Fake Reviews and False Claims

Unfortunately, you can’t always believe what you read and what you hear and that certainly applies to driving instructor training, especially where the large National training companies are concerned. Most make false claims and some have even been known to create their own testimonials, simply to lure you in!

All ProScot’s reviews and testimonials are real, we only use Facebook and Google plus our own website where the original reviews are kept in our testimonial folder for all to see. We have absolutely no control over our Google or Facebook reviews, we can only respond to them. We cannot remove them or amend them like “verified reviews”.

We considered using verified sites such as Feefo and others. All the large national training companies use paid for reviews which are placed on “Verified sites”. People trust them, but should you? We were very surprised to see how many of the National companies had 4.9/5 we know how difficult it is to maintain such a high rating.

The reviews were also written to promote key areas of the business, each acting like a specific sales paragraph. We know from experience that real testimonials are not written like that. We discovered that “verified testimonials” really means the company controls what does and does not appear on the review site. They can even write and upload their own testimonials in house. I shall now prove this…

Here is an extract from the Times by Marc Shoffman
Saturday December 23 2017, 12.01am, The Times

“Websites such as Trip Advisor, Trustpilot and Feefo, which allow customers to write about their experience of a product or service, have become trusted sources of feedback for businesses and consumers making decisions on spending. Yet paid-for reviews are jeopardising the authority of these sites and leaving the system open to abuse.

This year Oobah Butler, a journalist, set up a fake restaurant in his garden shed to see if he could trick Trip Advisor into thinking it was real. Fake reviews posted by his friends and family led it to become the top-ranked restaurant in London”.

You Cannot Trust Verified Reviews!

Well, there you go, so you can’t even trust “verified reviews”.

The main complaint from many PDI’s who take out a trainee licence with many of the large national schools is that they are no more than a very expensive car hire company. RED PDI’s for example are expected to cover very large geographical areas. Work unsociable hours and deliver reduced lesson prices and deals offered at the time by RED.

At the time of writing this (2022) RED are currently offer 6 driving lessons for the price of 4 and driving lessons from just £19 per hour on the Learner section of their website!

Yet on their PDI driving instructor training section they claim instructors can earn up to £40 an hour and over £50k a year! You can’t have cheap lesson prices, deals and offers yet still have high earnings. The two are not mutually inclusive. RED are also known to put far too many PDI’s into an area and do not restrict their number. This simply means lesson prices are driven down due to a lack of work as they compete with other RED instructors and other driving schools in the area. Many struggle to pay the franchise and car hire fee never mind make any money.

Many take out loans in the hope that the business will pick up. The franchise doesn’t care though, they are just looking to get as many franchise payments in as possible even if that is at the expense of their own instructors’ livelihoods. However, RED is not the only national school doing this, it’s rife amongst the driving instructor training industry.

We know that many of RED PDI’s are very unhappy for example, yet Feefo suggested they had 4.9/5! Now you know how these high ratings are achieved.

A quick check on Indeed shows up a completely different picture, you might want to check this out to see what we mean. You can make your own mind!  

Useful links

https://uk.indeed.com/cmp/red-driving-school/

Therefore, you should never believe all the sales hype, ProScot are the only ORDIT Training school that open our doors to you and encourage you to speak directly to our PDI’s ADI’s and the rest of our team before you even consider training with us. See if the National schools are willing to do that.

Read what Phil Hirst a well-respected ORDIT Trainer in Harrogate has to say about the large National Driving Instructor Schools.

https://www.philhirst.co.uk/blog/the-hidden-costs-of-cheap-driving-instructor-training/

Please be aware of fake “verified” reviews and false claims. Don’t be suckered in!

Who do I need to contact ?

ProScot will be only too happy to discuss you becoming a Driving Instructor with us. For further information, please contact our office or call us on 0800 093 7897.