Highway Hero Driving Academy

Wow! Your words are incredibly appreciated! I wouldn't dare take the credit for changing your life because it was YOU who signed up, came to class, and completed your driving! Your driving sessions were even canceled twice due to the weather, but you were patient with us and we appreciate that. We dont control the weather and even as little as 3 days of bad weather can disrupt weeks of planning.

It is true that I could tell that you were shy about driving. However, after those first 2 days of driving class, it was apparent that you were going to do whatever it took to succeed. It is not common that a student makes FLASH CARDS for the 8 hours of driving, but you went above and beyond to excel.

Honestly, 8 hours is just barely enough time to make a person an expert in ANYTHING. In 8 hours, which is the equivalent of ONE SHIFT AT A JOB, you are expected to become an expert in a driving. It's a tall order for driving instructors AND students to achieve, but we absolutely knock it out the park most of the time. Some times students need more than 8 hours of practice or during the official test, freeze up or make mistakes they have NEVER exhibited before and that shocks BOTH of us!

About the secretary - good point. I've hired 2 people to take my calls and as you mentioned, I lost business because of it. It doesn't feel good to pay someone $20, an hour for nothing!

You're right - according to analytics, I get approximately 700 calls a month and 20% of this calls turn directly into new business. Not to mention the correspondence via email, text, voicemail, and on the website. It's a lot to manage, especially when it snows and then after the snow there's severe flooding or clients move states, have disconnected phones, re-schedule, need to meet to turn in documents, need to change class dates, need to make payments via payment plan, and need to confirm information they may have forgotten, etc. The alternative to responding to people would be to ignore them like the school your son attended does. But, I won't bore you with the details, but thanks for considering what it means to be an entrepreneur.

Thanks for mentioning that you enjoy the 6-hour adult class. The format for adult driver's ed in Louisiana is as follows: "1 1/2 hours (25 percent) of the course may consist of audiovisual instruction. A minimum of 4 1/2
hours (75 percent) shall consist of formalized instruction which may be a combination of lecture, computer format plus classroom discussion. The audiovisuals may include such
aids as films, slides or videos specifically designed to supplement the formalized instruction."

I'm glad you enjoyed all of the driving environments you and I drove on. Some times, things can get scary because of OTHER drivers on the road. For example, one day, we had an 18 wheeler charge at us and my student was doing NOTHING wrong. It's a dangerous service that we are providing, but since teaching is my passion, it's always been a joy to give a person the tools they need to be self-sufficient.

Having a driver's license opens a lot of doors and we are glad to have played a huge part in so many people getting good jobs and being able to take yourself to and from work and anywhere else that you need to go.

Highway Hero would LOVE a bigger building! I can't say I disagree. Yes, buildings are expensive. There are a lot of things that driving schools pay for behind the scenes like insurance, car notes, business insurance, staff, gas, gas, gas, (did I mention gas?), websites, advertising, deductibles, continuing education, phones, internet, office rent or mortgages, health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, postage, emails, legal representation, emergency savings, retirement, and much more. Ultimately, like all businesses, there are ebbs and flows.

Since you took the time to write such a thorough review, I wanted to do the same. Thanks for attending Highway Hero.

We are sorry that the OMV didn't know your child's name. We were there when it was happening and Highway Hero does not control the OMV. Also, we dont have class on Wednesdays, which is the day you came. We also do not publicize our staff's non-teaching schedule, so we are not sure what you mean by that, but thanks for the feedback. Best of luck.

**Latest Update 2/27: Our OMV representative arranged for HHDA staff to meet Shania to give her the Certificate of Completion at the sheriff substation so they could witness her receiving her paperwork. Our staff arrived to the substation at 9:26am for the 9:30am-9:45am meeting that was arranged on February 15th (12 days prior). The 2 front desk secretaries, 3 deputies, and our staff were all waiting on Shania to appear. She did not.
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Hello:

Once it was determined that you would not be completing the driving portion with us, you were swiftly refunded for the driving portion of class. We would never deny service AND keep the funds for it.

We apologize that you did not enjoy your experience with us. We get dozens of bookings on the driving app daily. We apologize that we were not able to give you the weekend and late evening driving sessions that you wanted during our peak holiday season.

For example, if a person checks the super market app for grapes today, they may have them today. However, if in a week when you are ready to buy them, they may no longer have them.

Since you weren't even our customer when you called to inquire, there was no reason to even CONSIDER reserving sessions for you since there was no financial commitment between us. You never said, even as a PROSPECTIVE customer, that if you couldn't get the specific sessions you wanted that you wouldn't be interested in proceeding. If you HAD said that, we would have denied you service from the beginning because we don't reserve times for every random inquirer. That's impossible. We also make it clear to everyone that driving is on a first-come, first-book basis and that you have three months to get it done with some extension exceptions that we could have explored for you.

Thus, we are sorry that you were not interested in any of the 51 available sessions that we had available over the next 90 days and that you had to have the specific ones that you wanted.

We will not speak on the events that have lead to you and your family being banned from the school publicly, but we believe the decision to ban you all was fair and we stand by it.

Although we are incapable of meeting in person, it is NEVER our intention to keep someone from getting their license. Thus, your certificate has been sent out in the mail on two different occasions. However, we received your email that you still haven't gotten it. We will reach out to our OMV representative about how to further proceed since you are banned from coming back here to get it.

The test that students have to take at the end of class is a state standardized test. While you are over exaggerating about EVERYONE failing the test on the first try, it is true that you did; but fortunately, the OMV allows 2 tests per day. You did pass it on the second try and we love that for you! There are a lot of slides to read and a lot of information to process and some times, people don't do well on tests. That doesn't mean that you or anyone else is incapable of being a great driver; it also doesn't mean that our curriculum is defective. Some times, these things just happen.

While staff doesn't take any voice calls in the middle of class, you are right that staff does fiddle with devices while running the class since that's how we read the slides and communicate with other staff and students.

Dominique doesn't have trouble with keeping up with who is reading; actually when she says "who is reading next", it is to make students with reading disabilities feel more comfortable with reading the shorter slides while the stronger readers read the longer slides. It's a teaching technique that encourages inclusion. Usually, a stronger reader will say "I'll go" when its a long slide. They are more confident. A shy reader will read a short slide out of obligation; it's innate to do what you CAN when give the opportunity to. As was the case in your class, you all changed up the order of readers on your own based on ability.