Freedom Driving School

Negative experience: I would not recommend this driving school to anyone. It seems like their primary goal is not to teach but to milk money from students. They deliberately fail students for minor or non-existent errors so they can charge for additional lessons and retests. Instead of focusing on improving skills and building confidence, their approach is demoralizing and frustrating. They don’t care about your progress—only how much more they can get out of your wallet. Look elsewhere if you value transparency and fairness in your learning process, I've been driving around the state with my permit & passenger present, I've never had an accident, it's sad to see the wrong people put in these positions, you will not pass the first time even if you were a driving teacher yourself, they want you to come back & pay over & over again to give you your license to drive your family to school & your kids to the park & pick up medication for your family it's an evil practice & may God hold them accountable in this world & the next, i hope the 75$ you stole for this driving test is worth this review, welcome to the dark side of America welcome to the greed, of theives robbing honest people for there income as if we're growing money farms, alot of people going there don't even have jobs & the only way they can work is with a license giving their last 75 dollars to try to make better of themselves & work, they failed me on a 73% score, after I did exactly what they asked me to do they will put you in a dangerous situation like telling you to turn right when safe in the middle of the street then yell & say why didn't you lane change, turning right & lane changing are two completely opposite things they made up an imaginary mailbox & asked me to park between an imaginary car then said I was too far away from the imaginary object, it's a direct insult on your intelligence & very horrible way to steal from people, honestly at this point I plan on suing this school they don't have a clue that I recorded the entire drive with a small camera & mic & threw it on the dash facing us & the road I'll publish it on YouTube after speaking to my lawyer enjoy that 75$ enjoy the fire you'll eat in hell

Fantastic experience: Ian Fisne, a cheerful Driving Instructor of Freedom trained me so patiently giving me the knowledge how to drive safely and be a defensive driver. A heartfelt thanks Ian, I passed my driving skills successfully

Negative experience: DO NOT send your children to Freedom Driving School, please. I’m a student there and there are a few issues. First of all, everything is ludicrously expensive. There’s a $98 charge if you draw on a table! I get it, they want people to respect their equipment but COME ON!! That’s just an example of how they will charge you for EVERYTHING they’ll make you pay for things even if whatever they’re charging you for is their fault. What happens if you don’t ay? Well, no license for your child! Additionally and most importantly, the instructor who goes on drivers with students (at least in Lakewood) is an absolute creep. I’ve had issues with him on every single one of my drives and he makes me feel unsafe and uncomfortable. He frequently asks intrusive and inappropriate questions as well as making many inappropriate comments and jokes. I know he doesn’t just do it to me because I’ve driven with other students, and he does it to them too. I talk to my friends (mostly young women like myself) who have had to deal with him, and they have all had a similar experience to my own. He’s also demonstrated aggression towards others on the road (flipping people off and yelling), which the classroom instructor taught us students not to do, indicating that Freedom Driving School does not practice what they preach! Not only is it hypocritical, it has the potential to scare students and create unnecessary conflict on the road. Finally, he tells students to drive… the wrong way, let’s just say that. On my fifth drive, we went on the freeway, and he had me cut somebody off when there was no need to just so that we could be in the LEFT LANE. Once we were in the left lane, I was going about 70 because I know the left lane is where people drive really fast, but people were still passing me and going way faster, and he told me to slow down to the speed limit. What! The! Freak! I felt so uncomfortable being forced to drive in the left lane anyway, but being instructed to create a less safe environment for myself and everyone else?! That was not the only time he had me driving in way that was not only atypical, but inconvenient and unsafe for every traffic participant around me. Please, send your child somewhere else. FDS is not worth your time and energy.

Negative experience: The lady in the office charged us $60 for the knowledge test. He passed. 95/100. Then later that night we learned that it's only $35 to take the knowledge test. Called to ask why we were charged $60. She said "it's $60 for 2 attempts" and hung up the phone. Pretty upsetting. Definitely feel scammed.

Negative experience: Instructor cancelled our last drive and then stopped responding to phone calls and emails. Looking into litigation. Do not go here. It's a scam.

Fantastic experience: Para mi fue una excelente opcion , pude pasar mi examen escrito y de conducir sin problera , estudie y practique mucho y gracias a Dios tube buenos resultados. Gracias a la recepcion por su ayuda y al instructor ! Lean bien las indicaciones de pago para que no tengan reclamos. $35 por un intento y creo q $60 por dos intentos . Y $75 el practico.

Fantastic experience: These guys saved my butt yesterday. It was 2:30 pm on a Saturday and I had just been informed that due to a mixture of strange circumstances I needed to do my written again to get my license. No driving school I called took walk ins except for these lovely people. I was able to take my written test and I can now get my actual license on Wednesday.

Negative experience: AWEFUL COMPANY. Do not choose them!!! FILE A COMPLAINT WITH BBB & Attorney General office if they cheated you too. We requested an exception to my daughter being required to restart & repeat a driving course since she was almost 100% complete in her paid course at Freedom Driving School right before her medical emergency. NO RESPONSES TO MY SEVERAL EMAILS (directly to the owner) OR MESSAGES LEFT with gatekeeper secretary who answers the phone and constantly lies on behalf of the owner to protect him. They never responded to my provided proof of a medical emergency hospital visits documents which prevented her in completing the course towards the very end of the course. FreedomDS failed to have the front office administration answer questions, failed to cooperate in acknowledging a medical emergency, and failed to show any compassion and exception for a paid driver. Additional details: Business failed to respond and refused to accept our request. Business has not return any of my numerous emails or phone calls.

Fantastic experience: Very organized and friendly business. Worth the money.

Positive experience: They accommodated us by letting both my kids, who are 3 years apart, take classes and all their practice drives together. They liked the instructor and the guy who graded the drive test. My only complaint is that the website is mistaken on a couple small things and Monica seemed very annoyed when I asked.

Negative experience: This place is terrible they act like people can just spend money and keep retrying, my boyfriend took his test for a second time today, the “instructor” looked a little young but didn't think anything of it, after the test he comes out crying saying they failed him off of a wide turn having him get 79/80, later my boyfriends dad went there to have someone take a look at the score, they then said that the person who tested him wasn't an instructor that he was just an employee who worked the front desk and that they will look into it. I do not recommend this place for your drivers test waist of money when not even a real instructor is testing you.

Negative experience: I put one of my daughters through Freedom a few months before my 15 year old. It was an ok experience. Then with my 15 year old they were constantly rescheduling her drives and her last drive they didn't show up to and even after presenting them with physical proof they are telling me I have to pay for it or she cannot get her license. I have tried talking to and emailing the owner to resolve this and he will not respond and reply. I had no option but to pay so my $600 didn't go to complete waste. And yes, they do hang up on your face instead of taking any responsibility. They literally steal your money and hold your child's driver's license hostage if you don't pay for their error. I have sent 4 of my children through drivers ed and this is hands down the WORST place to deal with. They waste your time and money with zero regard. Please do not send your child here. Extremely unorganized,dishonest. And unresponsive. Just wanted to add that they couldn't even be bothered to repspond to this review which is further proof they DO NOT CARE. Also, after sharing my experience with my friends, there were several others who had similar experiences. What really took the cake was she was failed for not stopping at a blinking yellow light. The instructor told her it was illegal. Her and her dad immediately looked it up, low and behold it is perfectly acceptable. Not illegal at all. That was a paid test that we now were going to have to pay for. After not letting it go, they admitted that they were wrong and offered her another test in a different city a week out. Just more proof they lie to STEAL your money. Honestly I thought it was retaliation. I just couldn't risk anything else terrible with this company so I ended up paying for her test at another driving school. It went perfectly.

Fantastic experience: Pretty nice driving school. And driving instructor good guy. I recommend to all.

Fantastic experience: It's not hard. Just do your homework, study, ask questions if you get confused about anything and focus when your driving on the roads because there are crazy drivers already out there. My instructor was Scott Paterson. Thank you Scott for everything and I appreciate it so much! This school is a yes, please do take your kids here to learn the basis of driving and reaching the end goal of getting their license. Not only that, if you need someone to fine tune your current skill set, this place is also for that.

Fantastic experience: We haven't signed up yet but have vetted them .. great program .

Negative experience: The man who drove with my granddaughter said she didn't pass because she didn't yield to the car at the light witch the car wasn't even close, my husband was sitting right there watching, then she got charged for the next test its a money grab, also my grandson just look his driving and failed for driving to close to the curb, he learned to drive there, what a joke.

Negative experience: One of the instructors is horrible and likes to take his anger out on kids for being 2 minutes late to a class they paid $600 for. And I got kicked out of a class for being that late and now they’re trying to say I need to makeup a ton of classes that I never missed. And I have to go all the way to Spanaway to retake the “ton” of classes they lied about me missing. Unprofessional, rude, and a complete and utter rip off.

Negative experience: Rude and unprofessional

Negative experience: This place is very unprofessional, the lady at the front desk (Monica) is disrespectful and was very rude, she hung up on me while i was talking to her. I dont recommend anyone going to place at all! These people will make stuff that never happened, the instructor are not on the same page when it coming to driving, you have one person telling you one thing and another person telling you something different. DON’T WAST YOUR TIME AND MONEY!

Fantastic experience: Best place to go. I passed the first time

Fantastic experience: I LOVE FREEDOM DRIVING SCHOOL! They are just helpful people and taught me a lot especially Scott. Scott is really nice and helpful, he made me feel comfortable on the road and made me feel like I can do anything ❤️

Negative experience: Do not go here .. this place is MONEY HUNGRY.

Negative experience: Made everything right for my full time qorking daughter. So grateful thank you Brian.

Negative experience: Took the tests the first time and was told to read the book,take notes, and check out their page for the written second time through and I still failed even though I read the book took notes and passed their practice online tests multiple times. I don’t think they really care whether you pass they still get paid they couldn’t at the least put actual questions on the tests on the practice otherwise this would really help I wouldn’t recommend going and taking a test here I felt like I was set up for failure

Fantastic experience: Have a really great experience in learning driving at freedom driving school. I was totally new driving with low confident and the driver instructor Gerald is really did good job helping me to improve my driving skill and focus on driving test.

Positive experience: It gets quite busy, very fast. The staff are very nice and professional

Fantastic experience: Have now had 2 teenagers complete courses through them and both had great experiences and only had to take the written and drive tests just once. The cost of both tests are included in your course.

Fantastic experience: Great experience. Awesome instuctor!! Prices are not bad at all either.

Negative experience: The older woman at the front is actually very disrespectful and honestly shouldn't work in customer service. We don't deserve to be spoken to like trash and it would be nice if you could just leave your bad attitude at home. Maybe other locations have friendlier people.

Fantastic experience: Nice people

Negative experience: It's been an awful experience. We are considering paying an entirely different school the same amount we paid here but they have way better reputation and actually want the kids to have confidence and become great drivers. This place has been ridiculous.

Positive experience: Good

Negative experience: My experience here was horrible. They spoke on police interaction and was upset when the conversation went left. Josh is rude and unprofessional. Kevin is a cop lover and tells the students “they don’t know how hard cops have it” Josh nor Kevin are in any position to have this conversation about how to interact with cops. My daughter responded now the want to kick her out and keep our money. Not to mention she has not been in a single drive and the class ends next week. They’re frauds. Not worth the money

Negative experience: My instructor used his break a couple of times to stop the car in the middle of the road! First time he failed me by 2points! (Got 78) I booked again for the next weekend because i have been on the road with my learner's license since March and i haven't caused any accident yet I drive to work with my husband daily!! He did the same thing and failed me by 2points!!! I asked him to be kind because in this covid19 period most of us are struggling financially but NO he couldn't!! I felt like screaming but I thanked him and walked away with tears in my eyes. But the lady at the front desk is good for her I give them 2stars.

Fantastic experience: Great!

Fantastic experience: Had a really great experience over at freedom driving School driving and the driver instructors was really nice and they did a really good job helping me focus with my drivers road test...

Fantastic experience: I was really helped here to overcome fear and self-doubt. Thanks a lot to my instructor Steve. I do not speak English . I understood his commands very well. Recomend for everybody. Мне реально помогли здесь преодолеть страх и неуверенность в себе . Спасибо большое моему инструктору Стиву. Я не говорю на английском . Его команды я прекрасно понимала. Рекомендую всем.

Negative experience: The old white lady who does the written test is so disrespectful and if you ask her for an explanation she would just read the question at loud again . I highly NOT recommend you to go to this place at all !!!!!! Be careful it’s just a waste of money and time .

Fantastic experience: We contacted Freedom Driving School on short notice and we were directly connected with Steven Parr, an examiner and instructor. Because of Steven, it just clicked, and all of a sudden my wife was a much better driver after just a one hour session. She gained a sense of confidence that I had not seen before and most importantly, the ability to finally drive. I was thrilled someone can teach my wife to drive, even though her English needs improvement. And all this after one session??? I had been trying for months and it wasn't working out. Steven was very patient, yet efficient and read my wife very well understanding her strengths and areas needed to focus so that she can safely drive and pass the test. His courteous and calm demeanor and very proficient teaching skills encouraged her in such a positive manner, something I was not able to do myself. Thank you Steven Parr and thank you Freedom Driving School for having such an amazing person in your organization. The only regret I have is not contacting Steven sooner. He is a very admirable person and instructor. He is the person I would want my kids receiving driving instructions from. I could go on and on.

Negative experience: Just like multiple people have said they will fail you for money. The driver used his break to stop my car from going then blamed me for not going fast enough. How would I know? Well when we stopped abruptly for no reason his leg was fully extended. Why would your leg be extended if You're not on the break? Also funny how me and the guy before me both said their car is rigged. They lie and scan people to make money then say that all they use are dol practices. That's not true because the dol says the tester can't tell you to do anything but her say there and tried telling me how to drive.

Negative experience: Very disrespectful and rude. Yelling and exposing students in front of the whole class. She has a attitude every time horrible place to learn. Will be transferring to a different drive school with better teachers. Not to mention she failed me and passed everybody else who didnt study nor do homework and made students give money when told by boss that it is not needed.. this list can go on.

Negative experience: Tests don't even have the right answers. Instructors are always unprepared for classes. Totally horrible. They steal your money.

Negative experience: Y'know, I came to freedom really excited and my experience was ruined by one instructor specially. She was constantly yelling at us, making us feel stupid and even took time to call 911 on another car when she was teaching a freeway drive. I personally will not send people here only because of her. I did not feel as if I was treated how a costumer should have been treated. I paid money for this class and I dreaded showing up everyday. Other staff were nice but I think without saying names, people know exactly who I am talking about. Its not just me who thinks this way about her. I know multiple people who I was in the same class with who had the same experience.

Negative experience: The website of this address explicitly states “late test starts at 4:30 pm” I arrived and was in the door by 4:27. The guy at the front desk took quite some time getting the girl in front of me signed in. Finally I arrive at the front desk and it is 4:31 pm. He says I cannot test, I drove quite a ways away because I needed to do it THIS weekend for work. When I went to explain this to the front desk guy he proceeded to cut me off and was rude. Due to this experience I will never return to any Freedom driving school. Called 911 driving, explained my situation. The scheduled me an appointment so I will 100 percent be able to test AND it is going to save us 15 dollars because the Puyallup 911 location has a better deal on their tests! Freedom driving school should edit their website, because right now that is false advertisement. ‍♀️

Fantastic experience: My experience here was fantastic! The instructors were extremely helpful & that prices are very reasonable! They’re also pretty flexible as long as you give them enough of a notice! Definitely recommending this place to everyone I know!

Fantastic experience: Instructor Jack was the best even brought pizza

Positive experience: Very friendly instructors and apologises if they realise un intended mistake from them.

Fantastic experience: I had a great experience at Freedom Driving School. Instructor Adam was so patient. Jack was also quite good. Strict but good. Though I failed my skills test once I passed the second time. I will not hesitate to recommend them.

Fantastic experience: What a great school , I personally loved the instructors and classmates I’ve met , jack is number 1

Fantastic experience: I was instructed by Jack and would highly reccomend this course. They were very supportive for a first time driver and while the drives were good, The in classroom instruction was excellent. They show you a multitude of ways to avoid danger and truly care about your safety and not just preparing you for the test. 10/10 Would reccomend.

Fantastic experience: Was a great experience and had lots of fun while still being taught everything I need 10/10

Fantastic experience: absolutely loved Freedom DS! they taught me so much, and made it fun while they taught it. definitely would recommend everyone to go to this drive school

Fantastic experience: Rob Is an Excellent instructor!

Fantastic experience: I've put 3 people through this class now. My youngest daughter appreciated this last course so much. The instructor did everything he could to make sure the students were learning and able to pass the various tests, AND went out of his way to make sure my daughter could get her final drive and license. I'd recommend Freedom Driving School to anyone.

Fantastic experience: I truly recommend going to this Driving School. They keep the learning at a constant pace that is fast, and easy to handle. The atmosphere is light hearted. Since I went to this school I was able to pass my drivers test, and ace my written. Special thanks to my instructor Jack for teaching myself and my fellow class mates so well.

Negative experience: Not to impressed

Fantastic experience: A very great school to learn how to drive. the teachers are respectful and know how to create a positive learning enivronment for any teenager.

Fantastic experience: Great staff and examiner, come here if you don't want to get rip off by some stupid driving school

Fantastic experience: Good service and willing to work around schedules best they can. I give 5 stars to Dave

Negative experience: These guys straight up stole our money. The promised they could teach us yet the instructor was ALWAYS late and cancelled appointments the day of. Mike's first instruction involved driving twice around the tiny parking lot of the building where the school is located. Complete with narrow passthrough next to a scary cliff behind the shopping center. And then he wondered why a first time driver was scared. After being promised a refund, that money never showed. Followed by a backtrack on the promise with the claim that they do not issue refunds. So these guys straight up stole our money. $165 dollars for 20 minutes of instruction. Criminals. Fraud.

Negative experience: They fail people to make more money. Took my co-worker there to take his test after passing the WA written test. Co-worker has driven my car for weeks prior to testing with me in the vehicle. Totally capable driver. I should have seen it as a red flag that they don't allow anyone but the driver and evaluator in the car. He failed the driving test 3 times. Once was for "not coming to a complete and total stop" ONCE. A "California stop" should be a warning at worst. They will find any reason to make you pay another $45 (55 if you use their vehicle) and come back.