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PRM advertises the cost of an exam as $195. But you might end up paying a lot more than that.
I just registered for the exam, then went to Pearson Vue site to schedule it. The first surprise comes in the end: the voucher does not include VAT. In my case, that was nearly $50 extra. Ok, the total is about $240 USD, I thought. Wrong – the local Pearson Vue test center charges an office fee for exams paid with a voucher. The fee is $105.
The total adds up to about $350 for an exam that was supposed to be $195. If you take four of these separately, you end up paying $600 more than you thought.
In principle, this is misleading since PRM does not tell you about these extra fees. When I tested for another global designation couple of years ago (also administered by Pearson Vue), I paid, printed the voucher and took the test – there was no VAT or extra fees. The fee covered everything.
You are right about the $195 being without VAT (which is charged at local rates) and not mentioned in the PRMIA website.
No idea what the test centre fee is, I paid online at the pearsonvue website and i paid $234 ($195+VAT), no extra fees.
i have taken prm at country which do not has vat, the fee is as mention in prmia web and there is no extra charges for pearson office fee.
you should contact prmia customer service for the detail, they are very helpful.I contacted them couple of days before starting this thread. No reply yet.
Is the VAT levied by your country ? For me, I paid exactly what they said I paid. (195 – 25% student membership). The only surprise on my credit card bill was the us-can exchange rate so it came out to be 3 or 4% more but I should have expected that since PRMIA specified the prices were in USD. I would contact them and let them know the situation. From what I hear, they’re customer service is exceptipnal
Hi Shootingstar,
This seems to be country specific thing. In which country you are trying to schedule the exam?
I scheduled my exam in USA (To be taken in August). I have not been charged anything extra while scheduling the test.
Thanks
RavishIf you purchase the exam from PRMIA website, you pay only the price listed there…and no VAT.
Just login to PRMIA.org with your username and passwordClick on the Exam tab
Click on Fees and Registration.
Follow the prompts.
Once you purchase your voucher you will receive two emails from PRMIA. One is your receipt. The other will list your exam voucher number as well as directions to schedule your exam.
Then when scheduling your exam through Pearson Vue, you just type in your voucher number and no additional payment will be required.
Works for both-full-time student discount as well as regular price.
i emailed PRMIA and they replied that there are no extra fees charged via Pearson Vue or by the examination venue/centre.
rather confused now..LOL
i think TS register the exam through pearson vue website and pay the amount to pearson.
the correct way to register prm exam is through prmia website, and a code will be sent to your email. After that key in the code in pearson when prompt for payment. The fee shall be deducted accordingly.
I still haven’t got any response from PRMIA; did not try to resend the question, though. I also sent a message to Pearson Vue, asking if they think it’s within their policy to allow local Pearson Vue representatives to set basically any kind of fees for exams. Three weeks gone, no response.
Just to clarify: I did pay the 195 USD in PRMIA website. After getting the confirmation e-mail, I followed the instructions and logged on to Pearson Vue website. I went through the steps far enough to select a center, the time slot and in the next step, I see about 240 USD incl. VAT. If I recall correctly, there was a box for entering the voucher number. But the voucher is for 195 USD; I thought I would have needed to pay extra 45 USD had I continued that route.
In this case I could not since the only test center with available time slots could not be booked online. I called them, booked the time on the phone and gave the voucher number. Afterwords, they sent my employer a bill of EUR65+VAT(about EUR80; they asked for my employer details when I booked). Looks like they ignored or forgot the VAT for the USD195.
When I take the next exam, I will try another test center which allows booking on the Pearson Vue website. Then we’ll see what happens with the VAT when paying with voucher.
There is no VAT fee in my area, so I think it solely depends on the local testing center. There is nothign to do with PRMIA and PRM.
I send a message again to Pearson Vue and got a reply. No response from PRMIA yet but now I know for sure how this goes. If you want to avoid extra fees, follow these instructions:
1. Do NOT register in your exam via Pearson Vue website. If you do, you may need to pay VAT depending on your country. Register in PRMIA.org website, get the voucher number from the e-mail message and use it in Pearson Vue website. Once you select the test center and time, the Pearson website will show a total including VAT. Don’t be afraid: once you enter the voucher code, you will see the VAT disappear in the next step. I tested this and it works.
To repeat: use only prmia.org to register to avoid VAT.
2. Extra fees by local test centers
Pearson replied: “I do apologise but test centers are indeed allowed to charge an Admin fee provided they advise you of the fee….As these charges are not made by Pearson we cannot advise of them.”
Actually, they do not advise it until you arrive on site to do your test – and then it’s too late…
So you need to do a bit research before booking. Check the websites (most centers have one) of the centers near your area. I narrowed my search to three centers. Two of them mentioned the extra fee ($100 in both cases) on their website. Third one did not mention it; for the next exam, I doublechecked this by calling them.
To sum up: the test center can charge you anything they please. Check their website or call them to in advance to avoid being ripped off.
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