Western Driving Academy
3.8 Listed In: Driving Instruction, Schools
Advanced Driver Training Program for New Drivers.
By Eva Cupchik on November 9, 2021 Verified by Google
Ray is a great instructor; as is Liz. Ray is patient and attends to details (mechanics, speed, and spatial awareness). I appreciate Ray's patience in guiding my G class journey.
By Ben Guo on November 11, 2020 Verified by Email
I have just got my license, I am sooo happy. Basil is an amazing driving instructor
By CantcureStupid on February 14, 2016 Verified by Email
On Saturday February 13th at 3:10 pm this picture was taken at 65 Glamis Rd in Cambridge,Ontario. It shows a supposed Driving teacher ,from a PROFESSIONAL Driving school parked directly in front of a " NO PARKING" sign in a fire lane at a residential condo site. Is this really the school you want teaching your young people and drivers needing education how to drive,how to park, and how to obey the laws and local ordinances? Really think twice about these guys.I am only rating this company BECAUSE it won't let me post with out doing in.
By davlam on July 28, 2015 Verified by Email
Though I passed my G2 about a week ago, I think it is important I share that the caliber of the in-class instruction at WDA was exceptionally poor and that I was completely unimpressed with my education there.
Although the office is nicely laid-out and the workbook they use is colorful and seemingly engaging, the delivery of the content was totally inferior. I had two instructors. One was more interested in talking about the benefits of marijuana to us, and explaining (at quite some length) his perspectives on why it should be legalized, rather than actually providing any kind of quality instruction about the rules of the road. The other simply gave us the answers to the homelinks work we were supposed to do ourselves and was rude, impatient and unfriendly.
The content was haphazardly delivered - we would jump from idea to idea and would be asked to open our workbook, record information blindly from the powerpoint, and then close our books immediately, without actually going over the concept.
We are handed nearly half our marks out of 100 for participation (everybody gets 15/15) and whether or not we did the 30 pages of homework (automatic 30/30 - everybody beside me wrote garbage answers, and this was not checked, corrected, taken up or discussed. Three of the people at my table just showed the instructor the front of the book, and he gave them 30/30 without even looking to see if the work was done). This is definitely a school for slackers who want to show up and do nothing and still do well.
Because of the poorly implemented curriculum, I felt I needed to spend hours and hours outside of class familiarizing myself with the basic rules of the road myself. Many times I would ask my parents or friends driving beside me and they would ask, 'didn't they teach you that in driver's ed?" My answer, always, was no.
WDA as a whole seems to be much more concerned with appearance and flashiness than substance.
I think they spent a good amount of time at the beginning developing high quality workbooks, PPTs and curriculum that I am sure meets the standards, and then just mentally checked out, hiring sub-par instructors to implement the content. You'll learn nothing, but you'll get your license. Whether you're OK with that is up to you.
By Coral Prawn on October 4, 2013 Verified by Guest
I just passed my road test today thanks to this school. My driving instructor was great and really helped me become a confident driver. 5 Stars!
By SABRE on July 20, 2011 Verified by Email
Had a great time in the class except for some boring & old videos. My in car instructor was very patient & taught me an easy way to parallel park. The sad thing is at the end I failed my road test. I had this really mean examiner that failed me for taking too long turning left on an amber light.
By Western Driving Academy
My examiner was a female, an older English women. She was friendly & helpful. She noted the speed limits for me on the main roads. You can request for a different examiner for you next road test. Good luck!
By MARC1 on July 19, 2011 Verified by Email
Took the course last month & I passed my road test today. Thank you western for helping me get my license.
By Western Driving Academy
Did you get a male or female examiner? I heard of this one guy examiner who is very friendly & passes everyone. With my luck I got this rude guy I think his name was lanard or leon spoke so fast couldn't understand WTF he's saying, & after he fails me throws my g1 card in my face & tells me to go & read the drivers handbook. I could not understand how someone can do that & not get fired.
By Western Driving Academy
@SABRE His name is Leon, I had him for my road test as well. My driving instructor told me he'd be a jerk and to be prepared to kiss his a** if I wanted my license. I completed my road test almost perfectly (only 2 minor errors noted on my carbon copy of the test sheet), but at the end of the test Leon acted like I almost killed everyone on the road. He was condescending and demanded that I review the driver's handbook if he gave me my license, so I assured him I would. He's on a power trip. Either you patronize him and play into his nonsense or, if you're a girl, wear a low cut shirt and you'll pass no problem. He's a pig.
By Apoc on June 26, 2011 Verified by Email
Their head office is unprofessional and incredibly difficult to get a hold of. Their website incorrectly lists their hours of operation and the driving instructors are just as disorganized. Spent an entire day playing phone-tag with the guy who was supposed to be teaching me, and every time I got him on the phone he told me he'd call me back in an hour (which turned into 6 hours). The day of my lesson he showed up an hour early wondering where I was, moved way faster than I was comfortable as a new driver...and after the lesson was over he was very pushy trying to get me to buy a lesson plan for hundreds of dollars. We re-scheduled for the same day and time the following week, and when it finally rolled around he didn't show up. I called and he tried to blame ME for not making an appointment and tried to tell me how organized and thorough he is. To sum up the experience: unprofessional service from start to finish. Spend your money elsewhere, there's plenty of other, better choices.
By Western Driving Academy
Lol...you had a bad experience with an instructor so you put the whole school down. You sounds like the competition to me.
By Western Driving Academy
@MARC1 He is/was an employee of WDA and therefore represents their interests. His behaviour reflects badly on the company, and so it is fair to deride such a company for employing someone with such shoddy practices. As I said, their office is disorganized and unprofessional as well. The receptionists operate haphazardly and didn't seem to care at all when I contacted them about the driving instructor who stood me up. I'm not "the competition", I'm a university student who was very eager to get their license but didn't have access to a car, so I enrolled for driving lessons to gain practice. I wouldn't be surprised if you're the instructor I badmouthed.
By Demelo on April 24, 2009 Verified by Email
This school is awesome. Their new location is amazing.
I mean really, really amazing. I shopped around & nothing tops wda. Stop in & see for yourself. My friends always talking about wda...wda...wda. I said to myself whats with all fuss,
until I actually took the course. Now I refer all my friends their. Awesome school, awesome location, awesome website, & friendly service too:)
By Western Driving Academy
Clearly this review has been written by a staff member of WDA...the tone and grammar are not that of a laymen review. It'd be a little more convincing if your review didn't read like a late-night television advertisement.
By Eva Cupchik on November 9, 2021 Verified by Google
Ray is a great instructor; as is Liz. Ray is patient and attends to details (mechanics, speed, and spatial awareness). I appreciate Ray's patience in guiding my G class journey.
By Ben Guo on November 11, 2020 Verified by Email
I have just got my license, I am sooo happy. Basil is an amazing driving instructor
By CantcureStupid on February 14, 2016 Verified by Email
On Saturday February 13th at 3:10 pm this picture was taken at 65 Glamis Rd in Cambridge,Ontario. It shows a supposed Driving teacher ,from a PROFESSIONAL Driving school parked directly in front of a " NO PARKING" sign in a fire lane at a residential condo site. Is this really the school you want teaching your young people and drivers needing education how to drive,how to park, and how to obey the laws and local ordinances? Really think twice about these guys.I am only rating this company BECAUSE it won't let me post with out doing in.
By davlam on July 28, 2015 Verified by Email
Though I passed my G2 about a week ago, I think it is important I share that the caliber of the in-class instruction at WDA was exceptionally poor and that I was completely unimpressed with my education there.
Although the office is nicely laid-out and the workbook they use is colorful and seemingly engaging, the delivery of the content was totally inferior. I had two instructors. One was more interested in talking about the benefits of marijuana to us, and explaining (at quite some length) his perspectives on why it should be legalized, rather than actually providing any kind of quality instruction about the rules of the road. The other simply gave us the answers to the homelinks work we were supposed to do ourselves and was rude, impatient and unfriendly.
The content was haphazardly delivered - we would jump from idea to idea and would be asked to open our workbook, record information blindly from the powerpoint, and then close our books immediately, without actually going over the concept.
We are handed nearly half our marks out of 100 for participation (everybody gets 15/15) and whether or not we did the 30 pages of homework (automatic 30/30 - everybody beside me wrote garbage answers, and this was not checked, corrected, taken up or discussed. Three of the people at my table just showed the instructor the front of the book, and he gave them 30/30 without even looking to see if the work was done). This is definitely a school for slackers who want to show up and do nothing and still do well.
Because of the poorly implemented curriculum, I felt I needed to spend hours and hours outside of class familiarizing myself with the basic rules of the road myself. Many times I would ask my parents or friends driving beside me and they would ask, 'didn't they teach you that in driver's ed?" My answer, always, was no.
WDA as a whole seems to be much more concerned with appearance and flashiness than substance.
I think they spent a good amount of time at the beginning developing high quality workbooks, PPTs and curriculum that I am sure meets the standards, and then just mentally checked out, hiring sub-par instructors to implement the content. You'll learn nothing, but you'll get your license. Whether you're OK with that is up to you.
By Coral Prawn on October 4, 2013 Verified by Guest
I just passed my road test today thanks to this school. My driving instructor was great and really helped me become a confident driver. 5 Stars!
By SABRE on July 20, 2011 Verified by Email
Had a great time in the class except for some boring & old videos. My in car instructor was very patient & taught me an easy way to parallel park. The sad thing is at the end I failed my road test. I had this really mean examiner that failed me for taking too long turning left on an amber light.
By Western Driving Academy
My examiner was a female, an older English women. She was friendly & helpful. She noted the speed limits for me on the main roads. You can request for a different examiner for you next road test. Good luck!
By MARC1 on July 19, 2011 Verified by Email
Took the course last month & I passed my road test today. Thank you western for helping me get my license.
By Western Driving Academy
Did you get a male or female examiner? I heard of this one guy examiner who is very friendly & passes everyone. With my luck I got this rude guy I think his name was lanard or leon spoke so fast couldn't understand WTF he's saying, & after he fails me throws my g1 card in my face & tells me to go & read the drivers handbook. I could not understand how someone can do that & not get fired.
By Western Driving Academy
@SABRE His name is Leon, I had him for my road test as well. My driving instructor told me he'd be a jerk and to be prepared to kiss his a** if I wanted my license. I completed my road test almost perfectly (only 2 minor errors noted on my carbon copy of the test sheet), but at the end of the test Leon acted like I almost killed everyone on the road. He was condescending and demanded that I review the driver's handbook if he gave me my license, so I assured him I would. He's on a power trip. Either you patronize him and play into his nonsense or, if you're a girl, wear a low cut shirt and you'll pass no problem. He's a pig.
By Apoc on June 26, 2011 Verified by Email
Their head office is unprofessional and incredibly difficult to get a hold of. Their website incorrectly lists their hours of operation and the driving instructors are just as disorganized. Spent an entire day playing phone-tag with the guy who was supposed to be teaching me, and every time I got him on the phone he told me he'd call me back in an hour (which turned into 6 hours). The day of my lesson he showed up an hour early wondering where I was, moved way faster than I was comfortable as a new driver...and after the lesson was over he was very pushy trying to get me to buy a lesson plan for hundreds of dollars. We re-scheduled for the same day and time the following week, and when it finally rolled around he didn't show up. I called and he tried to blame ME for not making an appointment and tried to tell me how organized and thorough he is. To sum up the experience: unprofessional service from start to finish. Spend your money elsewhere, there's plenty of other, better choices.
By Western Driving Academy
Lol...you had a bad experience with an instructor so you put the whole school down. You sounds like the competition to me.
By Western Driving Academy
@MARC1 He is/was an employee of WDA and therefore represents their interests. His behaviour reflects badly on the company, and so it is fair to deride such a company for employing someone with such shoddy practices. As I said, their office is disorganized and unprofessional as well. The receptionists operate haphazardly and didn't seem to care at all when I contacted them about the driving instructor who stood me up. I'm not "the competition", I'm a university student who was very eager to get their license but didn't have access to a car, so I enrolled for driving lessons to gain practice. I wouldn't be surprised if you're the instructor I badmouthed.
By Demelo on April 24, 2009 Verified by Email
This school is awesome. Their new location is amazing.
I mean really, really amazing. I shopped around & nothing tops wda. Stop in & see for yourself. My friends always talking about wda...wda...wda. I said to myself whats with all fuss,
until I actually took the course. Now I refer all my friends their. Awesome school, awesome location, awesome website, & friendly service too:)
By Western Driving Academy
Clearly this review has been written by a staff member of WDA...the tone and grammar are not that of a laymen review. It'd be a little more convincing if your review didn't read like a late-night television advertisement.
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Western Driving Academy 3.7 out of 5.0 based on 9 user reviews.
Western Driving Academy
25 Base Line Rd W, London, ON
25 Base Line Rd W, London, ON
Additional Locations See All
Western Driving Academy - (WDA)
785 Wonderland Rd S, London, ON (3 Km Away)
Western Driving School Ltd
20 Washington St, Corner Brook, NL (1914 Km Away)