I attended a Training Camp, inc. 7 day CCENT, CCNA & CCNA Security course. I initially called into training camp and spoke to a robert gilmor, a sales person at the company. I explained that i have some networking knowledge, but was concerned with being able to pass all three exams and having limited IOS command line experience. The sales person told me that "over 90%" pass, due to the expert instructors on staff at training camp. I was reassured that the on staff instructor was cisco certified and of expert level.
When i arrived at the facility, i found that the course books were hastily put together with numerous grammatical and spelling errors, and were not cisco authorized books. The lab exercises rarely worked with our equipment which slowed the class down considerably even in the first day of training. Many of the students started to question the instructor on basic concepts, but the instructor was not able to answer any of the questions and stated that he was not affiliated with training camp but was a contractor from another company. The instructor was clearly not familiar with the course contents and couldn't answer any questions about it. For hours he droned on and on reading slides, but not adding a single word that was not on the presentation slide. The instructor was corrected many times by students in the class on foundational concepts, like subnetting, CIDR format, etc. For $3000 you expect an instructor with more knowledge than myself, someone who is admittedly new to networking. The class is supposed to be a boot camp lasting 10-12 hours per day, but the instructor would end class at 4pm every day.
The facilities at training camp were also dismal. The food was terrible in our "meal package" one of the students got sick from lunch and was very dehydrated almost to the point of passing out.
While all of this was going on, we took the first ICND1 exam. Only one person passed the exam, it was clear that the course materials were not even related to what was covered on the exam. At this point, one student actually quit the class and went home. When it came time to take ICND2, not a single person passed the exam.instead of studying for the CCNA security exam, the class elected to re-study in group sessions (with no input really from the instructor). We then found out the instructor wasn't even certified with the CCNA Security and had zero knowledge of the material. There was also no practical labs for the CCNA Security, so everyone felt we had zero chance of passing it.
In light of all of this, I simply requested a refund from my sales person robert, but he brushed me off and told me to come back to the class again. Having paid thousands in travel expenses and losing a week of vacation, i saw no benefit to attending the class again. After this conversation, he never returned my phone calls. I even called from a friend's cell phone, he then picked up the phone, but when he recognized my voice, he hung up.
I can't explain fully the emotional pain and stress this has caused me, to give up $3000 of my own savings, a week of vacation, and have nothing to show for it.
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