The licensing process for Air Conditioning and ref...

The licensing process for Air Conditioning and refrigeration is a joke. Basically, your ability to get a license is in the hands of the employer you worked for the previous 4 years. A former employer who sees you as new competition and refuses to sign off on your experience verification form. It does not matter that I have 20 years of HVAC experience. I can prove 20 years of experience with W2's and check stubs. All of that does not matter. If your former employer refuses to verify that you worked there, you are out of luck for getting your license. A simple phone call from TDLR to the employer refusing to cooperate would solve the problem. But instead, TDLR shrugs their shoulders and says, "oh well". When I spoke to the service representative (because the people from the licensing department never call you back) I suggested the phone call scenario. Her reply was that they were understaffed and that would require them to make 100's of phone calls. So in that instant she pretty much confirmed that this is a flawed process and apparently their are 100's of individuals in the same boat as me. TDLR needs to have alternative options for running into this situation. I moved to Texas because from a distance it seemed to support entrepreneurs. I've been sand bagged from getting my license for almost 7 years.