ComplaintsforRegistry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  04/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I sent payment of $500 for testing in hopes to take a certification exam through RID in 2018. I never selected a day to test, time or location. My intentions were to take certification exam. Unfortunately, I've had a series of traumatic life events to happen to me and my family. To be honest, I am not sure if I can even pursue this desire to be a certified sign language interpreter. I do not have the time to pursue, study or prepare. I sent an email requesting a refund of $500. My request for my refund of $500 was denied. I was told their policy states a refund could not be issued. That information was never listed on their website, neither was I notified of this. I paid $500 for testing fees and expected a refund.

  Business response

  06/14/2022

  June 9, 2022

  To Whom It May Concern, 
  RID is in receipt of the BBB’s communication with our organization concerning a transaction with *** ***** ******* in 2018. We look forward to a satisfactory and speedy resolution. 
  Background Facts: 
  ? The ****** *** *** ********** ** **** ******** ************** (*****, LLC) has had responsibility for administering RID’s certification exams since *****’s founding in 2016. ? Candidates may only register for the NIC Performance Exam component with ***** after successfully taking and passing the initial NIC Knowledge Exam. 
  ? Until 2020, registration for either exam involved a choice between a paper application or an online registration process. In both approaches, candidates attest that they have read and understand – and agree to abide by - all policies pertaining to exams offered by RID/*****, including our refund policy. 
  ? *** ******* purchased her NIC Performance Exam on April 18, 2018 for $510 via her RID member portal. The 2018 candidate exam registration instructions page at *****.org clearly had the refund policy shown on the page. Attached is also the exam application form. 
  ? On February 13, 2020, an email was sent to *** *******, sharing exam platform and exam version transition information, updates, and reminders. Email is attached. ? On April 21, 2021, *** ******* reached out to RID’s membership department to ask about any testing cycle extension. The email was forwarded to CASLI (which had been operating exams for 5 years on behalf of RID by this point) and on April 22, 2021, CASLI staff informed Ms. Johnson of the status of her testing cycle and her options pertaining to her unused exam registration. ** ******* was encouraged to set up an account in the CASLI Exam System and schedule her exam as soon as possible. Email is attached. ? *** ******* requested a refund in an email on April 21, 2022 and was offered non-cash options at that time. She filed a BBB Complaint shortly afterwards. Email is attached. ? *** *******’s 5-year exam cycle expires November 1, 2022, at which point she will no longer be eligible to sit for any performance exam and would need to restart the certification process from the beginning. 
  
  Further Relevant Information: 
  
  Please note that in the professional certification industry, exam entrance/registration fees paid are usually nonrefundable and tied to a limited testing window - candidates for certification are expected to purchase their exam only when they are professionally ready and promptly take the purchased exam within their selected testing window. RID has long held in place a generous testing window and refund policy that allowed candidates to pay for an exam and then delay taking the exam: for knowledge exams, the first component in the testing process, there is no deadline to take the exam at all after purchase, while performance exams must be taken and passed within 5 years of passing the knowledge portion. 
  To minimize the fiscal impacts on the organization from people requesting cash refunds for exams years after the registration fees have been spent on operations, RID established a written refund policy limiting the timeframe for cash refunds and instead offering account credit conversions for those past the cash refund timeframe. ***** continued the existing refund policy when the organization began overseeing RID’s exam administration in 2016. 
  Screenshots of the refund policy in 2018 and the refund policy in April 2022 (when *** ******* requested a refund) are on the last page of this letter and also hyperlinked. 
  The exam refund policy has always been reflected on: 
  ? the exam information page of the RID.org website before transition to ***** in 2016, ? on *****.org’s website since 2016, 
  ? and on all PDF exam registration application forms at all times. 
  For *** *******’s situation, RID and ***** continue to extend the offer of either: ? a $495 RID member account credit - which does not expire ($510 minus the $15 processing fee) 
  ? or a full value $510 ***** Exam Voucher - nonrefundable and valid for 1 year. ? we've also offered candidates in *** *******'s situation the option of paying it forward and donating some or all of the fees to one of RID’s scholarship programs (Pokorny, for example) or reassigning their exam reservation to another candidate. 
  *** ******* needs to let us know how she wishes to proceed by emailing us at [email protected] or replying to the April 28, 2022 email, subject “Re: Refund” from Sean F*****. If we do not hear from her with a choice by July 31, 2022, we will default to issuing the credit to her RID member account and consider the matter closed. 
  Please note: Because her testing cycle does not expire until November 2022, *** ******* is free to just use her current unused exam reservation to take the ***** Generalist Performance exam prior to her November 1, 2022 testing cycle expiration date. (The NIC Performance Exam was retired in May 2022 and this information was communicated to candidates well before then so they could sit for the old iteration of the exam should they wish to do so.) 
  Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you need additional information. We look forward to hearing from *** ******* regarding her decision. 
  

  Sincerely, 
  Sean F***** 
  Director of Testing 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩