Safeway Driving School

Negative experience: What a joke the school & staff are. Yesterday I went to pick up a book for my son and literally no one greeted me when walking in the door. The lady just looked at me and continued to do what she was doing. I stood there for 5 minutes before someone from back stood up to do something else and seen me standing there. Then, the system allowed him to schedule a permit test without the lessons being completed. However he completed the lessons. The system is showing the lessons not complete. Then, when I asked for a refund of the $10 permit fee I was told that its not refundable. While I understand if we miss the appointment or cancel its not refundable but therapy that he's not even eligible to take thetest and they won't refund is ridiculous! Especially for $490 for the course! Customer service sucks at this place!!!

Negative experience: In 2013 I paid for drivers ed for a foster kid that ended up running away from home Out of site out of mind Fast forward they will not let me get a refund or let my daughter take the behind the wheel only course even with me already paying them that plus for my daughters online course through them Seriously unhappy with this place and you can’t practice driving with your blue card because they don’t send it to you after you complete the class you can only get it once you pay them the difference which than you’d lose your entire discount and have to pay 360 extra Your online class isn’t for anything but a certificate not the blue card I didn’t even want full services or a refund I just needed the six hours of behind the wheel after the 480 total I’ve paid you guys since 2013 how much cheaper can you get especially being someone with zero income needing to live with assistance a parent trying everything to get her daughter independent and on the road

Negative experience: SAFEWAY DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR KID! I thought going to Safeway was going to be a great idea and my daughter would have the same positive experience I had with Safeway when I was learning to drive. But our experience has been a nightmare. During the classes, the instructor was rude, kicked one kid out for opening a bag of chips during class, and kicked my daughter out for picking her pencil up off the floor. They said the rules were they were supposed to act like they were driving, and those two actions would’ve caused them to crash. So they were kicked out of class. SAFEWAY DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR KID. Fast forward to after the classes. It was time to schedule behind the wheel lessons. Do not waste your time trying to go online and schedule them yourself. The paperwork miss leads you to believe you can schedule the lessons online, when, in reality, you’ll only be successful if you call the facility. SAFEWAY DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR KID! for months and months we were checking online waiting for lessons to open. After months of frustration, I finally called. We scheduled the behind the wheel lessons. But they make you wait 30 days between each lesson. Lo and behold they had to charge me another $50 because we had waited so long. WE HAD BEEN ONLINE LOOKING THIS WHOLE TIME! And if they would have let me schedule the lessons closer, I wouldn’t have gone over the time limit and had to be charged another $50. but Safeway doesn’t care. SAFEWAY DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR KID

Negative experience: The world is cruel enough as it is and we don’t need adult bullies working with our teenagers. Shaun is a bully and the most hostile, arrogant and unprofessional human being EVER! He made fun of the size of a 17 year old girl, threatened to cancel and charge a $75 fee and repeatedly asked for “the truth” about Covid status’ within the family. He did not stop bullying her until he made her cry. During the behind the wheel appointment, Shaun was on his phone texting and even fell asleep leaving the beginner driver to navigate through St. Paul during prime traffic time alone. There are previous negative reviews regarding Shaun for similar complaints. Safeway does not care about your safety. DO NOT use them. I’ve called and filed a formal complaint and have not received a call back.

Negative experience: If I could rate this a zero I would! My niece was berated by the instructor Shaun! She came home crying and told us that the whole time he was mean to her, even made fun of her height (mind you she’s 4’11)! Said she was vertically challenged, too short and she can’t reach the pedal or see over the steering wheel. He had asked her 2 times if she or anyone in the family had symptoms of Covid and then proceeded to ask her a 3rd time for “the truth” about any family members having Covid. He also berated her for not recording her driving hours and threatened to cancel their appointment and make her pay the $75 cancellation fee. On top of that, he texted the entire time and even fell asleep during the appointment and blaming it on “food coma”. These are kids that he is teaching! This is not right! Safeway you guys have to do better at teaching the future generations. This is not how it is done! Please don’t go here! I’m sure my niece is not the only one who got bullied!

Fantastic experience: So far so good . My teen completed the distance learning classes and I was able to easedrop enough to feel comfortable with the lesson content. The instructor had east coast vibes, which was cool with me. My teen just passed the written test on the first try and we have been out practicing and logging hours. Now, the first behind the wheel lesson is tonight, scheduling was easy and there is always someone helpful when I have to call in with questions or whatever. I have had no problems at all whatsoever and this is all going very smoothly for my 16 y.o.

Fantastic experience: Mind you, my kid is not quite finished with his initial classes, but they are quite accommodating at this school and my kid stays engaged for the most part (15yr olds…am I right?). Had an issue with access due to travel time from school and the classroom manager answered the phone as soon as I called and got everything situated for my kid. Emily impressed me with her professionalism and quick solution to my issue. Highly recommend just based on the customer service received…it’s a lost art and Emily is a Van Gogh!

Negative experience: Instructor Shaun was so verbally abusive to my son that they never left the parking lot for his first behind the wheel. I wondered when I dropped him off at the pick up site and saw the Safeway car in the parking lot. I went over to the Safeway car and told Shaun where my son was. He quite rudely told me to get him to come to the car rather than Shaun pick him up at the designated pick up spot. I thought, ok rude, and hollered for my son. Little did I know what would happen when I drove away. He berated him about his hours practicing, how he's just lazy for not getting more in, he's probably going to kill someone or himself, etc. When he had finished, he told my son that he didn't feel comfortable riding with him seeing he was obviously upset. My son got out of the Safeway car as Shaun threatened that he would now be billed $75 cancellation fee for wasting his time. We also had concerns about the classroom portion of the Driver's Ed course similar to other reviews... Graphic images, inappropriate and insensitive references to death and suicide. I have called and left multiple messages for the owner to call me back and have had no response. I really wish North St. Paul School District supported a reputable business rather than this disaster.

Negative experience: The single most boring, horrible, mind numbing class I have ever taken. I would rather work a 12 hour shift than sit through this class trying to intimidate me into not using my phone. They show us videos of actual people dying multiple times. I, along with others, was on the verge of tears through many of the videos. The instructors did not give the option to leave the room merely stating that the are gory before each video. I heard from another kid that after watching those videos their instructor asked them how everyone would feel if they were the ones who sent the text that got their loved one killed. We just sit there, watch videos that makes me cry, and then listen to the instructors mumble about what is on the slide show for three hours!! Sitting for that long in the same spot with only a 10 minute break is atrocious. There is barely any interaction, we aren’t even supposed to take notes. Horrible, terrible, do NOT go here unless you want to spend 3 hours after a school day listening to someone mumble about distractions on the road.

Negative experience: I was a student, I'm leaving myself anonymous but I wanted to warn parents. In class, we watched videos regarding death very frequently. Not the statistics only or not once each lesson, multiple a lesson about real death and real people. Mostly re-enactments and PSA's from actual crash victims, which made sense. But at a point we watched a real video of a real person crashing and dying on screen. We were asked what they did wrong while the last frame of a lifeless person remained on the screen. I understand the point of showing the severity of controlling a vehicle. However, I, for one, did NOT need the image of someone dead in my mind to promote responsibility. Explanations and work time are shallow a lot of the time, much of my memory is on the consequences of crashes rather than the rules of the road. I did not feel prepared for any test. Some information given was even false (we were told carbon monoxide is not flammable) Please do not go through Safeway for driving education.

Negative experience: Straight up horrible customer service I got this very rude lady to schedule my behind the wheel and she didn’t even schedule it for me she hanged up on me while I was trying pick a date for my lesson very horrible….

Negative experience: Seemed like a safe way to drive my bicycle. I don't drive so must of cut thru lot

Fantastic experience: Good customer service and great staff and most of all driving instructors that really care about their students.

Negative experience: Horrible experience and only used them because they give a discount through the school district. First off - my child attended the classes online for the instructional part of the program, allowing me to overhear some of the conversations. One of the instructors used the time to talk about her personal problems, such as issues with drinking, friendship conflicts, etc. It was so bad and unprofessional that I asked them to transfer my child to another district's online classes with different instructors. Thankfully that was better. Next - the behind-the-wheel portion. My child had one of their instructors two of the three sessions. Both times, he had my child stop at the gas station so he could get some milk, taking away from their instruction time. He also had his daughter in the car during one of their sessions and spent a good chunk of the time scrolling Instagram and talking with his daughter about posts on there, instead of instructing my child as we had paid them to do. My child's friend had the same instructor for a behind the wheel session, and he also had this student stop for milk (can't he plan ahead?!?) and spent part of this student's session SLEEPING!!! while this student was driving. They are NOT safe, NOT professional, and a waste of money. If our district had more than one driving school affiliation, I would have definitely gone with a different driving school. I even considered using a different driving school for the behind-the-wheel portion but it was unfortunately quite a bit more expensive, so not an option for us. Avoid using them if you want any value for your financial investment.

Negative experience: We have paid for drivers ed with them and now (and we were not informed when we signed up!) inorder to complete behing the wheel we will have to drive more than half an hour each way?? Are you kidding me And you can't do BTW with another company without doing classroom with them so we are stuck.

Negative experience: Safeway Driving is not professional at all. We had been cancelled 3 times in a roll in the very last minute. They cancel us and text us that due to schedule conflict. I will never use them again for my other children. It took more than 1 and half a year to completed. Poor customer services

Fantastic experience: The best driving school in the Twin Cities. Very committed to training young drivers to be the best drivers they can be.

Negative experience: They make the parents do 50 hours kf practice driving with the kid before they are allowed to take behind the wheel. That's the driving schools job.

Fantastic experience: People are amazing!!!

Fantastic experience: We have had two kids go through Safeway driving school in the Minnetonka area and have been pleased with the service. Our second was half-way through the program when we found out we were moving out of state. Safeway was able to speed track him through his behind-the-wheel lessons before we moved. After we moved, they provided a letter of completion that helped get his driver's education accepted with our new state. No additional classroom and behind-the-wheel lessons required! Yay!

Negative experience: Don't know much about the company, but when I came home today, they were parked in front of my driveway. Normally not a big deal, but I had to sit and wait while they switched drivers so I could make my left into my own home. It was probably 3 or 4 minutes. My thought is, why would the instructor have them park there? What else are they telling them that causes issues?

Fantastic experience: Love this company. Great staff, everyone is friendly and timely. Instructors are well prepared and provide students with a wealth of skills necessary for their test and for life as a driver.

Negative experience: I bearly got my question out and the lady who ansrwed the phones was ready to get me off the line even though i had follow up questions and seamed not very helpful. Not satisfied with the service.

Negative experience: 4/28/18 about 4:15 PM. Just encountered one of your drivers with a student at Kellogg and Jackson. Driver had a red light and I had the right of way in the crosswalk. Instructor allowed the driver to make a turn on red without stopping and with total disregard to me being in the crosswalk. Despite signaling for the driver to stop, she and the instructor made no attempt to stop whatsoever. They made a return pass a few minutes later at 5th and Jackson. When I pointed out to the instructor I was in the crosswalk and had right of way, his response - rather than apologize was “call me at the office”. I don’t blame the student driver - she’s a student. But, the instructor has no business teaching.

Fantastic experience: Great great people! I will definitely be sending my kids here and will recommend it to anyone who’s planning to get their license. Great instructors and overall just a good experience. Thank you :)

Negative experience: I would not recommend going here. The lady that answered my phone call was very rude. I was confused on how to schedule a class and she seemed like she didn’t even want to help from the start. She even whispered “oh my god” under her breath when I asked a simple follow up question.