Athol-Orange Auto School

Negative experience: The staff here were a little rude to me. When I called to make my driving appointments, I told the guy on the phone (pretty sure it was the owner) about what other commitments I had and he said "I don't care." Everytime I was driving, I felt very intimidated by whoever the driving instructor was. Sometimes they were nice but other times they would yelled at me and I almost cried.

Negative experience: BEWARE! This driving school is as unprofessional as it gets. I’m writing this review in hopes that others will consider alternatives before just jumping right in with them. Where to start? Well let’s consider the service you’re signing up for tells you you’ll get 30 hours in the classroom/computer, 12 hours of driving and 6 observing. Every class that my child took ended early (like 30 minutes kinda early) and although the kids taking these lessons are totally fine with that and would prefer it, I on the other hand am not. I’m sure other parents wouldn’t particularly care for this as well. So not only do I feel like this is wrong, I’m left wondering if my child is getting the proper training. It’s stressful enough when a child gets their driver license as a parent, shortcuts with something as important as this is just unacceptable. Not to mention these hours are required by the state. As far as the actual driving lessons, the appointments were hardly ever (if ever) on time. They showed up whenever they wanted and dropped off in the same fashion. Never once was there a phone call stating they were running late. Eventually I realized this is just normal practice for them. Again, this is very unprofessional. Observing hours are just as important as driving IMO and that shouldn’t be left to the discretion of the school (meaning some children need it more than others) I’m sure they’d say that keeping a tight schedule is hard when dealing with young adults driving and picking up others and maybe there are unforeseen obstacles in the day that may contribute to erratic pickup and drop off times. To that I’d simply say NO, don’t overbook and rob these kids of the hours they NEED to learn how to be confident on the roads. These children are precious property and the parents are trusting you to do your jobs, not squeeze driving time and observing hours from them. If I knew then what I know now, I would NEVER use this driving school. If you are considering them for your child, I would steer clear and seek alternatives. At the end of the day, a service is a service and that is what is expected when people sign up. BE BETTER

Negative experience: Showing children the Wrong Way of the road!

Fantastic experience: Took a few private driving lessons with Bert and thanks to him I was able to feel more comfortable driving. He taught me how to parallel park which that was my main concern other than being so nervous behind the wheel. Thanks to him I was able to face my fear and just go get my license and thankfully I passed.

Negative experience: I would caution any nervous drivers against taking lessons with Bert. I requested a private lesson as a completely new driver and warned beforehand that I was very anxious behind the wheel. Although I do think he tried his best, Bert's teaching style was much too harsh for me and it triggered a major anxiety attack behind the wheel. My anxiety isn't his fault by any means, and he did end the lesson with a few words of encouragement, but it was overall a traumatic experience and left me feeling very hopeless. I since heard from two coworkers about similar experiences with Bert and figured I should write a review to warn any future anxious students. However, if you don't mind a harsher teacher I can say that his communication was very professional and he made it a point to prioritize me during the lesson. He was also able to fit me into his schedule very quickly and his prices were quite low! He would probably make a good teacher for a resilient student, but if you need a patient and gentle teaching style Bert isn't your guy.

Fantastic experience: It is very nice person and very nice work!