AABC Driving School

Hello, Dane. While we appreciate our customers taking the time to review our school, two aspects of your review puzzled us. First, why did you wait for nearly a year to post a review? Second, it's surprising to hear you now express dissatisfaction, since neither you nor your family raised any concerns during the 12 months you were with us.

Let’s start with your Online experience.

We lease the online class you took from another company. This is a quite common way for Driver Ed Schools to operate as very few have the resources to create our own online class. If you would like to give the creators of that program constructive feedback, we can provide you with their contact information—just let our Main Office know.

In doing so, please note that ALL online Driver Ed program content used in Wisconsin is regulated by The Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles, not individual Driving Schools. The State determines what is, or is not, in these programs. All programs are 30 hours long, allow students to study at their own pace with the ability to repeat sections, and set a max study limit of 2 hours per day.

In terms of the “rules of the road” (ROTR) that you felt you only got when you started BTW, they are explained throughout the course itself, and the Wisconsin Motorist’s Handbook; the document that you should have been referring to & studying during your online course time. You were told of The Handbook on Day 1, and again at the end, of the course.

With that said, we are curious. Would you be willing to share with our Office what ROTR’s you felt you had not gotten until you were in BTW?

Next, let's discuss what you might have been told during your driving lessons.

Driving is not a rite of passage; it’s a life-or-death responsibility. While Driving Instructors aim to encourage their students whenever possible, it is not their jobs to make you feel good about your progress if it is inadequate. At times, Instructors need to be frank & honest with students, sometimes brutally frank & honest.

While all students will face some kind of challenge at some point, some struggle significantly with basic essentials such as vehicle control, concentration, or properly evaluating their actual abilities. A few will resist instruction & correction. Others may not tell Instructors of personal issues that could affect learning.

In the worst cases, empty compliments are not helpful. Such warnings are not uncommon for students not showing significantly adequate progress, as it is crucial that they understand that radical change now is required to avoid serious consequences later; the deadly kind of which over 40,000 people suffer in this country every year.

Your comments suggest that the 35 days you took to finish your course may have been too quick. While not considered fast in general, it does seem fast for one who was “constantly confused” by the sessions. This concern is supported by your earlier-mentioned ROTR issues.

While difficult for us now to evaluate your performance from a year ago, your Instructor at the time uniquely could - as you had him for all of your BTW lessons. Given the totality of your situations it is not far-fetched to suggest that you may have been a candidate for some brutally honest warnings (although it is unlikely that you were told you would “never” become a good driver).

Instead of feeling resentful about uncomfortable feedback you received nearly a year ago, consider this perspective. Did you encountered a pivotal person who told you what you didn’t want to hear, and who torqued you off enough to motivate you to prove them wrong. Clearly, something between your last lesson and the DMV Road Test inspired you to succeed.

While we are saddened by your dissatisfaction of your time with us at AABC, we are pleased that you eventual did succeed in qualifying for your Driver’s License. After all, we now share the same road together.

We do wish you many safe and enjoyable driving miles ahead.

Hi Jenny,

First of all – CONGRATULATIONS on both of your sons’ having done so well on their DMV Road Tests, and on their successful launch into a world of more responsibility and independence (if not also some relief on your transportation contributions)!

Wow! We are profoundly grateful for your kind and heartfelt sentiments about your experience with us at AABC Driving Schools! It truly means a lot to us. We are honored to have played a role in your family’s journey in developing your sons’ driving skills.

Your involvement, patience, and unwavering support (of both your sons, and us!) throughout this adventure has been nothing shy of remarkable! You’ve truly captured the essence of Drivers Education as being a PARTNERSHIP between the Driving School, the Family, and the Students.

Tony and Tina have genuinely enjoyed working with you and your sons. They’ve expressed sort of being bummed now that the lessons have finally concluded!

We wish you and your family many exciting and safe driving adventures ahead. Thank you once again for placing your trust in us and allowing us to be part of this significant step in your students' lives.

Hello Yelyzaveta,

Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words about our driving school and Instructor Anthony! It was our pleasure to assist you through your driver education process. Be proud of your achievement, especially in overcoming the challenges you faced along the way. Your determination and perseverance were remarkable! You never gave up - and you nailed it in the end! WAY TO GO!

We are honored to have been a part of your journey. We (especially Anthony!) wish you the very best as you embark down the road on your promising future. Safe driving to you, and thank you once again!

Good Day, Rena. We are sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction with your experience at AABC Driving Schools. While we always welcome constructive criticism from our customers, you regrettably chose to engage in a largely inaccurate & emotional tirade in the case of your review.

We have a clear process for scheduling Behind The Wheel (BTW) sessions, which takes place on the 5th of each month via phone. If the phone is busy, our voicemail is available, and we strive to return calls promptly. Hundreds of our students and families successfully followed this process every month.

After appointments are filled for that monthly session, any late callers are placed on a wait list. If Instructors can put in more hours than originally anticipated, wait list students are called and offered those time slots.

On July 3, 2024, this procedure was clearly explained to you. You then successfully followed this procedure in July and August to get your first 2 BTW lessons.

You called us late on September 12th, after all appointments had been filled. You were placed on the wait list and were later contacted to schedule your 3rd lesson as more time slots had become available.

When you did not contact us at all in October, and office staff realized this you were placed on the wait list - as a courtesy. While this has slightly delayed the eventual completion date of your student’s 6 BTW lessons, it was due to your inaction. Even now, if you return to adhering to the scheduling policy, your student will still be able to complete all required lessons in well under a year's total time. You have only 3 lessons left, and are only 4 months into the process.

You again called late on November 12th. All appointments were filled, and you were put on the wait list. During this call, our staff noted that your tone was "hostile."

You indicated that your student is in school and cannot call us. The majority of our students are in the same situation. This is why, if they cannot call us by 5 PM, their families make the call on their behalf. They understand that Driver Education is a cooperative effort that involves the family, not just an individual teen.

You claim to have “called & called” us, yet there were no voicemail messages left by you on our system. We understand that recordings can seem impersonal and uncaring. However, they are a necessary part of business communications. We cannot return calls when no messages are left.

You said that we should have online scheduling or personally call everyone each month. As a small family-owned business, we simply do not have the resources for such options.

You were upset when we would not give you the Owner’s personal phone number. You were given the Office number – which he uses professionally and also told that he would call you back when he was not with other students.

When we would not yield to your contentions and demands you threatened to leave a bad review about us online. Not only did you do so here - on the Main Office’s site, but you then “double-dipped” by posting another one on our West Side Classroom site – which you clearly knew you had not been working with (you admitted as much in that review).

Lastly, not getting your way - because our staff chose to adhere to our policies & procedures rather than capitulate to your demands - does not equate to our being "rude." You were treated with professionalism throughout your interactions. Your tone did not warrant being treated with warmth and pleasantries, but you were treated professionally.

Moving forward, Rena, we hope that you will return to timely use of our scheduling procedure so that your student will not have any further delays in their Driver Ed experience. We also hope that if there are any further issues you wish to bring up, they will be expressed in a more forthright, constructive, and proper manner.

Good day, Helen!
Thank you so much for your satisfaction with our service and for taking the time to review us on Google! While we receive many encouraging compliments via phone, email, and in-person visits from our families—which we truly appreciate—you took the extra step to publicly acknowledge our efforts. This means a lot to us - thank you again!

We value you as a customer and are thrilled to hear that you plan to continue trusting us with your family’s Driver Education needs. We are committed to working hard to earn that trust and are excited to keep serving you!

(...As a note for the General Public, we want to share that, due to our growing customer base in the Brown County area, we had to discontinue our at-home pick-up and drop-off services earlier this year. Feel free to contact our office for more information...)

Thank you again, and we look forward to brightening your road ahead!

Good Day, Amie; We're sorry that you're dissatisfied with AABC's service. While we are open to constructive criticism from our customers, your review unfairly misrepresents our company & your experience. In venting your frustrations, you've made misleading & false statements, as well as using the same opening line as a prior review (which begs the question: coincidence or acquaintance?).

If you feel your son was failed, it was not in his being somewhere that could not meet his needs, but rather in your not following clear guidelines & rules, as well as your lack of communication with us for weeks - even months - at a time. We will elaborate.

It is not "impossible to get road lessons" as literally hundreds of our students do so successfully every month. When spots are filled, the next callers are placed on a Wait List. Not all, but a majority on this List are those who didn't call on time to set up appointments during that lesson cycle. You know this list exists because you benefitted from it. Implying otherwise is dishonest & misleading.

We answer calls when possible. When we cannot, we rely on our voicemail service. We respond to all messages that include an understandable phone number or name that we can trace in our records. If you choose not to contact us by using this system when we are busy with other customers, then we obviously cannot respond to you.

Implying that rescheduling your son’s DMV Road Test was on us is misleading as you failed to disclose that you made that appointment BEFORE having all of your lesson appointments scheduled. That is simply inadequate planning on your part.

Furthermore, a review of your contact record with us clearly indicates the reasons for the delays in your son's completion of his driving lessons.

On AUG 18, 2023, you were instructed to call us on the 5th of each month to schedule lesson appointments for that lesson cycle. You promptly did so, and on SEP 5, you scheduled your 1st lesson.

You didn't contact us until NOV 21 (77 Days, or 11 Weeks, over 2 ½ Months later). All appointments had long been taken. You went on the Wait List & were told to call again on DEC 5, which you did.

On DEC 5, you contacted us and got your 2nd Lesson Appointment. We suspended the then "1-Lesson/Call" policy to help you out by giving you a 3rd Lesson Appointment as well. You were told to call back on JAN 5, 2024.

You didn't contact us until JAN 30, 2024 (56 Days, or 11 Weeks, just under 2 Months later). You were put on the Wait List. A cancellation occurred, you were called, and you got your 4th Lesson Appointment.

On FEB 5 you contacted us and got your 5th Lesson Appointment.

You didn't contact us for nearly the entire spring. You called on JUN 10 (126 Days, or 18 Weeks, just over 4 Months later). Normally you would have been put on the Wait List, but a lesson time had just opened up & you got your 6th & final Lesson Appointment for JUL 31..

On JULY 2, a slot opened for JULY 15. You were offered it to get your son finished earlier - but you declined it, citing a vacation.

Aime, the 3 times that you followed our procedure and called on the 5th of the month, you got driving lesson appointments. When you didn't, you ended up on the Wait List. Even then, twice you were fortunate enough to still get a lesson scheduled due to cancelations.

At times, we even waived our policy allowing you to post an extra lesson & offered you a time slot (turned down) that could have saved you an additional 2 weeks. In light of your review, perhaps there is truth to the old joke adage of "no good deed goes unpunished.”

Had you regularly adhered to our simple procedure and had not waited weeks and months at a time to contact us, there is little doubt that your son would have completed his required lessons much earlier in the summer than he did.

We sincerely wish your son well, and continued success along his path toward becoming a safe and defensive driver.

Mr. Lambries; we are displeased that you insulted and bullied our employees not only at our office, but now via this review. Presuming your review is not taken down for such, we will respond further.

The location of lessons issue was not the fault of our Office. More than one person was in the office when your schedule was assigned and given you.

You had no problem with your first 3 lesson appointments; two were at the AABC Office, and one was a pickup at your home. We believe your confusion likely began in early June.

As of June 1st, you had already scheduled L4 & L5 (for June 13 & July 24 respectively); both were scheduled at the AABC Office. On June 5th, you were allowed to schedule your L6 for August 8 which was to be held at Fleet Farm-WEST.

A few days later, on June 13, instead of reporting to the AABC Office for your L4, you went to Fleet Farm-WEST; (the location for your L6, which you had just scheduled days earlier). This caused you to miss your L4.

Your next lesson was July 24. It was now your make-up for your missed L4. You arrived at AABC as scheduled. Your next lesson, August 8, was now going to be your L5. It was going to be held now at Fleet Farm-WEST. You were notified of this.

Perhaps your having mistakenly gone to Fleet Farm-WEST on June 13 caused confusion, leading you to believe that the issue was related to an East Side/West Side problem, as opposed to simply going to the wrong location. Regardless, you ended up going to Fleet Farm-EAST instead of the scheduled WEST side location. Please note that we have never assigned you to any lesson at Fleet Farm-EAST.

Now to address the inaccuracy of what you claimed you were told (via phone) that day.

Please note that the author of this review reply also happens to be the Instructor who spoke with your son over the phone on August 8. The conversations (on my end) were conducted in the presence of at least 1 Instructor and several student witnesses.

When your son was contacted, he mentioned being close to the gas station. He was told to look for us on the Main Store Entrance side of that building. Subsequently, when he did not appear, I made another call and then discovered that he was at Fleet Farm-EAST.

Although it changes little, it was my error for not verifying EAST vs. WEST in the first call to him.

Your son was not told to "go to the west side Fleet Farm" for a future lesson. He was instructed to "contact the office" in order to arrange any make-up lessons for a later date. He was not told that his lesson could still take place today, and at the office. That was not an option due to the time constraints. To have done so would have negatively imposed on our other students.

Finally, the disturbance you caused.

After these events, you came to the main office and immediately began swearing at our Office Staff. They asked you to either speak civilly or leave. Instead, you proceeded to bully and insult our staff with obscene and indecent sexist references. When told to leave or the Police would be called, you continued to rant. It was only when our staffer warned you a second time about calling the Police that you finally left, slamming your hand on the wall as you did so.

At AABC, we have zero tolerance for threats, intimidation, or bullying. In the future, please communicate with us in a civil manner. Due to your previous behavior, we request that you call ahead before any future in-person visits for clarity and to avoid misunderstandings.

We do wish your son success as he completes his driver's education process. We understand that students should not be held responsible for the actions of their parents or guardians.

Do understand, however, that any further disturbances caused by you on our property will result in the involvement of the Police to handle the situation.

Good day, Ashley, We are sorry our School’s services and policies are not to your approval. While we are open to constructive comments and opinions from our customers, we must take issue with the accuracy of some of your statements. We must also point out that your failure to contact us in a timely manner on numerous occasions has greatly contributed to the length of time it is taking for your son to complete his BTW lessons.

It is inaccurate to say one can never call & get appointments. If our Office Staff are unavailable or on another call, our voicemail is available for your use. We do answer all voicemails if a correct and understandable phone number is provided. We, of course, cannot return calls to persons who do not leave a message,

BTW Instructors are in short supply. Despite having one of the largest local Instructor pools, our Instructors often have other outside jobs and commitments. Instructors list their available hours for the upcoming driving period – usually a month or so out. We ask our families to call during the first week of each month to schedule for that future upcoming period. Literally hundreds of our customers successfully follow this "1st come - 1st served" process every month.

Our records show that you called for your son’s 1st lesson in early June 2023. You were given a driving lesson appointment for August 17. This delay was due to us then realizing an imbalance between student numbers & Instructor hours. This was a logistical error on our part. We own that. We do apologize for how long it took to get your son’s first BTW lesson.

We did not hear from you for nearly 2 ½ months (either you did not call, or you did not leave messages). On August 14 you called to set up a 2nd lesson. None were available since students ahead of you had taken them during the prior week (again, literally hundreds of appointments). You were placed on the wait list for October. You were told to call at the beginning of each month for all future lessons.

3 months later you called on November 13. Since you waited past the 1st week, all available appointments had been taken by persons calling ahead of you. You were placed on the wait list for January 2024.

You called in December 2023 and January 2024, but not until the 13th and 22 respectively. Again you were given wait list status since all available appointments had been filled.

In February, for the first time in 8 months, you called us during the 1st week of the month. As a result, you got an appointment during that scheduling’s period.

On March 19 you called and complained about your son not being picked up on Sunday for a lesson. While yelling our Office Staffer, you were told that the appointment was for April, not March. You insisted we had incorrectly booked the lesson. It was explained to you how all appointments are made.

We use a hardcopy planner. Each weekday uses a left & right-side page. However, Saturday is on a single left page opposite Sunday which uses the right page. We have not booked lessons on Sundays in years. Since it would look & feel obviously awkward for a Scheduler to do so, it is unlikely for us to make that particular error.

You demanded we schedule all your remaining lessons immediately. When we declined to allow you to “jump the line” in front of other students, you threatened to post a negative on-line review. We presume this.

You called on April 24. Luckily , you were able to obtain an appointment due to some added openings with Instructors having just become available.

2 months later you called on June 26. Again, waiting until the end of the month, and having all available appointments assigned, you received a wait list spot for August.

If you should find yourself having any future constructive suggestions or issues needing proper resolution, please know that you are welcome to bring them to our attention. We do wish you & your son success as you continue with his driving education experience.

Good Day, Keegan; We are sorry that your experience with AABC was not to your liking. We strive to do our best to serve our customers to the best of our abilities, but as the adage goes, “You can’t make everyone happy.” We are sorry that you are among those we could not please.

Our records do show that you obtained the Learner’s Permit (“Temps”) on or about 11/23/2022, at which time we explained how to contact us to set up your son’s first lesson (via phone). 4 months later , Instead of following that procedure you emailed us for a lesson request on 03/24/2023. When we found your email we again explained our lesson process to you. For some time after that, things appeared to be going well.

When your son was not ready for your 08/21/23 lesson, you told us you had canceled this lesson 3 weeks earlier. Unfortunately, we have no record of that at all.

For the October Lesson possibility you apparently “forgot to call” for that scheduling.

The last conflict we noted was on 11/29/23 when you claimed that you had been given the wrong time for the lesson and that you “could not possibly have written it down wrong.”

Being human either of us, or both, could have contributed to these misunderstandings, and we apologize for any part we played in it.

While we can understand your disappointment, we cannot provide you with the documentation you requested as it would be akin to giving another school our "trade secrets." AABC takes pride in offering a unique and comprehensive behind-the-wheel teaching process that has been developed over our 50+ years of service. We believe this sets us apart from our competitors.

Even when one of our Instructors (a retired Police Officer and Crash Reconstructionist) attempted to create a professional paper on Best Practices For Drivers Ed, he found that other schools keep their teaching methods as close to their chests as are cards in a game of Texas Hold 'Em; even when they did not compete with our customer base.

When one does decide to leave one driving school for another (a practice, by the way, not encouraged by the State), the inherent price paid is often starting over with the BTW process. While moving to another school will almost always come with that request, the transfer-from school will rarely share such information. Certainly, we at AABC have never been sent such from any of our competitors.

Again, we are sorry for your displeasure with our company and policies. We do wish you better days, and your son the best as he moves forward in his journey to becoming a safe, defensive, and comfortably confident driver.

Dear "seveN."

While we appreciate feedback from legitimate customers, we are disappointed that you chose to use this forum to make an attack on our Instructor's character and skill, while concealing your identity. In the absence of a name, we must also be suspicious as to the timing of your review and the lack of being able to affirm that you were ever a student or customer of ours.

If you believe you have a valid concern about our service or our staff, we welcome you to contact our office and speak to us in a more constructive manner.

Good day, Joe. We are sorry that your experience with AABC was not to your liking. We strive to do our best to serve our customers to the best of our abilities, but as the adage goes, “You can’t please everyone.” We are sorry that you are among those we could not please. With that said, we must point out that some of your review is unfair.

Yes, our Behind The Wheel (BTW) scheduling is via the office person-to-person, or via our voicemail, which is often full by the time the office opens. As a locally owned small business, we simply do not have the resources of a national chain driving school to offer some amenities such as online scheduling. That said, we do strive to answer all voice messages left for us in a timely manner.

Additionally, we have a fair “first come-first served” policy as it comes to customers/students signing up for lesson slots. We do not show favoritism by pushing persons of status or preference ahead of others. We treat all of our students equally. Our time slots are contingent on the hours our Instructors can give us; some of whom also hold outside jobs & professions.

As for your use of the term “rude." We would put forth the notion that rude behavior is not defined as declining to change policies - that are evenly applied for the benefit of the vast majority of our students - in order to suit the convenience of one individual. While you may not have been treated with a smile or refinement when you came to the main Office, you were treated professionally and courteously. On the other hand, the term "rude" would be more closely applicable to your comment made to our staff that day: "...This is ridiculous.... I am (your profession)...I should not have to call to make these appointments." We are quite sure that if we approached your schedulers with such a statement, it would not be received with much appreciation.

Please note that part of the issues in scheduling for you began when you failed to contact us in a timely manner as we requested of you on October 30, 2023, the day that you picked up your teen's MV3001 State App Form. You were told to call us on November 6 to schedule the first lesson, but we did not hear from you until mid-December, over a month later. Therefore, you were placed on the waitlist. Unfortunately , no openings presented for you during that scheduling cycle as they were given to students who had called ahead of you.

When you did contact us, you booked a March lesson. Following this, instead of calling and/or leaving a message for the next lesson (which we can understand – the phones were extremely busy), you visited the office.

We must remind you that you signed a contract which clearly stated the terms and conditions of service. The contract was concise and easy for the average person to comprehend. Your failure to plan accordingly, or your decision to terminate the contract due to inconvenience to your schedule, does not qualify as a valid reason to breach a contract. As a professional, we would hope that you would appreciate this point of law.

Again, we are sorry for your displeasure with our company and policies. We do wish you better days, and your teen the best as they move forward in their journey to becoming a safe, defensive, and confident driver.

Hello Jessica, We apologize that your experience with AABC did not meet your expectations. Although we always aim to provide our customers with the best possible service, we understand that we cannot always meet everyone's needs. We regret that you were one of those we were unable to satisfy.

When you enrolled your daughter, it was particularly hard to find qualified Driver Ed Instructor candidates, as few people are willing to take on that role; especially at a time when few people at all were looking for jobs. Losing instructors to better positions made it tough to find qualified replacements and meet State Standards. We take responsibility for this and believe we did our best to serve our students effectively. Comments to our office from the majority of our customers at the time seem to affirm our attempts.

It is not true to say that we do not return calls on our platforms. Being a small business we do not have enough staff to answer all calls immediately as they come in. Thus we rely on our voicemail system to return many of our incoming calls.

We make an effort to respond to every message left on our voicemail. However, it is only possible for us to do so if we are provided with the correct phone number, and the messages are spoken clearly and understandably. Unfortunately, we do receive messages that are either difficult to comprehend or do not have complete or accurate phone numbers, which can be due to caller or technical issues.

We, of course, cannot respond to callers who do not leave us voicemail.

It must be pointed out that your review was unfair in that you failed to mention several times at which you created your own delays in getting lessons, and often at the last minute.

Our records show that in May you scheduled your daughter's first lesson for July 5, 2023. You needed to contact us back with her Father’s address for Pick Up on that date. You never got back to us with that information and did not reply to our calls and messages. Thus you lost that lesson slot when the day arrived…a slot that another student could have used but was denied access to.

You did not call or leave a message for us until nearly 4 months later: Sept 5, 2023, when you scheduled a lesson for Nov 6. On the day of the lesson, rather than calling and leaving us a message, you emailed us saying that your daughter was sick and could not take that lesson. While we believe that we can all agree that this cancellation was of no fault to you, and hardly contributable to us as a company, your 4-month delay in contacting us for scheduling it was an issue.

You did schedule a lesson for January 17, 2024. Again, on the day of the lesson, you canceled indicating that there was “too much going on.” Again, a student on our waiting list was denied the opportunity for a lesson slot due to you not canceling this lesson in any form of a timely manner.

When you do not call or leave messages for us for long periods, do not share crucial information with us in a timely manner, and repeatedly cancel scheduled lessons on the day that they occur (the sick day being an acceptable exception), then it is hardly fair to say that we as a company hold the full burden for the unfortunate scheduling situations we found ourselves in together.

Again, we are sorry for your displeasure with our company and policies. We do wish you better days, and your daughter the best as she moves forward in her journey to becoming a safe and defensive driver.