NMC West Virginia

[Capt. Lee]

You guys are not going to believe this. I finished testing Tuesday 11-24-09. Thursday was Thanksgiving. I got my new Chief Mate & Barge Supervisor credentials today, Saturday, 11-28-09. Now that is impressive. No mistakes. It printed the day after I finished my exams. That is how it is supposed to work. Thank you NMC West Virginia!

[anchorman]

I told you less than a week on the phone. Have I ever been wrong??

[skycowboy]

I know I have beat them up pretty good when they were screwing up. I sent letters to everybody I thought could address the situation. My past few dealings with them have been excellent.

I think it is important that we take the time to fill out the online customer survey and knowledge when they do a good job. Here is the link,

https://homeport.uscg.mil/mycg/porta...mld_survey.jsp

Congratulations on your new promotion. Good work

[Capt. Lee]

I told you less than a week on the phone. Have I ever been wrong??

Do you really want me to answer that?

[Capt. Nemo]

Pretty damned impressive. I hope they make that kind of performance consistant.

Nemo

[anchorman]

Do you really want me to answer that?

Well, there was a time when I thought I could handle tequila, and I was wrong.

[eesmith4]

Mine was printed and mailed the day they received the paperwork from Boston.

I've heard the horror stories from others here, but my experience has been nothing but outstanding.

[dougpine]

You guys are not going to believe this. I finished testing Tuesday 11-24-09. Thursday was Thanksgiving. I got my new Chief Mate & Barge Supervisor credentials today, Saturday, 11-28-09. Now that is impressive. No mistakes. It printed the day after I finished my exams. That is how it is supposed to work. Thank you NMC West Virginia!

Kudos to NMC! I am thrilled to hear a happy story about them.

[dougpine]

I told you less than a week on the phone. Have I ever been wrong??

Anchorman needs a signature. I suggest the following:

"I thought I made a mistake once, but I was wrong."

[Capt. Fran]

Lee, that is fantastic! Bravo Zulus all around!

[userGOM]

that's great, hope they're as good with mine when I submit.

[Capt. Lee]

that's great, hope they're as good with mine when I submit.

The submitting part is a different story. I originally submitted on May 29, 2009. First thing that went bad was my VSO certificate had not yet been approved. I was able to work through that and VSO was sucessfully added to my STCW. My sea time letter from my last company said Master instead of 2nd Mate OICNW. That had to be changed. My current employer had my sea time as 2nd Mate OICNW and Ballast Control Operator. Those days as BCO and 2nd Mate had to be separated. The next thing was my ARPA certificate did not cover all ARPA assessment for Chief Mate and I could not complete them onboard. So I went to a school to have the assessments completed on their simulator. I wound up staying for the entire 4 days instead of just getting my assessments. So when I turned in my assessments I also turned in the ARPA certificate, but the new ARPA class did not cover all the Chief Mate assessments. I knew this prior to taking the class, but was told They could do the assessments no problem. Adding the ARPA certificate in there confused the process. Then the date on one of the sea time letters that was re done was not correct. The date on the letter, not the dates of sea time. Then I needed a letter from a senior company official stating that I was qualified to serve as Barge Supervisor. Then after that I was told that I need competency assessments filled out for barge supervisor. I also had to show 84 separate days for the barge supervisor not serving as 2nd Mate OICNW. The main problem I could see was that I would be told that I needed something I would get what they said I needed and then it would be Oh wait we forgot you need this too. When I turned my application in I thought the only thing that was missing was my Advanced Stability Certificate which I already had scheduled, and that was not even caught. I did turn it in, but I did not intentionally ommit these discrepancies. The evaluation process had to be the worst to date that I have experienced and I have had some dealings with the Coast Guard in the past 11 years. Of course there was a whole lot more to be assessed. One thing I think screwed everything up was throwing in the Barge Supervisor and the VSO. Having multiple items on the application definitely slowed things down.

Once the approval to test letter was issued everything went great and I am grateful to be done. I hope my next dealings go smoother and I will do my best to submit a more complete application in the future to help make things easier.

[Shellback]

Sounds like trying to get a mortgage on a house, it's always something and one more hoop to jump through...

Thanks for the advice Lee, when I submit next, I will sure keep it in mind..

The submitting part is a different story. I originally submitted on May 29, 2009. First thing that went bad was my VSO certificate had not yet been approved. I was able to work through that and VSO was sucessfully added to my STCW. My sea time letter from my last company said Master instead of 2nd Mate OICNW. That had to be changed. My current employer had my sea time as 2nd Mate OICNW and Ballast Control Operator. Those days as BCO and 2nd Mate had to be separated. The next thing was my ARPA certificate did not cover all ARPA assessment for Chief Mate and I could not complete them onboard. So I went to a school to have the assessments completed on their simulator. I wound up staying for the entire 4 days instead of just getting my assessments. So when I turned in my assessments I also turned in the ARPA certificate, but the new ARPA class did not cover all the Chief Mate assessments. I knew this prior to taking the class, but was told They could do the assessments no problem. Adding the ARPA certificate in there confused the process. Then the date on one of the sea time letters that was re done was not correct. The date on the letter, not the dates of sea time. Then I needed a letter from a senior company official stating that I was qualified to serve as Barge Supervisor. Then after that I was told that I need competency assessments filled out for barge supervisor. I also had to show 84 separate days for the barge supervisor not serving as 2nd Mate OICNW. The main problem I could see was that I would be told that I needed something I would get what they said I needed and then it would be Oh wait we forgot you need this too. When I turned my application in I thought the only thing that was missing was my Advanced Stability Certificate which I already had scheduled, and that was not even caught. I did turn it in, but I did not intentionally ommit these discrepancies. The evaluation process had to be the worst to date that I have experienced and I have had some dealings with the Coast Guard in the past 11 years. Of course there was a whole lot more to be assessed. One thing I think screwed everything up was throwing in the Bage Supervisor and the VSO. Having multiple items on the application definitely slowed things down.

Once the approval to test letter was issued everything went great and I am grateful to be done. I hope my next dealings go smoother and I will do my best to submit a more complete application in the future to help make things easier.

[Capt. Lee]

Sounds like trying to get a mortgage on a house, it's always something and one more hoop to jump through...
..

I have acquired about 10 different kinds of Mortgages throughout the years with investment properties and my personal residences. Conventional fixed, Interest only, 2nd Mortgages, 10 year Fixed, 15 yr ARM's (5 Year Fixed periods), Commercial, residential, Investment and I have never had these kinds of problems. The thing that differs is if some broker or mortgage company gives you some shit you can take your business somewhere else. With NMC there is no where to go. A monopoly with the outcomes affecting the livelihoods of 1000's of people. The best thing I can say is they are trying to provide a good quality service. The bad is the time it takes to get an evaluator up to the level takes years. I think that some get almost up to speed and leave. This complicates the process further having to find, hire and train a new person. This is all pure speculation based on no known facts. Another problem is you are stone wallled from speaking to your evaluator. I understand this is meant to streamline the process and free up the evaluator to work on the evaluation part, but I can tell you it can be very frustrating not being able to speak to the person evaluating your application. Then, when there is a question about your application the evaluator has to ask a supervisor. It has been my experience that this can last weeks. I finally CC'ed someone a little higher on the food chain and things were accelerated from that point. I hated to do it (because I like handling things at the lowest level possible) and it may have been pure coincidence, but after that my application was done it two days and my evaluator was calling me at work.

[Shellback]

I have acquired about 10 different kinds of Mortgages throughout the years with investment properties and my personal residences. Conventional fixed, Interest only, 2nd Mortgages, 10 year Fixed, 15 yr ARM's (5 Year Fixed periods), Commercial, residential, Investment and I have never had these kinds of problems. The thing that differs is if some broker or mortgage company gives you some shit you can take your business somewhere else. With NMC there is no where to go. A monopoly with the outcomes affecting the livelihoods of 1000's of people. The best thing I can say is they are trying to provide a good quality service. The bad is the time it takes to get an evaluator up to the level takes years. I think that some get almost up to speed and leave. This complicates the process further having to find, hire and train a new person. This is all pure speculation based on no known facts. Another problem is you are stone wallled from speaking to your evaluator. I understand this is meant to streamline the process and free up the evaluator to work on the evaluation part, but I can tell you it can be very frustrating not being able to speak to the person evaluating your application. Then, when there is a question about your application the evaluator has to ask a supervisor. It has been my experience that this can last weeks. I finally CC'ed someone a little higher on the food chain and things were accelerated from that point. I hated to do it (because I like handling things at the lowest level possible) and it may have been pure coincidence, but after that my application was done it two days and my evaluator was calling me at work.

Yes lee, your exactly right, they are the only game in town...I often wonder what the packages, from the uninformed or unprepared mariner must look like and how much extra time that takes the evaluator to straighten out those kinds of messes,that in turn, delays the whole process even further..If my boat is any example, the uninformed out number the informed by a very large margin..

[CaptAndrew]

Yes lee, your exactly right, they are the only game in town...I often wonder what the packages, from the uninformed or unprepared mariner must look like and how much extra time that takes the evaluator to straighten out those kinds of messes,that in turn, delays the whole process even further..If my boat is any example, the uninformed out number the informed by a very large margin..

If the system works properly the packages should be sorted out by the REC before it ever reaches NMC, but I found that I actually know more than the personnel at Miami REC. That is scary, but at least (I think) I know what I don't know. Now the schools are going to prepare and submit packages for new Mariners.

[Shellback]

I agree, if it works properly..I have seen the results of my package after one REC, in particular got a hold of it...I'm pretty dilligent in my preparations and there was all kinds of paper work missing by the time it landed on the evaluators desk..So it's possible for packages to go through a REC that are complete, but end up at NMC, incomplete..Just as I am sure incomplete packages get past as REC as well...Either way, people ar human and mistakes get made..

If the system works properly the packages should be sorted out by the REC before it ever reaches NMC, but I found that I actually know more than the personnel at Miami REC. That is scary, but at least (I think) I know what I don't know. Now the schools are going to prepare and submit packages for new Mariners.

[Jeffrox]

I agree, if it works properly..I have seen the results of my package after one REC, in particular got a hold of it...I'm pretty dilligent in my preparations and there was all kinds of paper work missing by the time it landed on the evaluators desk..So it's possible for packages to go through a REC that are complete, but end up at NMC, incomplete..Just as I am sure incomplete packages get past as REC as well...Either way, people ar human and mistakes get made..

So did you ever go back to the REC a give that guy a tune-up?

[Cal]

Well, my application has entered a black hole at the NMC. The same exact lack of accountability that I had with my AB ticket. Took me 13 (*&^(*&@#$(&*^ months to get a simple AB Limited.

Now my file is "in review" in order to generate a letter informing me that I am clear to test.

Can you speak to one of these 3 individuals that review the file? No. Is there any remote idea as to how long such review might take? No. Is there any recourse? No.

I guess I'll see if my Congressman can get a clearer answer than I was able to receive.

[Shellback]

So did you ever go back to the REC a give that guy a tune-up?

No but a certain somebody on here was kind enough to supply me with his boss's email...Still waiting to hear something back..