Educational Testing Service Arvostelua 300

My experience with ETS has been a complete disaster that is now seriously jeopardizing my university applications. I took the TOEFL iBT Home Edition on July 8, 2025, and my scores were abruptly canceled based on a baseless allegation that I received assistance. I can state with 100% certainty that I completed the test alone and followed every rule to the letter.

The real nightmare began when I tried to appeal this false accusation. I sent my first formal appeal on August 11th. I heard nothing. I sent a follow-up email after two weeks. Again, complete silence. I sent a third email demanding an explanation and evidence. To this day, I have not received a single acknowledgment from the ETS Office of Testing Integrity.

It is absolutely unacceptable to accuse a test-taker of cheating, provide zero evidence, and then completely ignore all attempts at communication. Their lack of response is not just unprofessional; it's actively harming my future. My application deadlines are approaching, and because of ETS's false claim and administrative negligence, I am at risk of missing my opportunity to attend university.

Be very careful when dealing with this organization. If something goes wrong, you will be on your own, facing serious accusations with absolutely no support or communication. My situation proves they have a system that can ruin your academic prospects without any accountability. I would give zero stars if I could.

I have had a login error on my ets gre & toefl accounts. It has been more than a month, I emails them back and forth, they seem dont read my emails, but directly replies with the same template, and dont address the issue. Expensive test and materials, yet so unprofessional!!! I am so disappointed

Dear bla bla bla.

Thanks for your message!

With reference to your Email we understand your concern and we are so sorry for the inconvenience but unfortunately the team is still working on it so we kindly request you to allow some time once the issue has been resolved you will get notified.

We kindly request for your understanding.

For additional information, go through the link given: bla bla

For any immediate assistance, 1-609-771-7670 (U.S., U.S. Territories, or Canada only) or +1-866-473-4373 (all other locations) (Monday–Friday: 8 a.m.–7:45 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time except for U.S. holidays)

I hope this information helps you. Thank you for your interest in the GRE® test.

Regards,
ETS Support

Terrible customer service. They scam you every opportunity they get.

After 3 month still waiting for refund. It’s a joke that they are even allowed to operate in the EU with a 50% refund policy even when online order is cancelled right away, but it’s worse that not even those 50% are payed. 300€ out of the window for zero service delivery. Customer service sits in the US. Scam and no leverage as an EU customer.
DO NOT DO YOUR TOEFL TEST WITH THEM!!!

Absolutely disgraceful experience with the GRE.

You pay a ridiculous amount of money for an essential exam and receive a completely unacceptable level of service in return. Customer support is practically nonexistent: emails are ignored for days (if they even reply), and when they do, the information is unclear or useless.

On top of that, you spend hours on the phone just to reach an operator, only to have the call abruptly disconnected without any resolution. It’s beyond frustrating — it’s unacceptable.

How can an organization of this scale operate so poorly? No one seems to have answers, no one takes responsibility, and candidates are left completely on their own.

It honestly feels like once they’ve taken your money, you no longer matter.

Terrible service from start to finish. A complete waste of money.

I am writing this to highlight the increasingly aggressive legal tactics being used by Educational Testing Service (ETS). Recently, hundreds of teachers—including myself—had our educational materials wiped from platforms like Baamboozle due to a mass automated takedown by ETS.

While I respect trademark law, ETS is now targeting original, teacher-made content simply for being 'related' to their exam types. They provide no transparency, no specific URLs of the 'violation,' and no path for recourse, leaving small business owners and independent teachers in the lurch. It is an absurd overreach to claim that a teacher creating a grammar quiz 'inspired by TOEIC' is a copyright criminal.

If you are a language school owner or an independent teacher, be warned: ETS is no longer a partner in education; they are a corporate entity that views your classroom aids as a legal threat.

One of the worst you can have with a service porvider. Interrupting several times throughout the test, but if you answer they are gone again. Supervisor bad as well. They only have there standard phrases, but as soon as there is an issue, you are basically the victim of their issues.

ETS needs to seriously address how these at-home tests are administered. They outsource everything, including proctoring (India), which led to communication issues: the proctor’s accent was difficult to understand, and there was significant background noise. Where are the English speakers who sound like those in traditional English-learning materials? In addition, I experienced serious technical problems during the test, as the platform responded very slowly to mouse commands, directly affecting my performance. I submitted multiple formal complaints about this issue. However, ETS stated that they reviewed the session and found no problems, which contradicts what clearly occurred during the test and raises concerns about transparency and accountability in their review process.

TOEFL felt extremely unfair in its testing of my speaking skills. I was previously an advocate. Next time I will go with IELTS and only advocate for IELTS.

I did not opt in for 80 USD review process as the whole system felt unfair, once and forever.

The worst company, yet it monopolized
the testing game

Dieses Unternehmen ist einfach nur eine Katastrophe! Es ist eine Schande, dass europäische Universitäten dieses US-amerikanische, kapitalistische unternehmen als Standard für quantitative und sprachliche Kompetenzen gesetzt haben. Wo bleibt bei circa 500€ für eine Bewerbung die Chancengleichheit? Der Kundenservice ist ein Witz und bei Aufforderung, den Personalausweis per Mail zu verschicken, gibt es mit der GSGVO mit Sicherheit keine Berührungspunkte. Nachdem man bereits so viel Geld bezahlt hat, kostet jede Versendung an die Uni weitere 26€. Was ein Witz! Sollte das nicht in dem Preis von 250€ bereits enthalten sein? So oder so kann man sich nur eine europäische Kopie dieser Tests wünschen!

It's insane how they can charge so much for such a simple test and the worst part is that there aren't much alternatives. The test experience as well is pretty damn bad, uncomfortable and unreliable due to the bad tech implementation. Horrible experience.

Absolutely terrible experience taking the GRE at home. The process was disorganized from the start: the administrative setup alone took 20 minutes, moving the camera back and forth repeatedly, and then mid-writing, the exam dropped due to technical issues.

The proctor stopped me twice, claiming she could not see my face and only my hands typing. At one point, my proctor was suddenly switched without warning, forcing me to start over. By the end, I had to call the proctor four times before she returned, and when I told her I was finished, she simply said, “Oh, okay.”

This experience was not only exhausting and disorganized but a total distraction from the main reason I was there: to take the GRE. I was unable to focus on the exam itself because all my energy went into complying with constantly changing proctor requirements. ETS needs to seriously address how these at-home tests are administered—this was unacceptable. I highly recommend doing it in-seat until the proctor at home isues are addressed.

ZERO. STAY AWAY. STAY AWAY
STAY AWAY.

ETS cancelled my TOEFL scores with ZERO evidence. These companies are preying on immigrants who have no recourse.

I took the TOEFL iBT Home Edition. English isn't my first language but I'm fluent. I live in Canada, work in English, function in English every day. I took the test, scored pretty low in reading (who tf knows why? Probably my ADHD ass) but I felt fine about all other sections.

Then I got this email:

> Your TOEFL iBT® Home Edition scores could not be reported because your Writing response did not reflect the assigned task, or it contained ideas, language and/or examples found in published sources or other test takers' responses.

They're accusing me of plagiarism. I didn't use any templates. I didn't prepare with any courses. I wrote from my own head. If they bothered to check my screen they would see me typing in a very normal fashion.

I asked for evidence. Nothing. I asked what my writing "matched." Nothing. Just a vague accusation and cancelled scores.

So let me get this straight:

- I paid over $258 USD for this test

- I completed it legitimately

- ETS cancelled my scores based on ???? God knows what?

- They won't tell me what I supposedly plagiarized

- They keep my money

I am grateful to be able to afford another test with IELTS, so my application is not in danger. But I am fuming. FUMING!!!!

Stay away from ETS. They're a bunch of thieves. Incompetent "investigators". Incompetent customer service. I wish them HELL.

Reporting Two Terrible Test-Taker Experiences, separately:

1) On Toelf iBT speaking test, they gave me an unfair score that is at least ~5 points lower than what I should be awarded to. But they refused to make a review for the score (despite that I requested score-review immediately after being alerted). Though I am the test taker who can score full score on each four of the TOELF iBT session.

2) My GRE account was unable to login almost immediately after me taking the test online. And then I wrote to them several emails repeatedly demanding assistance without seeing any replies for more than a year.

one star is for the quality of the test materials.

The at-home test is a complete scam. They outsource everything, including their proctoring, to India. So I tried to take a GRE and it took almost an hour of setup with an incomprehensible proctor.

I got so frustrated and it ruined my ability to take the test, so I left without starting and requested a voucher for a local testing center instead. GRE flat out denied that and refused to refund my $220.

I threatened to dispute the $220 charge with my bank for services not rendered, and they threatened to blacklist me.

Basically they can never let you take the GRE again and will refuse to release the scores to universities that you already have. They have a complete and total monopoly over this and couldn’t care less about it.

They claim to be an American company in New Jersey, but good luck talking to a single American. I got an unintelligible Indian proctor whose name I can’t remember, then I spent days emailing and talking to various inept customer service representatives such as: Akhileshwara E., Khajaarif U., Nanditha M., Mohmmed R., plus another on the phone who was also Indian and who’s name I couldn’t spell if I tried.

Just an all-around terrible business that wouldn’t exist if not for their total monopoly on the tests.

I had an incredibly frustrating experience with ETS regarding my TOEFL iBT test on September 27, 2025.
After completing the exam, I had to go straight to the hospital due to a severe migraine with aura (ICD-10 G43.1), which affected my ability to perform properly during the test. I immediately contacted ETS the next day, submitted medical documentation, and requested that my scores be canceled, as I was not able to complete the test under fair conditions.

Instead of offering understanding or support, ETS refused to honor my request. They insisted that since I completed the test and reported my scores, no exceptions could be made, even though I had a verified medical emergency. Their response was cold and dismissive, and they made it clear that they wouldn’t entertain further inquiries on the matter. I was left feeling completely unheard and unsupported, despite providing all the necessary documentation.

It’s incredibly frustrating to be told that your medical situation doesn't matter, especially when you’re trying to do the right thing by contacting them immediately after the test. The lack of flexibility or empathy in such a situation is unacceptable. I expected much better from an organization that claims to care about fairness.

If you find yourself in a medical emergency during your test, I would not count on ETS for any help. They refuse to accommodate even the most well-documented and urgent cases. I’ll definitely be looking for other testing options in the future.

For God sake do not take GRE online! They make the experience as painful as possible for a test you shouldn’t even need to take. The ETS lady had me on a wild goose chase for an hour inspecting my study room like the gestapo. I had so much unwarranted stress going into the exam! They watch you like a hawk when taking the whole test. Terrible service! Terrible experience! I’d feel more comfortable taking the test in prison. Hope they rot!

I have had issues each time I have taken a PRAXIS exam. Most recently, I showed for my at-home exam at the scheduled time and got a message that my exam had already been completed or was terminated. I contacted ETS, sent a screenshot of my login screen with the time, and spoke with someone who was not able to help. I then got an email that said I failed to take my test. I called again, wasn't able to get the issue resolved and my case is now being escalated to "the team that can help with refunds and rescheduling." We'll see what happens but this has been very frustrating.

If I could I'd give 0 stars. Online test was a huge scam. They terminated my test for no reason and stole $370 from me, no refunds, no option to reschedule even. A bunch of incompetent people working at a call center somewhere in India that barely speak English themselves. Never again!!! I would genuinely recommend everybody to consider IELTS instead.