[emkaelo]

"Become a driving instructor" -BE AWARE!!!

If you considering to go to the instructor college-think scam

first:at the beginning you meet there sales man whose job is to sell you course for 3100£!!!!

second; if u ask: how long does it take to become a driving instructor? -they will tell you about 3mounts---FALSE!!!!! I've been trainning with them 10 mounths and I am still not working as a trainee.and i didn't fail any test(thanks only to me)

third:They try to make you to go to RED which will take you without any assesment because all u need to do is to sign another contract-this time that you will be paing 250 £ a week to RED for "renting"the car. You will have problem if they dont give you enough pupil to earn at least 100£ a week becouse you have to earn in your other job to get money for the RED franchise.


fourth: Value of everyhing what I have got from them was worth about £1000 or so, but they 've charged me £3100 !!!!!
They didn't give me sufficent training for part 1!!! -I had to buy HPT CD by myself.
They didn't give me enough trainning for part 2!!! -I spent about 40-50hours
trainning by myself to get good standard for the test
Also They didn't give me enough trainning for part 3!!! after having done my 40 hours I chose GOOD school to teach-but after being assesed by them I found out that I'm not good enough for the job and that I need more trainning. They told me that I have already paid my money(3100£) to the instructor college and to get more trainning frome them.
So I phoned up TInstructor College and they book me only 1 session in 3-4 weeks time. On the 1 session I found out from the instructor that I need few more session but they again booked me 1 session in 3-4 weeks time. I found out again that I need couple more session booked together.
OK so I asked boss who does booking to book a couple session together but he didn't let me to have it booked. what he did -was booking another 1 session in 3-4 weeks time.!!!!even though that i asked.

to sumarise: I have been assesed with GOOD school 11 weeks ago and i had only 2 session of additional trainning till now!!!
The time between each session (3-4 weeks) is so long that it is hard to make any progress.
To get that couple lessons which I need (and I paid 3100£ for in my first day)from The Instructor College it will take me another 2-3 mounts.

So they've got it what they wanted: FED UP with that waiting I decided to pay again for my trainning to another trainning organization (this time GOOD one) to get that couple lessons.(I'm expecting to spend about 200£) in one week time and finally start working on a trainee licence.

Plus I spent around 100£ for helps for part 3 like dvds, lesson plans,


Think well before u sign with RED or the Instructor College..
Their adverts are nice and they catchin -but who is paying for them?-WE! in our too expensive fee

[emkaelo]

Hope so it will help you to decide
good luck in making your mind

[emkaelo]

i'm still paying extra for additional trainning with private instructor GOOD ONE
-to have it done during a few weeks time and not a FEW MONTHS time.

[20061382]

I have just read your advice..... after only yesterday signing up for the instructor college. Please can you inform me of the 'GOOD' school you are at now as I have a 7 day get out clause. Thank you

[emkaelo]

I haven't seen your post till now. My answer is:
Look around and do u see instructor college L-cars or Red school cars on the road??!!
What L cars do u see the most doing real job?
phone them up and ask they are probably cheaper because they dont waste money for big adverts.

Look around on the streets and which do u think is really succesfull??
L car with instructor who teachs and not drive that car

red -part of inst coll - definetly not

[emkaelo]

one more thing about the instructor college
When you go on your trainee licence you must do your 20 hours of additional training within 3 monts otherwise your licence is revoked.
The other guy(learner) frome the instructor college has got only 10 hours from them. They said that they can't book him more because they are "busy" and they dont have any "available sessions".
So in the end the guy had to buy 10 more hours from the same instructor whom I train with (bsm).
There is no way of any refunds from there side

bad experience

[Merlin4424]

Absolutely Agree,
The Instructor College Driving Instructor Courses, are a CON, and Massively, Massively Over-Priced.
They are NOT really Interested whether you Pass or Fail, They have already got your Money, so they do not Care!!!.

AND, If you Fail the First Test, a Third of the way into the Training Course,
and decide this is not really for you, They refuse to re-pay the Unused part of your Course Fees, and just say they will wait until you Pass that stage, and carry on from there. But This is total RUBBISH, because if you fail the DSA a couple of times, you are NOT allowed to take the Test again for about a year or so. They just refer to the Terms and Conditions you signed at the begining of the Course.
BEWARE!!! BEWARE!!!

[bladeii]

Hi
Very interesting and yes Red is part owner of the instructor college, I am there now and have my part 2 test booked in a few weeks, I have tried to book and have a lesson before but they say they have no times available.
The problem is here that they have hundreds of pupils and only 5 or so training cars.
It is very true that once they have your money they couldn't care less.
If pupils were paying per lesson I think their attitudes would be a lot different.
The part 1 books are worth about £70 quid which you go home and learn, then 5 lessons before part 2 worth on average £125 so could someone please tell me why this course is well over £3000.
My advice to anyone would be to look around first. other instructors that i have spoken to have used pass masters.
The Instructor College ! at least Dick Turpin wore a mask

[od]

We bought an instructor college course too, on the basis that it was in college training at Newbury .... since we signed up they closed the college and now even though my wife never started the course they will not refund money, they dont enven respond to recorded delivery letters i sent 12 of them to all of their directors and Company secretary ..... now i intend taking them to court cos they have £3445.00 of my money that i feel was taken fraudulently, now they are neglecting to keep up thier end of the contract... i also intend to send eveything i have to watchdog! [/list]

[mike001]

re - instructor college. i just did a search and found this site and was delighted to see that i am not the only one who has parted with thousands and feel let down by these people. why don't we all get together and go to watchdog ? i have already contacted watchdog but had no reply. but if we get together and contact them as a group they are more likely to take notice. i know we will find hundreds more people who have been caught out by these scammers once they know that there are others out there in the same boat. lets take them on !!!!

[od]

Mike ... i am up for that, surely there must be enough comments on forums if collated and sent to watchdog for them to sit up and realise that it is a fair portion of thier clients that are less than satisfied with their value for money!! I spoke to a solicitor today who advised small claims action and also to see if there are any controlling bodies for example the department of transport etc that might investigate!

R's
Owen

[spen]

this is clearly an under statement!! what an absolute bunch of conning artisits and they must be stopped..I have raised a complaint with them which I have finally had a reponse to, only they have ignored all the points I have raised...therefore I have now contacted watchdog, the daily mirror and also I am taking this to a small claims court...they use the good name of the DSA and also the Trading standards but when you contact them they are clearly not ware of what is going on..firstly someone comes and makes promises to sign you up - false promises that they cannot possibly keep, then you are caught and they dont care what happens to you as they have your money...if you had any experience of the service in the very limited cooling off period most people would run a mile but unfortunately it only when you need to access them (and by this time you are outside of the colling off period) that you realise they do not have the service available that they promised you..i think that if i can get as many people as witness to this when i get a date for a hearing then it should def count for something... they cannot continue to do this... they are rude when you try to speak to them and they are obvioulsy very aware of the amount of unsatisfied customers they have as at no stage do they apologise and say how unheard of it is for someone to feel the service was poor or non exsistant!! they clearly know that most people are unhappy...please please if this sounds familiar then get onto watchdog, report to investigate@mirror.co.uk and when they get the complaints coming in fast and furious then they will have to take note,,,i am fuming each time i see their stinking adverts, although have u noticed, never one of their cars...funny that isnt it,,,how many people for the thousands they sign ever actually make that promised £30k a year!!

[eddybaby]

Hi guys,

I trained through TIC and am now a fully qualified RED instructor - only 150 a week not 250, that's for a pink trainee license.

YES, the 3 Grand is a lot to part with up front (did you look into getting a career development loan?) but this is a big qualification to get. TIC can't do everything for you, you have to put in the hours yourself. Part 2 is your basic driving ability - if you struggle with that then how are you going to teach people to do the same!

Part 3 they can only try and help you develop your skills - fault identification, analysis etc. They will not spoon feed you how to pass Part 3 THAT IS NOT THE IDEA! You are being trained to teach learners from not being able to turn a key to driving round big cities independently. You need to put in plenty of hours outside of the car / classroom doing your briefings, becoming familiar with what each PST involves as, when you get in a car with a learner for the 1st time, they will know nothing and you (should) know EVERYTHING and be able to react to every mistake they make and correct it.

If all you're narked at is the cost then ignore my post - that's your fault for siging up without properly researching what you were getting yourself in for. If it's because of the service you've recieved then I can't help. I'm just giving a different side of things.

I put in ALOT of hard work to pass Part 3 1st time then took 3months researching all my options before going with RED. I'm now very happily earning 7-800 a week meaning I'll be on course for 25K for the year after expenses. Not the 30K advertised but if I charged 3pound an hr more I'd be there, or did 5extra hrs a week.

Being a driving instructor is not easy, just like being a school teacher. If you concentrate your efforts on passing the results will be rewarding, just be aware that you actually have to do some work to get those results.......

Thanks for reading

Eddy

[mike001]

hi eddy. you are part of a very small few that have been happy with the services from t i c. i have contacted watchdog and we hope to get the ball rolling and find out the truth about how much money they are making against the level of service reflected in the price. i havn't even had my £200 deposit back from the start. and because i have left it for some time they havn't even contacted me to find out why i have not been back to them. the whole thing got me very depressed and conflict with my with partner for loosing so much money with nothing but a load of glossy brochures to show for it. we will get all the dissatisfied victims out from the woodwork and see who comes out smelling of roses or the proverbial. WATCH THIS SPACE !!!!!!

[spen]

well eddy i'm gald you put so much hard work in and are so happy with the service...many others certainly are not...whatever you have to do to become qualified is acceptable to most people as long as they havent lied to you at the induction and promised many things that just arent possible and i' afraid in many cases they have...the service is crap and if you wanted to go the training alone then what the hell are you paying them for...no return calls were ever made, an exam was cancelled as couldnt get a car and intructor on the day, and so on and so on... their event logg of what happended differs grately from mine and as i have a few calls recorded i can prove them to be the liars they are...they even said i had not left messages although i have proof from bt of the days and times i called...it is without a doubt a scam and it is many people who feel cheated, not just a small majority...it is clear to me that many people are promised things and at the end of the day they just dont deliver..its nothing to do with cost if you were getting your monies worth, its just purely the fact that they have done nothing to earn that money...

[jason_m]

hello all,

i have joined TIC in january and reading forums like this im beginning
to get worried about the future, ive started to study the books given but yet to book a theory test. im thinking about cancelling my course with TIC before i take anything from them, i havent paid yet as im paying within 12 months but im worried i may be stuck into a contract where i will have to pay irrespective of cancelling and receiving no training.

so count me in also on reporting to watchdog, etc

thanks

[spen]

be warned that the finance has usually been arranged with a third party (usually barclays) and although you have a year before you pay you are already signed up to a binding contract to pay them back this money. The instructor college will have already cashed in your money from Barlcays (or whoever your agrrement is with) within days of you signing. This is the problem you see, they have your money so early on and how on earth do they need it at such an early stage..they will have offered no serivce at this stage, only a pack worth about £90 quid.. Also if you do not arrange your own finance to pay back this loan within the year you will also have to pay an absolutely massive interest rate of nearly 30% making your total laon over £6k which you pay back for three years. The best thing would be to see who that loan has been taken with and get onto them directly and also put it in writing to them that you are not agrreing to this loan and do not wish to proceed. if you do this they may be able to get the funds back from TIC. Unfortunately i think the right to cancel with full refund via TIC is only about 15 days (yeah i know what a scam) but maybe get onto them as well...

[Backagain]

I was with TIC and it was awful. Left to go with a local trainer and it was like night and day. TIC - stay away, costs a fortune and give poor training in my experience.

[wickedwitch153]

I'm trying to get together a group of people willing to talk about their experiences. If you're interested please let me know below.
Thanks,
Wicked Witch

[grum321]

I hear there is a driving school near Sutton in Surrey who will train you to green badge level for free! Does anyone know who they are and what is the catch because there must be one. I also hear they have lots of tearful TIC people turning up there which does not surprise me.

[lil_linz]

i used to work for the instructor college and as far as i gather your all on here complaining because you didnt fully look into the course before signing up.
i understand its a lot of money to part with but this is a new career your all looking for!
look at the fee's people pay for university ! you gonna all phone watchdog about university fee's next????!!!!!

emkaelo-
its funny how you claim to know so much about the course but in a post you mention that you dont see red or instructor college cars??
well thats because instructor college use 'red driving school' cars so the reason you havent seen an 'instructor college' car is simply because they dont exist!!! surely you should know this being such an expert?

[tarkimb]

emkaelo - I have read your comments and am convinced that you area decoy. It is common practise for a competitor to start this type of forum chat to slag another competitor's business inorder that you improve yours. I would hazard a guess and say that you are LDC???????

[grum321]

Jason M,

Can I give you some advice, check your contract and make sure you can get out - then start talking about watchdog. Otherwise you could be stuck with TIC while at the same time appearing on TV slagging them off.

[Backagain]

lil_linz
If I had researched more fully the Instructor College, there is no guarantee I would have been put off or found anything untoward. When a company advertises on the tv, your first thoughts tend to be that the company is thoroughly professional and will do what you would like them to do ie provide tuition in a fair and honest way.
To me a college would provide just that and I was happy on that basis.
The price paid for Parts 1 to 3 training (Part 1 could have been brief overview in the classroom and a cd rom for those with pc's or a book and access to their pc for hazard perception for those without computers at home) was just no way worth what was provided for my sessions.
Also the course could have been better structured, less time on Part 1 and get on with Part 2 training from say the 2nd visit to the college, so you're getting into the meat of the course and dont waste so much time with the long gaps between sessions which was really poor service, 3-4 weeks at a time often.

[mike001]

wicked witch.
will you contact me on mike001@hotmail.co.uk thanx