The process for scheduling behind the wheel lessons is beyond frustrating and extremely inefficient. For reference I had two other children go through their school's behind the wheel program. They were contacted and all 3 behind the wheel sessions were scheduled at once. They communicated with us when one of my children hadn't scheduled yet, to let us know they'd expire soon. However, at Safeway they let my sons expire, without communicating this. I had to call and pay $50 to extend it. I then tried to schedule these lessons online but as soon as they're released, they're gone. I called to explain how tedious and inefficient this process is and was told he could get on the schedule for a Tuesday at 12:15 during school. I explained how ridiculous that is and was offered one more appointment for a month later a few cities away. I took it and then wanted to schedule the other two lessons. I was told no, I would have to wait until the end of the month again and try to get in when everyone else is and the appointments are gone fast! And then I would have to do that again the next month! I requested a refund so I can do behind the wheel lessons elsewhere. Supposedly I'll be getting a check for $150 in the mail. I will be reporting this scam of a business to the better business bureau as well. Not only do they have a ridiculous process: they also don't apologize for it and just repeat the same information without hearing the issues for what they are. Do not go here for behind the wheel lessons! Save yourself the hours I spent trying to get what I paid for. read more

This isn't a location specific review, but a review of how the company operates overall, specifically related to the scheduling and completion of behind the wheel "lessons." We had no problem with the classroom portion, and I would consider that route again for my next teen when she's ready to begin. The company takes on far more students than they have driving instructors for, which ends up requiring you call to try to schedule a lesson, then drive an hour to a lesson site. If you need to reschedule a lesson you are required to give at least 24 hours notice (which doesn't include weekend hours, so you'd need to cancel Friday for a Monday lesson) or pay an extra fine. However, they can cancel last minute without hesitation. We received a cancelation notice 2.5 hours prior to a lesson. If you don't want the inconvenience of driving an hour away for lessons because your area fills up, you will be charged a fee for extending the time it takes to complete the three behind the wheel sessions if it takes longer than a year from the day you sign up for the classroom portion. One might think a year is plenty of time, and it may be for families with two parents, one job, one kid, and no after school activities. However, if you juggle multiple kids/jobs/schedules/sports/after school activities, you may be putting a LOT of time into trying to make it work with Safeway. Also, know ahead of time that the lessons are evaluations, there is no instruction happening. Make sure your driver is proficient and able to pass their behind the wheel test before you start scheduling the behind the wheel sessions. All they do is go down a list of skills and check off whether the driver is proficient yet or not. I'm told by the person in the office that it's left to the individual instructor how they conduct a session, meaning there is no consistency, and no expectations from the driving instructors--may the odds be ever in your favor. If you have ANY other option for driving lessons, I would choose those. If you have no other option, love frustration, and you're ready to make getting your teen their license a part-time job, go with Safeway. read more

* Difficult to schedule Behind the Wheel sessions. Started trying in June. Online you get constant messages claiming they're hiring and new times will be added the next week, but the availability never seems to improve. * 3 months later, I finally got my son a mid-Sept apt and had to cancel because he woke up with strep throat. Couldn't get another appointment online so I called and got a late November apt. Of course my kid came down with the flu late the night before (after they closed). Called every five minutes from when they opened until I reached someone half hour later. They charged me $75 even though I was canceling more than 7 hours before the lesson. They insisted there was nothing they could do. I asked if they'd prefer to wave the fee or for me to bring him to the lesson sick and infect their employees? They canceled the lesson and charged the fee. I don't appreciate a ridiculous fee for something I have no control over after paying hundreds of dollars for the program already. I'd gladly provide proof (notification to school, Dr apt, lab work, etc) that my son was indeed sick and not just skipping the lesson because he thought he had something better to do. I will not recommend Safeway and I will not use them with my next two sons. * Safeway called me to reschedule my son's next lesson after one of their instructors "became unavailable." Now I wish I'd said no to rescheduling and then insisted they give me a $75 credit when they were forced to cancel on me. read more

It is SO difficult to schedule behind the wheel lessons, especially for people that have busy lives and can't constantly check. If you can't schedule the lessons wuthin their time frame, you'll be charged another $50. This is set up for parents to fail. Also, when you try to call them it sounds like they took the phone off the hook. They need to do better. read more

so far we have had two behind the wheel lessons cancelled in a row. one with less than 2 hours notice and one never even told us! and that was after waiting 2 months for our appointment. terrible service! do not go here read more

the website to do online learning is very laggy and slow. will make your expirence to learn driving terrible

Not this location specifically, but the company. I can't believe that they make the process so difficult. Insufficient communication, appointment cancelled by them yet no further information on how to proceed. read more

Yeah ditto to what Eric L. says. It is nearly impossible to book a behind the wheel, forcing kids to wait months past their birthdates. Nothing open online, called in got ONE booked, wouldn't let me book the other two stating July will open up eventually, so that mad rush like booking concert ticket stress is forthcoming. If you couldn't handle Total Controls workload, WHY ON EARTH DID YOU BUY THEM OUT? Hire some people for crying out loud! read more

READ THE REVIEWS. The same themes pops up over and over! If you do not have hours to spend scheduling your child's behind the wheel lesson, do not book Drivers Ed/Behind the wheel lessons with this company. They are so overbooked that making a behind the wheel lesson appt is virtually impossible. They make you book each of the 3 lessons at least 3 weeks apart due to being overbooked (which must also mean understaffed?). When you are unable to find online appts you are redirected to call the phone number. Then you leave a message because "all representatives are busy", and to date I have never had a call back. We have always just had to call over and over to finally reach a person. The classroom lessons are fine, but the rest of it is just not workable for busy households. We are still waiting to book our 3rd lesson and cannot reach a person after countless calls. read more

They don't communicate important details well or they do it thru your teen who doesn't understand the importance. We have busy work schedules and our teen is busy with sports, and they didn't inform us that behind the wheel was not covered unless you got the sessions done within a year. I found out by email the day after the year was up and they charged you to extend 'the service contract'. I called in to try to negotiate since we had been trying to schedule for over a month and there has been no availability in our area. Going thru the HS for our other teen was so much easier and free with no excess fees. read more

I would not recommend this driving school. We had a driving instructor cancel one hour before my daughter's behind the wheel session. I couldn't get her in for another month. THEY charge you $75 to cancel but there is not refund for when they cancel on you. I am on a waitlist to make sure I can get the last two behind the wheel sessions in and I don't trust they will call me. They don't answer phones or return calls. I am very disappointed in the behind the wheel portion and customer service department at Safeway Driving School. read more

This company has been terrible to work with setting up behind the wheel lessons. The local company my daughter took her driver's Ed classes was bought out right after completion. There have been very very limited sessions open within 1 hour of our house. They are unwilling to work with the customer or allow lessons less than 30 days between, even when this is after the student's 16th birthday. The behind the wheel session was good, but the company is horrible. They lack communication and are disrespectful and unwilling to work with the customer. Do not use this company if you have any other options. read more

Scheduling behind the wheels with Safeway is nearly impossible. They never have openings and are clearly way under staffed. It's very disappointing. Wish we would have gone with a different Driver's Ed program! Safeway is AWFUL! Update: I just spoke with someone at Safeway who was actually awful on the phone. She was clearly in a bad mood and did not want to help. Absolutely terrible customer service! read more

Drivers are very rude and engage in road rage, cut people off on the road and are just rude. Would not want my kids learning how to drive with them. read more

For our first son Safeway worked because he himself was in a rush and plowed through the training etc. With our 2nd son he has been more conservative and wanted more practice between lessons which extended his time. By being careful and causious we now have to pay an additional $50 to extend the time he can take behind the wheel? Why would it cost $50 to let him proceed at his own pace instead of rushing him through it? I would recommend finding another driving school. read more

Crappy customer service. Always very rude when I call and not willing to help with anything. It's damn near impossible to schedule anything and I understand spots fill up fast for BTW but the rudeness is garbage. I asked to be put on a wait list and was told there was "no point" since there were already like 50 people ahead of me. I didn't ask for opinion, I asked to be put on the list. read more

I have 4 kids and am so happy we went with Safeway for the last 2. They do a wonderful job and are very thorough.

First I booked driving lessons for my son with another local driving school, they never showed up, never returned my calls. We waited for nearly 4 hours once because they told us they were running late, only for them never to show up, talk about frustration hardly the "A" experience. I called Safeway and they were wonderful, I received email reminders and they were right on time, even a couple minutes early. My son loved his instructors and he passed his driving test the very first time. I would very highly endorse them. Wonderful experience. read more

My son completed drivers ed with Safeway. Paid for behind the wheel thinking he would be successful in passing the permit test. After 2 failed attempts, we are running out of time with the behind the wheel and will likely have to pay $50 to extend the time or we lose the $200 we spent on behind the wheel. He's an A student. I just can't recommend this school. Go with AAA. read more