Go for it, If you can wait 3~4 months to schedule your driving sessions (for 1 session, and you have to take 4~16 different sessions.remember) - they call it slightly longer have on their website. - getting students far more than their capa. Also best for you if you don't need to call them. They seldom answer. Too short staffed to answer the phone, so keep it ringing. Besides, you don't get to know the available schedule (btw) before you pay and complete written part. You are given a link to access. read more

This business does not pay its bills to vendors they do business with! They contracted for an ad at The Mall of Louisiana- the ad posted & they have not paid & do not answer emails or phone calls! Parents-do not sign your kids up for this school! Ron Thomas & the school should be shut down! Buyer beware! read more

Some of the instructors need to be terminated. The first time I took my test the lady clearly said what I did wrong and she was professional. Second test was the worst the guy was lazy drinking and eating in the car and was making me lose focus trying to start conversation with me. Don't go here for a road skills test. read more

Boyfriend Started classes in late April, still hasn't been able to finish the driving course and it is now the day before August. No one ever answers the phone and when they do they tell you to call back later. After the 8 hours of driving were completed they made him take another 2 hours and pay $60 for it even though he didn't need it, and refused to schedule him because they "had to schedule all the kids going to college first", mind you we are going to college an hour away from where we live. Finally got driving time scheduled (hopefully) but nothing is promised. Very bad experience, not worth the price. read more

Does anyone have a contact for the owner? Our home flooded in 2016 and I just need my son's certificate.

They only reason that I am giving this company one star is because there is no option to select no stars. I paid for my daughter to take driving classes from this school because it was nearby and cheaper than some of the others in the area. Just a reminder of that old adage, you get what you pay for! My daughter took the classroom instruction in June 2016 and passed the course. Because she wasn't quite 15 years old, she could not take the road instruction at that time. She was scheduled to take the road instruction in September. Then the 2016 Flood happened in Baton Rouge and that's when it all went down hill from there. Initially, the company sent out an email on August 28th stating that behind the wheel instruction had been suspended because their offices in Baton Rouge and Gonzales were not fully functional due to the flooding. They stated that they hoped to be back up and running in the next few months. However, if you didn't want to wait, they were willing to provide a certificate for completion of the classroom instruction to take to another driving school to complete the 8 hours of road instruction. I email the company on September 28th to request a status update on when they would be re-instating road instruction. They never responded to my email. I called the office on 10/7, 10/13, and 10/18 and got no answer. I finally went to the location to find that the office had moved. I went to the new office and was told that they could issue a certificate for my daughter to take to another driving school. So when I asked if I was expected to pay another school for the behind the wheel (without a refund from Smart Start) I was told yes. I told the representative that I was not interested in doing that because I had already paid them for the service. I, then, asked when did she expect they would be starting road instruction. She told me that she really was not sure but probably in late December. Well, guess what, it's December so I paid them another visit today to find out when they would be providing behind the wheel instruction. The representative told me that the service was suspended and she wasn't sure when they would be providing the service. She did offer the certificate and a form to fill out for a partial refund (not sure how much of a refund). This is absolutely ridiculous! The lack of communication from this company is deplorable. They have not sent any further communication on the status of these services since late August. And now when you call the numbers, you get a message from Eatel stating that you have reached TelAmerica Long Distance service and to call an 800 number. I would not recommend this company to anyone. They need to be out of business. I am also going to file a complaint with the BBB. read more

I finished my classes back in March. They wouldn't let me sign up for the behind the wheel sessions until April. When I tried to sign up, all the dates were filled up until July then when I tried to sign up for the days available, the site was glitching & I had to call to set up my appointments. My first two sessions went a little faster because I told them to call me if someone cancelled on them last minute. I did have a job this summer that I had to take off so I could drive on their time. I was imploring almost daily. They all knew me by name because of how many times I called & how many voicemails I left. I eventually had to go into the actual location to complain because they were no longer picking up my calls or would hang up in my face when I stated my name. I went in to set my driving date and they gave me two times and dates to do my last two days. One was at the Baton Rouge location at 5pm and I had to leave work early to go there. I got there & they told me my appointment was at the Gonzales location when I know for a fact it wasn't because I put it in my calendar as the words came out of the girl's mouth but i just brushed it off. She tried to charge me for missing that appointment and I made my mother call to discuss it. Stressed me out for not only leaving work but losing money on gas, time, & energy. They told me to come in the next day to do it at 2pm.. had to miss work again but I got it done. The second date we set up was at 6am at the Gonzales location. I went at 5:45 then left at 6:30 because there was not a single car in the parking lot and the doors were locked shut. I knocked, I called and nothing. Again with the losing money on gas, time, & energy. After that I called & not only did they not pick up but their voicemail box was full. So I went in to the location and they told me to come in that Monday and they will call me with a time. They didn't ever call... also my state flooded so I wasn't even worried about it. About a week ago I was going to the location to see if anyone was there (they weren't, of course, it was actually closed down), however, I saw the owner going into the store right next to the classroom. I went and talked to him and told him my story so he told me he will help me get my time. Finally, I finished my last 2 hours today in September.. but at least I got it done. read more

This is the worst driving school in Baton Rouge area. Not worth $300. They don't have enough instructors for driving and will not pass student to collect an additional $60. read more

I like the driving school the classes are nice. The only problems I have is that it's always really cold in the rooms, the teachers are not as interactive with the students as they should be and they have a dress code which is stupid. They told that it's a distraction for the boys because they won't be paying attention to the lesson but when I was half of them were on there phones or sleeping and the only ones who cared to be there were actually listening so I don't think girls who wear shorts when 103 degrees outside is distracting when can actually pay attention to something rather than monotone teachers. And they to start getting more driving teachers because they are always booked and we try and call they say they will open more spots and get more people but never do. read more

Don't fall for the okie done! Cheaper is definitely NOT better! If I could do it all over again I would spent the extra money to send my daughter to a PROFESSIONAL driving school. Poor customer service is an understatement. Their customers/students are obviously unimportant since no one ever returns telephone calls when an issue is attempting to be resolved; especially when the issue is dealing with scheduling on the business end. They are DISHONEST! I have been calling for the past two weeks trying to schedule the 8 hour driving portion of the course for my daughter since supposedly the computer system had a "glitch" only to be lied to by the lady answering the phone saying "oh we do all the scheduling now" "what's her name?" "check in the next two days and she should have something scheduled". That's happened three times. Interestingly I was able to access the website this evening only to find the dates I originally tried to select weeks ago were long gone. If you can't efficiently run a company then stop being greedy and continuously opening new locations. My daughter completed the 30 hour classroom portion on June 3, 2016 and won't be able to complete the process until August. It's pathetic!!! I'm giving them one star only because she did at least pass the written exam. read more

DO NOT SEND ANYONE to Smart Start Driving Academy. The instructors took more time on smoke breaks than covering material that is important for your teen to know. The cops were called to class because someone brought a knife. Behind the wheel driving took months to schedule so my teen could not get the permit on time. They never answer the phone, and the mailbox is always full. The behind the wheel driving was a joke as the instructor tells the kids to "run that yellow light" and talked on the phone or sang rap music the entire time. She went over hand signals to convey speed up or slow down. The whole place is very unprofessional. We know several people that Smart Start says they failed the driving test for made-up reasons to collect an additional $60 road skills fee. One friend's parent even heard the workers say that day was the day to fail people to collect more money. Someone needs to shut this place down. And Yelp, please be sure that this review is seen until this unsafe place is out of business. read more

Where do I even begin with the place! Unfortunately a zero star isn't an option bc it's just what this place deserves. We chose this place bc of price and the owner telling us that it wouldn't be a problem to have everything done by my sons 17th birthday, bc we wanted him to be driving himself to school his senior year. So we pay for classes and are told we need to come in to sign paperwork and bring in my sons birth certificate before he can start. Ok fine drive from the Westbank all the way to Gonzales. Fill out paperwork and give copy of his birth certificate. Fast forward to my sons first day of class. He is told they have no paperwork on him INCLUDING HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE! Wait so not only did I waste my time driving all the way there, but my sons birth certificate is now lost or floating around your office somewhere! I was pretty upset to say the least. Called and no answer, left message and was never not once called back. Second day of classes my son is not dropped off until an hour past the drop off time. So we are waiting in a not so safe area for an hour mind you, and come to find out the owner comes in and tells the kids "Oh I forgot about y'all." Nice really nice. Wait it gets better! Last day of classroom my son isn't picked up until an hour passed pick up time! This so called business has absolutely no respect for other people's time! Also on the last day of classroom we realized and not sure if this is legal, but they get drive time done on the way home with a car full of underage kids! An unlicensed kid is getting their driving time done with a car load of other people's children! I don't want a kid that isn't even licensed and can't drive as it is driving my son anywhere!!! Will pass that info to the state as well! My son passes classroom and goes to schedule his driving classes and nothing is available until well into September! We needed it done by August 11th at the latest when school started! Called to speak to someone bc we were told he could fit him in and get the driving done asap. Call after call after call went unanswered and messages unreturned. Drive all the way to Gonzales on my sons birthday to get proof he passed his classroom time and while we were there a state inspector is going in on the owner. Who by the way was yelling and screaming at said inspector which is how he speaks to customers as well, so we figured it was pointless to try to get anywhere with him or his employees. We ended up taking my son to another driving school to complete his driving (another $200) during the time we couldn't get a response from this place. We had that paperwork in hand when we went to get his classroom paperwork. We did not relay that info to them. We left there and went straight to the DMV there, so that if there were any issues with the paperwork from this joke of a place we wouldn't have to go far. Left Gonzales with my sons full license, but no thanks to this place!! We should have just went with a local reputable company to begin with and would have had alot less trouble and less wasted time! Didn't even bother arguing for a refund since driving was never done by these fools. We will file a complaint with the state which was recommended by the other school to get our money back. If that doesn't work we have six months since we paid with PayPal!!! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR PRECIOUS TIME WITH THIS JOKE OF A BUSINESS!!! read more

If I could rate a zero I would. Went there today to get my son's driving started. He was scheduled for 8am to 10am. When we got there they had 2other people that were there to drive at 6am. they were still sitting in office. The owner, Ron Thomas, constantly trying to joke and could not give us any serious answers to questions we had about when the driving would start or when my son would finish his other driving classes. These are the rudest people I ever met in any business. He was all in my son's face pointing his finger at him. My son was afraid of this man. He ended up telling us to leave that he was done with us. I told him if he would of touched my son it would not have been nice. He said if he would of touched my son he would of crushed him. I told him go ahead that I would have the cops there in 5 seconds. These people are very unprofessional. Parents please don't send your teenagers to this place. They will only steal your money. I now have to go and pay another school to get his driving done. Any of the other parents with me who sent there kids there, Please call this number and report them to Department of Motor Vehicles. The number is 225-925-1795. Make sure you let them know about the bond that Smart Start Driving Academy is supposed to have and how you will get your money from them because you paid for something that wasn't fulfilled. read more

I went to smart start last year. I took the class July 1-4. The owners wife was very disrespected. Our instructor had walked out of class to go converse with her so of course we're kids, we're social beings, so we started talking and she yelled SHUT UP. That was extremely rude and uncalled for. We weren't in the middle of a lesson or anything. My own mother doesn't even talk to me like that. Then my instructor had his unprofessional moments as well. Luckily I passed the written and driving test, that's really the only reason why I'm giving this place one star. But here's what really made me mad, remember how i said I took the class the week of July 1-4? Ok on the last day of class, our instructor told us to have our parents call and schedule our road skills time. Ok so a few minutes after leaving from smart start my mother called but the young lady on the other end of the phone told my mom that the lady that does the scheduling was away and she wasn't sure when she'd be back and she told my mom that she'd have the lady call her. Weeks went by and we hadn't heard anything. So my mom finally called them and this was like the middle of July and I wasn't able to get driving time until November and December. So I didn't get my drivers license until 6 months later. And the people that they send u driving with are very unprofessional as well. This whole place just needs to be closed. read more