I have been studying for the PMP most of 2020. I scheduled the exam (the first time) for mid-December. Was so excited! Checked in thirty minutes early (I had performed my system check days before and again the day off, out of an abundance of caution - everything checks out great). After fifteen minutes, I get the page on OnVue - Sorry, there is an issue, click here to chat. I start the chat and it takes a solid fifteen minutes for someone to answer me. I ask what the issue is, why hasn't the test started and most importantly, if there was an issue, why didn't someone contact me on the cell phone number I had provided, was on my profile? My phone was close enough to hear. The response I got back was that the proctors were having technical difficulties. Ok - I get it, but really? ALL of the proctors? I spend over forty minutes on the chat, only to discover that so much time had passed that they were not going to be able to start my test. I offered to take the exam in the time remaining, only to be told - "The system doesn't work like that". Deep breath. I get the individual with whom I am chatting to reschedule me for 30 December. THE SAME THING HAPPENED - except... this time I checked in 20 minutes early, because THIS time I have to take the exam from home, rather than the office. I care for my 99 year-old-grandmother and had to have a family member come in, one who had to get a Covid test and quarantine, mind you, since my regular once a week family member, who usually helps when I go into the office one day a week, was ill. I prepared a system specifically for the exam - a laptop I reloaded with ONLY Windows 10 and nothing else, fully patched, to avoid any "technical" issues, but naively, I was certain that the previous testing attempt was an anomaly. So, I checked in 20 mins early and after fifteen minutes get the same, SORRY screen. I started getting a sick feeling in my stomach and immediately click the chat. I can literally hear my heart beating in my ears, my pulse is so high. This is now five minutes before 3 pm EST, when the exam was scheduled. My chat gets picked up at 20 mins after 3 - after the interminable information gathering, the dude types right away: Sorry! It's been more than fifteen minutes, so your exam will not start. DUDE! You didn't even acknowledge my CHAT until more than fifteen minutes after my exam start time! I CALLED PMI and they offered to reschedule me for 2 January. I ask if it will be the exam I have been studying for over the past tear. Nope! It'll be the new version. So ... PMI thinks their test is so easy, I don't need to study for it at all? I am so frustrated, angry, and defeated feeling. Such abysmal planning for this switch over. If you know you are going to be slammed because you want a new money maker of a test, al least stay open on the holidays - I *bet* PMI can afford to pay their call center employees more money for holiday pay and over night hours. If you screw someone over, not once, but *twice*, friggin make amends to them by extending the exam for those people. PMI has wasted my time and money. Now, what - I am supposed to pay for the new training if I am to hope to be successful? That's unacceptable. I put a LOT of time, effort, thought, and resources into making sure I was successful at passing this exam. I had to arrange for someone to not only get a COVID test, but to isolate themselves for ten days, so that I had someone to give me the space at home to take the exam. In neither exam attempt did ANYONE contact me. Why did you ask for my cell phone number? Both times, I had to reach out in a blind panic, only to be told, sorry - our screw up is now YOUR problem. YAY!
I have taken multiple exams via online proctoring, using a webcam, and it's always been an easy, repeatable process. I even got my CHFI in an online proctored exam. I got both my CISSP and CEH in testing centers, so I have had both flavors of exam environments, home and test center. I am not a noob at this. I am getting pissed all over again just typing this out.
