1. I am not ready to study (see below about suggested timing of your order).
   
2. I waited until the last minute and don't have time to study.  If this is the case, we recommend that you re-schedule your exam so that you have given yourself at least thirty (30) days to study, then order our study products.
   
3. I am ordering too far in advance.  The files we create age. Unlike a good wine, they have to be re-manufactured after six (6) months to remain viable because of the constant changes in requirements being done by state licensing agencies and exam administrators.

Our suggested time frame for ordering is not less than one month (30 days) or more than three months (90 days) before a scheduled exam date.

IMPORTANT:  Requests for file replacement after ninety days (90) may require additional charges.

1. You did not use the contact form on our "contact us" page which collects all the information we need to locate your order in our system.
   
   
2. Our emails are getting blocked by your email server.  Check to see that our emails are not being directed into your junk (bulk) email folder or rejected by your spam blocking software at the server level.
   
   If you are using web mail like Yahoo or Hotmail, you will find the spam settings in one of the user menus or buttons.  If you're using POP3 mail with Outlook Express, Thunderbird or Eudora, you must access your mail box through the web interface provided by your ISP to check your spam settings and find your junk mail folder.
   
   
3. We are unable to decipher your message.  Sometimes we receive emails where the person can't form a legible sentence.  This is usually caused by illiteracy or "English as a second language."
   
   The language of commerce in the United States is English.  So, for those people that have not learned the language of commerce, it would be a good idea to find an English speaking friend to write your email.  We do not provide language interpretation services.  In other words, if we can't understand the question, you'll have to write us again and re-phrase in proper English.
   
   
4. You refused to give us any information about your order.  A contact form that's missing either an order number, order date, PayPal transaction number or receipt number will be deleted.
   
   
5. You did not give us order information that matched our database. Sometimes we see wives ordering for husbands and secretaries ordering from their boss.  They complicate matters by using an email that does not match the address they gave PayPal to pay for their order.  So, both the name and email does not match an order stored in our database.
   
   
6. You did not read this page completely.  We often receive emails that ask questions we've already answered on our FAQ and policy page.  You may receive a re-direct back to this page and a specific FAQ.
   
   
7. You exhibited abusive or aggressive behavior in your email.  If you write to us and "demand", threaten physical harm, or curse, your email will generally be deleted immediately.  Be polite, act like a mature adult, and you'll receive an intelligent, considerate response.
   
   
8. You emailed too many times in a short period and are abusing our mail system.
   
   
9. Your email was too vague.  Sometimes we receive nondescript comments like "I didn't like what you sent."  If you disagree with our methods or content, you will at some point be asked to submit a complete, detailed summary of exactly what questions or answers are incorrect and why you believe these questions will not help you pass an exam.

1. Our product delivery emails are being marked as "spam" or file attachments have been blocked by your mail server.  You will have to add a filter to you mail account to allow our emails [(at)contractorexam.com].
   
   
2. Very few of our e-mailed products are "off-the-shelf" items.  We custom design files for your particular trade based on current exam requirements.  These requirements constantly change which causes the content of the study material to change.  Many competitors offer "generic" study material that they can make immediately available.  In our case, some time must be allowed to actually research which reference books are used by the exam administrator and write questions based on the actual content of the books.  In some cases, your practice test and tutorial files are emailed on the same day you order.

If you have found a mistake that you would like us to look into, please fill out our online form for each incorrect question.   You will find the form on the "Contact Us" page.

One mistake that some customers have made is that they order study materials and wait weeks or months to ckeck the accuracy of the information.  If you've waited more than two months to start reviewing our materials, then, depending on the current legal requirements of your licencing process, the materials we have sent may be out-of-date and no longer useful.  Also, some of the questions in your PDF file may have been removed, thus, they have been purged from our database.

Why am I getting error messages or choppy audio/video when I try to play your DVDs on my computer?

If you're trying to play on a computer... and it's a Windows based machine, there's an 65% chance that it won't play. This is usually cased by missing CODECs.

Windows will often times see no video content on the disc at all. If this is the case, right click on your DVD drive by going to "My Computer" or "Computer". Choose "Open". If you see two folders named "VIDEO_TS" and "AUDIO_TS", the the DVD we sent you is not blank. If you can't find the folders, or Windows asks you if you want to burn something to the disc when inserted, we'll send replacements ASAP.

Microsoft products are inherently buggy, unreliable and the target of viruses and malware.  As a result, the user will see a lot of crashes, freezes, error messages and slowness.  Windows 7 (by design) did not fix these problems.  With every so called "update", the user's machine just becomes worthless over time and if they don't read all of the technical bulletins for each update (many of which are not needed), one of them may have killed their ability to play DVDs without them even knowing it.  Microsoft is notorious for sending out "updates" to destroy their competitor's software and old versions of their own software. If you read the small print in their forced "agreements" it basically says, by accepting this agreement, we give ourselves to right to have complete control over your computer and make any changes to the operating system at any time WITHOUT your consent or knowledge.

Our videos were never designed to overcome all the various Windows configuration problems that most users experience.  When you see Microsoft error messages, you're obviously seeing a problem caused by Microsoft to force you into buying more of their flawed products. We don't provide Microsoft support.

Our DVD disc specs:  SD, NTSC, 4:3 ratio, single layer media.  Audio - LPCM, 2ch, 48k, 16bit

Your best solution is to find a desktop DVD player that is attached to a TV and play your discs there.

Recommendation: if you're trying to play on a laptop or branded computer (HP, Dell, Compaq, etc.), the computer manufacturer will include a DVD playing program that is bundled with the system restore discs or partition that has all the right codecs for your computer. If you don't know how to install yourself, take your machine to a locally owned computer repair shop. Do not take your machine to Best Buy or any other mega corporation franchise.

BEWARE - the careless tech support people at corporations will sometimes destroy all the data on your hard drive by doing a full system restore without doing any backup and then overcharge you for the damage they've done.

If you're playing on a desk top computer that was built by a computer shop, they almost always can give you a free DVD playing program that came bundled with the DVD drive they provided for your system.