Current Alerts For This Business
BBB has received a pattern of consumer complaints alleging the following: consumers allege that they are unable to reach customer service in a timely manner via chat, email or by phone. Many allege they are being locked out of the system by the biometrics security system. These same consumers can't reach anyone in customer service to rectify issues which have caused them to not finish the program within the designated time frame.
On February 21, 2023, BBB submitted a written request to the company encouraging them to address the pattern of complaints. The business responded with the following:
We take this feedback very seriously and you have our full cooperation to address and eliminate the patterns of complaints. In addition to various steps we have already taken to improve customer satisfaction, we are actively working to implement the following solutions to eliminate these patterns of complaint:
1. Improving customer instructions on how to use the biometric security systems, focusing on common problems and offering video-based tutorials. To start, we have enhanced our frequently asked questions (https://www.newyorksafetycouncil.com/defensive-driving-faqs/) and in-course documentation so that customers may self-service through online support.
2. Engineering a solution to automatically unlock a customer’s course after they fail the regulatory biometric security requirements. As their top priority, our technology team is developing a solution to automatically restart a customer’s course if they fail to secure successful biometric identity verification after the number of attempts established by the regulatory authority. This means customers will not be required to contact our customer care team if they are locked out of their course due to biometric security failure.
3. Finally, with respect to longer than expected response times, we are actively staffing up to reduce our hold times across phone, chat, and email in response to spikes in volume. We have hired six full-time customer care agents, with three having started employment in late February, and three more starting March 6.
We are committed to implement the steps above, many of which are being worked on by our technology team now, as well as any additional steps needed to eliminate these patterns of complaint so that we can improve customer satisfaction.
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Complaint Details
Note that complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. See details.
Initial Complaint
08/28/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I went through the American Safety Council for a drivers ed course, which was perfectly fine. However, the issue is when they were sending the certificate which is required to take the DMV Written exam. The base time for shipping for the certificate is 7-10 days. My DMV appointment was on the 19th, and I completed the course on the 11th. That same day I completed the course I purchased over the phone with the drivers ed school 3-5 day expedited shipping with ***** for $10. However, the certificate came later then needed (it came well into the day on the 20th). After contacting the Drivers Ed School several times they said they would not refund me the money for the late certificate. After contacting *****, they said I needed to contact the Drivers Ed company since they purchased it for me and they had the invoice number and whatnot, however the drivers ed company denied the request for the refund. It should be noted they only said "3-5 day shipping", nothing about business days.
Business response
10/11/2021
Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/09/14) */ Emailed the customer directly after reviewing his account- customer purchased****** Ground shipping which is 3-5 business days, however****** delivered it on the 6th day. Provided all the details needed to see when exactly we sent it out, when****** picked the certificate up and provided a full refund for the customer to resolve the issue.Initial Complaint
08/21/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Delivery Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I have not received my certificate for the adult drivers ed course and i was told it would be delivered by the 17th at the latest. I do not have much time to test before the course expires and i have to retake the whole thing. i just want this resolved.Business response
10/08/2021
Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2021/09/14) */ Emailed customer directly for resolution. Certificate is downloadable in their account however offered to send it via ground shipping with a tracking number to ensure it is received. Waiting for response.Initial Complaint
08/19/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I bought the Drivers Education Course for the State of Illinois. It is a six hour course. During the course, Voice Identification is used. The first time they asked for it, I missed the timing, but I called them (on hold for 26 minutes after a useless Live Chat) and got the situation rectified. I was very nervous about missing the voice activation again. I was just about done with the course, when the voice verification came up again. I tried to complete it, but the system kept saying it wasn't working and kicked me out again, for no reason that I could see. I called to try to get back into the system and guess what? After two tries, you are permanently logged out and must buy the course again for $54. No recourse, and the Live Chat person was argumentative (I have screen shots) and basically called me a liar and hid behind the Illinois Statute when I challenged him. There are numerous complaints of this nature on BBB. This is not good business practice.Business response
10/08/2021
Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2021/09/14) */ Emailed customer directly to resolve issue. The customer had issues with the voice biometrics. Explained a little on how they worked and why he was locked out for time expiration. Due to state regulations and requirements, we can not unlock course for time expirations after the one courtesy unlock. Offered a free course as a resolution.Initial Complaint
08/09/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Customer Service Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I signed up for a 5 hour course throu American safety council website paid 50 dollars but most of my time has be spent on hold in both the live chat and over the phone trying to undo a failed biometrics call. The call itself is also pestering because I follow all the rules but fail every biometrics call and haven't been able to reach a person for help. There is no FAQ available for refunds and I will not lose 50 for no reason all I want is to finish the damn course.Business response
09/07/2021
Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/08/13) */ Hi *******, We're sorry that you had some challenges when performing the biometric authentication, as well difficulties getting in touch with our support team. Reviewing your account, it seems that the biometric authentication was detecting minor changes in the recording and raised several "false alarms" for our team to manually review; we are currently investigating ways to improve the system so that it is not quite as sensitive and does not result in unnecessary lock outs---we realize that it can be a hinderance to course progression and quite frustrating. Despite those challenges, at this time our records indicate that you were able to make it through the program successfully, and graduated on 8/11/21. We reported your completion directly to the NYSDMV (so no certificate will be sent as it is not required), and you should be all set. Again, we are sorry for the frustration you encountered with the system and delays, but we are glad to see that you were able to complete the program. Please let us know if there is anything else we may assist you with at this time.Initial Complaint
08/02/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
On 03/17/2021 I paid for my son to take a NY state 5- Hour pre- licensing course online. The website was called the New York Safety Council. There was a $49 charge on my ESL checking account. The bank statement says NY 5-Hour ONLIN*************. I called that number and call cannot be completed. Called number on website and sat on hold for hours. Tried live chat- no response. Went to DMV they had no record of my son having taken and completed the course. Got nothing in mail either. NYSDMV said this was a scam. Bank can't refund my money because it's been more than 60 days. I want my $49 back and/ or a certificate of completion for my son if this company is legitimate which I believe it is not. And to protect others from getting scammed.Business response
09/20/2021
Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/08/13) */ Hi *******, I am sorry to hear of your difficulties and concerns! The phone number that you stated was on your receipt is not a direct line to our Customer Care team or to our office to my knowledge---I would definitely appreciate if you would be able to share a screenshot of that detail, as when I try to contact that number, it is not in service. If that is indeed a number listed on the receipt from our company, I can certainly put in a request to have that corrected. That aside, I am sorry to hear that you had some trouble getting in touch with our customer care team using our Livechat service, we are experiencing very high volume this season and we are handling inquiries as quickly as possible, although there are still delays. We are taking measures to increase our support team so that we are able to assist our students more rapidly. I assure you that we are a NYSDMV-approved provider of the Online Pre-Licensing Program, also known as OPL, which you can verify by visiting: https://dmv.ny.gov/driver-training/online-pre-licensing-course-providers. This particular program does NOT provide students with any type of completion certificate, since it is not required by the NY DMV. Rather, we report completion directly to the NY DMV via the students personal credentials such as their Client ID and date of birth, etc. Despite that, we can certainly review the student account to ensure that the completion reporting was processed successfully, and/or help should there have been some outstanding issue in the student's account preventing proper completion processing. Unfortunately with the information in your complaint, I was unable to locate a student record. I would be happy to look closer into your concerns if you can please respond back with the students Order ID number (located on your emailed receipt from registration). ALternatively, we can look up the student record by their name, registered email address, and/or username. I look forward to assisting you further to resolve your concerns. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2021/08/17) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I will attach a screenshot of the phone number that is on the bank statement (which is not in service). I do not accept this response yet because we went to the NYSDMV and they have no record of my son having taken the test, which he did complete. The employee at the DMV is the one who suggested that we got scammed. When my son ******* ******, completed the course, it said that his completion would be sent directly to the DMV, so he went ahead and scheduled a road test. When we showed up for the test, the instructor said he needed a certificate of completion for the 5hour course. I said he did it online and the man said he still needs to have a certificate on paper. If the DMV had it we could at least get it printed, but they don't . His email is *********************** and mine is *********************. Not sure which we used for the test as we don't have any emails from you, and this was back in February so we don't remember usernames. If you need additional information in order to find his completion record let me know. I will accept a certificate of completion or a refund of payment as a resolution. Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2021/08/30) */ Hello, Thank you for providing the student's email address, I was able to locate their account. I am sorry that you had a hard time with the NY DMV, but you were misinformed. Please review https://dmv.ny.gov/schedule-road-test and see the message on their site that reads, "Applicants who complete the online version of the course will NOT receive a MV-278 Pre-Licensing Course Completion Certificate. The course provider will report course completions to DMV automatically and applicants will NOT have to show a completion certificate when appearing for the road test." I would strongly encourage you to reference that to the DMV clerk if you receive any pushback in the future, as it is for this reason (NY DMV Compliance) that we do NOT provide a certificate of completion (one is not needed or desired since we report electronically). Reviewing the student account I see that the completion reporting appears to have been processed successfully at the time of graduation back in March. The NY DMV Scheduling site will do a verification for individuals attempting to schedule a road test appointment, upon logging in with their Client ID and DOB. When I review the scheduling site at https://nyrtspublicsite.azurewebsites.net/ and login with the student's details, it permits the appointment. I do apologize for the run around, but this sounds as though the representative you were communicating with was not referencing the proper course type (certificates are only required for live courses) or was not up to date on the changes since the online pilot program became approved. Are you able to advise which location you went to that gave you a difficult time? I would be happy to get our NY DMV contact in touch with that location to correct that oversight, if possible. Otherwise, with this information, you should be able to schedule another appointment and should not have a problem. If you do, again I encourage you to refer to the NY DMV site where it clearly states certificates are not required and as well that the scheduling login which validated the Client ID and DOB of the student permitted the appointment.Initial Complaint
07/26/2021
- Complaint Type:
- Billing Issues
- Status:
- Answered
I want my money back or more time to complete the course. Because of they're biometric system technical difficulties I lost time I needed to complete course. They don't answer phones or chat on a timely manner I have several emails I've sent but only received 2 responses. I've asked for phone calls back while I'm on the phone for over 2 hours.Business response
09/02/2021
Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2021/08/13) */ Hello ******, We're sorry to hear that you had a challenging experience. Reviewing your account, it appears that your course expired and was disqualified. We are not able to apply any extensions on the program per regulatory requirements from the State of NY, and unfortunately, a course disqualification does not make the account eligible for a refund per our refund policy (https://www.newyorksafetycouncil.com/refund-policy/) which is why our team previously advised that you would not be eligible for a refund,. Looking closer into your account it does appear that you were having some challenges with completing your authentication and had to contact customer care numerous times. While the course provides students with 30 days of access to complete the 5 hour program and should be sufficient for completion, we understand that your specific challenges with completing the authentication lead to a frustrating experience and back-and-forth contact to get your account unlocked so you may continue. While we cannot extend the course as aforementioned, as an exception to our refund policy, we have obliged your request and have submit a full refund for you at this time. Please let us know if there is anything else we may do to assist you.
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Customer Complaints Summary
543 total complaints in the last 3 years.
114 complaints closed in the last 12 months.