LPOD Academy Omdömen 72

I should have trusted my instincts and stayed away at from this company. You pay them roughly £500 and then the rest direct to the instructor you are allocated. In my situation this was £800. This instructor cancelled my course 4 times, using various excuses as to why it couldn’t be done. This went on for 6 months. Turned out this instructor, although registered with the DVSA, has a history of doing this scam and I’m trying to get my money back. LPod are not interested in customer care once you’ve paid over your money.

They take days to respond to emails and there’s no phone number - you can’t speak to anyone if you have a problem. They obviously have no checks on who they use as instructors. I wish I’d never heard of them. STAY WELL CLEAR THEY ARE COWBOYS.

I'm genuinely begging anyone reading this to hold off and find yourself a proper instructor. The losses we've had aren't worth any potential short-term gain. LPOD is a SCAM.

They took our money months ago and paired us with a negligent instructor who often ended lessons early. We discovered today that this man is notorious for this (Cornwall) told my partner to speed over the limit because he was more worried about other drivers. He'd even try to get more money out of us without covering the hours we'd already paid for. My partner came home visibly upset more than once, and he's usually a pretty chill guy. The instructor really shook him up.

But the main reason we're sharing our story is because of an accident that happened the day before my partner's test. An older gentleman rear-ended him at a junction where he hadn't even moved. David, the instructor, got out and exchanged details—it was clear my partner wasn't at fault. But then David basically punished him for the rest of the lesson by refusing to talk to him, until my partner practically begged him to admit it wasn't his fault. David agreed, but once they got home, he sent a false email saying my partner wasn't ready for his test—despite never mentioning this before.

We complained to LPOD because David never reported the accident to them. It seemed suspicious—what was he trying to hide? Maybe that he was taking others to their tests, since the car was hardly damaged, just a few cosmetic issues. He'd told my partner over and over that he was ready for the test until this happened. He was supposed to take the test the next morning, but David refused to take him, purely because he cared about how his car looked to his peers—not about my partner's abilities!

What's confusing is that LPOD's response didn't match what actually happened. We trusted their complaints process, but that was a mistake. In all my years in customer service and as a business owner myself, I've never seen such a lack of care toward customers. LPOD and David don't seem to understand that thousands of pounds aren't just thrown to the wind. We're a family without much means who made a lifetime investment into something that turned out to be a scam.

This company needs to be exposed for what they are—taking hardworking people's money, churning them through the system, and taking no accountability. Just another few thousand pounds in their bank accounts. Their emails were cruel, just two or three words and sentences such as: “We have concluded that we will not be upholding the complaint." Why? "We were informed he wasn't ready before the test." Sorry, on the day of the accident? By not upholding the complaint, this translates to ‘we will not be doing anything to help you’ also meaning, you have lost your money with our company. On reading the complaints email, we attempted to call the company. But get this! If you are an existing customer, you CANNOT call them?! Isn’t that sketchy. They do not even have a line for you to call. They must not be able to cope with the damage control. There is not one part of me that understands the way they do business - surely if over 25% of their customers are leaving scathing reviews they cannot survive in the long term, considering most customers pay their due diligence in researching the legitimacy of companies before investment?

The instructor still owes us over £200 for lessons that were not given, and even though we detailed this in the complaint, they acted like they didn't know. This clearly meant they were always intending on siding with the instructor, as they had not even began to touch on any individual parts of my claim - including things that were quite serious and ought to be reported to the DVSA. It seems LPOD are happy to be associated with this standard of instruction. Our payments with the instructor were coerced to be paid in CASH, might I add! I don't think LPOD even read our complaint. Their only response was that David said my partner wasn't ready—despite taking him right up until hours before his test, then scamming us out of more money after an accident that wasn't his fault. We feel we deserve way more back for the enormous losses we've incurred financially and personally.

LPOD only cares about one thing—who's bringing them the most money. And it certainly isn't one student; it's the instructors themselves. They'll do anything to cover up these lies. We won't rest until everyone knows how much damage this has caused our family, and we're desperate for no one else to experience the same.

Please, take care, guys. We know what a huge investment this is, and seriously, don't rush & make the same mistake we did. I've never had to do something like this before, but if it saves at least one person from going through the same, I'll be somewhat at peace.

LPOD trying to get this taken down!!!

First class . All tests passed first time . Very good experience .

I called up to get some advice for my situation after not driving for a while.

I was recommend the Gold 35 after not driving for 3 years and need to do my theory all over again
Good advice overall and found it helpfull

I called to find out a little bit more about the booking process and spoke to Luke at length about how things work. He was an incredible help, really friendly and really put me at ease about the whole thing. I feel really honestly informed about what course I should do, what I should expect logistically and how it might work around my lifestyle. I was dubious before about booking online but I feel fully confident that LPod is the one for me! Thanks so much Luke!

On November 2023, I made an initial deposit with LPOD to engage in driving lessons. Since then, despite my earnest efforts, I have encountered numerous obstacles and setbacks. Despite successfully completing my Theory test, each time I successfully secured a test date with reasonable notice my instructor would deny the test and insist I continue cancellation search.

Upon finally securing a test date and coordinating a lesson plan with my instructor, I was dismayed to receive a last-minute request to rearrange our agreed-upon schedule. Given the extensive delay in commencing my course and booking the time off work, I firmly declined this request. Subsequently, I was asked to provide a photograph of my provisional license for paperwork purposes. However, just two days before our scheduled lessons were to start, I was notified that my driving test had been cancelled "via candidate." I did not initiate this cancellation, as evidenced by my lack of access to the DVSA website at the time of cancellation and the fact that I had never accessed the DVSA website before this time.

Compounding these issues, communication with my instructor has been consistently inadequate. Responses were often delayed or nonexistent, leaving me feeling neglected and unsupported despite my investment in your services.

When reaching out to LPOD Academy (only via email as they will not answer phone calls), they dismissed my concerns and denied a refund. I cannot understand how I am not entitled to a refund when I have not received what I have paid for 6 months later.

Avoid this company - They will pocket your money and will always side with the instructor. The likelihood is you will be waiting for months with no guarantee of a decent instructor and when you do reach out, they will dismiss your concerns and frustration.

UPDATE: After waiting over a week to a response to my email, I mentioned taking this to small claims court and got a response, doubling down and declining a refund. My recommendation stands, do not give a penny to this company as you are not guaranteed to get the product you pay for.

I am very upset by this whole situation as I paid the LPOD fees to have an easier solution but now it feels like I have wasted almost a year. I know that because of the backlog of the pandemic it is very difficult to get practical tests nearby but now that I finally have one it feels so frustrating that I will probably have reschedule this.

The company its self was amazing, they worked quickly, whenever I had an issue they were kind and let me know everything was all good. And I actually ended up passing first time.

The main issue for me personally was I booked 45 hours, and only ended up using 37 hours, I had a small conversation with my instructor about refunds but ultimately read the fine print and book less hours than you think you need! I lost a few hundred with this mistake, you can also go more if needed.

Edit : LPOD were very helpful, and offered to email my instructor further on behalf of myself. However , we got no response back, a big downfall of the company is having no responsibility for their instructors, instructors with good morals will offer refunds, others will not.

I contacted LPOD first to ask if there were driving instructors available in the Farnham area before booking the intensive course for my daughter. I was told yes.
I paid the £540 in October 24th for the course to start January 8th.

My daughter had to put 3 choices of where to have the course. Guildford which was too far was last. They eventually offered an instructor from here. My daughter explained it was too far, did not agree to it, wanted local yet they arranged for the instructor to phone her. She explained all this to him.
LPOD said they would look into this, this was at the end of November.
I started to request for a refund and i am still waiting. Last communication was the 20th of December.

If you phone and get through you are asked to email. No one replies.
I get the situation of finding instructors is difficult but the customer service is shocking. we just want to move on and find someone local ourselves. So would like a refund.

UPDATE
Finally given a refund but £200 taken off for admin fees.
This is in the terms and conditions, but the admin consisted of a couple of emails and we had to chase for those.

Great communication was easy website to use and found a perfect instructor to learn me to drive

Okay so going to break it down.
This company has its ups and downs. When it comes to the test booking process they seem to be pretty good. No real complaints there.

But matching with instructors? No. Just no.

I paid for the platinum 50 package, to give me peace of mind thay I would not be rushed through too quickly, so that I could make sure I end up truly safe on the road (I have a toddler, and have had previous bad road experiences, so obviously want to keep my child safe when I am finally road legal.)

I was so-called 'matched' with an instructor quite quickly, but the vetting process is obviously rubbish, the instructor I was given showed zero flexibility to go at a pace suitable for me and simply tried to strong-arm me into doing it his way, after making me pay him weeks prior in full (back to back lessons with no time to absorb anything or balance my life around the course.)

I specifically asked several times for a lesson start date based around the speed of learning I had outlined to him many times. He has now told me, after having my full 1800 for well over a month, that he will refund me at the end of the month (of which I am already dubious.)

I then went into lengthy communications with LPOD's awful 'online only customer service team' who have strung me along for nearly two weeks with a ridiculous back and forth where I have showed with 100% clarity, that what I have stated to them as 'the apparent issues' (as they keep calling it) is true. Yet instead of 'mediating' as they claim they do, the support team have been outright defending the instructor and berating me, often because they dont read back to their own messages (which would show they are berating me for replies to statements their team have made.)

I have been waiting 5 days since my most recent reply back to them. And i have had nothing in response. This is not acceptable, I shall be calling citizens advice (who I already know will advise taking them to small claims court for my deposit back) on Tuesday if I do not receive some sort of response by then. (I would do it Monday if I wasn't at work during CA's opening times.) Disgusting behaviour from their customer support.

And very strung out, for something which could likely have been resolved in a single phonecall.

EDIT: The company has now replied, with an amicable resolution, it is a shame how long it took, but I am satisfied with the resolution.

Right from the off, I was kept updated with my test application, in fact the company were great with any queries and very reassuring if I had doubts.
I would say book with LPod with confidence!

Having had around 35 hours of driving under my belt, not at once, it was an hour or two here and there starting from 2014 with my final lesson being in 2018. I opted for the silver package, which included 20 hours of lessons and both tests.

I paid the deposit in September and didn't hear from them for a month so I emailed for an update, at which I was sent the documents I needed to sign and return. From then on were quick in finding me my test dates and instructor.

The theory test helper kit included was extremely helpful, plenty of hours of content included so if you should absolutely put in the time if you're serious about passing

The driving instructor they provided was incredible, very patient, honest and calming. I can't speak for all of their instructors but if they're anything like mine then you're solid!

All in all I had no real issues as it was a straight forward process, there was no messing around and communication was clear.

My only suggestion would be to have someone available on the phone for existing customers

Would deffo recommend

Bally, the instructor that was assigned to me, was great. Due to his patience and teaching skills, I was able to gain confidence in my driving abilities and pass the test. I would highly recommend him to anyone who wants to take up driving, especially if, like me, you are scared of it. He helped me feel at ease and take it one step at a time, he was very relaxed but at the same time very focused on each lesson. The lessons cover a lot of routes, so you can familiarise yourself with the roads before the test. Bally is a great instructor and will focus on teaching you driving as a skill, not just how to pass the test.

Easy to book course up, no hassle. Thank you to Becky my granddaughters instructor, passed first time. Yeah !

Lpod made the process very easy and handled everything very efficiently. My instructor Chris was fantastic. Really patient and understood the most effective ways to help me progress my skills and got me ready for my test

I can highly recommend these guys. Totally professional and the support is amazing. Very professional company and great customer service if you are considering an intensive course please book with these guys you won’t be disappointed.

Couldn't have been happier with the level of service provided by the LPOD Academy team. They walk you through the whole process from the beginning, providing useful resources and keeping in contact along the way. My experience was completely stress-free and I was able to just focus on my driving. I was connected with an amazing instructor and I passed first time. Thank you LPOD Academy

Simply the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Booked my daughter on an intensive course and the LPOD office was awful. Their staff need training on how to deal with customers and their management and staff should be contactable rather then hiding behind emails and refusing to help their customers. They have the approach of 'you've paid so hard luck'. AVOID

5 Stars!! Easy from start to finish. Had Rebecca as my driving instructor a couple of months ago, she such an amazing teacher, lovely women in general. So happy I choice LPOD Academy, have already recommended to friends.
Couldn’t recommend her enough! If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t of pass first time!

Thank you so much, aleesha x