Two years ago I started driving lessons with the AA Driving School. Working for another company that was under their parent company (Centrica) It seemed to make sense to use them (plus I was being lazy). I phoned a call centre, block booked 14 lessons (for a discount)and was given the name of an instructor and a lesson time. It was easy.
I had seven hours of lessons and, to be fair, it seemed to be going well. The driver was patient, friendly and a good teacher. So why I this not a four or five star opinion? Well from now on my experience with the AA Driving School was nothing but bad.
My instructor never turned up for my next lesson. I tried to call him but couldn't get an answer. About the same time my girlfriend was moving to Bristol to go to Uni and with my mind on other things I didn't chase the instructor again. I didn't hear anything from him or the AA for another three weeks until I received
a letter from the AA informing me that my instructor was no longer working for them. The letter asked me to contact them to arrange a new appointment with a new instructor but also claimed that I only had five hours of lessons left meaning they had deducted 2 hours for the lesson that I never had.
It took numerous letters and phone calls for me to reclaim the lost hours and by the time it was sorted out I was moving to Bristol and jobs, flats and life in general got in the way.
(Two Years On)
A few weeks ago, I decided to start lessons again. I rang the call centre and like two years earlier the process was fairly painless. They changed my address, confirmed the number of lessons I had left and arranged a new appointment with a new instructor. I was also informed that subsequent lessons would be £20.00 an hour or £18.00 an hour if I block booked. The lessons were not cheap but I felt that as I had seven hours left it made sense to continue.
The next day, my instructor rang to say he couldn't make the lesson that the call centre had arranged. This was no big deal but delayed by lesson by a week and meant clearing it through work again. The next day I received a letter of confirmation from the instructor and some details about the AA driving school. Two days later I received another call from my instructor who informed me that he wouldn't be able to be my instructor as the AA had told him that someone else would do it. This seemed a little odd and I then had a message on my answer phone from a new instructor telling me he wouldn't be able to honour the appointment and we would need to arrange a new one.
At this point I was starting to get a bit annoyed and rang the call centre again. I was told that I had to have a new instructor as my first one didn't deal with my area. When I queried this I was then told that he was not working for the company yet???? Not wanting to spend any more time on this I contacted my new instructor and arranged a third appointment hoping that it would be kept.
Guess what? It wasn't. One minute before the instructor was supposed to be outside my workplace I received a phone call on my mobile. It was the AA call centre informing me that my instructor would take me as a pupil providing I paid more money. After I gave the poor call centre bloke both barrels, he managed to explain that as I had paid for the lessons at a cheaper rate two years ago I had to top up the seven hours. I asked who much and after furious taping of his computer (or perhaps a calculator) I was informed that it would be £28.00, an extra four pound a lesson. Remember this is one minute before my lesson was supposed to start. Call centre guy had no idea why I hadn't been told this before but informed me that I would have to pay up front in order for the lesson to take place. By this point I'd had enough and demanded my money back. To be fair, call centre guy rang me back a few minutes later to tell me that a cheque had been arranged and this has eventually turned up.
In summary, I can't really comment on the quality of the instructors with the driving school although the two I spoke to on the phone seemed very friendly and the guy in Cardiff was good until he disappeared. I can comment on everything else though, the AA driving school is expensive, incompetent and seem to have no idea about what constitutes good practice or customer service.
Perhaps if you have money to burn and want to make a potentially stressful experience really stressful then I'd recommend the AA. If not then don't even consider checking your mirrors and clutching the steering wheel.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: I passed! Learn in brand new Ford Focus, well trained Instructor, free AA membership for 12 months Disadvantages: cost - you pay for the good service you receive
surfchik27 02.06.2005 (02.06.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of AA Driving School
Advantages: Well I passed! Instructors very helpful with loads of patience - what every learner needs Disadvantages: Using a Ford Focus to teach lessons.
scruff 09.10.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of AA Driving School
Advantages: modern car with ABS, power steering etc; experienced instructor; friendly call centre staff; phone call after 1st lesson Disadvantages: none so far
pragmatik 29.07.2005 ·
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