Riding school grievance, is it me?

SimonJ · Derestricted Danger Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Karma :

Ok, i'm very pi$$ed off with my riding school, they do not seem to be delivering the service as promised.

1) The biked are in a very shoddy condition, eg, difficult/near impossible to select gears, or neutral (excuse by them, well what do you expect when learners have been stamping on the gearchange for 40000 miles)
Very poor brakes (excuse, well at least you wont fail for locking up on your emergency stop)
On every lesson I have had so far, there has always been something wrong with at least 1 of the bikes.

2) The helmets/gloves provided are filthy, old and genarally dropping apart

3) The radios barely work, you can only hear the the instructor when you are less than 6 feet away.

4) 4 pupils per instructor, is this too many?

I find that when I am out on a lesson, I am only spending about 1/2 hr per full day lesson actually riding in front of an instructor, If I am making any mistakes, I cant hear him telling me as the radio doesnt work, and the rest of the time I am riding behind him, where he cant spot and correct my mistakes anyway.

5) Promised test date not materialized. When I signed up for the lessons, I was told I could get a test date in a few days, and I would be given the date on my first lesson. I am still waiting, 2 weeks later and I am told that he thinks (not certain) that he will be able to get me a test next week. If I had booked my own test directly, I would have had it by now.

Given all the above, I am ready to tell them where to stuff their lessons, and go to a different school.
I am going ask for a full refund, I have had some lessons, but If I go elswhere, I am going to need a full course of lessons again, I don't think I will be able to start in the middle.

Am I being unreasnoble, or do I have a valid grievance here?
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Is this where the sig goes then?

WILDECELT · Scooby Slapper Joined: 12 Jun 2004 Karma :

Who are you training with?

SimonJ · Derestricted Danger Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Karma :

mr jamez · World Chat Champion Joined: 04 Aug 2003 Karma :

Have you already paid them? I would get a refund (if it is possible) and go somewhere else, no point in continuing if you are learning nothing and are unsatisfied with the serivce Smile

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

Frost · World Chat Champion Joined: 26 May 2004 Karma :

I would tell them to go fuck themselves.
My local training place wants to charge £125 per day for me to use my own bike, fuel and equipment. so basically thats £125 per day, per pupil in the back pocket of the instructor, who is employed by a kawasaki dealer so he spends all day trying to sell you a 636 on finance Evil or Very Mad

Ive got my own kit, bike and expirence, ive booked the test of my own back and can practise all i like. sure i probably wont pass first time. but it costs me £48 per try, rather than 3 days training at £375 followed by £80 to do the test with them.

Most training schools are a bag of shit, sometimes you just have to put up with it Confused

iCraig · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Karma :

Some are quite good to be honest I paid £500 for 7 days training including 2 tests.

As for the topic of this thread I would expect some of my money back if that happened to me, as it sounds like the bikes are unroadworthy.

Complain!

billy whizz · Scooby Slapper Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Karma :

Ok as i said before I am a CBT instructor authorised by the DSA so I have a fair idea of what should be. Firstly they are committing a cardinal sin by exceeding the maximum allowed number of students per instructor which is three! Secondly and this is just my feeling but a crash helmet is a real personal thing, it should fit correctly and be in good order. I cant see how you can tell whether or not it's been dropped or even used as a toilet when it's borrowed?! Bearing this in mind if you look at the state of the rest of the equipment it's very likely the safety equipment has had the same love and affection poured on it. The bikes should be of a minimum standard i:e roadworthy if not you should not be riding them, i think you should report them to the DSA before they kill someone Sad

Just as a foot note, the school i am with is run by volunteers (i don't get a penny!) Secondly my radios have a minimum 3 km radius, so they can't lose me even if they wanted too! And we will train to test standard for £85 how ever long it takes! Does that sound like a good deal to you lot?
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Here comes the summer! Smile

synaptyx · Crazy Courier Joined: 05 Jul 2004 Karma :

Sounds like their attitude is totaly wrong for this line of work. That's a major failing at the outset and probably sends many students running for the next training school, or the hills, whichever is closer. The guys I trained with are deadly serious. Never more than 3 trainees per instructor. They take their license to tutor very seriously. Not to mention that if they farked, up their boss would have them out the door before they could blink.

Report them to everybody that'll listen.

Good luck finding a decent school.