09/08/08

Most disrespectful, unprofessional driving school experience

by Sandra799

As a business owner myself, it was very upsetting to be treated this unprofessionally. The scheduling of behind the wheel training began after the written permit tes. The 1st session came and went, with the trainer saying some questionable things in a "half joking" manner about being "paid on the side" to pass the student. That should have been a red flag. The 2nd session was scheduled on a specific date from 6:30 to 9:30 PM as that is all they had available for several weeks. We accepted the late schedule and rearranged our life to fit it. The trainer called at 6:30 PM (the time the training was to begin) to say he would be about 10 min late. At 7:10 PM (40 min after the scheduled time) he still wasn't at our house and this was a school night. I called him to tell him that we were concerned about the late hour, driving around Phx and having an early school day following. I was very calm and told him that we understood he was held up and we'd just reschedule. He responded by saying that we would be charged $50 for not cancelling within 48 hrs. I responded by saying we weren't cancelling, he was not able to meet the schedule and it was too late to start the training. He was not professional and would not repeat his name and repeatedly told me I would be charged. I contacted the office the next day to explain what happened and to reschedule. They would not reschedule the session until I paid this "cancellation" chg which I again explained to no avail. I requested the manager or owner to return my call to clear up this ridiculous communication but they never did. After paying fees and spending months with this company and my daughter was unable to finish her goal of obtaining her license, we requested our credit card company to refund the fees charge it back to the Institute. We can't recommend such a lack of professionalism and disrespect for customers over such a minor issue that could not be misconstrued as a cancellation.

07/10/08

Best driving school in the valley !

by ursulamom

I contacted driving schools throughout the valley for my daughter. From the moment one of the office staff answered the call at The Institute For Drivers Safety, I was impressed with their knowledge and professionalism. They answered alll my questions to my satisfaction and I signed my daughter up. My daughters classroom instructor was Larry F. She told me that the class went by quickly and the instructor was very knowledgeable, professional, funny and showed a true caring interest in the students so they would learn the proper way to drive and all the hazards they might expect. She was impressed that being a former police instructor he was able to relate to the younger kids today and was not demeaning in any way. She came away from the class with a new outlook and cautions of a teen driver. She hasn't driven with the instrucors in the car yet, but I expect that they will be just as proffessional. I would highly recommend this school and hopefully they will have the same great experience that I had with the staff and Larry.

• Pros: Very professional office staff and classroom instruction
• Cons: none

04/10/08

Best school in the Valley!

by pauldem

After doing much research on who would offer the best instruction for my son, I can truly say The Institute For Driver's Safety is the best! I talked with friends and neighbors who had some rather poor experiences with other schools. Their children had numerous accidents and tickets after obtaining their licenses and I thought this was not going to happen to my son. When I spoke to the staff at IDS, I got the right answers. They truly care about our children. The instructors all have law enforcement background. Now who would know more about traffic than a police officer?

My son attended their six hour classroom and took his permit test right there. When he got in the car with us when we picked him up, he was so excited. His watchfulness of our driving habits began right then.

He has been out for his first three hour session behind the wheel and we are very happy. The time we spent with his instructor was exceptional. He explained in detail what we need to do next to prepare our son to be a safe driver and to prepare him for his next time with an officer when he will be tested for his drivers license.

This experience, so far, has been very reassuring to us as parents. Driving here in the Valley is a challenge. We will continue to work at driving each day with our son and look forward to the day he obtains his license.

I recommend you give them a call!