My daughter has attended this driving school, and while the instructors themselves are amazing, my…read moreexperience with the individual I assume is the owner has been extremely disappointing. Communication has been consistently rude and unprofessional. Text messages are sent without any greeting, and the tone is often condescending--spoken as if you're addressing a child rather than a paying parent. Respect should be reciprocal, and unfortunately, that has not been the case here. What makes this more frustrating is that I have already paid in full, so I have made every effort to remain professional despite the poor communication. My daughter's learner's permit is approaching expiration, yet while the owner can text to say the school is closed, she cannot provide a date for my daughter's final required driving appointment. That lack of accountability and clarity is unacceptable, especially when time-sensitive licensing is involved. Again, the instructors deserve recognition--they are patient and skilled. However, ownership sets the tone, and in this case, the tone is dismissive and disorganized. Based on communication and management alone, I would not recommend this driving school to others.

The first week of August 2023 I called to inquire about signing my son up for the driving school…read moreand the woman that answered the phone was very rude! She wouldn't even let me finish speaking before she cut me off and told me to call later because she was with a customer. Then when I tried to ask what time would be best she yelled at me and told me to call back later. I live in walking distance of this place and I would rather drive my child across the city than give this company a dime of my money. We will be going to a different driving school.

My kiddo had a great experience with Meg! She feels ready and prepared for the driving test!read more

Liam is an excellent teacher, the class I took with him taught me so much! I was very anxious and…read morenow I feel like as I incorporate all the skills he coached, I will become much more confident.

Let's just address the elephant in the room. Keith (the instructor) is in simple terms a bully. In…read moreclass he would make fun of "window lickers", special Ed kids in general, his own students, etc. The environment was very hostile and he encouraged that. Kids I never even met because they were from a different school were making fun of me and he encouraged it. Now let's talk about driving with him. He would constantly eat candy or cough drops (not sure which) and would litter on the street. Not the worst thing he did just very unprofessional. Another thing is the degrading and the name calling wouldn't stop in the classroom. If you asked him to clarify if you were turning left or right he would call you "slow" or "retarded". There was even one time where I asked "you said make a right, correct?" And he must have not been paying attention because he said yes. However there was no right hand turn that could be made, only straight and left. He continued to scream at me for this when I even asked him a second time which direction to go and he gave me a direction that wasn't even a possibility. He brags about making all of his female students cry during in-cars with him and it seems to be a thing he tries to do. He is the most unprofessional person for the job this includes but is not limited to smoking on the job, making fun of disabled kids constantly, encouraging bullying in his classroom, screaming at teenagers when he is the one who made a mistake, etc. if you are looking for a driving school for your teenager don't go here. I will say some kids do have good experiences but if they don't have a good experience chances are they will have a horrible one filled with being degraded, screaming, in professionalism, and more.

I enrolled my 16 year old son to obtain the Ohio required in school/ in car training for his…read moredriver's license. I enrolled him on 12/30/20, paying $340 cash to Keith. My son completed the in school portion from 1/4/21-1/14/21. Passed the required test@96%. We were told on 1/14/21 that there was 5 people in front of him for the in car portion& that we would be given dates. After 2 weeks, I contacted Keith, only to get text messages back with no dates. After speaking to another parent, having the same issues, Keith was confronted in person by both parents. I learned that my son's in car portion wouldn't be until the end of April. Completely unacceptable. Keith then stated that he has 6 months by law to complete his program which is false.The teenagers have up to 6 months to complete the course due to school, sports, work, etc. I requested a refund of the in car portion of my payment& withdrew my son. I also requested my son's in school hours& test results so that I could get him enrolled in another school. Keith did submit his records but I had to receive them from his outside mailbox. I also had to contact the Ohio Department of Public Safety to get permission to enroll my son in another school just for the in car portion.As of today, I still have not received my refund nor KNOW the exact amount of my refund that I will be receiving. My refund should be $170, which is 1/2 of my $340 cash payment. Only 1/2 of his services was rendered. No where on my written contract does it states that the instructor has legally 6 months to complete his training course. My money was taken, the first half of his course was given immediately, then you are sitting, waiting on the in car portion with no actual phone calls back. Text messages are the ONLY form of communication after you pay your initial $340. I did not do my homework as a parent, I looked for reviews on this business, after the fact. There are multiple complaints on the same issues, dating back to 2018.I have since enrolled my son in another school just for the in car portion, received dates@ the time of enrollment. PLEASE do your research before booking& paying. Get EXACT completion dates.What should have been a exciting time for my son has turned into a waiting game& prolonged him in obtaining his driver's liscence.

4 years ago, this company was highly recommended by a family for my daughter. It was one of the…read morebest decisions we made to have the owner, Ari, teach her to drive! He was incredible, calm, patient, kind and thorough. She enjoyed her time doing the in-cars and learned a lot. She passed the test with flying colors! Fast forward to 20 and my other daughter just completed her in-cars with Kelsey. She LOVED it and learned so much! This is a great company that will respond to questions immediately and patiently. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM!! My family was so fortunate to work with them! P.S. My 2nd daughter just passed the test with flying colors, too!

About 2 1/2 years ago, I used this company for my daughter and had a great experience. At that…read moretime, classes were available in Lake County and convenient to where we lived. The entire process was seamless, which is why I felt comfortable using them again. Unfortunately, my experience this time was completely different. Last week, I signed my daughter up for classes, expecting options to be available in the Lake County area as they had been previously. It wasn't until after I registered and paid that I was informed there were no Lake County classes available--only options in Cuyahoga County, which are not feasible for us. When I asked whether Lake County classes would become available, I was told that Beachwood was the only option at the time. Since my daughter had not started classes and we had not used any services, I requested a refund. My request was declined. I explained that I was giving the company an opportunity to resolve the issue by refunding my payment and that, if we could not resolve it, I would dispute the charge with my bank and leave an honest review of my experience. I was then asked to give him the weekend to try to locate a Lake County driver, and I was told he would get back to me. He never did. What made the experience even more disappointing was receiving a response along the lines of, "Don't even try to take me to court--you're not going to win." Regardless of any disagreement over a refund, I found that response extremely unprofessional and unnecessary. I gave this company another opportunity because of my positive experience several years ago, but this experience has been the complete opposite. The lack of transparency about available locations before payment, refusal to refund services that had not yet begun, failure to follow up as promised, and overall communication were very disappointing. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend this company.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!…read more I have paid for my son to take Drivers Education through this company. I paid in full. And I had scheduled appointments with them for several weeks now. On the day of my most recent appt, I was told that the appt was cancelled. No one can tell me who cancelled the appt or why. To also find out the next appt had been cancelled, and again, no one knows why or who cancelled. My son requires so many appts before the date of his temporary permit expiring. That date is quickly approaching. When I asked for information about this, I was lied to by more than one staff member. An Amber and a manager Marissa. When I requested to speak with the owner, Dan, He is always "unavailable", and has never returned any of my phone calls. I have paid several hundred dollars for this service, and the company is not providing the services that I have paid for. During the class room time, the instructor looked and smelled as he hadn't showered in days. My son and nephew were in the class together, and both said the in class was nothing other than watching videos while the instructor "played" on his phone. So poorly taught, that my nephew filed his temps test the first time, AFTER taking the classes. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! Go anywhere else!

This is the most unorganized and unprofessional business I have ever dealt with. I have been…read moretrying to schedule driving lessons for my child since July 2022. I received 1 phone call in the beginning then all communication has been done by text. Finally thought the lesson was going to occur in August but with many reschedules on the driving school part it didn't happen. Gave it another shot and actually had a date scheduled with the instructor coming to the house. On the day of appointment the instructor sent a text as she did not realize we lived on the west side even though she had been told. Does not know her geography and stated thought was on west side of Cleveland of which we are. Wanted us to come to the east side message sent through text. I sent 3 text, no response, waited 45 minutes instructor Twandrea never showed and still has never responded. worst experience ever!!!!!

I've had trouble getting in touch with almost every driving instructor near me and the ones I did…read morereach didn't teach Adult abbreviated classes. I see many bad reviews and explaining why she wasn't a good instructor and the reviews were either fake or from her (2 from her) or from a friend and even th they weren't a true original review that expla their experience but I gave her a chance anyways and wasted my time like a dummy. This lady is very unprofessional and unreliable to say the least I called her and texted her about 3 weeks before I could get a lesson because she would ignore my texts and now i finally get in touch with her and took my first lesson my dad came to pick me up and they had a friendly conversation but I didn't hear everything they said I'm feeling happy and more confident and I did learn something and she seemed to be almost too nice and friendly but I thought nothing of it. Here's the shady part she sent me a text at 1:20 in the morning saying she can't teach me because of the conversation had with my dad about him being arrested 30 YEARS ago in his 20s about a nonviolent crime that he would never commit now. She went on to say how it was a safety concern but the text she sent made it seem like she was talking to me because she didn't say him so I'm thinking she made a mistake until she sent me a refund through cashapp so I'm sending her messages trying to explain myself and the whole time they weren't even getting delivered and her phone was going straight to voicemail and I figured maybe her phone died because why would I be blocked? Wrong I called from my mom phone because mine was dead low and behold it rung and she picked up and when my phone came on I tried again and boom automatically went to voicemail. If this went against your teaching then why wasn't it ever brought up and if she truly felt like it was so wrong why feel the need to block my number because of it as if I truly did something wron. To be honest I don't even think this lady is truly certified it's a gimmick don't waste your time or money on this "driving school"

i had 3 in car driving lessons with these guys. i payed $280 dollars for the 3. on the 3rd day i…read morewas 5 minutes late coming out of my house and the driver charged me for for the whole lesson. when i called to reschedule and they demanded an additional 80 dollars for me, the driver and his secretary (number listed above) were very rude and insulted my "incompetance" for being late. i would not use this company again. the driver was racist.

This company is horrible, unprofessional. I Paid in full two weeks ago and still waiting for the…read moreschedule for the classes for my daughter. They will make promises but not keep it. My daughter will get a license for the fault of these people late. they don't want to refund the money. I don't know how they have 4 stars on the website is a liar. Now because they know that I am very upset not to answer my calls. The phrase cheaper is expensive in this company is true. I will make a complaint to the consumer, I hope they can help to put an order in this kind abuse companies, Floria A.

Go somewhere else. It will take forever just to get your in-car scheduled. It has been 4 months…read morealready and my daughter stI'll has not been scheduled. I have tried to contact them many times in the last two weeks and have had no luck

As a woman I was a little worried about finding a class that would help me learn to shoot and get…read morecomfortable with a firearm without being completely intimidated. My brother suggested Civilian Defense Academy and I have been thrilled with them. In February I started with the Learn to Shoot class and absolutely loved it. They keep the classes small and only work with a few people at a time during the range portion. That was fantastic because James was right there to watch everything I was doing as I was loading and shooting the various firearms he provided for practice. He was there to answer all of my questions and offer suggestions on improving my form and accuracy. Yesterday I attended the Concealed Carry course to get my license. James and Bruce are very knowledgeable and put everyone at ease right from the beginning. They make it fun and really interesting while still being very professional and making sure to stress the importance of safety - for you and everyone around you. The idea of sitting in a 10 hour class about firearm safety, mechanics, use, ammunition, maintenance and legal responsibilities sounded a little daunting but I had a great time. They made it so interesting that it seemed to take no time at all. Even the seasoned hunters in the class said they learned a lot and everyone in the class seemed to really enjoy themselves. I would not hesitate to recommend CDA to ANYONE looking to get their Concealed Carry License or simply looking to get comfortable with using a firearm. I feel much safer and more confident moving forward having taken these courses.

As a previous reviewer I will keep this short. I am still very impressed!…read more I just completed their CCW class yesterday and could not be more pleased. Both James and Bruce are very knowledgeable and make your learning experience priority one while still keeping it fun. Nice, small class size. It seriously was the fastest 10 hour class ever! We were not done until we finished the written test and everyone was confident in what they learned. I will continue to suggest Civilian Defense Academy for CCW training as well as beginner shooting instruction!