First post

This is my first post, so I will take some time to explain everything. All this explanation will be pretty lengthy, so if you want to first read the condensed version first to see what all this is about, scroll down a little bit and there will be a brief explanation of everything (I'll make it stand out) Make sure to come back and read the full blog post.

First a brief background on myself. I'm a college student living in Puerto Rico studying Computer Engineering, and I'll be graduating in May. Just recently I decided to apply for graduate school and continue my studies outside of Puerto Rico. That means filling out application, getting letters of recommendation, taking the GRE, etc. You probably have heard about the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). It's a standardized test that some US colleges require for admission to graduate school. Pretty much like the SAT for college, but this one is for graduate school. This test is created by the Education Testing Service (ETS for short) http://www.ets.org . It is administered by Prometric http://www.prometric.com . I first took the GRE last November. I did fine, but it was still working on several projects at the moment, so I thought I could be better if I prepared a little bit more. I signed up to take the test again the 2nd of January. Just like the first time, I signed up through their web page, paid with a credit card (by the way, the test costs $130 each time you want to take it).

On the 2nd of January I went to the Prometric testing services offices to take my GRE test. I showed my ID to the guy in the counter and he verifies the list. I take a glance and I see my name on the list. He then turns to me and tells me: "I need an ID that shows only your first last name, since that is the way you signed up to take the test". Hmm.... I thought to myself that doesn't make much sense, but I check for all my IDs. My driver ID shows both of my last names (father's last name, and mother's maiden name). So does my student card, so does my voter card. "Do you take Blockbuster card?" I ask almost jokingly (of course the did not). So I explain to him that does not make much sense. If it was the other way around, that I signed up with both last names and all my IDs had only one.... maybe (and just maybe) I could understand that they might get worried about some sort of fraud and maybe if my name was very common.... but anyway..... He told me the same problem had happened a few times in the previous days, since it was a new policy, but it was a GRE (ETS) regulation, and I had to give them a call and see if they let me take the test. At this point I just though: "Ok, this is just a minor setback. I'll make the call, fix the thing, and take the test". Yeah, right. You can see where I'm going.

So I made the call, and explain the problem to the lady. I'm still explaining "... so they wouldn't let me take the test because of a problem..." and she finished the sentence "... because of the last name, right?" So I explain just in case.... and ask what can be done about it to fix it, to which she replies something like "I'm sorry, but you will have to make another appointment and pay again." I make a small pause and say "I'm sorry, could you please say that again, I didn't understand". She repeats and explains how it was important to verify that the person who took the test was the same as the person who signed up. So I ask "You mean I just lost my money and I must pay again?". Answer was yes. I ask for an explanation, since it didn't make much sense to me. So she explains how it made perfect sense to her, and how she could not understand why I signed up using only one last name. I then explain that in the form they ask for the first last name. I said there must be someone over there that had access to the database and was able to make the change and I explained how simple it should be..... I had the credit card I used for signing up, so I could use that for authenticating myself, I could give her my home address, last 4 digits of my Social Security Number. But no way, there was no way to fix it. About 10 minutes into the conversation she says she was going to check what she could do. I though finally I was getting somewhere. It was almost time for my exam, so I wanted to fix everything as fast as possible. So I think it was her supervisor that answered the phone after a while. I really couldn't tell any difference between voices, but ok. I explain again the problem..... and get the same reply. "There is nothing we can do, that policy has been around for 2-3 years now." Hmm... so I explained her that I had previously taken the test on November and had no problem. I'm pretty sure I signed up the same way because the way the form is arranged. She then replied that my older score could then be canceled because of that. WHAT?!?!??

So about 10 more minutes went by. I think I was once again transfered to another lady. Again, they all sounded the same to me, so I could never really tell who I was talking to. This last one I remember was named Virginia (don't know her last name). Pretty much the same routine goes on.... I still can't understand how such an apparently common problem had no solution. "Obviously you already knew about the problem and apparently it is a common problem, how come you still haven't found a way to fix it"? Again she repeated how it was all my fault since I should have known better when I signed up....... Pretty much the same thing. I explained all I wanted was not to lose my money and that I wouldn't mind if she rescheduled the test, I just didn't want to lose my money. We are talking about losing $130 and then paying an extra $130 to be able to take the test. After a while, still talking to Virginia, all of a sudden she raises her voice almost screaming "Look, there is nothing we can do, you have wasted us about half an hour and I'm ending this conversation right now." She hung up. At this point I'm still in disbelief. Stood a few seconds without moving trying to understand. I still thought that there must be someway to fix this, and no one had ever yelled at me over the phone like that with disrespect. It took a few seconds to kick in.

All this time I had been in the hallway of the building, just in front of the office. So I go in, and explain what just happened to the guy behind the counter. While I was out there in the hallway other people had also arrived to take the GRE. They also had the same problem I had. The guy told me all I could do was the same thing they were doing..... paying an extra $130 (and of course lose the previous $130) and take the test. I refused to pay again. I asked the other guys if they had also called ETS. They had, but obviously their conversation was just a fraction of mine, apparently they weren't as insistent as I was. Not that it made any difference. Of course I was (I still am) in a rush to take the test, since some colleges have a February deadline to submit everything. I had no choice but to sit there and wait 3 hours for my girlfriend to get out of the test. She happened to have the same problem, but she started searching and luckily her voter card only had her listed with one last name so she was allowed to take the test. During that time, one other girl arrived..... again, same problem. She called ETS, same answer. After a while she decided to pay the extra $130 and reschedule the exam. She was also in my situation, she needed to get the test results out to the colleges in time.

Right now I don't know what I should do. I guess I'll have to end up paying an extra $130, but I still refuse to think that I lost my money. I though about a credit card dispute, but then I guess they can cancel my previous scores and the next scores if I take it again. ETS is the only entity that deals with this, so I don't have any other choice.

I'm writing this now because after that day I tried to give it a rest and try to solve the problem later. A few days I gave them another call, but didn't solve anything. This time the guy told me that each testing center had discretionary power over how them enforce the ID checking. Apparently everyone has a different opinion and it's the students that have to pay the consequences. I'm writing this a few days after everything, so I'm starting to cool off now. This way I can write and think better.

How can you help me? Wish I had an answer. Do you have any suggestion on something I can do? Or did I just lose the money? Am I wrong thinking that this problem could have been solved? Let me know your opinion. Please post comments with your thoughts or suggestions. The only help I can think of you can give me is try calling them directly and try to get an explanation yourself. Here's the phone number I called: 1 609 406 5430. Also write them an e-mail. These are the ones I found from their web page: gre-info@ets.org , etsinfo@ets.org . At least send them an e-mail. Feel free to redirect them to this page.

If you are a college student, you realize how important this can be. If this same thing has happened to you also, even more. If you have any suggestions on possibles solutions, please let me know. If no solution ever comes up, at least help me spread the word about this. Send it to friends, students, family....
If you work for ETS and can help me some way, or you just want to contact me, you can do it at: etsmoneyback@gmail.com

PS. I have the name and phone number of 3 other students that where there the same day and had the same problem. Hope I can be of some help for them too.

Thanks for your time.

PPS. I'll post any update or additional comments on the subject




/***Quick summary***
I'm a computer engineering student about to graduate (in May). Just recently I decided to apply for graduate school, so I had to take the GRE. I signed up for it through their web page and took it. Later I decided I could do better, so I signed up to take it again. This time when I got to the test center (Prometric), I wasn't allowed to take the test, since all of my identifications (driver's license, student card, voter card) had both of my last names, and I had just signed up using my first last name. I was told I needed to call ETS directly and get their permission to take the test. At this point I though I was just one call away to fix the problem. How card could it be to verify I'm the same person? All they needed to do was verify my postal address or some other information. So after calling directly the ETS offices and talking for about half an hour to different people I always got the same answer: I had lost my money and had to pay again if I wanted to take the test.

I really think this is very unfair. While I was there in the testing center I saw 4 other students with the same problem. They all had to pay the fee again to take the test, since they were also in a hurry to meet deadlines. I think there should be some way to fix this. Read the full story above, and leave your comments below.

Thanks!


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