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have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

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  • have not had a good experience with the WIA yet
• have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

• have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  SWL-VK2003 > 17-01-2018, 10:25 AM

  As someone truing to get into the hobby i'm finding more and more rioadblocks put in my place.
  
  the latest is from the WIA.
  
  i'm booked in for my foundation assessment on the Australia Day weekend. As part of this i ordered the book "Your entry to amateur radio" on the 6/1, via the WIA's website.
  
  it hasn't arrived yet so i sent an email chasing this up and was told that "Please note as specified on our Web site that the Office is closed until Wednesday 24th January. Your book will be posted shortly."
  
  I did not see anything specified on there website, no email was sent after the order was placed telling me this or anything. Waiting until the 24th is not an option as i need to study for the exam. i'm pretty unhappy at the moment.

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  VK3ALB > 17-01-2018, 03:43 PM

  Hi Tejas57,
  
  Perhaps you can contact whoever is running the exam and tell them of your plight? They may have foundation manuals in stock. You could also try to contact ARV who also sell manuals or a ham club near you?
  
  ARV = https://shop.amateurradio.com.au/contact
  
  You can find a list of ham clubs on the WIA website.
  
  Hope it works out for you

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  VK3AV > 17-01-2018, 04:20 PM

  Hi Tejas57,
  
  If you have not done so already I recommend going to http://www.res.net.au and click on the Foundation Licence link on the left.  This will take you to 17 video tutorials created by Ron Bertrand VK4DQ.  Ron also has a text book for all classes of licence.
  
  I have used Ron's material and find that the video format really effective as you repeat sessions or just can back up on items if you want to hear something again. It also means that you can stop the video, google something a topic to gain more information, then return to the video. I did just that when upgrading a few years ago.
  
  Regards
  Bernard

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  SWL-VK2003 > 17-01-2018, 10:57 PM

  (17-01-2018, 03:43 PM)VK3ALB Wrote: Hi Tejas57,
  
  Perhaps you can contact whoever is running the exam and tell them of your plight? They may have foundation manuals in stock. You could also try to contact ARV who also sell manuals or a ham club near you?
  
  ARV =  https://shop.amateurradio.com.au/contact
  
  You can find a list of ham clubs on the WIA website.
  
  Hope it works out for you

  
  thanks. 
  
  the club i'm going though has manuals for sale. i'll call the WIA on monday and cancel the order (though i've got half a mind to just report them to my bank for non-delivery of goods honestly) and i can pick up a copy on monday night from the club.
  
  what has annoyed me mostly is the lack of communication in regards to this. the only reason i got told anything was wrong was because i emialed them and asked what the hell was going on. if i knew there was an issue i could have got it though the group doing my assessment and had it for a week or 2 now.
  
  
  In terms of Ron's videos - I have been though those and quite like them. i got the book as i was planning on using my hour and a half commute to work each way to study as well.

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  SWL-VK2003 > 18-01-2018, 11:49 AM

  so it looks like we have some form of resolution. I decided i would give themone last chance before i contact my bank and i posted on the WIA's facebook page about how unhappy i am with the issue.
  
  within an hour they had organised for me to pick up a copy at no charge from the club i'm testing through and they will do a stock swap. not optimal for me (the club is an hour drive each way as opposed to being delivered to my door by post) but it's better than the alternative.
  
  I do also have some residual bitterness towards the WIA. it's not that hard to set up an auto resopnd email to orders stating you are closed for the month

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  VK5ZD > 20-01-2018, 08:54 AM

  On the WIA bookshop page it specifically states "Bookshop orders will be despatched within seven days from the date your order is placed on the WIA online bookshop system."
  Nothing to say this is affected by office closures.
  I'd be annoyed too!

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  VK3ALB > 20-01-2018, 09:53 AM

  There were a number of notifications warning that the office would be closed. I agree that it would be better if there was a notice on the bookshop page warning about the closure and the announcement on the front page should have been made to stick at the top of the page and an automated email warning of the closure should have been added.
  
  It's clear someone has heard of your problems and tried to rectify it because the closure message re-appeared on the front page for a couple of days. Sadly, as each new item is added older ones fall off the list.
  
  
  This is clearly a limitation of the design of the web site. Not attacking the OP but I see the comment of "it's easy to make a change to the website . . . . " on various blogs.  I doubt very much that the office staff or indeed anyone at the WIA could have changed that on their own. Whoever designed or put the page together can probably do that - clearly they did not.
  
  Now, the WIA is looking for volunteers to help with amongst other things the revamping of the website. If there is someone out there with the skills to do this work I am sure the WIA would be happy to hear from them.
  
  Most importantly the OP has found a way forward and I wish him well for next week.

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  SWL-VK2003 > 20-01-2018, 10:37 PM

  >"it's easy to make a change to the website . . . . " on various blogs. 
  
  
  maybe. i got an email recipt at the end of the transaction and it had nothing about closure. 
  
  i would think that there would be a way of either adding something to this email top talk about the closure or depending on how the WIA gets the order info ways to autoend an email notifying of the closure.
  
  >It's clear someone has heard of your problems and tried to rectify it because the closure message re-appeared on the front page for a couple of days.
  
  I had a good old facebook rant over this, given that i'm booked in for my licence exam on the aus day long weekend. though that rant i got a call from someone at the WIA who told me they will put the message back up. they also said they were unaware that clubs were running courses in january. 

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  SWL-VK2003 > 27-01-2018, 09:30 PM

  quick update - took the foundation course and exam today and passed. now waiting on my callsign to be issued

• RE: have not had a good experience with the WIA yet

  VK3ALB > 27-01-2018, 10:15 PM

  Congratulations.
  
  Hopefully you can look past this hiccup and find the great things that AR offers you. If you like building things check this out
  
  http://vk2zoi.com/articles/half-wave-flower-pot/
  
  The dual band model is a snap to build and will work as advertised as long as you get the measurements right. In my opinion it's comparable to a Diamond X-50 and not that far behind a X-200.
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