Posted by Taylor Gillespie

With the high cost of IT certification exams, many people seeking IT certification discover sites and individuals offering discount vouchers for sale. Often these vouchers and discounts are purchased in bulk by companies or organizations wanting to save money while certifying their people in their employ. Both Prometric and Pearson VUE offer discounts on bulk purchases. Third-party brokers also buy vouchers in volume to be re-sold at a profit.

The typical major concern when purchasing a discount is whether or not the discount, voucher, or code is not only legitimate, but whether it is still valid. Without being able to verify if the discount is good until attempting to claim it, the purchaser does not have any recourse with the third-party broker. While the questionable validity of a third-party discount is enough of a reason to avoid the temptation to save money by purchasing a discount voucher or promo code from an unknown party, some companies go so far as to outright ban discounts purchased from a third-party. Cisco states in their certification policy that even “legitimate vouchers for attempted re-use,” in other words, valid vouchers that will allow you to take the exam but have been “obtained from an unauthorized source” have the potential, if caught, to “risk up to and including a lifetime ban on all future exams, the nullification of all previous certifications or other program sanctions at the discretion of Cisco.” If Cisco finds out that you used a discount voucher or promo code that was not originally purchased and intended for you or your organization, they can nullify your exam results, but also more importantly every Cisco certification you have ever earned.

The danger no longer only lies in invalid vouchers and discounts. It is no longer an issue of losing money on a phony voucher, but quite possibly losing all of your certifications for a specific provider. Do not risk nullifying your current IT certification by trying to save money by buying a discount voucher or promotional code from a third-party. Forget that the offer could be a scam; it could cost your current IT certifications.

About the Author: Taylor is a staff writer for WebProNews.