Test Life in the UK - refused to sit the test

[MmeS]

Hi,

Something really bizarre happened to me yesterday and I am trying to collect evidence of people who had the same thing happened to them to put a complaint forward to UK Visas and Immigration.

Yesterday I was due to take the Life in the UK test. I was confident. I've lived in the UK for 15+ years, married to a British citizen and a lot of the things in the book I knew already. I did study from start to end though!

Anyway, I got the test centre. I had all my documents. I was the 1 candidate.

I am being called to verify my ID and bang first issue! (I will change the details to protect my identity).
On the screen of LearnDirect the guy has weird personal details:
For first name it only says P instead of Patricia
Middle name: it repeats P. I don't have a middle name so I can only assume that's a mistake. The guy refuses to let me take the test because there is an initial for a middle name but there is no middle name on my ID - driving licence.
He says he needs to check everything...and OMG, really nonsense appears on the screen:
Nationality: British citizen Urghh! Never I would have entered British since I am French and British people don't need to apply to the test!
Country of birth: British citizen. How is that possible?!!! British citizen isn't a country. I was born in France!
It's clear that there is an issue but the guy insists I made the mistakes!
Then he carries on...
Place of birth: LONDON. What?!!! Born in France in Paris. London is the city I live in. I insist. This isn't right. I couldn't have possibly made so many stupid mistakes. He still doesn't bulge and refuse to acknowledge there was an issue on their side. He asks me to leave and to re-book a test with the correct details.

Now, my husband was with me when I applied, he stood there and double-checked any typos. Never in my life I have made huge mistakes like these on an application. I've got a degree in English, I teach foreign languages and I'm a proofreader and copy-editor in English. I run my own business. I've worked for big publishers - Cambridge University Press is one of them.
So it is obvious, there was a problem when I pressed the send button.
I'm gutted. I want my £50 back and be able to re-take the test asap.

Anyone has had the same issues?
Thank you.

[ohara]

What did your booking confirmation email say?

[MmeS]

It says Hi P Smith, so I didn't see anything wrong: S for my first name and Smith for my last name. I showed the confirmation email to the guy there but he said: "that doesn't count".

[Federal]

Most distressing. I can't even begin to think what may have gone wrong there.

Try logging back to https://www.lituktestbooking.co.uk and check your details there. If they are as you input them, you may want to take this further. It is true though that unless everything matches in terms of your details, you don't get to sit the test.

[LilyLalilu]

Really annoying - let's hope that this does not happen on a regular basis and was a one-off IT issue.
As you said, you should put forward a complaint to the UKVI asap so that someone looks into this mess:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... he-uk-test

[noajthan]

It says Hi P Smith, so I didn't see anything wrong: S for my first name and Smith for my last name. I showed the confirmation email to the guy there but he said: "that doesn't count".

Did you take a screenshot of the offending screen?

[MmeS]

Thank you all.

I got the guy from Learn Direct to print a copy of the screen.

I've not logged back onto the UKVI website. I want to call them first so that they can see what's going on. I'm really annoyed. Weeks of studying the book, practising tests (all passed easily)...I thought it would be all over yesterday I would get part of my life back.

Just hoping this will get sorted quickly and that I'll be able to take the test soon. I will however take screen shots of all the stages of the application.

Yesterday the guy said that the auto-fill option must have done that. What?!!!! I'm not British so I will never entered British citizen in any of my applications! Besides, there was no auto-fill option.

I won't let them get away with this. £50 is not a tiny amount. Especially when I've already paid £65 for the PR card + spent +£52 on renewing my ID card. Not mentioning the cost of the application of British citizenship....

[MrsT]

If the mistake was made on their side, then they should either refund you the fee, or let you sit the future test without charge. Good luck, I hope you'll get things sorted.

[cyborg001]

Especially when I've already paid £65 for the PR card + spent +£52 on renewing my ID card. Not mentioning the cost of the application of British citizenship....

LOL you will appreciate that us non-EU minions pay over £2300 for permanent residence (ILR) + all the visa fees prior to that!

[Noetic]

How is British even an option on their system - seems like a bit of an oversight to me...

[MmeS]

Especially when I've already paid £65 for the PR card + spent +£52 on renewing my ID card. Not mentioning the cost of the application of British citizenship....

LOL you will appreciate that us non-EU minions pay over £2300 for permanent residence (ILR) + all the visa fees prior to that!

I do appreciate. I've not finished the process so I still have to pay over ££££s. My post wasn't about comparing who pays how much. I don't know your situation, you don't know mine.

[MmeS]

How is British even an option on their system - seems like a bit of an oversight to me...

Yeah! But it's there on the list. Why? No idea.

[MmeS]

Update: I called UKVI this morning. The lady at the other was very understanding. She also found the whole errors weird. There was no report of the system crashing. So she's going to submit my case for review. I may get a refund or I may not. I'll update.

In the meantime I had to re-book another test...

[Noetic]

Good luck!

[MmeS]

Good luck!

Thank you!

[mikaelaepure]

Hi. I had exactly the same problem yesterday in Stratford. I'm still under shock, but fond your post and it confirms that is something not right in their systems. Is the first time in my life, when i'm doing such a stupid mistake.
again they said that could be autofill. But how can I be a British citizen. it is unbelievable.
unfortunately last night I've correct the details and book a new test as I found availability next week.

I will call tomorrow for a complain. did I you manage to get a refund or I'm waiting my time?

thank you very much.

[CR001]

Hi. I had exactly the same problem yesterday in Stratford. I'm still under shock, but fond your post and it confirms that is something not right in their systems. Is the first time in my life, when i'm doing such a stupid mistake.
again they said that could be autofill. But how can I be a British citizen. it is unbelievable.
unfortunately last night I've correct the details and book a new test as I found availability next week.

I will call tomorrow for a complain. did I you manage to get a refund or I'm waiting my time?

thank you very much.

This topic is from 2016 and the user has NOT logged into the forum since November 2016. Please start your own topic instead of digging up old threads to tag onto.

Unlikely you will get a refund.