Problem with AA Driving Instructor

diesel_dog

Have a chat with them then give us an update afterwards. I'm sure this can be sorted out without it consuming you any more than what it has already. The AA are a big company and I'm sure they'd want to keep you both happy.

ILW

ajoxford wrote: »

My son didn't agree to the appointment in first place, instructors can't just fill gaps as they see fit, regardless as to if their self employed or not surely personal pride in making sure pupils get best possible chance of passing test should of seen instructor fit my son in on an amicable date,time especially seeing as it would of been his final lesson before test.

Your son messed him around.
Cancelled to go to gig, then called in sick just before a lesson.
How much do you think the instructor should be prepared to lose?

cajef

As pointed out driving instructors are self employed and if someone cancels at short notice they will charge for the lesson, they cannot just rearrange lessons and fit someone in if they have other pupils booked.

If your son wanted to pass his test that should have been his priority and he should have been prepared to accept a lesson change at short notice especially if the instructor has managed to fit him in.

An instructor can refuse to take someone to a test at any time for various reasons, the main one being a new pupil that has a test booked and the instructor does not think he is ready for it, personally I would never accept new pupils without at least a two hour lesson to assess their ability if they had a test booked in the near future.

All instructors are monitored and their pass rates recorded by the DSA, if they take pupils for test and the examiner thinks they are well below the required standard the DSA will start checking the instructors ability and they could lose their licence to instruct.

ajoxford

ILW wrote: »

Your son messed him around.
Cancelled to go to gig, then called in sick just before a lesson.
How much do you think the instructor should be prepared to lose?

You clearly have a problem reading, my son didn't agree to lesson in first place. Also he bought ticket for gig month before. It happened that he was off work ill the day of both gig and lesson is that allowed?

ajoxford

cajef wrote: »

As pointed out driving instructors are self employed and if someone cancels at short notice they will charge for the lesson, they cannot just rearrange lessons and fit someone in if they have other pupils booked.

If your son wanted to pass his test that should have been his priority and he should have been prepared to accept a lesson change at short notice especially if the instructor has managed to fit him in.

An instructor can refuse to take someone to a test at any time for various reasons, the main one being a new pupil that has a test booked and the instructor does not think he is ready for it, personally I would never accept new pupils without at least a two hour lesson to assess their ability if they had a test booked in the near future.

All instructors are monitored and their pass rates recorded by the DSA, if they take pupils for test and the examiner thinks they are well below the required standard the DSA will start checking the instructors ability and they could lose their licence to instruct.

I understand your point he's self employed however his driving instructor prior to this one called twice on day to cancel and re-arrange, we had no problem with this or do you think we should of charged instructor on those occasions? is the driving instructor always right?

diesel_dog

ajoxford wrote: »

My son was unable to get into his AA account (one that shows lesson times/dates etc) on 17th as instructor had 'wiped' them off, instructor wasn't even brave enough to ring and tell him ,instead he sent a text. The annoying thing also with AA is that they never rang to let us know and he wouldn't of got another instructor had i not pushed things.

I think you either need to have a chat with your son again. Have you called the AA yet?

ajoxford

diesel_dog wrote: »

I think you either need to have a chat with your son again. Have you called the AA yet?

He's at work but I was the one paying for lessons and saw him getting picked up so pretty certain he was at other lessons. TheAA won't speak further on it as the issue has been escalated.

cajef

ajoxford wrote: »

we had no problem with this or do you think we should of charged instructor on those occasions?

is the driving instructor always right?

Charged him for what, if you didn't agree you could have refused and changed instructor the choice was yours, though in my experience providing the instructor is polite and explains why most parents appreciate the effort made to rearrange and fit lessons in at a mutually convenient time, however when someone books lessons and says they have a test booked shortly you can hardly expect an instructor to suddenly drop other lessons just to fit in with you.

You have just as much right to change instructor as they have to refuse to give lessons to anyone.

DaveF327

This is what happens with middlemen and call centres. They just pass messages on and communication breaks down, especially with short notice changes.

What you've hopefully learned from this is to book with an instructor directly - one that you can speak to - and you have a feel for the person and his personal integrity by the first conversation. Once you've established a rapport, things run much more smoothly.

AA are useless as a driving school and your contract is only with the individual instructor. Unfortunately, a lot of their instructors are useless too, hence the lack of written contract, and lack of communication (both to you and the call centre) about lesson times.

The_AA_Company_Representative

Hello Ajoxford, we appreciate you have already spoken to someone from The AA regarding this, however if there is anything outstanding which you would like to discuss, please ask your Son to email his full name, address and pupil number to chat@theaa.com with Reference FOR40460. Regards, The AA