Never before have I written a negative review, but I am so disappointed, upset and frustrated with driving instructor Martha Elba Ortega, that I want to warn people not to spend their money on her. I first reached out to her over the phone. She told me it was $395 for the three 2-hour sessions. I asked her if I could pay her half at the beginning and the other half at the end. She said yes. When she picked up my son for the first session, I Zelled her $200. 2nd session, she was no call. no show. When I was able to reach her to ask her where she was or what happened, she said she apologized as she did not write our appointment down in her book so we had to reschedule. When that day came, she had my son call me saying she needed payment. I called her and reminded her of our arrangement, and she denied the whole thing. She said I had to pay the whole $395 up front or per session. So I asked her why did she accept the first $200 I sent her? She said I needed to Zelle her $100. So I did. 3rd session was scheduled for June 19th. I remember perfectly because it's the Juneteenth holiday and I was off work. She text me Thursday, June 18 at 2 p.m. asking if we had an appointment, I responded that we did and then quickly clarified that our appointment was the next day. She did not reply so I called her. When we spoke on the phone, she said that she had us down for the 18th and that she was all booked for Friday Juneteenth. We had to reschedule yet again. 3rd session, she shows up 30 mins late and again has my son call me from her car, asking that I pay her $150. I told her I only owed her $95. She was demanding $150. needless to say that 3rd session did not happen. I had my son step out of her vehicle and told her that I would be reporting her to the Better Business Bureau. I wish I would have read Cj S.'s review before reaching out to this very unprofessional lady. read more

Remember these words, you get what you pay for! If you want to be frustrated and confused, have appointments made only to be told I'm in Temecula today? This place is for you! If you want to get the job done go to AAA and pay a little more and get quality instruction and service, my 2 cents read more

Communication is horrendous. Had all 3 appts scheduled to knock them out. Day 1, shows up late. Day 2, never shows up. I call to get an ETA and get a response of "Wait was that today ." Day 3, never happened because we cancelled her services. Save your headache and put your money somewhere else to get those done. read more

My driving instructor, Martha, was amazing to say the least. Being taught to improve my driving and prepare for the test was a breeze with Aery driving school. The price is well below other businesses but, provides the same benefits. My test is coming up and I am overly confident about the rules of the road enough to feel safe and comfortable. Thank you again. read more

Very unprofessional, I should have known since booking was so difficult, I had to call myself to confirm the appointment, the day of the class she arrived 30 mins late. Did not teach me absolutely nothing, spend the two hours talking soooo much about herself and her life I couldn't even focus on the wheel. Asked her to teach me to parallel park and she said that was not required for the DMV behind the wheel test and kept talking about other clients ! ! Had a headache by the end of the lesson cause of how annoying this lady is. Lost my money and my time do not recommend at all read more

I did not use this school for my teenagers; I went through AAA. I had a bad experience with one of their drivers who I think might be an instructor. Yesterday, (8/15/2024) I was driving down E. La Cadena and a car was tailgating me. Then at the intersection of Columbia and E. La Cadena they swerved to the right lane with no signal light and they were still tailgating me. So, I put my left hand signal to get out of the way and change lanes. When the driver rolled up to me she looked at me and I was not sure what it was for because she was the erratic driver. Needless to say, after reviewing their website I can understand many of the negative review. Hoping they do a better job in the future. read more

Aery Driving School - Driving Schools Near Me - Riverside, California

they were on time professional, and polite. we were very happy with our choice. also the least exspensive i found online. thank you John read more

Please don't use this company. Read the reviews. Not trust worthy. If the rates are too low, there is probably a reason.

After you paid in full ( she demanded cash ) , it is very hard to get hold of her, schedule driving lessons and she only showed up the first one to get paid , then no show for the two remaining classes, very very hard to deal with, not to mention she wasted my time for the appointments that she did not even show up. I wish I read these comments before paying her for the service . I will be looking at filing complaints through DMV , she is clearly not qualified to have a business!!! Not even worth a star to be honest!!! read more

Was commuting to work the other day and saw a car from this company speeding and cutting everyone off LOL. Based off the accidents they almost caused in about 2 minutes I'd steer clear of this "company" at all costs. read more

Don't call back. Horrible about scheduling. Will block your number after you paid and won't get back to you.

My son has had one lesson so far and it was great he enjoyed driving with Ruby. He is definitely looking forward to his next lessons and then getting his license. Thank Martha for helping us out getting him an appointment say day for his first lesson read more

If I could leave zero stars, I would. My first red flag was when I called for pricing and to schedule my daughter's first appointment. Marta told me the cost was $255, but she wanted payment in full up front, instead of installments (many other companies I called, although they were more expensive, in the $300 - $350 range, allowed payment per lesson). I told her I would only schedule if I was allowed to make payments per lesson, and she finally agreed. The first lesson was great. The woman (not Marta) that instructed my daughter was patient and my daughter really liked her, so I requested that the next 2 lessons be given by the same woman. We scheduled the next lesson for 10 days later. The day before our appointment, Marta called to explain that the female instructor we initially had was no longer available. I asked Marta to try and find us another female driver, because my daughter feels more comfortable with a female instructor. Marta said she would try and would call me back. She never called me back. The next morning, no driver showed up for our 11am appointment. When I called to ask why nobody showed up, Marta claimed that I had cancelled the appointment the day before because she didn't have a female driver. I did not cancel, I merely requested that she try to find us another female driver. I am extremely glad that I did not pay Aery Driving School in full and up front. read more

Called and was put on hold for a long time then was hung up on. Called back lady said I hung up. No but moving on asked about drive time for teen and she couldn't give me a straight answer. Asked about the bonding and she put me on hold again and hung up on me after being on hold for 5 min. Seriously?!? Called back again and once again she said I hung up. She couldn't give me a straight answer put me on hold AGAIN two minutes later I hung up. Call Tina she's cheaper, available, bonded, licensed, and professional. 951-329-2717 Oh and she has a brand new car that has that awful brakes on both sides I was permanently scarred with when I was learning. read more

I am very happy with the service I received from this school. The wait for a lesson was not long, and the instructors were very thorough. It made the challenge of giving my license considerably more comfortable. I am confident I will be a much safer driver in thanks to this school. read more

They come to you! The only complaint is they are sometimes slow to respond by text. I got through must faster by calling. My daughter enjoyed her experience and felt much more confident behind the wheel. read more

HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED Their service is honestly the worst I have ever experienced from any driving instruction school. On the website, the contacts provided tells you that there are 2 phone numbers and a text number. The text number goes directly to one of their instructors named Martha. She really is not the best communicator because she makes a lot of assumptions, is not the best listener, and is not organized. She had red flags from the start. First, it was really hard to set up a time for the lesson, because communicating a good time with her was super inefficient since she would send 2 random times first and then proceed to ask what time works for you. Then on the day of the scheduled lesson, she was 2 hours late and I had to contact her first to figure out what was going on. She blamed the front office, but that was not understandable since I contacted her directly. During the lesson, she was very disorganized as she was constantly looking for her stuff and she seemed like she had other agendas on her mind cause while I was trying to follow what she was telling me to do, she would also plug how she will teach anyone, her experience, and asking me about my younger brother. Like hello, I am your current student She had me stop for her to go to the restroom costing me 20 minutes of my lesson time, since we left at 5PM and came back at 7PM. Right at the end is when she says "I need $110 for this single lesson." That's when I caught on she did not understand that I wanted the promo. I told her that there was a misunderstanding, and her response was to pay her now and call the office tomorrow to fix this (She assured me it could be fixed). She had texted me that there was a promo for the Riverside area where you could get 6 hours behind the wheel for $249. I had confirmed that this was the deal I wanted, but she had somehow confused me wanting the promo with only wanting a single lesson. All she told me was that it would be $110 for the first lesson. I thought she was telling me to pay in payments, but it was actually a misunderstanding. When I called the main office, the girl over the phone told me there was nothing that could be done because I was enrolled for single lessons and I was constantly told that the website establishes that once enrolled, you cannot change it. I had another lesson scheduled right after this. Right before the scheduled time, Martha called me and asked me if I was still doing the lesson. She then proceeds to tell me the fix cannot be done because on the website, it says so. I reminded her of what she had previously said to me, and for about 20 minutes, she continuously tried to convince me she did not say it could be fixed and that she was right. I genuinely tried to work it out with her but her responses kept revolving around it being completely on me, that she needs to pay for bills, and finally came to telling me to find somewhere else cause they are cheaper. The whole reason I contacted this place was because they had the best price deal. As a working girl, I understand the hustle to pay the bills, but if this was just a service as she kept telling me, it was not good, and I'm upset my money I earned from my minimum wage job went to this. This review is one of the longest I have ever written, but it was necessary to express my frustration with a place that cost me my hard earned money from bad communication. From seeing other reviews, it is very clear that Martha is caring and can teach, but you also have to take into consideration that she is not a great communicator, disorganized, and her lessons are only effective if you are aware of what you need to work on. None of the staff is great at communication actually. This place just really needs to take the time to work on their business end, so if you want effective and efficient instruction for a good deal, this is not the place to go. read more

Aery Driving School - This is just a section of how difficult it was to schedule and communicate - Driving Schools Near Me - Riverside, California

No show! No follow up. No communication. No explanation or apology for wasting our time. This company is NOT worth your time. This was very disappointing for my son who was excited about this. They were a no show. We called but they did not pick up the phone and got not return call, no confirmation etc. They required cash so we had it ready but that was a waste of time. Zero stars would have been better. Wish we read the reviews prior to booking here. read more

My Instructor was great, always on time, friendly, and professional. I used this driving school twice so I 100% recommend it. Plus, I passed my driving test! read more

Im very disappointed with this school first of all Martha was not professional at all she would not remember the information given to her about my son in one of the lesson he was scheduled by Martha and confirmed the night before once again by Martha he was pick up by instructor and 40 mins later she drop him off because they over lap another person same time same day by Martha I call this lady Martha and her excuse was I thought you said this was his scheduled I said you confirmed with me anyways he got reschedule for next day she had told me he would get his full 2 hrs and nope he only got one hr again Martha then he was schedule today for the DMV driving test and few hrs before she txt me saying instructor call out sick i reply to her asking ok when is he reschedule few hrs pass by no txt back from Martha I call her with block number she answer me and told me to look for another school because she was busy I was like wow. read more

I paid $225 for my driving lessons. It started off well she seemed to know what she know what she was doing. The driving instructor told me she was going to send me the receipt but they never sent me the receipt. We had to drive to the Riverside office to see what was happening but their office was deserted and was in a very sketchy area behind the Target off of Arlington. They haven't returned our calls. We basically got scammed, if I could give 0 stars I would. read more

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Steer clear of this company. We paid for 10 hours, Martha showed up, took our money and provide a "2 hour" class which was cut short because she needed to fill out paperwork?? Then she was a no-show, no-call twice! We had to file a grievance with our bank to get our money back. Avoid Martha like the plague. read more

I called to schedule a 2 hour driving lesson, and for a car rental on the day of my driving test. Everything was settled and paid for over the phone, and I was told that I would be picked up 1 hour before my driving test, which was also what their website states. The day of my driving test, which was scheduled for 3:40PM, I was expecting to be picked up by my instructor, Martha, at 2:40 like we had agreed. When it was 2:50, Martha still hadn't arrived so I called them. The lady who answered told me Martha was on her way. By 3, Martha STILL didn't show up, so I called again and Martha then told me someone else would be getting me and that she was around the corner. At 3:15, someone finally arrived (I think her name was Alejandra), and she even said herself that she didn't know what was going on, and that she was just told last minute to come pick up a student and take me to the DMV, which by the way, she had never done before. ALSO, she didn't even bring her license and only had her permit on her, so she had to call Martha and tell her to meet us at the DMV because the DMV needs the instructor's license since I'm borrowing their car. At this point, I'm extremely nervous and worried that I'll be late, which is NOT how I should be feeling before my driving test. Once we get to the DMV at 3:35, I check in and thank goodness made it on time. While we were waiting, I asked Martha why she was 45 minutes late picking me up, and she kept dodging my question by saying things like "The reason we schedule early pick ups is so that you have time to check in at the DMV" and "But you're here on time right?" YES, an early pick up was scheduled for 2:40, but no one arrived until 3:15, and honestly if I hadn't called I don't think they even remembered that I was scheduled for that day! Everything was very unprofessional. As for the driving lesson with Martha, I thought it was mediocre. I didn't feel like I learned anything from her, and she was pretty disorganized. She also seemed nervous during our lesson, which made ME nervous. I DO NOT recommend this driving school!!!! read more

This driving school was worth the money. I paid $299 for three, two-hour lessons. They are located in Riverside and they drove to San Bernardino to pick up my son for his lesson. They drove for two hours each lesson. So considering gas prices these days it was more than fair. We had an issue with appointment times but it was corrected by the company after some discussion. Highly recommend read more

First of all, I was quoted over the phone a specific amount. When the lady came to pick up my son, she tried to add tax. I asked her why is she charging me tax? She told me, she has to pay taxes. Anyways, I don't think it is legal to charge tax for a service, but if someone can prove me wrong, please let me know. She opted to not charge me tax to keep my business. My son told me, that she would have him stop the car so she could talk on her cell phone. I managed to avoid her tax, but not her phone bill. The second time my son was picked up, it was a young man. When my son came back, the trainer told me that he didn't feel he had the experience to teach my son. My advice is do your homework, pay a little more and get a professional to teach your loved ones. I am a professional driver by trade and didn't care for some of the things that was being taught. All in all, I was paying Aery driving school to sign my son off for the 6 hour mandatory training and we did get that. But, if I had to do it all over again, I would definately hire someone else. Good luck! read more

Martha does not have the skill to teach you anything special about driving. She should not even be allowed to own a business. She will quote you at a certain price on the phone, Then wait until she is done "teaching" her lesson to try and charge you double. She told me that I should have known how much it was because it was clearly on her website and proceeded to argue with me in a very aggressive manor. Instead of de-escalating the situation like any normal business owner, she just screamed and acted like a child and continued trying to bait me into arguing with her. I remained calm and exited the vehicle. I just wanted to warn people that if you purchase services with Martha and end up needing a refund, you will have to get a lawyer in order to get your money back. read more

Martha is a wonderful driving instructor. She has provided me with the necessary constructive feedback to become a better and safer driver. She is also very understanding and patient. Her motto that "anyone can learn to drive" is also very encouraging and motivating. She emphasizes the idea that anyone can learn to drive. One just needs the will and the practice. Martha will help you a lot throughout your lessons. I definitely recommend her driving lessons to any new drivers and/or to drivers who need a refresher. read more

Took my first lesson here and I liked it a lot. Martha really cares bout driving and teaches you things that are necessary to drive safely. 10 outta 10 would recommend read more

Terrible experience. Would give 0 stars if I could. I paid for 3 driving lessons and got 2. I am a very understanding and tolerable person but I've had red flags from the start. "Martha" hasn't been on time for any of my lessons. And each driving lesson I've had, she takes more than a 10 minute bathroom/Starbucks break and doesn't extend the 2 hour lessons, so it's cut short. She's very disorganized, papers scrambled all over the car and her way of "organizing" is gathering all of the papers and putting them on a clipboard. At one point she couldn't find my permit. She also took the time to answer a phone call with another driving instructor to give advice. Why waste a student's time and stop on the side of the road, if the person you're calling is supposed to be a QUALIFIED driving instructor?? I was supposed to have a lesson last week, but she canceled and called in sick 4 minutes before my lesson was about to start! Unbelievable. I just let it pass, and rescheduled to get the last lesson over with. Today I was supposed to take the 3rd (last lesson) since she called in sick to the last one. She came 45 MINUTES LATE and said she stopped for a bathroom break. I confronted her and told her that all of this behavior has been unacceptable. She wouldn't allow me to get any means of a refund and had the audacity to say that I shouldn't have waited 45 minutes outside. How would I know? She told me it would be a 10 minute wait. She has no respect for anyone's time. Definitely check out other driving schools, unless you want to waste your time AND money here. I thought her name was Elvira this whole time, and it wasn't until I asked for a refund when she corrected me. Here's our texts and the voicemail she sent me 4 minutes before my 10am lesson. What a mess. read more

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Very easy to understand as well as helpful to relieve fear of driving. Not only are the tips very useful but the teacher and teaching are of the best. read more

I had Martha as a driver, she was great and made me feel more confident about taking my test! She was very clear and she even had notes to help. She made me very comfortable and I definitely recomend her! read more

I got my lessons very quickly and they even worked with my schedule so I could have them in consecutive order. My instructor was very nice and very thorough. She went above and beyond to teach me what I needed to know so I could be a good driver. Definitely worth the time and money. read more