Red School review: Driving Instructors Training 10

Do not use Red Driving School for your training. My package was £1000, in which they literally called and begged me for the first £500, then it was further instalments of £100. I called after the cool off period and asked if I could get a refund of the £500 the customer services person Katie said no refund as I'm passed the period, but I could cancel so I said great she said give it 6 months then decide I said ok, No 9 months later Red are calling me for the rest of the money? 9 months later and no recollection of that phone call, bunch of incompetent twits.

Good afternoon its nice to see one of the red driving instructors cars driving around the local Edinburgh area on his mobile phone not taken a care in the world about other road users I think it is very disgusting ment to be a profesinal instructors me personally makes a big impact on the red driving school its self that's put me off letting my wife learn with them

Advice for anyone looking to become a driving instructor:
Part 1 Self Study - go to DSA site for potential ADIs (Study material readily available on web EBay, Amazon, HMSO etc))
Part 2/3 look up local ORDIT instructor - ideally pay for 2 hour sessions(Don't like them? get rid) - get copy of their lesson plans at the start and study, study, study
Take charge of your own career - remember the clock starts ticking once you pass, part 1 - don't pressure yourself by doing it too early.
Guarantee: it will cost you a lot less than using the major firms.
Is it worth it? What are the offers like in YOUR area - special offers indicate the instructor/pupil ratio is not right. Remember the people making the money as an ADI are well known established instructors who have built up a good reputation - they don't have to cover the 200 - 300 franchise fees demanded each week by the driving schools.

I was unfortunate to be hoodwinked by Red they managed to get me to secure a loan through a third party(My mother in law) they then failed to provide the necessary training.
Every time I requested a lesson there was not a vacant spot or the instructor was ill so I was only getting one lesson a month this was totally in adequate.
I was due to take my part 2 there was not a car available this put my test back 2 months that meant that it was now coming up to the time to repay the loan to Barclay's I contacted them and explained the situation but was told in no uncertain terms that in fact the loan was not mine but my mother in laws.
I explained that she was in her seventies and could not be held responsible for the debt and her only income was her pension how did they expect her to pay the money back.
I began the repayments but after 18 months I could not keep up with the repayments I had to come to some sort of arrangement with Barclay's on behalf of my mother in law as they still would not accept that the loan was for me.
I kept up with the rearranged payments but they did not keep there agreement with me and after 6/7 months put it in the hands of a debt collection agency but they where not satisfied with that they threatened to send around the heavies to get there money this was very frightening to a woman in her seventies!
I complained to the ombudsman and we are still at logger heads with Barclay's but I will not give up and having read the comments here I realise I am not a lone and feel somebody needs to look in to these SCAM MERCHANTS.
RED and BARCLAYS

Paid £2599 for a course.All I did was use their website practice tests for part 1.Due to ill health I can no longer drive, Sent Red a letter to say I needed to cancel. They said I could recieve half of my £2599 back as I canceled before 30 days. So I've paid £1300 for logging on to a web site hardly seems fair or right. But as they said it is in the contract. if you cancel after 8 days and before 30days you only can half back. What an idiot I have been, and what a bunch of con artists they are.

dinkydonks...sorry but you have as much chance of getting fees back as i have of becoming pope. (extreemly unlikely

ive got a slightly different complaint against red. i signed up in june, when they say they train around you and your current job, as an hgv driver doing night deliveries with limited time available during the day, my part 1 training was going ok i had reached the point to go for my theory test when i got a call to start part 2 . after doing 2 lessons i came to the conclusion that the time needed to practise and do extra training by myself i just did not have the time to do.unfortunatly for me but very fortunate red i decided to cancel.due to part 2 not starting till after the 30 day limit for a refund i obviously missed the cut off point.i am perhaps being a bit naive when i requested a partial refund after only doing four hours of actual training.that was refused . told to appeal, i did with a foru page letter .that was also refused.not a bad payday £3000 for four hors work they are a bunch off con artists i would urge anyone wanting to become an instructor go with a REPUTABLE company like the AA

i joined red training last year, i was told how things where and what they would cost. i was lead to believe that the money i paid would see me through to passing as an instructer. so far i can't recall how many times the franchise information has changed. i wasnt told of the extra costs that i would have to pay, or that i would have to use my own car for the tests. i don't mind being told all the facts up front so i can make an informed decision. it seems they want your money and your franchise fees but give very little in return. i have passed my first 2 parts but dont know wether to stay with red for part 3. i would like my fees back but dont know if i could get them. i feel like ive been conned. anybody have any ideas i would welcome them.
Disapointed
Greater Manchester

I started to train with red but after 4 visits to the school they told me to teach myself the rest until I was ready to go for theory test I had taken out a loan with Barclay's Finance which I am still paying today @£186.00 @ month until next October 2011 which I will have to pay it all and no course no driving instructor job and am on the dole struggling to pay for something I never got in the first place.
Steer clear of these bunch of con men who has no intention of teaching you anything other than learning you how big a con they are.
horrorfied
Essez

I entirely agree with the above. I won't repeat what Shiv has said but would like to add that Red didn't help me much at all. There is too much emphasis on classroom training for Part 1 of the test. Too few sessions to help pass Test 2 and very little to help with passing Test 3 which is the most important one. They give you 40 hours training, work that out, that's a week's worth but not all in car training. I thought they were said they "train you to be an INSTRUCTOR". Not so, you are left to get on with it basically. Get out there and practice practice practice. how can you practice if you don't know what you are doing, or whether you are doing it right? Asked for extra sessions but only if availability allowed it, which it didn't. I don't expect to pass first time due to lack of tuition but I WILL pass my test under my own steam and determination, not from the so-called training they have given me.

For all you would be driving instructors, my advice to you would be to try a different training school and make sure you know what they are offering in terms of training you to be an INSTRUCTOR. That is the hardest bit. You might think you know how to teach but you need to learn how to teach the way the examiner wants you to, not your way!

Dismayed
Essex