Horrible experience with UW - Madison!!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Wisconsin
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<p>The process really was clearly straight forward. On the bottom of the form requesting the $250.00 housing first payment (Due by May 1st) was a coupon to send back in stating that you would not be attending UW and were requesting the $50.00 housing refund. About two weeks after the 1st of May we recieved the refund of $50.00. All was handled through the Housing office, with no need to deal with admissions. </p>

<p>The admissions deposit form was sent to admissions with information reguarding the admission decision to not attend and where son would be attending. The two items were clearly seperate and handled as such.</p>

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<p>Don't confuse a good rant with the facts. You expect him to take the time to READ the info?? I don't expect we'll be seeing him around here again anyway. It may be rude but I'll still say it--no big loss.</p>

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<p>Phew...I just read this thread for the first time and if that's the worst thing that occurs in the administration at UW, I'm glad I'm going to be spending my next 4+ years there!</p>

<p>Now...to put things into perspective, listen to my problem with UNC and you'll see how messed up things can get at a university.</p>

<p>Last summer, in mid-July I received an overdue notice for a thesis I had checked out of my department's library. I forgot about it and kept it (this happens all the time in my department and the librarians will eliminate all fines for the first violation) and planned to renew it the next day. Well, I happened to forget about it for awhile and was sent a lost book slip and was placed with a $125 charge to my university account.</p>

<p>When I received this notice, I went by the library that day and they not only renewed the book for me, but also said they were going to drop the fine for me this time (because I obviously still had the book). Ok, so I relaxed and felt confident the matter was being handled.</p>

<p>Well, December rolled around and I was applying to PhD programs and the time came when I had to request my transcripts to be sent to all my prospective universities. I run over to the registrar's office for what I thought would be a straight-forward, 5-minute process to send my transcripts out. When I arrived there with the proper documents filled out, I was told there was a hold placed on my account. I asked them what it was for and of course they didn't know or could help me in any way, they sent me to the cashier's office. The only thing I could think that would place a hold on my account would be the library book, but I had successfully sent my transcripts in November with no problems and had no account activity since then.</p>

<p>I went to the Cashier's office and lo and behold it was the lost book fine! All I wanted to know is how to get rid of this stupid fine and they couldn't even direct me to the proper people to speak with. I also wanted to know why it took a full 5 months to get the lost book fine from being on my account to placing a hold on my account...they couldn't (or wouldn't) give me an answer. Finally, after much yelling and screaming in their faces to try to get answers (I swear they are trained in conflict aggravation!) they told me I had to go back to the libraray and take it up with the librarians.</p>

<p>To the library I went, and discussed the situation with my departmental librarians. They thought the whole situation was very strange, they didn't have record of the fee in their computer system. However, they did find it in their handwritten system, so they were flabbergasted it was in anyone's system. They then gave me a cancellation of fees notice (which they had sent once before, in July) to give to the Cashier's Office to take the hold off of my account. Phew, the hold was taken off and I was able to send my transcripts successfully!</p>

<p>I thought my horrible experience was over, I hadn't heard anymore word from the Cashier's Office and I had been able to check out books this whole time with ease. That is...until late April this year when I tried to register for summer session 2 to defend my thesis. I asked what the hold was for and lo and behold it was my old friend the lost book fee!</p>

<p>I immediately went back to the library (with the 'lost book') and refreshed them of my story once again. I told them I needed to get it solved now so I could register for class to avoid any late fee penalties (which I would have to pay out of pocket). They saw they had sent the request twice already and decided that more action was necessary this time. They called the central library to deal with the problem directly.</p>

<p>A few hours later, I went back to the library to get the verdict. They were able to get ahold of the woman in charge of fee cancellations at the library and supposedly sounded very frustrated and worn thin. She said she had been dealing with the same problem all day long, problems identical to mine, fee cancellations gone awry!</p>

<p>If this is how a library system at a 'top 5' library science school works, I'd hate to see one not in the 'bottom 5'!</p>

<p>Sorry for hijacking this, but students need to learn that these situations are what you need to get experience in now before you go out into the real world. Unfair things occur all the time in the real world and most large organizations have very poor communication between departments. You may still be able to resolve your issue, but don't count on it occurring unless you are very proactive and make lots of calls (to supervisors, not underlings) and sent lots of letters. If you don't have documentation though, you're pretty much SOL.</p>

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<p>good post ophiolite</p>

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<p>The only reason I posted my message was because I didn't like the way I was treated and I wanted to share my story. </p>

<p>Agreed that 50 bucks isn’t a lot or "horrible" in US standards. To all of you who feel this way, you need to get out of US to see what 50 bucks means in some part of the world. </p>

<p>Agreed that students might have faced harsher problems with other administrations. But, I am not here to compare or say that UW has the worst administration. I am sure most of the people at UW are the friendliest people in the world. But in my situation, I felt that the least they could do was listen to the story. If I were given a logical explanation like fritzenheimer did, I would have accepted it. But to get message such as - Housing: "You have to talk to admissions, it's not our fault" and Admissions: "Sorry we don't deal with housing" - while making an international call doesn’t seem like the responsible thing to do. </p>

<p>For comments such as: </p>

<p>"Phew...I just read this thread for the first time and if that's the worst thing that occurs in the administration at UW, I'm glad I'm going to be spending my next 4+ years there!" </p>

<p>It just shows you the standard of administrations at the American universities.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
To all of you who feel this way, you need to get out of US to see what 50 bucks means in some part of the world.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>True, I have been to 3rd world countries where most people don't make 50 bucks over the course of a year. However, when you decided to come to the US for education, you must take the good with the bad. Things are more expensive here and its something you need to get used to when you move. In many areas, 50 bucks won't buy you a week's worth of groceries. </p>

<p>
[quote]
It just shows you the standard of administrations at the American universities.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You are naive if you think this is only a problem at American universities. You need to be ready for a wake-up call when you move off campus and need to deal with other organizations in the United States. For example, if you have a dispute with a bill (such as cable, cellular service, electricity, gas, water, credit cards, etc.) you are run through the same circles to the point of absurdity!</p>

<p>In many areas, there are legal monopolies where one service takes hold of a certain area, such as electricity. If they make a mistake, there is no reason for them to go out of their way to help you out since they are the only people in town offering their service (i.e. no competition). Therefore, you need to jump through 100 more hoops to get a problem fixed and most times even if you have evidence that you are correct, they won't listen to it. So, you are responsible for what they say you need to pay up front or else you'll lose your service (you may get it back later though if you successfully win your bout).</p>

<p>Is it fair? Of course not! But regardless, it happens everyday to thousands of people. Just be prepared.</p>

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<p>You would think that education centers would be slightly different than "cable, cellular service, electricity, gas, water, credit cards, etc"</p>

<p>Maybe I do need a wake-up call. </p>

<p>By the way, thank you for both of your insightful posts. It has really been a great learning experience.</p>

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<p>my cell phone company tried to scam me out of a $100 rebate...I had to throw a fit before I actually got it..2 months latert</p>

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<p>"It just shows you the standard of administrations at the American universities."</p>

<p>What is that supposed to mean? If you expect everything to run perfectly in a large university where many things are going on you are very mistaken. It was a mistake they handled it wrong. Don't let one little incident ruin your whole view of UW.</p>

<p>PS. If the standards of American universities are so bad then why even bother coming. Don't go if its so bad.</p>

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<p>Yes gauravgc u should watch your words before u speak. Just because its an american university doesnt mean its a perfect institution, if you have such perfect pictures of universities you should look back home and see what administration capabilities they have.</p>

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<p>gauravgc, I think you have a lot of acculturation to go through. Try not to judge people and institutions based on your own cultural assumptions. Wouldn't you hate to see Americans judge you based on their own cultural assumptions; if so, you also have to give up your own when communicating interculturally.</p>

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<p>I made that statement after the comment posted by ophiolite who said, "Phew...I just read this thread for the first time and if that's the worst thing that occurs in the administration at UW, I'm glad I'm going to be spending my next 4+ years there." </p>

<p>I was just furious as how someone could make such a statement. I could not digest that fact that that people would be glad to go somewhere “if they were ripped off by only 50 bucks.” I am not going to say it again, but what does it tell you about the standard of the administrative system. </p>

<p>Also, I found the attitude of the last three posts peculiar. It is this feeling of "we know it is not perfect but what about your country" or "why are you coming here if it is not perfect." </p>

<p>Shouldn't the focus be on "yes, this is a problem, and we should strive towards improving our system."</p>

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<p>gauravgc i think it was better you if you had a discussion with the housing people rather than us who can do nothing but just have pity on you losing 50$. If you are really interested in improving the problem go speak to the housing people, complaint about it rather than putting down your frustration over here.</p>

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<p>I'm sure UW recognizes it as a problem, but as a big enough problem to have to sit down and reevaluate thier procedures is just rediculous. If you call and say you lost your money and explain why you need it or want it back and if your story is 100% their fault then I'm sure they will have no problem with giving it back. Making a statement that says that there is a bad standard of administrations is rediculous. You are going to sterotype the American universities on one little incidence and 50 dollars and i bet not one person at UW even remembers your situation. Call up complain get your money back if they are rude and mean and cheap then hate UW not American universites.</p>

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<p>As someone said before, we need to realize these sort of mess-ups are common in large institutions. It is terribly frustrating, but sometimes there are ways we can minimize these frustrations: 1. keep good records. The OP should've kept the slip of paper the other poster talked about. 2. put it in writing, esp. when it comes to accepting/ rejecting contracts. 3. be patient and persistent. If someone says to contact admissions and admissions isn't helping you, the person you spoke with in housing must not have known how to handle the situation. You should've called housing again at a different time and hoped for a different person.</p>

<p>My own experience... no one in my tech school EVER answers their phone (except the operator). Ticks me off. One time I was trying to contact the director for the nursing program to see if I could get onto a waiting list for a class, I left messages every other week for two months... no call back. Then I tried to sign up for a CLEP exam... no call back. Another time I did get a call back (finally), but for some reason or another, there was a long distance charge on my phone with their number (I always use phone cards to call them). Argh! I'll take my money elsewhere, thank you!</p>