Greg's Driving School of Columbia

Negative experience: One of the worst driving schools in the world. They focus solely on testing, not training, and won’t even take you to the road test. You’ll need to find another school for that. They charge more than other schools, and although I initially went to them for lessons nearby, I ended up having to travel 20 miles away for actual training. Avoid this school if my explanation makes sense to you.

Negative experience: I don’t recommend greg’s as a whole. The staff isn't polite and theres way better out there for less expensive.

Fantastic experience: I'd like to preface this review by saying thank you to Greg's management for immediately offering to let me redo an in-car driving lesson free of charge when I called to tell them about my experience, and instructor Marc for being so helpful. I had an in-car driving "lesson" with Ms. Gretchen Halsey in July. It started off rocky when I approached the door to the office at the same time as her, 5 minutes before the lesson start time. She asked for my name and I handed her my permit, she looks it over and comments on how recently I got my permit. I am 25 and just now have the privilege to learn how to drive that I didn't have as a teenager. She asks me how many hours of driving I have logged, I low-ball it and say 8 hours (it was more like 12 at the time). She snaps at me, saying that isn't enough time, and that the other instructors need to "stop sending her kids for lessons that aren't ready". I made a comment about it being the parking lesson, but she ignored me. She then asks me who my instructor was for my first in-car driving lesson, which was Marc Fecteau. She snaps again, saying the last student she was sent after having Marc wasn't ready either. As we walked out the door, I asked her if there was a problem, and she said "No, we'll see how you do. I'm taking you on the road first so I can see how you drive." The moment we got into the car, she started telling me how to adjust my seat and had me sitting extremely close to the wheel. I tried to tell her I couldn't move my ankle enough to switch between the brake and the accelerator, but she kept snapping at me. She then has me driving on the road for an entire HOUR of the lesson. The first 3 minutes in the car, the speedometer isn't on the digital display, and she starts messing with the buttons on the wheel as I am ACTIVELY driving to get the speedometer up. After taking a few turns that she didn't like, she had me pull into a parking lot to show me how I "should" be turning the wheel. She swaps into the drivers seat to show me how to turn by letting the wheel slide in my hands, always keeping them at 9 and 3, so that your arms never cross in front of the airbag. She says she invented this method and gave it to Greg's. She even showed me that if she's driving with one hand and looping her thumb under the wheel, that it's still safer because her arms wouldn't get smashed by the airbag. I should note, her arm was crossing over the airbag while doing this. When we finally got back to Greg's to start the parking portion of the parking lesson, she complained about how neither me nor another student were willing to move their lesson slot. I replied with the fact that I have a full-time job and can't move my schedule around on short notice. She ignored me. At one point during the parking, I said that I was having a hard time focusing with the talking and the driving and she said "Well, I guess you wouldn't be any fun on long road trips then." I said with 'At least I won't be a distracted driver.' She ignored this comment. The worst thing this woman did was multiple times during the lesson. I have a parasympathetic response to being yelled at that I can't control, and I tear up and/or cry (not sob, just leaky). This never happened during my first lesson. During the parking part, she told me multiple times "You gotta stop doing that," to which I would ask, stop what? She said "Stop with the crying." She proceeded to tell me that she texted someone at the start of our lesson to tell them that she "had a cry-er" for her lesson. Not only is that disrespectful, but why would anyone think that's okay to admit? By the end, she was exclusively staring at her phone, just mumbling instructions at me that I didn't understand. Gretchen Halsey is an ineffective, disrespectful instructor that completely lacks equity training. She refused to rephrase anything when I said I didn't understand what she was telling me to do and didn't like when I asked genuine questions to clarify what I was supposed to do. Her behavior was unacceptable. EDIT: She has since been fired from Greg's.

Fantastic experience: Scott McKay in Columbia driving school was a light in the dark tunnel for my son. Scott has wealth of knowledge and patience with new young drivers. He was always courteous and well planned before lessons. Me and my wife sat behind voluntary and never got bored for 2 hours. My son enjoyed learning with him. We never had any problem for scheduling. I would definitely recommend Scott to friends and family for better services and respect.

Negative experience: Costumer service was very rude ,had to call twice in order to get all information need . Wanted to cancel a class was canceled on website , called only to figure out . That they still had the money on ,hold in an account just in case .I wanted to use it and, I had to send out an email .Or else they would leave it there in that account , I also have to wait three more day for after that email is processed.

Negative experience: Very disappointed. The instructor of the class spent way too much time talking about very personal things (kids, grandkids, husband, dog, etc) rather than going over the pertinent information. Also was very condescending and too much use of "scare tactics".

Fantastic experience: My daughter took lessons with Elise from the Columbia location for her mandatory drive time. Her instructor Elise was knowledgeable, very patient with my teen, and overall a good instructor. My daughter passed her MVA driver's test on the first try!

Negative experience: I would not recommend. They wouldn't provide a copy of the driving certificate that I neededforauto insurancepurposes. Also inconvenient or little to no driving appointments.

Negative experience: The customer service on phone are rude and unprofessional. Kindly improve. When a customer calls its for a reason

Positive experience: My son went here for a driving class. They seem to get the job done, but this class has gone up by $20. It use to be $50 now $70. That's a big increase. Why not $5 intervals? They lose a star for the price.

Negative experience: Very disappointed. I can't believe that still after 2 months Greg's in columbia MD couldn't assist completing the 6hrs pre-paid road practice. I'll not recommend Greg' to anyone.

Positive experience: Today i did my driving skill test and i passed. I thank the great instructors i had at greg's drving school of Columbia. Scott and Kevin did a fabulous job. Thank you.

Negative experience: Would not recommend. I had a very poor experience here.

Positive experience: I showed up 10 min early for class and saw the instructor inside. When I knocked on the door she said "you can wait". It was not a very professional or courteous tone to open on. When a student sat in the wrong place she immediately got uncomfortably close to him constantly saying sit where there is a paper in an aggressive manner. Is clearly passionate about the presentation though and cares about the content. Just be sure to listen to instructions, and the interpersonal skills could be improved to create a more welcoming environment. It might have just been a fluke since by half way into the class she appeared to be much more friendly.

Negative experience: Irresponsable school... We had an appointment with my son a Sunday morning for driving lesson, and nobody showed up, Their sign at the door says you have to call to customer service if the instructor doesn’t show up past 15 minutes... but ironically the customer service is closed on Sunday. If I fail to show up they charge 55.00 but they doesn’t care if they fail to show up.

Fantastic experience: Great driving school, with friendly and professional instructors.

Fantastic experience: Love this place!! The instructor is so amazing. She makes sure you get it before you finish. If I could give 10 stars..i definitely would!

Fantastic experience: they are great ! Learned so much I highly recommend the Columbia location .

Fantastic experience: I've made it through my first week and I must say, it has been a fun ride thus far. Ms. Avery is an amazing instructor and she makes class a fun learning experience for us all. She answers every question we have and even goes into details to explain it. During our spare time, she gives us restuarant recommendations and being that I love to eat, I get super anxious to try it out. I need to check out this hot and juicy restaurant now. I also want to give a recommendation to Mr.J for stepping in when he is needed and again, showing us a good time while we learn. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. Update: Finished my 2nd week with Ms.Avery and I actually miss going to class now, haha. She made it a lot of fun and the people I met were really cool. I'm currently doing my in car lessons with Bryan. He is an amazing instructor and I'm glad I'm doing lessons with him. If you all get Bryan or Ms.Avery for any of your in car lessons, you have nothing to worry about. Update number 2: Went to Westminster for my Mva test today and passed on the first try. I am now an official holder of a provisional license. Thanks again Ms. Avery, Bryan, and Mr. J. I am so thankful for the lessons and teachings that got me through this chapter of my life.

Fantastic experience: Saw the reviews at the Columbia location, and decided to switch from Ellicott City to Columbia. My child love's the teacher enthusiasm & dedication. Best decision ever!

Fantastic experience: Ms. Avery is a fantastic teacher! She is so clear about everything being taught and is very patient with confused students. She’s able to have fun and connect with every student despite the age. I’ve seen her calm down the loudest students, teach the laziest, and bring out the voice in the quietest. She is very knowledgeable with the material and if a question gets asked that she doesn’t know the answer to, she has a procedure in which she lets the students write it down and she gets back to them after researching. The class is very fun, interactive, and feels as though it goes by quick! She also makes sure all her students feel safe and comfortable so that they can work and learn in a great environment! You should HANDS DOWN take her class!

Fantastic experience: Ms. Avery is an excellent teacher, she works hard to make sure all the students understand the material being taught and answers all questions students might have. She keeps the class engaged and attentive. Overall an excellent experience!!

Fantastic experience: Avery's cool Genuinely a good time, very clear, not dull

Fantastic experience: Evan is an AMAZING teacher and makes the class very fun and gives us great examples of being on the road yet gets to the point. He is an 11/10 teacher and i will always forever highly recommend him!

Fantastic experience: Very nice teachers. I learned a lot about driving thanks to this. 10/10 recommend

Positive experience: It was a good driving school. I felt that the instructors Ms. Miller and Sheila were very personable, knowledgeable, and caring enough to pass down their experiences with driving. And, my in-car instructors Clinton, AJ, and David shared very important lessons & tips for me to remember while driving. The few negative complaints I have about this location/branch are that the classroom's too small, there's only ONE bathroom in the building, and there were multiple times where I'd have to wait outside because the door is typically locked... and it was unbearable due to the unforgiving summer heat. Overall though, it was really good place and I'd highly recommend them.

Negative experience: As a parent, I had expectations of an instructor who would take the time and teach my child driving techniques that would make him and others safe. Instead, this particular female instructor was a tyrant. Poor people skills and sadly it was more of a chore than a positive experience. I still believe that driving schools are essential to safety for these new drivers and others on the road with them but this is one instructor to avoid. I can’t say if others within the company are better but I suspect they can’t be worse.

Positive experience: I’ve just started this driver school class and it’s has been the worse experience(Evan)doesn’t have the patients to teach us what we really need to know everybody in the class be so lost on what’s going on and why he skip so many slides..I pay $360 to learn every details about drivers education and still nothing good had come out of it since he been teaching. On the other hand(Avery)is so amazing and patient when it comes to the class she teach us every detail from top to bottom ask questions and keep going over the lesson until everybody in the class understand.I highly recommend her and wish that we had her this coming week so we can all leave knowledgeable to the lesson she have been teaching us I really can’t wait to do my in car I really would prefer her..Avery hopefully soon they will let you teach more classes your so patient and understanding..Thanks so much for teaching me the 2days you were with the class

Fantastic experience: Avery is a very good classroom teacher and patient when teaching driving classes. I highly recommend her for your in car.

Fantastic experience: Love it

Fantastic experience: I learned some good driving tips. It helped me pass my permit and license tests.

Fantastic experience: Very personable teachers.

Fantastic experience: AJ is the best driving instructor ever! He is very knowledgeable and patient! I was nervous to drive in the beginning but he made me feel comfortable and helped me gain confidence! I learned so much and my mother and I highly recommend him! :)

Fantastic experience: Brittney is the best this is Anastasia

Fantastic experience: Personally, Ms. Brittney is the best in-class driving teacher

Negative experience: I took the in class course and had never had opening for in car lessen for ever until my lerner's permit hot expired. Time and money wasted.

Negative experience: My son is an 11th grader who took the classroom portion of the driving course in Sept. 2017. Very few openings for driving lessons have been available since then. There tend to be ample slots for driving lessons during the school day at 8am, 10am, and 12pm. While I do realize adult learners can use these slots, the majority of the students learning to drive are in high school. There should be a much greater number of times for driving lessons available after school and on weekends. I would suggest trying to determine how many driving slots are available from other providers at times for high schoolers before registering with Greg’s. The next available driving slot for my son is not available until late July 20. It’s currently April 7.

Fantastic experience: Miss.Barb is the best driver's education teacher you will ever meet. She's is passionate.

Positive experience: Big kudos to my instructor Miss Barb for making the in-class and behind the wheel driving session awesome.

Negative experience: Awful place. They don't do home pick up. Avoid at any cost.

Fantastic experience: Very good place to do your driving they take there time and teach you my driving couch was Julian thanks for giving the confidence even when I felt like I could not do it and Miss Sharon Miller is a excellent teacher