ACTFL / LTI courses expire today, 11/30/18

[rvm]

I had a similarly frustrating conversation with a company (I'm going to leave their name out of the conversation because no one here is using them and they probably have google alerts set to instantly notifiy them if someone on the internet talks about them- but Dfrecore saw my communication with them, so she can verify)

Anyway, I bring this up because the company I interacted with was nearly identical to your experience here.  I sent them a quick note asking if they were going to renew, and they sent me back PAGES AND PAGES in an email that INSISTS their ACE evaluation NEVER expires, that only their "listing in the ACE database" expires and that it's an expensive and unnecessary directory and that it has nothing to do with how colleges decide whether or not to accept their credit. .... confused, and against my better judgment, I replied and attempted to explain how / what the ACE evaluation was, but the resulting firehose of emails about "my misunderstanding" and their contracts and agreements and <blah blah blah>  was about all that I could handle and I had to block them.  In short, they are VERY confused about how their courses could be used/ received by colleges, the ACE process, and currently list on their website that their courses are "ACE Evaluated."

I continue to be surprised that I'm surprised about things like this, but how someone pays for ACE Evaluation, spends TONS of cash to be in the directory, and doesn't even understand what they are buying is beyond confusing to me.  My best guess is that someone over at LTI does know what's up, but maybe the person who initiated the ACE eval doesn't work there anymore?  I just had a thought, I wonder if ACE could provide the name of a contact at LTI?  If they could provide a contact, you'll find the person who at the very least should understand what is expiring....  or, heaven forbid, it's run by the same clown I dealt with lol.

EDIT to add:  I can't verify this, but one provider of NCCRS credit that I spoke to told me they were not pursuing ACE evaluation because it would cost his company $75,000.  Now, is that true? I haven't any idea.  Is that for a full catalog of courses, for 3 years of courses, for 1 course, for an initial set up???  Was that an exaggeration?  Honestly, I have no clue- but if we assume for a moment that it could be true, a company with 20 classes for a 3 year eval pays $75k - that would require a serious commitment.

Jen, seems like I remember reading another post about your experience.  How frustrating!  At least LTI is mostly ignoring me, except the short email I received saying they were looking into the issue.

A few things come to mind about the way ACE should be doing business with companies.  ACE should require one central ACE rep, as I'm sure they do, but they also should require at least one officer in the company who clearly understands ACE's policies and procedures to prevent this type of thing from happening.

On the other hand, if it actually does cost $75k to get ACE-certified, then why go to great lengths to get companies to pay fees for being continuously certified, when those fees are probably lower than a new certification - meaning more money for ACE when companies don't pay their bill at the end of 3 years.

Your suggestion about getting a name is a great one.  I did ask "Is there a particular person at LTI I could speak with about this?" but my question went unanswered.  I assumed I couldn't get a name due to privacy issues. 

This should be easy to solve if a responsible person at LTI would contact ACE.  Hopefully, LTI is doing their due diligence at this point and they'll get their certifications back soon.  Btw, I think the lady at LTI did want to solve this.  She tried to help, she just didn't know enough about the situation so she did the proper thing and escalated it to her supervisor.  

I still think ACE needs to hire me part-time to be their Corporate Business Retention Rep.  I would solve these problems proactively so there would not be any downtime for companies that want to continue to provide ACE-certified courses. ... Hello ACE.  Can you hear me now?