CFA Institute Reviews

Completely useless. Tried to take an exam on line, but despite extensive technical review in advance, the thing didn't work and I wasn't able to take the exam. Now trying to reschedule but despite several emails and a number of telephone calls I still can't get any resolution. Each call handler seems to be unaware of previous dialogue and can't find evidence of it on the system; and apparently the more you write in the more your mail gets put to the end of the list which is apparently too long for the call handler to see. I've been looking for a mechanism to make a complaint but can't find one on their website. Added to that the contact telephone number is incorrectly stated on their website.

No Refund from CFA Institute
Basically I paid my full fees right mid 2020 before Covid.
My test got cancelled twice and now it s too late to get a refund because I miss a 2 week period of request in JUN21. My only chance to get a refund was during those 2 weeks ONLY... WHAT A JOKE
"The mission of CFA Institute is served by generating value for core investment management professionals and engaging with the core investment management industry to advance ethics, market integrity, and professional standards of practice, which collectively contributes value to society." from CFA website
Your Behavior is the opposite of what you pretend to teach your student.
You should be ashamed of your policy and the way you conduct business

Terrible customer service. You have to wait at least 1 month for a reply via email. More importantly however, CFA institute pretends to have the highest standards which apparently do not apply to themselves. The situation is as follows. I requested a resolution process as I did not apply for my exam locations (which is my fault) however I did not receive any emails on this. CFA institute claimed they have provided my with emails and many reminders. I received print screen from their internal system indicating that the sent multiple emails to me. Nowhere I was able to spot my name on the print screens. Important is that prior to this, I had a technical issue with my name and email adress - CFA confirmed that they corrected the mistake in their IT system by email. After I bomborded them with emails, I received a general email (sent to everyone) that they need to confirm the names and email adressess. Once CFA determined that they THINK they are right you cannot do anything as they wont respond anymore. So in short:
• CFA had no reasonable effort and adequate basis for their conclusions. The printscreen does not say anything. CFA institute could have used the printscreen as evidence that the e-mail would have been sent to either Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
• CFA has not shown to have adequate record retention. Simply a forward of the email would have been satisfactory.

They only care about charging money without providing a service. They do not reply to repeated requests about the CFA designation recognition in the UK after Brexit. I have emailed several times to enquire about this, I have written to the CEO in America and the UK but no answer months after repeated attepmts. The comptent they show to members is astounding. Incompetent, greedy and the reason why the public has no confidence in the financial community. I will not renew my membership ever again. Get your Charter and then leave the Institute. Shameful, shameful, shameful.

My exam was postponed due to Corona for several times. That is not the Institute’s fault. However, in December they offered me a refund due the many cancelations. I agreed to it and the institute set itself a deadline of 120 days to refund me the exam fee. This deadline has passed since weeks. Mail reminders are being ignored. Nothing what I would expect from am institution of this kind.

Terrible customer service and angry replies.

It has been three weeks and I have not received any response from them.

My testing centre was closed and I have received none response from them

I actually passed the exams without studying an awful lot but even so it was still a wast of time in hindsight. I worked in finance and IB for a couple of years but found out that most finance employers do not value it enough to justify the time investment and if you finally decide you want a life and move out of banking / PE into industry it gets even worse - the value the CFA designation provides in that case is so low that it is not even worth the trouble to fill out the required conduct form every year. My advice - do another degree instead or even better, some unpaid work experience in another field as you will gain a wider skill set and perspective on life...