“I had a driving instructor with bill plant a man called Phillip, he was strange and very bad with people who have anxiety with driving, made weird comments to me and made up lies about me to the company when me and my mum made a complaint about him. DO NOT DRIVE WITH HIM”
“I just called the call centre to make an enquiry, but the staff member I spoke to was quite rude. He refused to speak with me simply because I was calling from a private number. I wasn’t aware that calling from a visible number was a requirement to have questions answered.”
“Rude and unprofessional call centre staff. Male was pushy, stand-off’ish and extremely unpleasant to deal with. His arrogance and self certainty totally put me off allowing a female use this service!”
“I was driving on the m62 on 3 April about 4pm . I was in a vw t6 so sitting higher than the average vehicle . A white vw golf , I do have the reg as it’s on dash cam . The driver in a bill plant car drove along side me in the outside lane texting on his mobile for 5/10 minutes at about 60 mph .. is this what you teach your drivers…”
“Awful company - picked my son up - drove him 20 minutes away - he drove for 10 minutes - instructor drove back.
Tried to complain to customer services , completely unresponsive and eventually offered £10 refund”
“I had a driving instructor in Leeds and this dodgy man cancelled 2 back to back lessons last minute (only gave me 25 minute notice both times). Not only that, he would prefer cash payments and cash payments would have to be made in 1 week advance which is strange.”
“Worst driving school I have used. All the instructors have been unprofessional, take your money and waste your time by talking unnecessarily in lessons. Will not be using them again!”
“I agree with all other bad opinions. They very easily take the money but your time is either used for the instructor to be late (yeah, you don't get that time back, you paid for this) or driving you around like you are in a taxi. And the instructor said she's only available Sundays (when the traffic is nothing comparing to weekdays) and not even every Sunday as she is busy with other learners. Yep, driving lesson once a month it is!”
“I'm sure this school is fine when it comes to driving lessons (or from reading these reviews, maybe not), but oh WOW is the customer service terrible.
So on the 19th of February, I bought two hours of lessons and was told an instructor would contact me to arrange lessons - this never happened. I already thought this was strange but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. After pestering them for two weeks, I was eventually given another instructor but to be honest, found that he seemed quite rude over the phone and decided to just not bother and try getting my money back. This was at start of March.
Since then, I've been asking for weeks for a refund that was promised to me within '3-5 working days' on the 6th of March and has not yet been delivered. My emails go unanswered, apart from an automatic reply, the numbers I call from both Google and the email don't work, I don't know what more I can do. I honesty don't know how such a reputable company can have such appalling organisation. Definitely wouldn't recommend this school, just wait a little and find an independent instructor (with good reviews ofc.).”
“I can not generalise my experience to what other people have had with this organisation but based on my own experience I gave it one star.
I was recommended this driving school from a friend who had an ok experience so I decided I should do that too. I thought to myself even though it is a bit more pricier then a local driving school, I’m sure this will help out in the long run. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
My instructor spent more time training me up in car parks, I would say for up to or more than 20 hours. He would pick me up and drop me off, a session that I was paying £35 per hour for. I would say 2 months later, I was able to drive myself home but did not drive to the practice area regardless. Being new to lessons at the time I assumed this was the norm but realised this was not the case and is not the best use of money spent.
A lot of time was also spent screaming at my face when making mistakes on the road. As someone who was already anxious about driving, this made the experience 100 times worse then it should actually be. It made me even more nervous in regards to driving on the road, dreading the day I would have my
lessons and then paying extortionate amount of money that’s was not worth it. I assumed this was natural and this was perhaps a skills issue so the incessant screaming was justified only till I went to my next instructor who teaches locally who was a lot more supportive and patient, any mistakes I did made May have caused a tiny annoyance but still explained in calm and collective manner, definitely not the case with the Bill Plant instructor.
Another thing I would like to add, as previously mentioned time was taken away from the drive to and back from the centre but time was also spent going to McDonald’s or other lunch spots, or quickly getting something from his house.
And finally, I had a test booked up in a nearby centre, and with the current state of these driving tests, being able to book a practical test in a nearby centre is like finding gold. Obviously I informed my instructor but surprise surprise the month that I needed him most, he was inconsistent and unreliable not coming to the lessons as planned which ultimately caused me to cancel my test because of how unprepared I felt.
For those who are looking at lessons here are some lessons I wish I learned from the beginning:
- when doing lessons with a new instructor, in the beginning do not pay for 5/10 lessons in one go. Use this opportunity to gather if this instructor is right for you, if you pay a huge collective amount from the beginning it’s an effective tactic of making you stay with them in the long run - do what’s best for you, it’s your licence it’s your test
- make sure to have an actual lesson with them driving you around the road, my first one was basic and nothing was done. When they teach you on the road you can gather if they can support you properly
- make sure you know your rights in your lessons, time is not being spent on unnecessary time. Lessons have become ridiculously expensive as it is, they shouldn’t use that opportunity to waste time unnecessarily”
“Please don’t learn to drive with this company. Instructors doesn’t follow road rules, they don’t indicate or choose lanes as they should how can they even teach people to drive?”
“I recommend not becoming an instructor for billplant as they take your money and don’t get back to you for weeks and weeks
Of trying to contact them and when asked for refund they do not get back to you at all even tho you don’t agree to terms on condition”
“Even a 1 star rating is too high
I paid £350 for 10 lessons and told them my son turned 17 on 7 January
Got a text from an instructor, Melissa, on 27 Dec to say she had Saturday mornings available. We were on holiday on 11 Jan so he could start on 18 Jan. She said she wasn't prepared to wait as it was 3 weeks lost money to her. I explained that i'd put on the website he wasn't 17 until 7th so it was really only one week, and i offered to pay her £36 for the 11th just to keep the slot. She said she only did 2 hour lessons so wanted 2 hours of the block of 10 if we wanted to keep the slot. This just felt like blackmail
I agreed, but then got a text from Bill Plant saying she was no longer available
On 14 January they said they couldn't find another instructor so would refund
by 24 January, and two unanswered emails and a phone call later, still no refund!
So basically you have to pay them instantly, and then just hold on to your money”
“Would not recommend this driving school to anyone. My understanding of the school is they will take anyone (Alcoholics and drug takers) and let them drive there learner cars. Discrasfull!!!”
“I am happy about the service offered by Bill Plant, as they offered me a excellent customer service during my relocation. I met an amazing Instructor called "Biede Teferi" via Bill Plant. He is a great person who has patience and knowledge. Moreover, he understands the learner's level of capabilities and accordingly guides towards achieving the required standards and skills. Beide is very friendly and has commonsense to make the learner comfortable with driving, rather giving pressure. Highly observing and works on time and easy to communicate. I am happy to have him in my learning curve as the instructor. I Passed in the first attempt. Thanks "B".”
“Shannon goodhead.or Shannon Turner. What ever you want to call yourself. Payed for the lessons and cancelled one before test day. Said will refund. Not answering calls or text. Called Bill plant driving shool and thay told me to email them. Still waiting 3 months on. Stay well clear.”
“Disgrace for. Driving school don’t care how their instructors behave as long as they get money. Teaching lessons while texting on their phones taking money for lessons before to go on holiday.”
“David is awful. I paid him for lessons upfront and when he did bother to turn up he was bringing my son back early and for the few weeks he took my son out he kept him driving around in an industrial estate essentially teaching him nothing! If you want to learn I would go elsewhere”
“Please don’t register yourself if you want to become a Driving Instructor.
They quickly communicate with you in order just to take your money , as soon as you pay then there is no help whatsoever.
You just stuck with them without help.
Please do research and do your course with other schools.”
