The office is run by texting, there aren’t any real live people and the few who can answer the phone haven’t a clue.  I gave them a list of post codes, the problem is I work in 5 OL post codes but they would text me pupils an hour’s drive away because it was OL.

When I started there were just two DD instructors in our area, met the other instructor in a supermarket car park a couple of weeks after I joined and she said it was hard getting work from them, you had to text every day to remind them you wanted work. The poor woman had their car so was stuck with them, she’s still around.  

The two of us quickly grew to half a dozen and by this time I was so disillusioned with them I’d stripped off the D/D decals. The other D/D instructors one by one started driving around with their own old boxes on the roof. Haven’t seen any for quite some time now.

When you complain (by text) about not having any work they text you a list of inquiries and tell you to ring them.

One week they took the franchise from both the Standing Order and my debit card, because even though my statement said the Standing Order had been paid they said they hadn’t received it, and……. They charged me an extra £3 for using the debit card.

Drive Dynamics (things can only get bader, bad grammar I know)

Took a few days to sort out because I insisted on ‘speaking’ to someone, the problem is the finance department are very busy Monday and Tuesday because they have the incoming franchise to cope with. Then from Wednesday they have to start work on the money to be paid out on the Friday. I did get the £99 back, but had to fight for the £3. Probably cost me more in phone calls and texts but it was the principal.

I was allowed 2 free franchise weeks and was told to apply for them quickly as only a certain amount of instructors per week were allowed free franchise. As we had a cruise booked for July, I applied in March but was told the only weeks available were what were to be my last two weeks of the 6 month contract.

In the meantime they decided that instead of text they would operate an email system, if you had a problem you mailed them and got an auto reply saying they would respond in three working days. They didn’t, and I’m not sure what happened to that system because it was never mentions again.

The organisation at D/D deteriorated even more as the weeks went on, they would text me saying I hadn’t paid my franchise. By this time the first thing I did on Monday, my day off was to go into the bank to check the franchise had been paid. Then sure enough I would get a text asking for it. There were so many mistakes I can’t possible get everything in the correct order.

The next was for them to take the £99, plus of course the handling charge, which incidentally I didn’t pay the first few weeks while I was working up to full franchise from my debit card even, thought it had been paid by standing order.

This was when I discovered how good the personal bankers at my bank were, I got the money refunded, had to fight for the extra £3 and the bank put a stop to D/D having access to my debit card.

More to come this is only the good bits.

Drive Dynamics

After my big moan about price cutting someone suggested a franchise to which I replied after Drive Dynamics no way. Here’s the story, in the time I was with them so much went on I’m afraid this will have to be in chapters.

Last Christmas was the first holiday spent at home for a long, long time. It was cold and miserable so decided that in the New Year after 12 years of making a reasonable living, with two holidays and a couple of weekends away each year I was suddenly doing something wrong so looked into a franchise and unfortunately went to work for Drive Dynamics.

After a few conversations over the phone we drove up to Leeds to finalise things while they decaled out my car. Had to take my wife because as you all know she’s the computer person and part of working for them I was told I would have to keep an on-line diary, this way they could also keep check on how much work I had. As soon as we arrived we were offered a cup of tea, unfortunately like the on line diary and pupils it never arrived.

I signed up for six months, with the knowledge I would have to give them a further four weeks’ notice to quit, even got a pupil before we left the office and the wife started thinking about the Christmas holiday to come. The franchise was £99 per week but started off lower and slowly built up over a few weeks so that you had lots of work before you got to the £99.

The first mistake was allowing them to use my debit card for the first few payments as they would change each week, then it would be by standing order once the £99 per week kicked in. Paid the first two weeks then got texts the following week because they couldn’t access my debit card. We eventually discovered they were putting the incorrect number in, which they say was the number I’d given them. At this stage I hadn’t discovered that you don’t argue with them because they know what they are doing?

They have a system whereby they will only pay each instructor £200 per week, so if someone booked 20 hours at £289, the instructor would get £200 the first week but would have to wait for the second week for the £89.  Once you had done that first lesson, providing your text got in no later than Tuesday you would get paid on Friday. They also introduced, a few months later a system whereby, they text you a pupil, which you obviously book in as quickly as possible to get paid. But with the new system they would withhold the money for a further 14 days in case the pupil asked for their money back. I must have been good because no one asked for their money back!!!

                                                        Valet Parking

                                                    Did you know this?

Of 233 comprehensive car insurance policies, 49% excluded valet parking. Photograph: Rex

Do you hand over your keys to a valet parking service at the airport before flying off on holiday? You could be left with a large bill: research by comparison site Gocompare.com found that half of all insurancepolicies do not cover damage to a vehicle while it is in the control of valet parking.

Gocompare.com reviewed 233 comprehensive car insurance policies and found that valet parking was excluded by 49% of policies. Scott Kelly, Gocompare's head of car insurance, said: "Valet parking, once the preserve of Hollywood movies, is becoming a popular option in the UK with many airports, major hotels and entertainment venues now offering 'meet and greet' services. Valet parking is a convenient way to park your car, especially at airports where it will save you having to drag heavy luggage on to a car park shuttle bus, but you need to consider the implications for your car insurance."

Some valet parking companies claim drivers are covered by their own insurance. But Gocompare said the terms and conditions offer little peace of mind. "Generally operators offer very limited cover for damage to your car, which you will need to spot and report to them on collection, and possessions left in your car are generally excluded."

Meet and greet parking services generally cost little more than the price of 10 days in a long-stay car park, but although many people are happy with the service, it is a business plagued with horror stories.

This summer, BBC1's Your Money, Their Tricks programme tested six different services at three major airports. Each car was fitted with a tracking device which told the programme's investigators whether it actually went to the car park that was promised and, crucially, whether it stayed there.

At Heathrow, the service was precisely as advertised. But at Gatwick, the tracking device found that the car, although initially taken to a secure car park, was 24 hours later driven to a residential address in Crawley – which the programme makers said appeared to be the home of the company's employee. Later, it was returned to the car park.

The other car in Gatwick, and the two in Luton, were taken to compounds that the programme makers alleged were not secure sites monitored by CCTV.

Well Done Victoria. another pass this week for Green School of Motoring and yes Victoria I did enjoy moaning at you.
Dave Safely.

CLEAN SHEET

9/11/2013 One of Green School of Motoring’s proudest days.  Actor Robert O’Flahery passed his driving test with a clean sheet.

Yes it’s been done before, but not I’m sure with so many hurdles to cross. He started his lessons while living a few streets away, then work took him away for a few weeks, back for another couple of weeks then away again until he ended up in deepest darkest Cheshire.

Instead of doing the sensible thing and finding a local instructor he came by bus/train for infrequent lessons, with one sensible day when I gave up my Sunday and he did six hours.

Ten minutes after I should have picked him up at the train station, in appalling weather he called to say he was on a coach stuck at the bottom of Daisy Nook with cars sliding down the steep hill towards them.

He should have been on a train from Manchester to Ashton-u-Lyne but he was put on a coach driven by someone from Mars. Instead of one long straight main road the driver ended up getting stuck at the bottom of a country lane that coaches never use.

Got him to the test centre, for his 1.30 test with black sky’s and the weather worsening by the minute.  His test was conducted during one of the most horrendous thunderstorms we’ve had in a long time accompanied with giant hailstones and he got a clean sheet.

Remember your Driving Instructor Robert when you’re famous in Hollywood, after today’s stress a holiday would be nice.

Well done Robert and remember with a clean sheet you don’t have any excuse but to Drive Safely.

Well done Jamie Hogg on passing your driving test. Jamie had to pass first time because dad said he would only pay  until his first test.
Second pass this week for Green School of Motoring and still more to come. Looking more like bread and water for Christmas dinner.

Well Done Dave on passing first time. Done forget DRIVE SAFELY.
 Have a good Xmas and all the Very Best for 2014 to you and your family.

Cancellations

I would like some input please. Moaning to another instructor at the test centre a couple of months ago about cancellations he said he very rarely gets cancellations.

I seem to recall quite a while back having the same moan and they had the same reply, they don’t get cancellations? What am I doing wrong?

This week a young lady who has the same time every Saturday morning, her test in a couple of weeks. Texted and said she’d forgotten about her lesson and booked a hairdressing appointment? 

Another who was having problems with baby sitters changed from evening to Saturday because mum was always available. She works one Saturday in four until noon when I pick her up from work rather than home.  This was her working week but she’s had to cancel because she can’t get a baby sitter.

Replies please – is it just me. We celebrate when I have a week without a cancellation. Can’t remember the last celebration.