If you want a Filipino old man as an "instructor" that will be on the phone (and have the person on speaker) 90% of the time while "teaching" you how to drive, this is the man for you. I consider myself still a newbie when it comes to driving, so I was hoping this guy would actually teach and explain to me tips and tricks when I'm on the road. He kiiiind of did that, but by the second session he literally made me drive all the way to Kaneohe from Waipahu (when I really wasn't comfortable driving on the freeway yet). When I tried to ask him questions, he got kind of mad and said "don't ask me questions because on the road test you're not supposed to ask the instructor questions." I get that... but you're not the actual road test guy. I wanted him to teach me and critique my driving, but I felt like I was a personal uber driver to him while he made phone calls to different people. One of them was even to check if the money he sent to the Philippines was received. Um.... yeah.
I only went two sessions with him, and I don't want to go back. I'm mainly upset because he made me pay him a one time fee of $750 in cash and I can't get that money back. I feel scammed.
Oh yeah, and during my second session with him, he made me pick up another student, so there were two of us in the car and we took turns in the drivers seat. (This is illegal on so many levels)
AND ON TOP OF THAT, he is horrible at communicating. In the car, we would settle on a date and time for our next session, but he ended up not showing up or following up. One time I called him, he didn't pick up. But he called back the same day and we confirmed a date. Then the next day, he called again asking what day and time I'm free. ??????? I really don't think he should teach.... he's old and forgetful.
The first red flag for me was his car. His front bumper on the driver's side was kind of broken and he held it together with tape. The second red flag was when I opened the passenger door and the seat was messy. The third red flag was seeing the back seats of his car and seeing a shit ton of bottles, cans, a pastry wrapper, and uncooked rice spilt all over the floor. He also has an electric shaver and he shaved WHILE I WAS DRIVING. I feel like I could've gotten covid in the car. Really disgusting. read more