ComplaintsforUnited Truck Driving School

• Initial Complaint

  09/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I attended United truck driving school in ********* on ******* avenue with a truck driving yard in ******************* on ****************. it costs ***** dollars for 2 weeks in class and 2 weeks outside. The second week in class was spent with roughly half the time sitting around doing nothing. The head instructor excused himself in various ways including not knowing how to work the computer, not being left the material to teach the class, or simply didnt excuse himself and sat there in silence. We passed the dmv test by taking and retaking the actual dmv tests that were obtained by an instructor over and over again. The third and fourth weeks were also fraught with down time in a variety of ways. They didnt have enough trucks, the trucks they had were frequently broken or red tagged, instructors were seen having an accident with their own equipment. The head instructor nearly crashed into his own wifes car. The head instructor attempted to ram broken equipment back into place with his golf cart and injured himself. After the injury he tried to do it again. As well as one other near accident i dont know the details of. The head instructor lost keys for the trucks for multiple days. The head instructor is an elderly man with a medical condition who does not appear to be fully lucid. Nearly every time he spoke what he said was incorrect including numerous false standards which were continuously changing and being contradicted throughout our time there. We were given the option of an earlier test date in ******* which the majority of students took advantage of. The test took place at night in ******* which we received no physical driving training on. The hours signed off on the papers were false showing 30 hours in the one glimpse i got of them where some students received less than 4 or 5 total hours if on the road driving. 6 of us drove out to ******* without being compensated by the school to test. Opportunities for more training are wednesdays only and over-burdened.

  

  Business response

  10/02/2023

  This complaint was written the day after the student was unsuccessful at his test. He was accommodated by being scheduled to retest the very next day, before we were aware of any complaints or concerns. Our company has been in direct contact with the consumer to resolve the issues and we stand by our commitment to the students.. 

  Customer response

  10/02/2023

  I have repeatedly requested more driving time and am only being offered 30 minutes the night before retest. I am failing because I d not feel comfortable behind the wheel. I would also like to add there were hostilities between an instructor and the yard manager where yelling and damage to property occurred, the trucks used to test are in visibly inferior condition conpared with other schools trucks and poor condition only intensifies when you drive it. I am also paying for passenger endorsement but was not provided with a bus on the test day and so had to remove it even though it cost an extra $500. When I raised this concern I was answered with I dont know if you dont tell me. I think I would prefer to get money back than continue dealing with this school. If I continue to test they will start charging me to rent their truck for the test. I would rather just be trained with sufficient hours to have the confidence to pass or be reimbursed.

• Initial Complaint

  11/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for United Truck Driving school for a four week course. I used my veterans education benefits. This course was meant to train and prepare me to get my commercial driver license with all endorsements including bus driver. Because of the bus driver endorsement my understanding is that there is a week added to the course.During my time enrolled In the driving school we spent two weeks in class, and two weeks hands-on in a different location. The in class portion got us ready for our permit testing At the **** I successfully tested and got my permit which then allowed us to do hands-on driving.On the first day of the first week of on hand training in the field, The entire class was broken up into three groups with three different instructors. My group did not have an instructor for the first hour and a half of the morning. Our group instructor was not there at the same time as the other instructors during the entire two weeks. The trucks we use for training always had problems and sometimes didnt work at all. The training conditions were unsafe and un-organized. Time and equipment was always limited, stress was very high for all students. Some students stormed out during class several times during the field training.I never got trained on the bus driver endorsement and licensing, and I was charged for it. After the two weeks of training we were given two options for testing locations. One location was local, here in ******* ********** and the other location was in ******* *******. We were encouraged to take the trip to ******* because it should be easier to pass over there. The majority of us went to ******* where we reported to a different driving school and they set us up for testing there. The equipment and instruction was different than what we had learned. We also tested overnight in the dark early morning which we never trained for. Some manage to pass and some of us did not. For those of us that didnt pass it became nearly impossible to try and schedule another appointment. I reached out to the school officials and they could not help because by then I had started working since I had planned to be in the course for only four weeks.

  

  Business response

  12/07/2022

  As an accredited truck driving school that follows the specific guidelines and requirements to meet the ***** standards for Entry Level Driver Training it is a very busy and stressful four weeks of training. Our program is structured to prepare students in all the aspects of the exam which includes vehicle inspection standards, airbrake exams,parking/backing skills and behind the wheel driving.  We are aware that some students will grasp the skills quicker than others and some students may be unsuccessful after testing at the ****

  We allow our students to attempt the CDL exam up to three times following the completion of their course. Our students must be able to work with the *** schedules and the availability of instructors and vehicles for examinations that would be required for a successful outcome. As is in many careers, communication is the key to success. We do our best to keep students active in our clinics to keep their driving skills fresh in the instance that a second or third test is needed. Unfortunately some students are not motivated to return and practice or communicate with the instructors for scheduling additional practice for the next test at the **** We know that schedules are complicated but a student has to be willing.  We stand behind our commitment to giving our students the best opportunity at a successful career in the truck driving industry. We urge our students to keep in touch with us and we will do our best to work with scheduling additional testing on our students behalf.
  
  For this student,we attempted to work with him to schedule additional training and testing, but he was only available on the weekends. He never reached out again with additional availability so that he could test again. After receiving this message via BBB,we called and emailed and he has still not gotten back in touch with us. It is impossible for us to help a student get tested again if they don't return messages or communicate with the school.

• Initial Complaint

  11/26/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I attended the united trucking school located in ********* **********. I obtained my class B CDL drivers license and during the course I was told the school would provide job placement once I was finished this was also a major deciding factor over other schools. However after I finished they told me they only have jobs in the ********* and ********* area. Those areas are not close to me since I am in ****** hills. So I asked them if they have anything closer to me but I was instructed to look into different companies on my own without their help. This isn't what I was told and is very misleading if you are looking at attending this school. They either need to do a better job at job placement locations or remove that from their website.

  

  Business response

  12/03/2021

  Hello,

  
  United Truck Driving School provides job placement assistance. Many jobs on our lead list are in ********* and Riverside as that is where the 2 campuses are located. But there are also many jobs outside of those areas and many companies on that list have locations throughout all of *******************, not just ********* and Riverside. In this student's case, our Placement Manager did have a few conversations with him and they discussed various jobs, locations and companies. Our ******************** does not contact companies for the students, they have to do that on their own. We do counsel students on their options and we are constantly updating the jobs list as new jobs become available every week. We are committed to helping every student get their CDL and find work in the transportation industry.
  
  

  Customer response

  12/03/2021

  We did discuss possible jobs but the placement suggested I move closer to riverside. How can they claim placement if it's only close to the schools. This us absolutely ridiculous for them to claim they will help with placement with the cost of the course. I think they should reduce my cost of the program because of the lack of placement assistance and misleading information.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩