are served by the super ridiculous OnVUE platform written by script kiddies during a high-school recess. You can login no earlier than 15 mins prior the exam during which you need to download a huge piece of software, upload 6 full-resolution photos from your phone, then do it a second time because it never works from the first time, then pray this happens within 15 minutes from the exam start hour or you are refused access to the platform. And if this is not enough then you get your exam interrupted by their stupid software because SKYPE WAS RUNNING?!? How did this happen when there is a pre-check for running software and everything was validated to be in order by their software and so called proctor? Their software goes fullscreen, you can't Alt+Tab or anything else. Or god forbid your Internet connection is not 100Mbps international peering - their software claims to be disconnected and forces you to restart the validation process (of course after you have uploaded the 6 images). Pearson VUE's support is utterly ridiculous and unreachable not to mention you CANNOT CONTACT THEM if you have technical issues in the minutes prior the exam - there is just no way to call the proctor!

If this is not enough they try to sabotage you in other creative ways as well. They didn't let me sit one of my exams due to a "payment processing error". It took me 2 hours to get to the chat support which tells me your payment hasn't gone through so go to phone support as we can't deal with payments. 1 hour in the queue of phone support (international call to Australia cause they don't work 24/7) which tells me - send an e-mail with the full details and they'll take it from there. In the meantime I see my debit card charged so surprise - no actual payment processing error and waited for a refund for SIX WEEKS from these knuckleheads exchanging over 20 e-mails. I asked them multiple times to provide a replacement 35% discount code as they screwed my up and all they repeat is "try to rebook", "use the old code", "go ask your vendor". 

I've kept full documentation of their ridiculous actions included recorded phone calls. If you are still not sure how horrible they are read these reviews:

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.pearsonvue.com

https://www.facebook.com/pg/PearsonVUE/community/?ref=page_internal

I urge everyone to boycott this ridiculous company until Fortinet and other vendors give us an alternative (Prometric?). It's just time and money down the drain otherwise.

P.S. I managed to pass all my exams despite Pearson's efforts to introduce as much stress as possible to the certification exam environment.

9 REPLIES 9
AnonMemb
New Contributor II

This post was removed
JohnQian
New Contributor

Congrats!  Well done to use this period and passed all exams!  I took one recently.  yes, they are very strict.  Not quite understanding is they asked me to stop when I read out the sentence to myself.  No external monitor is pain for me too.  positive side, I have only about 10-15 min waiting to start or glitch, heard some folks not able to get test started due to internet connection, VPN or antivirus on the laptop.  Cheers!
JudiF_l_
New Contributor II

Hello,

Yesterday I passed an exam, and I was anxious because of your experience. My only hardship was that how I could take photographs with a laptop on a docking station :D But at the beginning I had to agree with some strict rules. One of them was you shouldn't move your mouth during the exam. So I think this was the reason why they stop you. Good luck for the next one!

Judit-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: Jul 22, 2020 09:00 AM
From: John Qian
Subject: Pearson VUE - endless frustration with the most horrible IT company on planet Earth!!!

Congrats!  Well done to use this period and passed all exams!  I took one recently.  yes, they are very strict.  Not quite understanding is they asked me to stop when I read out the sentence to myself.  No external monitor is pain for me too.  positive side, I have only about 10-15 min waiting to start or glitch, heard some folks not able to get test started due to internet connection, VPN or antivirus on the laptop.  Cheers!
Original Message:
Sent: Jul 22, 2020 01:02 AM
From: Stefan Stefanov
Subject: Pearson VUE - endless frustration with the most horrible IT company on planet Earth!!!

I sat multiple exams from multiple vendors during the last 2 months and one of them was Fortinet. All of the exams were the so called "online proctored exams" which are served by the super ridiculous OnVUE platform written by script kiddies during a high-school recess. You can login no earlier than 15 mins prior the exam during which you need to download a huge piece of software, upload 6 full-resolution photos from your phone, then do it a second time because it never works from the first time, then pray this happens within 15 minutes from the exam start hour or you are refused access to the platform. And if this is not enough then you get your exam interrupted by their stupid software because SKYPE WAS RUNNING?!? How did this happen when there is a pre-check for running software and everything was validated to be in order by their software and so called proctor? Their software goes fullscreen, you can't Alt+Tab or anything else. Or god forbid your Internet connection is not 100Mbps international peering - their software claims to be disconnected and forces you to restart the validation process (of course after you have uploaded the 6 images). Pearson VUE's support is utterly ridiculous and unreachable not to mention you CANNOT CONTACT THEM if you have technical issues in the minutes prior the exam - there is just no way to call the proctor!

If this is not enough they try to sabotage you in other creative ways as well. They didn't let me sit one of my exams due to a "payment processing error". It took me 2 hours to get to the chat support which tells me your payment hasn't gone through so go to phone support as we can't deal with payments. 1 hour in the queue of phone support (international call to Australia cause they don't work 24/7) which tells me - send an e-mail with the full details and they'll take it from there. In the meantime I see my debit card charged so surprise - no actual payment processing error and waited for a refund for SIX WEEKS from these knuckleheads exchanging over 20 e-mails. I asked them multiple times to provide a replacement 35% discount code as they screwed my up and all they repeat is "try to rebook", "use the old code", "go ask your vendor". 

I've kept full documentation of their ridiculous actions included recorded phone calls. If you are still not sure how horrible they are read these reviews:

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.pearsonvue.com

https://www.facebook.com/pg/PearsonVUE/community/?ref=page_internal

I urge everyone to boycott this ridiculous company until Fortinet and other vendors give us an alternative (Prometric?). It's just time and money down the drain otherwise.

P.S. I managed to pass all my exams despite Pearson's efforts to introduce as much stress as possible to the certification exam environment.

AguiPedr

Hi Judit, I hope you are fine, did you take the NSE4 exam, how it is like, is there any lab scenario?
JudiF_l_
New Contributor II

Hi Aguinaldo, 

No, last week I took the NSE6 FortiAuthenticator (I'm already an NSE4, NSE5 and NSE7). I don't how NSE4 has changed since I took it. As I remember, the questions were multiple choice questions. There were some where I should understand VPN or routing situation and reverse path forwarding, and there were few where I had to understand the output of some CLI command. But every questions based on study guides (NSE4 Security and Infrastructure).

Do you plan NSE4 in near future?

Judit 
AguiPedr

Hi Judit thank you so much for your feedback, first of all congratulations and I'm so happy for your achievements, I like to see womans follwing IT career, yes I've been studying in order to take the NSE4 Certification. Are you on Linkedin, can you share your contact with me?-------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: Aug 24, 2020 09:12 AM
From: Judit F�l�p
Subject: Pearson VUE - endless frustration with the most horrible IT company on planet Earth!!!

Hi Aguinaldo, 

No, last week I took the NSE6 FortiAuthenticator (I'm already an NSE4, NSE5 and NSE7). I don't how NSE4 has changed since I took it. As I remember, the questions were multiple choice questions. There were some where I should understand VPN or routing situation and reverse path forwarding, and there were few where I had to understand the output of some CLI command. But every questions based on study guides (NSE4 Security and Infrastructure).

Do you plan NSE4 in near future?

Judit 

Original Message:
Sent: Aug 24, 2020 08:55 AM
From: Aguinaldo Mois�s Pedro
Subject: Pearson VUE - endless frustration with the most horrible IT company on planet Earth!!!

Hi Judit, I hope you are fine, did you take the NSE4 exam, how it is like, is there any lab scenario?
Original Message:
Sent: Aug 18, 2020 10:02 PM
From: Judit F�l�p
Subject: Pearson VUE - endless frustration with the most horrible IT company on planet Earth!!!

Hello,

Yesterday I passed an exam, and I was anxious because of your experience. My only hardship was that how I could take photographs with a laptop on a docking station :D But at the beginning I had to agree with some strict rules. One of them was you shouldn't move your mouth during the exam. So I think this was the reason why they stop you. Good luck for the next one!

Judit
Original Message:
Sent: Jul 22, 2020 09:00 AM
From: John Qian
Subject: Pearson VUE - endless frustration with the most horrible IT company on planet Earth!!!

Congrats!  Well done to use this period and passed all exams!  I took one recently.  yes, they are very strict.  Not quite understanding is they asked me to stop when I read out the sentence to myself.  No external monitor is pain for me too.  positive side, I have only about 10-15 min waiting to start or glitch, heard some folks not able to get test started due to internet connection, VPN or antivirus on the laptop.  Cheers!
Original Message:
Sent: Jul 22, 2020 01:02 AM
From: Stefan Stefanov
Subject: Pearson VUE - endless frustration with the most horrible IT company on planet Earth!!!

I sat multiple exams from multiple vendors during the last 2 months and one of them was Fortinet. All of the exams were the so called "online proctored exams" which are served by the super ridiculous OnVUE platform written by script kiddies during a high-school recess. You can login no earlier than 15 mins prior the exam during which you need to download a huge piece of software, upload 6 full-resolution photos from your phone, then do it a second time because it never works from the first time, then pray this happens within 15 minutes from the exam start hour or you are refused access to the platform. And if this is not enough then you get your exam interrupted by their stupid software because SKYPE WAS RUNNING?!? How did this happen when there is a pre-check for running software and everything was validated to be in order by their software and so called proctor? Their software goes fullscreen, you can't Alt+Tab or anything else. Or god forbid your Internet connection is not 100Mbps international peering - their software claims to be disconnected and forces you to restart the validation process (of course after you have uploaded the 6 images). Pearson VUE's support is utterly ridiculous and unreachable not to mention you CANNOT CONTACT THEM if you have technical issues in the minutes prior the exam - there is just no way to call the proctor!

If this is not enough they try to sabotage you in other creative ways as well. They didn't let me sit one of my exams due to a "payment processing error". It took me 2 hours to get to the chat support which tells me your payment hasn't gone through so go to phone support as we can't deal with payments. 1 hour in the queue of phone support (international call to Australia cause they don't work 24/7) which tells me - send an e-mail with the full details and they'll take it from there. In the meantime I see my debit card charged so surprise - no actual payment processing error and waited for a refund for SIX WEEKS from these knuckleheads exchanging over 20 e-mails. I asked them multiple times to provide a replacement 35% discount code as they screwed my up and all they repeat is "try to rebook", "use the old code", "go ask your vendor". 

I've kept full documentation of their ridiculous actions included recorded phone calls. If you are still not sure how horrible they are read these reviews:

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.pearsonvue.com

https://www.facebook.com/pg/PearsonVUE/community/?ref=page_internal

I urge everyone to boycott this ridiculous company until Fortinet and other vendors give us an alternative (Prometric?). It's just time and money down the drain otherwise.

P.S. I managed to pass all my exams despite Pearson's efforts to introduce as much stress as possible to the certification exam environment.

PablFisz
New Contributor

I will sit for NSE4 exam in a few days. any recommendation?
AguiPedr
New Contributor

And then did you keep with pearson to write all your exams?
SCSIraidGURU1

When you are in a testing center, you are monitored by camera.    Do you really expect less at your home?    Pearson VUE has to make sure your testing room at your house doesn't have books or materials in it.   Same as going to a test center.    COMPTIA is the worst.  Their tests don't match up to any books.   Fortinet is second because they have not books.  



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