Sunday 4 March 2007

The Instructor College Con?

This keeps coming back!!!

Are their adverts intentionally misleading? Possibly.
Are their adverts lies? No.
Is it possible to earn £30k as soon as you qualify? No, but they don't say you can.
Is it possible to earn £30k as a driving instructor? Yes.
Is it possible to earn £30k and work flexibly? Yes, as long as the flexibility you're thinking about is yours towards your customers, not the other way around.


Do The Instructor College TV ads give the wrong impression to people? Yes.

On the forums there are hundreds of accounts of people who feel that they have been misled by these adverts and promises. However, there are other driving instructor training courses who do similar things. Guaranteed placements or franchises sound like guaranteed 'Jobs', but they aren't. There are other careers entirely which seem to offer huge rewards - take sales - we've all seen the adverts that specify 'On Target Earnings of.....', and we take those with a large dose of salt. Why are people so taken in by these adverts tho?

Possibly because it all seems so plausible. People look at how much driving instructors charge (£22/hour say), and then simply multiply that by 40 hours. Unfortunately this simplistic view of things can easily over-ride the reality.

So should we be taken in? No. Should we sue them? No. Are they doing something underhand and sneaky? Possibly. Should we have sympathy for people who are taken in? Probably. Should everything we see and hear on TV adverts be taken as gospel truth? Only if you are really stupid. Sorry guys.

Do the research. Go to the Driving Instructor Forums. Read as much as you can about REAL driving instructor stories. Don't hand over a penny until you know what you are getting. And try to pay as you go. That way you can walk away.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a small minded attack on the instructor college by someone who wants to discredit them. Do you work for the competition?
Pathetic.

The Undercover ADI said...

I do not 'work for' the competition, coz I'm indy. I 'work for' my customers (unlike some I could mention, who 'work for' their share holders).
I'm not tryin to discredit them, just makin people aware of the flaws in their advertising! Is this pathetic? Or is advertising with unrealistic promises pathetic?
I'll leave that up to you guys.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunatly i was taken in by the adverts and made a call to the Instructor College. I was told many things that where very positive and my main concern was that i didnt want to give up my current job to take the training but i was reasured that it will all be done around my current situation. Once i handed the money over the situation changed. I was encouraged to take holiday or call in sick so that i could make the training dates, if i didnt i would have to wait atleast a month at a time to get a training date, it seemed i was the odd one out when it come to not taking the pink licence and was treated like i was wasting my time there without it. There was just too many things they had promised before the money was handed over that just didnt happen and i am suprised that these poeple havent been caught out yet as almost everyone i was training with had just as many complaints as i have. Ive contacted them about having half my money back as i only had half of the service that was promised but i havent heard from them since. I would advise anyone considering taking up this training to do a lot of research before handing money. Also pay as you go is much better idea as you would not be commited to a bad college.

Anonymous said...

Having worked as a trainer for the Instructor Collage the trainers on the whole will give you a 100% but it works both ways you must also give 100% There is no easy way. Before I'm asked no I no longer work for the collage but for myself as I found that the "train around your job" left out the important part "If we can fit you in during our 9 to 5 day excluding Sundays and every other Saturday and Monday.

The Undercover ADI said...

Thanks for the sensible comments guys. As you say - the trainers themselves will give as much as they can, but are often not as experienced or well trained as you may be led to believe.

They may also not be given a chance to help you as much as you would like.

As I mentioned before - do the research before handing over your cash. Ask the right questions, and insist on meeting your trainer - not just a salesperson.

Anonymous said...

What an interesting site, I will watch with interest and air my views from the fast lane !