driving instructor what would you do?

reeree

my daughter has been having driving lessons for the last few weeks, she block booked her lessons as it would make it cheaper, first she paid him £200 then when the lessons were up she paid another £230, the problem is the instructor kept cancelling her lessons around 6 times in total, first his little boy was taken to hospital which its obvious he's going to cancel as the little boy comes first, second time it was his sister in law was in hospital and he wanted to visit her so cancelled again

after that he didnt bother to make an excuse just cancelled several lessons and all these done by texts, the last time my daughter text him back to ask when he could fit her in again, he didnt reply so after a week she texted him again, after two weeks he replied with a date then cancelled again, after this my daughter texted him that she wasnt happy as her driving had fallen back and could she please have her money back, he replied yes and that he was to busy it do it then but would get it to her asap

a week later she still heard nothing from him so texted him to ask how long she would have to wait for her money, he didnt reply so she phoned up the driving school to inquire about it, the woman who manages the place said there was no record of this £230 as she gave it straight to him in cash, the woman must have phoned him to ask him about it as next thing there was a text from him saying he was sorry but he only owes her £90 which he will return and told her to stop texting him and was basically very rude, my daughter foolishly didnt get a reciept off him at the time so l imagine theres not much if anything we can do?

Plans_all_plans

I'd threaten him personally. Tell him you're going to make it your business to trash the name of his driving school all over town. I'd only ever do this if I trusted my daughter 100% that she gave him the money she's saying she did (rather than giving him £90 and using the rest on a night out and a new outfit!)

mrcow

Have you put a formal complaint in with the driving school? If no joy, then I personally would contact the police as is this not theft?

Plans_all_plans

Problem is there's no proof any theft took place - there's no receipt saying she gave him anything.

scheming_gypsy

Get your biggest, hardest and ugliest friend to book some refresher lessons, when they're down a quiet road doing manouvers it'll be a perfect time to bring up the subject of the owed money.............

Pee

As another poster says, provided you are 100% certain your daugter is telling the truth, a formal complaint and if that comes to nothing reporting it to the Police is a good idea. I think it'll be very hard to prove, as it was given in cash, but a valuable lesson for your daughter to learn. Over £100 is best by credit card in case of any problems.

At least if the driving school and police are aware this should stop him trying this again with others.

I have to say I paid for my driving lessons one at a time in cash on the day and never thought of getting a receipt.

reeree

Pee wrote: »

As another poster says, provided you are 100% certain your daugter is telling the truth, a formal complaint and if that comes to nothing reporting it to the Police is a good idea. I think it'll be very hard to prove, as it was given in cash, but a valuable lesson for your daughter to learn. Over £100 is best by credit card in case of any problems.

At least if the driving school and police are aware this should stop him trying this again with others.

I have to say I paid for my driving lessons one at a time in cash on the day and never thought of getting a receipt.

i have to agree she should have used her debit card then there wouldnt have been a problem I suppose with the first lot of lessons going ok that she thought she could trust him, the driving school said how surprised they were about his conduct as he is very popular according to her, l must say when l was having driving lessons not once did my instructor cancel a lesson, another thing lve just thought of on her last lesson which was for an hour and a half after a hour he said that he needed the toilet and could he cut her lesson to an hour so took her home how unproffesional was that

crazyguy

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Get your biggest, hardest and ugliest friend to book some refresher lessons, when they're down a quiet road doing manouvers it'll be a perfect time to bring up the subject of the owed money.............

Yep I have to agree, go round and punch his lights out !

EpsomOldie

What a ratbag! The first thing that occurs is whether your daughter has kept the texts. If yes, they might indicate the instructor's admission of the debt. Even if not, I'd contact the police and trading standards and any organisation that the driving school belongs to. I'm sure that you can't just set yourself up as an instructor, you need to be accredited so I'd go down that route too. Does a school need to be licensed by the local authority I wonder? If yes, I'd make them aware. At the very least your daughter can ask that her complaint is held on record as it will lend credence to the next unfortunate that he cons.

I'd be surprised if your daughter were the first he's done this to. And she probably won't be the last as his behaviour suggests money problems, whether it's card debt, gambling, drinking, drugs whatever.

What about the local press? You never know, on a slow news day, they might be interested in following up a consumer item. Though obviously without proof you and they need to be careful in terms of what's said, but at the very least the string of cancellations make for poor service. If his name is featured in the local rag, it might flush out other dissatisfied people with similar experiences thus bolstering your daughter's case.

Where does the school advertise? If in the local press, or local shops etc, I'd contact them and say you'll be boycotting their product / business and why. I'd rope in as many people I knew to do similar and make sure they told the business / paper why.

In fact I'd make a list of everything I could do and contact the instructor to tell him of my intention. I'd follow through too! You never know, he might prefer to pay up than have the hassle, and at the very least your daughter can get some satisfaction from probably giving his stress levels a little oomph. If at all possible, I'd record any conversation I had with him: most phones / Blackberrys have a voice recording feature.

In short I'd definitely kick up a fuss. As you say yourself, the positive spin is that your daughter has learned an expensive but valuable lesson that will stand her in good stead for the future. It's not healthy to go through life thinking that everyone's on the take, but unfortunately the reality is that there a surprising number of people who are.

Good luck to your daughter with her driving lessons - learning to drive was one of the best things I ever did!

RuthnJasper

OP - has your daughter kept all the text messages on her 'phone? Both the ones TO and FROM him? If so, you may be able to use these as proof in lieu of a receipt. In particular, these texts:

my daughter texted him that she wasnt happy as her driving had fallen back and could she please have her money back, he replied yes and that he was to busy it do it then but would get it to her asap

as, here, he admits that he has received some cash from her. I think these could be useful as evidence if he doesn't come up with a better response than rudeness.

Good luck - it must be a pretty rotten situation for you. x

Darlyd

If that money was not recorded/receipt given, and your DD says to the schools she gave him £230 and the instructor said £90 then one of them is lying. At the end of the day customer is always right.

I would personally write to the school, complaining about the way your DD has been treated and that you want the monies paid or you will go further about it, whether it is the press or watch dog... Chase it up.