Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  13/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  In September 2022, I paid First Route $449.99 to enroll my son, ********, in their BDE course package. They insisted registration be in the student's name, so all further communication was with my son, who lacks experience with business matters. He recieved an email confirming the registration and informing him he had 12 months to complete the 30 hour online driver's ed class and 10 hours of in-car driving training. We chose First Route because its website promised that they would arrange driving lessons in Gananoque, where we live. When ******** completed the virtual training in February 2023 he was informed that he could not begin in-class lessons until he paid an outstanding balance of $59.49. We sent them documentation that we had already paid in full for the course. ******** was then informed he was on a waiting list for in-car instruction, and that he would be contacted when an instructor was available. First Route has not responded to any attempts to communicate since February 2023. Their phone number goes to voice mail. They failed to secure an instructor for my son within the time frame for successful course completion, and there's no certificate for completing the class section that we can present to an insurer or other authority. We have recieved nothing of value for the $449.99 I spent, and there does not appear to be any avenue to contact them and seek a refund. This amounts to fraud and false advertising.

  Business response

  15/01/2024

  Good afternoon,

  We have reviewed this file, and as we sent to you by email, we reached out to ******** on 11/23/2022, 1/11/2023, and 2/16/2023 regarding the amount owing. The payment made by etransfer originally did not include HST which is what was owing. We never received a reply to any of our messages, or received any communication from you or ******** through emails phone calls, online course support tickets, website chats, or facebook messages for the entire year of the course. ******** completed the virtual component of the course August 11, 2023, not in February. Now that his course has been expired by 4 months, we do not have any way to work on this as the online portion of the course must be repeated for certification by MTO.

  We can certainly understand that this is frustrating, however we made multiple attempts to resolve this long before the year was up, and we are unable to offer a refund on an expired course persuant to our refund policies which were consented to by you when you registered (and attached to this message).

  Thank you.

   

  Customer response

  15/01/2024

  
  Complaint: 21142210
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The business did not explain in any way that they apparently *forgot* to include HST in the fee they requested at registration. Nor can I find any record of a receipt sent for the initial course payment or any sort of communication during the course to explain the course fees, HST, or provide alternate means of communication should emails go unanswered--as our email inquiring about the nature of the "outstanding balance" did.

  Based on other negative Google reviews, I believe this business took on more students than they could offer lessons for and was subsequently unmotivated to followup with distance students. It is unreasonable to expect me to pay an unexplained "outstanding balance" when to the best of my knowledge, I'd paid in full everything I was asked for at registration.

  I would also like to suggest that it is a poor business practice, when offering lessons to teenagers and inexperienced young adults, to insist the sole contact at registration be the young adult, excluding any experienced family member who is assuming the financial risks of making a large lump payment in advance. This seems like a setup designed to create a game of "telephone" between the financially responsible adult and the contracting company.
  
  Sincerely,
  ********* *******
  

*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. ↩