Driving school red light

HONEYBEE Driving School has been operating from the Damelin College premises in Mowbray under the name of drivecodrivingschool.co.za

I have been informed by Damelin staff that they have severed all ties with the driving school as they have defrauded many students and charges have been laid against them at the Mowbray Police Station.

Below is a synopsis of what transpired between Honeybee Driving School and my daughter.

In December, I went online to look for an affordable and reliable driving school in Cape Town. Honeybee Driving School was one of the top results with a 4.3 rating on Google.

I made a booking request via their website and was informed that my booking was confirmed for a Monday at 4pm.

On the Monday my instructor arrived 15 minutes earlier than the booked time, an hour’s lesson took place and at the end of the lesson I paid for the 10 lesson package (R1 800) and was issued with a generic receipt. I asked the instructor how I could book the subsequent lessons and he informed me that it could only be done through the office.

Immediately after the lesson I sent an email to request times for my subsequent lessons and received no response for two days. On the Tuesday I phoned them and received no response.

On the Wednesday, I phoned them again, sent the school and instructor a WhatsApp message and received no response.

I alerted my parents that the driving school were not responding to my calls, emails or messages.

My mom phoned the number on the website and spoke to a gentleman who informed her that he had been ill, hence the backlog in correspondence.

He assured her that all subsequent lessons would be honoured. and the second lesson was booked for the Friday at 11:00am and all lessons booked for next week would be confirmed.

I sent various messages to the driver and school – no response. After calling multiple times, my parents and I, decided to visit the physical address on their website. We then realised that there was only a street listed and not an actual property number.

We contacted the driving instructor who informed us that their offices are situated at the Damelin college in Mowbray. The reception staff said the driving school was asked to vacate the premises as they were defrauding a number of students and this had negatively affected Damelin’s reputation. Students had also laid charges.

We were eventually contacted by the instructor who requested a meeting to reach an amicable solution. When we mentioned that according to the Consumer Protection Act that we were entitled to a refund, we were told that we were welcome to take them to court and lay charges.

The trend seems to be, this is Honeybee Driving School’s modus operandi leading to clients forfeiting the balance of the paid-up lessons. It is for this reason that we are laying charges against them.

“Lesley”