Educational Testing ServiceReviews of ets.org

I would have given a negative score if it had been possible. I was supposed to take the TOEFL Ibt (home), checked that everything (both computer and phone) worked, a few days prior to and on the test day. I ran the checks with the software..... And when the time of the test came, the proctor (who could only speak a very poor english and obviously had no IT skills) spent 45min "trying" to get me through the verification process. Eventually, I never managed to get further the QR code step (it kept on saying "your session is expired") as he decided to cancel my session regardless (it worked at some point, but said to start again, and weirdly it never worked again afterwards), saying that I would be rescheduled for free. After contacting the customer service, it got even worse. Rude, robotic, and incompetent people. It took 3 days (and 5 different persons) before I got something close to an answer. Then they said that it would take 8-10 days for the relevant service to check what happened and come back to me. As you imagine, they pretended that something went wrong but they consider that I was responsible and wouldn't reschedule for free as supposed to. Not only I lost a lot of money, but there is only one physical session per month, so I might not have the test results on time. I'm a busy single mom, and literally have no time, money, nor energy to loose. I will contact legal authorities to help me being refunded, but I will mostly contact the University of Oslo so they warn people on their website about this, in order to prevent other students from being scammed. I would suggest that we all do the same, and share the information as widely as possible!

Test kicked me off two time in a row on the final writing prompt. The proctors and customer service employees speak little English and do not care. I have wasted 240$ with these people and they will not refund me or fix these problems. I will take my test in person next time.

Beware of scammers! Please protect your money and avoid booking any tests with ETS. Unfortunately, I was also scammed on the TOEFL test. I never imagined that such a professionally run company would steal students' money. After the introduction was over, I only got to the personal questions and was disappointed to find that my test was abruptly aborted. The proctor couldn't help. The security software detected unauthorized programs on my computer and excluded me from the test. The proctor could see that everything was closed and my screen was shared the entire time. The service afterward is even worse. No opportunity is given to prove anything. The only possible recourse is to contact a lawyer.

Do not ever take an online test! The program closed and they are giving me the runaround.

Worst customer service. I switched the a.m. & p.m. timing for the test (12 a.m.). What happened is that I logged in 11.20 CET and realised that I can not enter the test. Tried calling but they only answered day after and refused any kind of rescheduling of exam or giving my money back. Additionally, they only have one office in USA, so I needed to call for 30min from Denmark to USA. Terrible!

Clearly a money grabbing penny pinching operation. I will do everything in my power to dissuade my students and friends from using their ‘service’ and recommend all teachers do the same. Another example of a fake “customer service”

ETS educational service is the most dishonest, thieving, disdainful and privileged company I have ever seen. They should be investigated for fraud straight away. In the USA, when a professional (such as a teacher) needs to be State-certified, institutions delegate the responsibility to private companies such as ETS who quickly understand that they not only have a monopoly in the field but that their unfortunate "customers" have no choice than to buy their muck. Very quickly, ETS turns into a legal scam in which the purpose of the game is to sell as much of their human organic waste by any means possible. They apply all types of price-hiking techniques, pressuring, and send quantities of emails promising "10% off" and so forth, hence revealing their true colours. Let us be clear: the purpose is to sell, and to sell some more. And sell more after that. In my case I was instructed to take one of their laughable Praxis tests, the level of which is so far inferior any college degree it is a wonder State institutions still believe in this Praxis proving any type of knowledge. Not only do you not have access to the learning material (200$ more, please), but the exam in itself is comprised of trivia and badly-formulated questions which are so anti-academic, a first year college student would see through the scam in an instant. Customer service is the worst ever from a dysfunctional answer phone that goes round in circles, to customer agent speaking in broken English which is (ironically) challenging to understand. I booked a 160$ English test, which was so badly explained (due to absence of said customer service) that it ended up malfunctioning. As a result the test was cancelled and I must pay another 160$ to take it again. ETS have perfectly understood that the more these online tests malfunction, the more profit they make. Double the sales instead of selling just one test. It is simple business maths. When I phoned ETS to complain about their online test malfunctioning, the agent pretended to put my case at the top of the pile as a "hot case" and to accelerate the decision of their proctors. (Are we to believe that other similar cases were not so urgent?) By then I had already read the reviews on Better Business Bureau and Trustpilot and recognized the scam I had fallen for. The pattern was clear: ETS want the test to malfunction because it is easy profit. I've seen scams in my time, but nothing like these pirates. They are thoroughly dishonest and above any business morals. They are the scum of the earth. They are thieves with no ethics and they should be investigated and shut down immediately. Avoid if you can. Unless you have no choice than to buy from this thieving monopoly.

I have been interacting with this company for many years. It used to be a well-respected company. But in recent years it has virtually collapsed. To describe all the unfair labor practices it has engaged in would take too long. In addition to that it has sent nearly all its jobs overseas and is paying employees there less than 1/3 what it paid American staff. It is sad how corrupt and dishonest it has become. No need to contact them. They have made their decision and are not open to considering it further. I'm posting this review to get the word out, so perhaps something can be done to companies like this that send their jobs overseas. I'm hopeful that some Congressional legislator will propose a tax on all U.S. companies that send their jobs overseas. The tax should be enacted when they hire overseas for jobs in which many Americans are fully qualified. In certain circumstances, when someone has unique qualifications for a position, then the tax could be waived. But most of the jobs sent overseas are not of that type. Ironically, the jobs being sent overseas by ETS are being filled by those who are less qualified than those in the U.S., whom they are laying off.