“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.”
“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!”
“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!!!”
“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.”
“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”
“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.”
“I signed up for the intensive course last Monday and unfortunately due to illness with on going mental issues , I cancelled on Sunday same week, 5 working days. I paid £995 in total good faith , but never undertook any training or Checks. To then be told I had signed the contract , I was not a consumer and therefore was not entitled to the cooling off period of 14 days. They have told me I can extend my training but no refund. I do not wish to train as a driving instructor. I cannot believe a large company , a family business is being so heartless, especially in a time where I thought Mental health was beginning to be understood. I will not let this matter drop. I sincerely hope Bill Plant will do the morally correct thing.”
“DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!
Absolute worst company for driving lessons
Instructor Greg is the worst he turns up late or doesn't turn up at all after you sit there waiting! No message no phone call.
Quick to take your money tho off course.
Carried on having lessons because I just wanted to pass and didn't want any messing and now I get no reply from the Absolute eye sore Instructor, company is soul draining.
Also barely learn anything it's a joke surprised this company is still going.”
“This is the most money grabbing company I have ever worked for. Stay clear.
To start with you end up paying £255 a week for the franchise which is all they care about and the training is rubbish as they couldn't even get me to pass my part 3.
They don't fill your diary like they say they will you really have to graft and source clients yourself.
And then to top it off when you take the car back to them they try say there's damage. I kept there car in a pristine condition and they try saying rim damage not a chance.
Also depending on where you live you have to travel far for there depot to get your car for me it was 4.5 hours drive or 6 hours on trains. Also they offer to pick the car up for £300 pound which is crazy after everything you pay.
The payments for franchise you pay are Wednesday - Wednesday yet when I took there car back on Wednesday they tried charging me the whole franchise fee of £255 as they try saying it counts from Monday.
No logic
I would recommend staying very clear of these big firms do your research and speak to local ADI 's
These companies do not care about you or if you pass or fail it's just your money!”
“So hear me out, I’ve paid these guys to support me through out me journey in becoming a driving instructor, they were so happy in signing another client because money is coming in right !
On my part 1 exam I’ve asked few questions for these guys and they were not able to answer but kept on insisting to revise which I had been doing, been told that if I don’t inform the team of the outcome on Part 1 my course will expire so every time I failed I’ve informed the team, passed me exam and again informed the team.
I then moved over to me part 2 and this is where it started going all bad, been told not to book my part 2 before taking 10 hour lessons, bare in mind getting a test date can take few months which happened in my case. They then assigned me to someone called Jay and never informed me that within the 10 hours of the course there will be another client in the car. I mean I’ve paid you guys to be transparent with everything !
However coming back to the point, Jay had me behind the wheels for 2-3 hours max on the first day and on the second day I had a job interview to attend so asked him if I can drive the car first which he and the other clients agreed for and I do appreciate it. On the other hand one hour into the course the tyre pressure light came up and noticed that the steering wheel was pulling to the left and I’ve informed him straight away. He then made me drive to a tyre shop in Edgware which is based next to a Shisha place called the Shisha Gardens.
I’ve notified the team of the inconvenience that the trainee caused which they assumed that I was lying and it will be investigated, after a day or 2 I’ve spoken with Johny the guy who signed me up and took me money for the course. He then said leave it with me and will sort it out. Got back to me with a solution of 2 hours of additional lesson will be provided due to the inconvenience caused at the time. I’ve notified them that I’m only off on a Thursday and available in the evening through out the whole week which he said that’s fine.
Had another trainee called and said I will not be able to do Thursday or evening and will let the office know. Bear in mind my exams on the 1st of September and this situation was reported to them couple of weeks before the test date. I then got left all alone and received an email the day before me exam saying that they have exhausted all the possible trainers and no one was available. Took me exam and failed, the examiner said mate you can drive but clearly you haven’t been trained at all which was absolutely true. I then sent the exam report to bill plant, wrote more emails about it and had no response !
Today I’ve spoken with someone called Elizabeth in customer service that turned out to be CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER. I’ve expressed me situation to her and in the end she said she can’t help me with anything and that I needed to get in tough with the training team where I’ve not been able to get a response of and why would I call customer service if I can get in hold of the training team ?
My question is Bill do you only take your customers money and leave them all alone through out their jurney, the stress that this has caused me it’s unreal !
If you had employed Elizabeth as a customer service Manager what are her duties mate ?
All I have asked for is to get the services that I’ve been promised for and clearly you have failed to do so !
Caused me stress l, taken my months of time and not even gonna mention the costs I had to become a driving instructor.
Refund me money and I will never ever recommend anyone to bill plant !”
“Was with a instructor who didn’t tell me we had ran over lessons awful driving instructions did not teach much, lessons were extremely spaced out sometimes once every two weeks got drunk before a lesson and had to cancel very unprofessional not at all happy with the service will never use bill plant again”
“Bill plant only thinking about having money in their bank account and nothing else is important. They never respect their instructors. Terrible time being with then as instructor. 1 star is still to much for them.”
“The driving instructor, Simon Firth, was all out to exploit rather than teach. He was very condescending and disrespectful at multiple times. No level of professionalism with both physical and text conversations. I question his experience in instructing as he regularly speaks of his students failing which alters whatever confidence level a learner should have in passing the driving test.”
“I have passed my driving test recently and I can’t say how grateful I am to ABBAS (Manchester stockport)for all his hard work and most important his support and patience through this journey, I can say that abbas is an amazing instructor THANK YOU BILL PLANT SCHOOL 🙏🏻”
“MICHAEL FOX is a terrible, unprofessional, greedy and unhygienic driving instructor who works with Bill Plant, Nottingham.
Whenever he has NO answer, doesn't know what to say to a pupil’s question: MR MICHAEL FOX just starts raising his voice. Seriously, he has such a deep ARGUMENTATIVE and AGGRESSIVE tone, attitude and HYPER personality.
MR Michael Fox has ZERO technical and theoretical knowledge about driving. MICHAEL FOX never plans his lessons and is not bothered about pupils progress as,
HE’S ONLY BOTHERED ABOUT MONEY, MONEY & MONEY!
MICHAEL FOX’s lessons were never planned, structured and has NO technique to teach someone how to drive and prepare for a driving test.
I will seriously NEVER recommend him to anyone.
Driver instructor: MICHAEL FOX (Bill Plant), is a WOLF who is nothing more than a major shark whom is only after money. I have paid over £2000 for 60+ lessons.
MICHAEL FOX has ZERO knowledge about driving whatsoever. As whatever
question about driving is asked he has only one response: first 4 months he stays quiet like a dead body, falls asleep in half of the lesson and then after he shouts: “FORGET ABOUT IT”. (Seriously, he’s a three faced wolf).
During the lesson, I asked him to give constructive feedback at the end of the lesson-first 3 months, in an arrogant tone he would say: “I WANT TO GOO”. AND after that, if I asked for feedback MICHAEL FOX would start ARGUING, being AGGRESSIVE and his TONE is full of THORNS & is SPITEFUL!!
SERIOUSLY, I’ve never met such a greedy man in my life before.
Nevertheless, his car was very unclean, had food crumbs scattered over the driver’s seat and the car reeked of a disgusting odour.
My family curse him for that all the money I’ve paid him proves no benefit to him, as it is said KARMA comes back thus; he’ll have to pay for the dreadful, terrible and vicious deeds he’s committed.”
“Still waiting for my refund after they were so quick to take my money. Been 10 days now. Had to report it to my credit card company. They deserve reporting to the police for theft.”
“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”
“Absolutely shockingly unprofessional on every level down to not turning up cancelling test a week before trying to work her charge and when you call to speak to someone they think they can be rude to you never would I of given bill plants driving school a penny of my money if I had known what a total waste of time these people are. Shocking how you can cancel a lesson 5 mins before disgusting customer service rude and talk over you really unprofessional on every level then won’t refund when asked why the uneducated person on the phone said he probably can’t afford to pay it back I only paid the man last week that says a lot in my book.”
“Never showed up at the arranged weekly time. Managed 2 lessons in 6 weeks. Claimed to of text but never received anything. Called and never got an answer.
Bill plant Gosport”
“Very bad company do not go with this firm my daughter payed £250 for a block of 10 lesson he dident turn up and when she phoned up to see what was going thay said ow he has left so you will have to get hold of him yourself if you wont your money back so please beware do not pay any money upfront or better still do not go with them my daughter learnt the hard way STAY AWAY FROM THIS FIRM”
