“I took 10 hour lessons with a Bill Plant instructor. The courses were fine, and the instructor was kind. Until I called to cancel my extra lessons and told the teacher that I would like to have my extra lessons closer to the day of my driving test since I am not financially stable enough to provide for an extra 10 hours. However, he was quite disrespectful and insulted me. He was furious and stated that he was losing a lot of money as a result of me. I apologised, attempting to remain professional, but he dismissed me and accused me of enjoying the fact that he was losing money. He was really unprofessional, and it turned out that the nice driving instructor was merely a mask; as soon as I couldn't afford him, he showed his real face. He also said that he will not let me take his car to driving test as it is up to him if I am ready or not. I WILL NEVER TAKE ANY LESSONS FROM BILL PLANT AGAIN!”
“Very bad experience. For the first 2 hours lesson the instructor texted in the same day, so very short notice to cancel the lesson. When I cancelled 2 days later as I could not sleep all night long, so I did not feel able to drive as it is no safe, they charge me 60 pounds. I consider this totally unfair. An instructor could cancel with very short notice, but if we cancel as customers are charged 60 pounds. Do not waste your time and money with this totally unprofessional school!”
“They are only coming after your money.If you book lessons from them, STOP and DON'T. !!!! This school won't teach you how to drive, they will keep you busy and take only your money. Omer Gumussoy was my driving instructor. I am regret to took them lessons.”
“Unable to provide driving instructor training in a timely manner but will still take your money, requested it back as pregnant and cannot wait that long but was told no - not me but my partner. Horrible behaviour.”
“I had Stefan in the Cannock area. He only spends around 30 minutes actually teaching you to drive and for the rest of the lesson, he just talks about his other students, even mentioning whereabouts they live. Not professional at all and he talks extremely slow.
Complete money grabbers & not very comfortable to be around.”
“Don't pay in advance for block bookings. My son paid £250 up front for driving lessons. He had about 3 lessons and then covid hit. After lockdown when driving lessons re-started he contacted his instructor to restart lessons. There was no reply from his instructor. It was later revealed that his driving instructor had left the company to do something else. When my son started asking questions about his upfront costs that he had paid before covid the response he got from the company was sorry you can't have the money back and there is nothing more we can do for you. My son is on an apprentice wage and has worked hard for his money, he is having financial difficulties paying his new instructor. So I would definitely not recommend you choose Bill Plant as your driving instructor school because they take the money upfront and don't give it back!”
“Really let down 2 weeks before sons test instructor said could not continue and Bill Plant refused to help us get another instructor to help with lesson ant test disgraceful service happy to take your money but won’t actually help. Son ended up taking test in our car and passing with 1 minor thanks to a 2 week crash course with his dad thanks a lot Bill Plant for nothing”
“Don't know who your driving instructor was. But you don't get a learner to park right opposite a parked van near to a junction or any other time. Think your instructor needs retraning!!!”
“Bill Plant car (no learner) cut into bus lane at rotherhithe roundabout to access tunnel
Bus couldn’t move
Caused great anxiety to client I was supporting.
Selfish”
“ANYONE CONSIDERING TRAINING AS A DRIVING INSTRUCTOR WITH BILL PLANT SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THE INTENSIVE TRAINING COURSE (£995) IS BASED ON SHARING WITH ANOTHER LEARNER. SO THE 10 HOUR IN-CAR TRAINING FOR PART 2 WILL BE 5 HOURS BEHIND THE WHEEL AND 5 IN THE BACKSEAT WHILST THE OTHER LEARNER IS BEHIND THE WHEEL. AND THE 42 IN-CAR TRAINING IS SHARED THE SAME WAY. THIS DETAIL IS NOT INCLUDED ON THEIR MAIN PAGE BUT IS BURIED IN THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.”
“Unethical and Deceptive Practice.
I booked and paid for a larger block of classes four months in advance. I did this due to the covid lockdown and wanted to secure the lessons in advance. They provided no contact at all with in that four month period despite promising that they would.
However, the only contact that I did receive was them demanding a 50% price increase immediately or they would cancel my lessons. This was four months after I had paid, but they decided the prices should increase and they would no longer provide block lessons anymore.
I'm not the only person who's unfortunately been at the receiving end of their deceptive business practices. Don't get tricked by them either, I've heard many other accounts of people having prices increased by 20-50% a few days before their classes were due to start. Its a malicious ploy to force you to pay after waiting.”
“Appalling service, no communication, tried to increase the price by 50% after months of delay. Manager refused to speak to us and sent a message via staff, pay-up the difference in price or go elsewhere.
Absolutely criminal behaviour, shouldn't be allowed to trade.
There is an old saying, the fish rots from the head! I can only imagine how the Franchisees are treated!”
“0 stars if I could. I paid for a 2-hour introductory lesson as it was on offer. My instructor only used 1 of the hours and even that was too long with him. He made me feel so uncomfortable and his teaching style was not for me at all. After this one hour I contacted Bill Plant to see if I could transfer my remaining hour to another instructor; to which they replied that he was the only instructor available and that a refund was not possible. So my only options are to either have another horrible lesson or lose my money. Not happy at all and I hope that this review stops others from making the same mistake I did.”
“ZERO STAR. I paid, they cancelled, I already sent 3 emails to ask for a refund, I am still waiting for a refund. It's been 3 weeks ago already... SCAM”
“If I can give no star,I fine this company unreliable, paid for a block of 10 lessons,instructor keep cancelling,when asked for a refund,was very difficult to,still haven’t received my money back”
“Honestly, not impressed at all. When learning how to drive my instructor make me feel so uncomfortable that I had tears in my eyes. I felt so nervous to even get in the car in the first place. He was such a negative person and told me false information about the policy’s. I may take longer than others to pick up new techniques but there is no need to shout at me on my second lesson about the mistakes I made . So upset with my experience!”
“Want to become an instructor? Don’t use Bill Plant!
After sitting the training, spending a further 1500 on additional training with their trainers and failing all exam. I’m now studying with a cheaper firm, much better and I am getting the training needed. Bill plant gave me 7.5h of training on my part 3 when should’ve been 40h. I only released how bad it was when I got fed up of spending thousands on additional training to try a different trainer outside and the comparison was extraordinary. My advice to anyone wanting to train as an instructor do not cut corners by using the cheapest like I did, it’s cost me double as much in the long run.”
