I am writing to dispute the $6,400 charge for a 13 day class that I purchased from InfoSec Institute to get Microsoft technical certification. I chose Infosec because they advertised that they have a 93%+ pass rate for all the students that enroll in the course, hands-on training and Microsoft partner experience.
I believe that Infosec falsely advertised the processes, services and tools that would be used in class and failed to deliver what was promised.
After the first three days of class we had the first test in which only one person passed the test out of 12 students, this was far below the 93% pass rate advertised. At that point is was abundantly clear that there was some sort of problem and I didn’t believe that InfoSec wasn’t going to be able to deliver the quality of training required to complete the certification. I tried to engage my sale person Jim Boyle numerous times to express my concerns but never received a call from him or any other representative of the company. Instead I did finally get an email stating that “I should worry about it, that I had another chance at passing the test through the second shot test and that the class was just panicking” .
Only after numerous complaints from the other students did the instructor out and say that Microsoft had changed the exams and the material and VCE’s that we were using to study didn’t match what was on the exams. The director of operations Scott Fredrickson called into the class after a day of silence (which I recorded) to say that they were caught off guard by the change and would stand behind their training and would do what was needed to fix things. He encouraged the students not to leave because we already blocked off the time and we could still get some benefit out of the class. He also said that InfoSec deal with students on a one on one bases to come up with individualized solution to meet the student’s needs.
I stayed in the class as Infosec requested and gave a 100% effort into the class and studying to hopes that I could possibly still get some of the certification. The end result was that out of the 60 tests that should have been taken and passed by the class, I was the only student in class that passed a single test. Most of the students did not even take any additional tests after the first attempt because of lack of direction and that the study material that made available to them to was inadequately prepared.
When I returned home after the class was complete I tried to engage Scott Fredrickson to request a full refund of the class as well as the cost of my hotel and travel expenses. But every attempt to contact him on the phone I would only get his voicemail. So I’d follow up with an email stating my complaint about the failures of the class and ask what InfoSec was going to do for me. These emails were usually responded to with vague details about them reviewing the material.
These are just some of the discrepancies between what they advertised about the course, the material and expertise.
The website advertised 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.
There wasn’t any time allocated to do any labs nor did we have adequate equipment to perform any labs. The instructor did try to use his own servers hosted on Rackspace but incapable capable of adequately demonstrating all of concepts.
The courseware wasn’t proprietary, the exam questions were from another company called Ensurepass. There was at least 20% of the exam questions weren’t covered by the material that was provided or the practice test questions. The Prep test were also riddled with wrong answers, discrepancies in the explanation sections or didn’t have any explanations at all. To add the problem, all of the students were using the same copy of software which may not have even been licensed to the company. This slowed the class from getting legitimate updates to the practice exams.
The entire class except for one student who was remote failed the first exam. I was the only student on site that passed any of the five test, most students didn’t attempt to take any of the exams after the first one. Five students withdrew from the class because they felt that Infosec wasn’t providing what was promised.
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.
I checked the Microsoft Partner portal and InfoSec is not listed as a Gold Partner, they are a Silver Partner.
The course material wasn’t available until the end of the first day which drastically reduced the amount of we had to prepare for the first test.
The amount of Class time and when the test would be administered that was outlined in course s
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 sometimes as early one day as early as 2:00 pm.
Inadequate equipment
Projector was poor quality that made everything fuzzy.
Laptop computers weren’t configured for wireless network and I had to finish the installation and configuration.
Internet connection was very slow and unreliable. ( I would be kicked off internet multiple times a day).
Breakfast, Lunch and snacks provided on each day of class Stay well fed with Breakfast and Lunch catered in to the classroom. An assortment of snacks and drinks are available in class as well to keep you refreshed. ( See Website and course outline document).
Breakfast was never provided and the drinks and snacks were water with Chex mix and oatmeal bars.
I left the class without taking all of the test and they did not provide me with any of the Exam vouchers and when I ask the instructor about the vouchers, he said he didn’t know how we get them.
The overall experience was a total waste of time and money, they made no attempt to correct the problem after the differences were discovered. They have horrible customer service, I is practically impossible to actually get someone on the telephone. The standard practice for them is to respond through email making vague statements.
InfoSec Institute, Inc. Reviews
I am writing to dispute the $6,400 charge for a 13 day class that I purchased from InfoSec Institute to get Microsoft technical certification. I chose Infosec because they advertised that they have a 93%+ pass rate for all the students that enroll in the course, hands-on training and Microsoft partner experience.
I believe that Infosec falsely advertised the processes, services and tools that would be used in class and failed to deliver what was promised.
After the first three days of class we had the first test in which only one person passed the test out of 12 students, this was far below the 93% pass rate advertised. At that point is was abundantly clear that there was some sort of problem and I didn’t believe that InfoSec wasn’t going to be able to deliver the quality of training required to complete the certification. I tried to engage my sale person Jim Boyle numerous times to express my concerns but never received a call from him or any other representative of the company. Instead I did finally get an email stating that “I should worry about it, that I had another chance at passing the test through the second shot test and that the class was just panicking” .
Only after numerous complaints from the other students did the instructor out and say that Microsoft had changed the exams and the material and VCE’s that we were using to study didn’t match what was on the exams. The director of operations Scott Fredrickson called into the class after a day of silence (which I recorded) to say that they were caught off guard by the change and would stand behind their training and would do what was needed to fix things. He encouraged the students not to leave because we already blocked off the time and we could still get some benefit out of the class. He also said that InfoSec deal with students on a one on one bases to come up with individualized solution to meet the student’s needs.
I stayed in the class as Infosec requested and gave a 100% effort into the class and studying to hopes that I could possibly still get some of the certification. The end result was that out of the 60 tests that should have been taken and passed by the class, I was the only student in class that passed a single test. Most of the students did not even take any additional tests after the first attempt because of lack of direction and that the study material that made available to them to was inadequately prepared.
When I returned home after the class was complete I tried to engage Scott Fredrickson to request a full refund of the class as well as the cost of my hotel and travel expenses. But every attempt to contact him on the phone I would only get his voicemail. So I’d follow up with an email stating my complaint about the failures of the class and ask what InfoSec was going to do for me. These emails were usually responded to with vague details about them reviewing the material.
These are just some of the discrepancies between what they advertised about the course, the material and expertise.
The website advertised 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.
There wasn’t any time allocated to do any labs nor did we have adequate equipment to perform any labs. The instructor did try to use his own servers hosted on Rackspace but incapable capable of adequately demonstrating all of concepts.
The courseware wasn’t proprietary, the exam questions were from another company called Ensurepass. There was at least 20% of the exam questions weren’t covered by the material that was provided or the practice test questions. The Prep test were also riddled with wrong answers, discrepancies in the explanation sections or didn’t have any explanations at all. To add the problem, all of the students were using the same copy of software which may not have even been licensed to the company. This slowed the class from getting legitimate updates to the practice exams.
The entire class except for one student who was remote failed the first exam. I was the only student on site that passed any of the five test, most students didn’t attempt to take any of the exams after the first one. Five students withdrew from the class because they felt that Infosec wasn’t providing what was promised.
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.
I checked the Microsoft Partner portal and InfoSec is not listed as a Gold Partner, they are a Silver Partner.
The course material wasn’t available until the end of the first day which drastically reduced the amount of we had to prepare for the first test.
The amount of Class time and when the test would be administered that was outlined in course s
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 sometimes as early one day as early as 2:00 pm.
Inadequate equipment
Projector was poor quality that made everything fuzzy.
Laptop computers weren’t configured for wireless network and I had to finish the installation and configuration.
Internet connection was very slow and unreliable. ( I would be kicked off internet multiple times a day).
Breakfast, Lunch and snacks provided on each day of class Stay well fed with Breakfast and Lunch catered in to the classroom. An assortment of snacks and drinks are available in class as well to keep you refreshed. ( See Website and course outline document).
Breakfast was never provided and the drinks and snacks were water with Chex mix and oatmeal bars.
I left the class without taking all of the test and they did not provide me with any of the Exam vouchers and when I ask the instructor about the vouchers, he said he didn’t know how we get them.
The overall experience was a total waste of time and money, they made no attempt to correct the problem after the differences were discovered. They have horrible customer service, I is practically impossible to actually get someone on the telephone. The standard practice for them is to respond through email making vague statements.