A1 Driving School, Inc.

Fantastic experience: My four children did their behind the wheel training with A1 and the instructors were always so wonderful. Many small businesses had to close their doors during the pandemic. Covid took down many small businesses. Small business families tried so hard to keep their businesses a float and just couldn't survive and are now repaying loans taken to stay open for their employees and customers. It's so sad! I get it you want your money back but I hope that people have understanding for all small business owners. File a claim with the DMV or your credit card company to get reimbursed. There are many small business still trying to survive. Remember to be kind and understanding always because you never know what a business owner is doing to survive and when they can't it's devastating for them. Not easy and not without many tears.

Negative experience: Bought a three lesson package. Got the first lesson, the second was rescheduled and then cancelled due to "instructors having covid exposure". We were told we would get a call to set up a new time for the second lesson. Call never came, we followed up with calls and emails, and even went to the business location in person. They seemed fully closed. What happened??! I guess now we need to follow up with the Better Business Bureau for some kind of compensation. This business is state accredited and we used them because of the CA state requirement for driving instruction so I really hope we and everyone else will be reimbursed for our money lost to this business.

Negative experience: Very poor customer service. They do not answer their phone nor respond to email messages. We are trying to schedule an appointment for the service we paid for. Take your business elsewhere.

Negative experience: Horrible. Signed up daughter for lessons, Had first in December and can't get ahold of company to do the others. Phone can't leave a message voice mail full, sent two emails no reply. Finally drove today to their address on 22nd St. Gone, vacant , nothing.

Negative experience: We are incredibly disappointed with this company. We paid almost $500 for our teenage son to have three behind the wheel driving lessons in preparation to take his DMV driving test. The first behind the wheel lesson was great. For the second lesson, the driver didn't even show up and the business wouldn't answer the phone when we tried numerous times to contact them. We finally got in touch with them the next day and re-scheduled for later that week. On the new scheduled date, the instructor was 20 minutes later than was scheduled. We had the last lesson scheduled and once again, the driver didn't show up. Now we can't get in touch with the company and when we drove by their address to try to talk with them directly, it seems to be out of business. So not only are we out the money for the last lesson, but we have to pay entirely different company for three more lessons and start the entire process over again because the DMV requires that all classes are with the same driving school. To say I'm raging mad is an understatement. Shame on this awful company. I will be filing a police report as well as a report with the BBB.

Negative experience: Took our money, provided 1 lesson and then closed. Did not return calls. Owner should be held a coin and see his day in court.

Negative experience: This company appears to be out of business and several customers are out several hundred dollars. No one has answered, mailbox is full, my original contact email from Natalie came back undeliverable and no response yet from the business email. I updated Yelp with my experience because they did have a high rating. Google has the most recent reviews and info.

Negative experience: I was trying to get a refund since Jan 2022. I called the 1st week and the lady said Management was out with COVID and she’ll send my request for an Approval. I called back the last week of January and the gentleman said he’s the only one working Management is out with COVID. I called next week and the mailbox was full and then sent the business an email -no response. I finally went down there last Thursday 2/17/22 and the building had no signs and the blinds were closed. As I was peaking in the maintenance man came and said , your the 4th person today looking for them their not there they left. Your going to have to file a claim with your bank to get a refund!”

Negative experience: I think this company has either moved or closed its location. I have been trying to call them for 2 weeks now, they took the full amount and missed one lesson and test date as well. Their voice mail is full and I even went to their address which was closed with no business signs indicating its their office. Understandable its hard times but a courtesy call should have been made to their clients. Update A1 went out of business starting Feb, but these thieves collected money till the end without providing services.

Negative experience: They closed the business and did not refund my unused lessons.

Negative experience: Either business is really good or just bad. No one answers the phones or returns calls. After weeks of trying to get in touch with someone, I guess you don't need my business.

Fantastic experience: John was my instructor and I just want to give him a HUGE HUGE THANK YOU!!! I remember my last driving lesson he was showing me the routes and he said I have a feeling that you will pass and he was RIGHT! The moment the lady told me at the DMV said I cried and thought of you John! John if you read this I want to thank you for everything !!! You were so very patient with me and taught me everything I needed to know!!!! if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have passed my test YOU ARE THE BEST! I’m looking forward to this new journey, new Job opportunities and taking my daughters where ever they want :) if you need some lessons I say John is your go to man.

Negative experience: My grievance with this company is not intended to bully anyone but to hold the owner accountable for her inability to problem solve, disrespectful tone, and unprofessional behavior while addressing my complaints. Last night my daughter was contacted by A1 Driving School to reschedule her upcoming appointment to an early time. This morning I contacted A1 Driving School and spoke with Natalie the to share with them that my daughter was not available at the rescheduled time. Apparently my request to hold them accountable was enough to make Natalie cry which lead to the owner Lorraine to contact me. Again I expressed that my daughter was available at the designated in which we booked the appointment or she would be available any day before Sunday. Lorraine explained that Due to the shortage of staff she could not accommodate keeping the original appointment or any day leading up to Sunday. When I requested that they make a provision including providing me a refund for the inconvenience, Lorraine became irritate accusing me of making her staff cry and she accused me of bullying her (Lorraine) because I expected them to rectify the problem to my satisfaction; not hers. I indicated that my intentions was to file a complaint and she at that point became increasingly aggressive stating that she would refuse service and refund 1/2 the money in which we paid. In the past I’ve sent 4 of my kids to this business and many referrals. While I never write negative reviews, I will be intentional on sharing this unpleasant and unprofessional experience. Very disappointed! A1 Driving School, Inc. Family & Friends don’t bother wasting your time to patronize any business; including Black or Ethnic own if they are disrespectful and take an unpleasant tone. Lorraine was extremely unprofessional.

Fantastic experience: My instructor Chris was so amazing! Hes very helpful and outgoing makes it easy to learn from. He has such a great attitude really goes above and beyond to teach driving you can tell he genuinely wants people to pass their test and is not just some teacher robot. I think his boss Natalie should consider him for a raise or a bonus. If thats not possible maybe lunch (sushi).

Negative experience: Called Lady picked up phone said we are closed and she will refer me back to dmv before I could say anything is 4:23 Yelp says they close at 5 why would she ever pick up the phone would not recommend

Fantastic experience: A1 is excellent. I was nervous to begin with because I have major fear of the road but was very happy eventually with the results. I was taught to drive by Mr John who was the best teacher I could have had. He was exceptionally skilled, patient and really helped me get over my fears. Very dedicated teacher and helped me pass my test in the first go. I would highly recommend A1 and definitely recommend Mr John.

Positive experience: They are ok - acceptable. We got 3 lessons plus the drive test. Drivers are prompt, and 2 of the 3 instructors that my son had were personable. They did teach him to drive decently but there were still a ton of things I had to teach him (that’s why CA requires the practice outside of lessons!). I thought they could’ve done a better job preparing him for the actual test. My suggestion for them was to provide kids with a worksheet on “automatic fails”.

Negative experience: Genuinely sucks.

Fantastic experience: We have chosen the DMV package. Hooray!! My son has passed!!! All the A1 instructors were great, but my son said "I really like Andrew; he prepared me well for the test." I hate DMV in general, so extra $$$ was nothing. In fact, if my son failed this time, I was ready to purchase another DMV plan. Well, after all my son had passed, but DMV required another proof of residency before issue his actual driver's license. I was shocked! Seems like the instructor was surprised, too! So, it wasn't A1's fault; after all it's DMV. Even if DMV has had all documents for the "permit" (which they should have), if/when they ask another document, I say "okay, I'll be there with everything before 5pm." If they say "look right," I do. ...jump? S why not. ...push-ups? How many? For DMV's defence, it's probably all about "Real ID." The process and system may not be in place solid yet... Here is my suggestion for any teen-parents: start collecting documents such as bank statement/government document with teen's name and address. All the documents I could think of (house deed, utility bills, teen's passport, birth certificate, car registration, insurances, bank statement, credit card statement etc etc,) were in my hands at both "permit" time and this time. What they really wanted was an "official paper with teen's name and physical address." ...just say so, instead of me carrying a whole binder. Good luck to everyone!

Negative experience: Paid almost $500 for three lessons and to use their car on the dmv test. I was told I was doing everything right yet I Failed my drivers test automatically. I only had one professional instructor who was a bit thorough the rest of the instructors that they gave me were very unprofessional and very sociable about things that were off topic to driving. A week after I’ve failed my drivers test I used bills driving school which was cheaper and learned important things that Ive haven’t even learned with a1 driving school and I passed my driving test with only 3 errors.

Positive experience: My girlfriend just got out of the car

Fantastic experience: They were excellent driving instructors.

Positive experience: Affordable and good for first time drivers.

Fantastic experience: I love this school and all the people working are traffic. I love all of them. I am taking about 10 classes with them. And I am learning a lot from all the teachers. It is fantastic time with them.

Fantastic experience: AMAZING

Positive experience: It was fun and informative, all of the instructors were really nice.