IELTS Salvador, Brazil, September 12th - ORAL TEST DATES?

[eduardofox]

Hello, I would have a practical question to everyone, please.

I and my girlfriend are scheduled to take an IELTS exam in Salvador, Brazil, on September 12th.
We live in Rio de Janeiro, wherein unfortunately no dates are available until next year, so we decided to take this long trip.
Just now we learnt they only schedule a date for the oral exams within 7-10 days before the written exam. Moreover they claim this date of the oral exam can be allocated to any day within a week before or after the written exam! They claim this is normal procedure. I will clarify: in order to buy our airplane tickets and book a place to stay, we need to reserve 14 (fourteen!!) days around the exam date.
The organising committee here claims this is official procedure. Sorry: I cannot believe this is true. I cannot be expected to program myself for staying for 2 weeks around one certain date in another city, basically waiting on the organisation. What's more, given the overlapping intervals, one assumes just any given candidate could be assigned for an exam upon the very same day he learns about it!

Please, everyone, is this the way it will be happening in your countries as well? Thanks all for the attention.