ASL Testing Centres

[mathewb]

Hey i am so frustrated with these guys,

*They take my money (100 bucks a test)
*I have no choice but to use them (monopoly)
*I take a day-off work to do an exam (the system was broken and im sent home, Told NOTHING about WTF is going on)
*I call them, they say that there is nothing that they can do
*I call them again, they are sooooo helpful
*I call them again, they say that this is not there problem.

If i ran a business like this i would go broke. There was no courtesy call to say " im sorry we stuffed your day we will call you back when we can re-schedule"

Im starting to wonder where the 100 bucks a test goes to ?

Anyone else have similar experiences with these guys ?

mathew

[Ang737]

ASL have a lot to answer for. A mate of mine was doing ATPL Flight Planning and they wouldn't even let him go and take a nervous piss. He complained and they quickly changed the toilet break policy....

I haven't personally had problem with but true when a company has a monopoly on the industry the duty of care tends to got out the door... The ACCC should have stepped in when the price hike was introduced when ASL took over. I cant see the justification for $100 per exam when in the older paper based system it was $100 for all seven ATPL exams. The hardware infrastructure and development costs of their cyber exam site surely couldn't have cost that much to warrant the massive hike up in prices....

My two cents worth...

Ang ;)

[Towering Q]

ASL had a "falling out" with the supervisor at my location and the end result was a big dummy spit on both sides and no more exams.

The attitude from ASL was... "well if you can find another venu, let us know"...hello, is that my job?!?

There appears to be some new staff at ASL now. The two I have dealt with are going out of there way to make it happen. Good riddance to the dead wood.:ok:

[0tter1]

Have to agree... I dont quite understand the justification of the cost increase. I guess because it is so cheap to become a pilot that everybody can afford the exams. NOT! Sat an exam a few weeks ago, and another chap had come to sit an ATP exam, and they had programmed the wrong exam for him. He was made out to be the bad guy and was offered no apology.
However, I do appreciate that you get the results straight away, and you are able to book an exam for when ever there is a slot available. But I guess it comes at a price...

Whilst on the topic of exams, has anyone had any luck or response from CASA in regards to any queries about any questions they may have had a problem or discrepancy with? I had emailed a few queries about a question, and still 3 weeks later no response, and after 3 ph calls and being told im still in a que.. Just gave up and rebooked. Be interested to hear if anyone has ever had any luck.

[gary gearbox]

I got a phone call half an hour before an atpl exam telling me the computer was down in the local ASL centre. They were pretty good about it though. I spoke with neil the ASL boss in canberra and they organised an unsceduled sitting for me about a week later. I did lose a day off work which is annoying.

The thing that bothers me is having to book for an exam two months in advance. If they sittings are that consistant cant they provide extra sittings???

GG

[ROB-x38]

I must admit my experiences have been ok but i think i've got lucky. Pretty much everyone else i've spoken with has a bone to pick with ASL for some reason.

And as for the pricing it's ridiculous but the reason for the price-rise is that the success rate is higher than it used to be so there is less money coming in from re-sits. And I reckon that is also the reason for changing the re-sit time period so that you can have another go sooner after failing. If you book it in soon after failing with no time to study there's a decent chance of another fail - more money.

And how about those reschedule costs - what a joke! :ugh:

[europilot]

Otter1,

About a year ago I failed ATPL Systems and got 68%, two f...ed questions and I sent CASA a very polite email asking them to have a look... 2 weeks later a guy from the FCL section called me and said that one question was indeed dubious and that I passed with 70%...

One of the greatest days in my life... just pm me if you want a copy of the letter...

[outboundjetsetter]

lucky you dont have to deal with asl in nz they charge about $166 nz per subject and with my 'great' income i cant even afford the theory fee cost to sit atpl exams and get ahead at the mo.I dont believe there should be such a massive difference in sitting fees between ppl/cpl/atpl surely we are getting 'professional' people to make up and mark these exams! come on ASL!.

[the wizard of auz]

I have several examples of incorrect answers to some of the presented questions (copied questions and answers and then presented them to my CFI and other instructors, who answered the same as me...... very surprised to get them wrong) the CFI then tasked some one to question them with CASA, and so far (as far as I am aware) no reply or help forthcoming. this was all quite a few months ago.
I would love to know if, when the data base gets all sorted out, that people who just missed out on a possitive result by one or two marks, will get reimbursed their fee's?........ I doubt it. the data base is all screwed up and they don't seem to give a **** about it.

[Turtledove]

Same old story with a company who has the monopoly, take Telecom NZ for instance whose "mission statement" is "we don't need to look after our customers, they can't go anywhere else":D

You will need to do some serious lobbying to NZCAA, as I beleive they are the department who hand out the approvals for examination providers if you want things to change. Although I could think of better things to do with my time, like bang my head against a brick wall, it will be less painful.

[rmcdonal]

I have to say that all these stories I can relate to.
Just recently I was informed that my liscence would not suffice as proof that I had passed a BAK before sitting an exam. Whats the go with that? How could I have the liscence without passing the exam? There realy are some stupid people running these exams, on at least 2 occasions I have had to question both CASA and ASL to find out important facts (would the NAS affect my NAV exam, and did the workbooklets need to be in date) both times I was sent back and forth from ASL to CASA.
Isn,t there some rule about monopolysing this sort of thing?

[flyby_kiwi]

mathewb,

I had the exact same thing happen over here - They accepted my original exam application, I took the day off work to do it - then 2 weeks before the exam they rang me and said that that exam date had been cancelled and by new one was on such and such a day.

I couldnt get another day off that close and asked them for another date later on. They then stung me I think $25 to change the date from the one they had made up but I had no choice.

Whats more is that in the exam you have to have to sign a page waiving any rights under the OIA.

[maxgrad]

The closest exam venue is 500 km away, I asked ASL if I could arrange a spot at my home town to sit, e.g an adult educ centre or some such. they very strongly said NO. So I travell the distance every time to sit the ATP's.
I asked the venue opperator if they recieve anything for sitting axams. guess what ASL get the lot.
All I can hope is that my last exam doesn't get cancelled or they have computer problems when I'm there.

good luck all in future exams and dealing with the monopoly