Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Overbeke's School of Driving's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Overbeke's School of Driving

  23875 Commerce Park Ste 160 Beachwood, OH 44122-5805

• 

  Overbeke's School of Driving

  PO Box 24486 Cleveland, OH 44124-0486

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/21/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Oberkeke placed my daughter with a driver for instruction that did not introduce himself, did not acknowledge the student's presence but rather merely said "Reverse" meaning reverse out of the driveway. He then proceeded to use his cell phone most of the time looking up to tell her "turn right", "go straight" or "turn left." He never told her where they were going. He did not discuss rules of the road or the requirements of the driving test. He was on his phone with his seat lounging back. They kept driving for almost an hour before he said "I need to go to the bank. I will not have time between your lesson and my next client so I have to go now." He told her how to get there and my daughter was not familiar with the area and it started to look rather unkept. He said "wait in the car and to lock the doors." She then called me and said she did not feel safe and she did not understand why she was not getting any instruction. She also did not know where she was and worried about what might happen. He returned after 15 min and then directed her to drive to a parking lot to practice manuvers for about 10 min and then they returned to our home. I called the company twice after she called me and left two messages with my concern for her safety and puzzlement over the lack of drivers ed training. I said I wanted her to have a new instructor. Once my daughter arrived home she burst in to tears stating she did not know where they were going and she was alarmed by the area of town they traveled to in order for him to go to the bank. He did not explain anything about the program and because he never introduced himself she did not know his name. I called the company again and tried to explain what had happened to my daughter and was met with condescension and a statement that he would check the camera but his drivers follow the training required by the state. I asked to go on the next driving lesson and was told no. I would like a refund bc I do not trust them with my daughter.

  Business Response

  Date: 04/25/2025

  Good Morning,

  I had spoken with the parent regarding this situation and while being as respectful as possible and understanding of her concern, I explained that I would look into the matter. Even during that phone call, the parent stated, “Are your Black employees Background Checked,” to which my response was, all Driving Instructors in the state of Ohio are background checked. I explained that all of our driving lessons are recorded. The instructor is over 6 feet tall and wasn’t “Lounging,” but needed the space for him to sit comfortably to be able to do the lesson. The driving instructor uses terminology in order to give directions, as the parent stated in the complaint that no directions were given. The complaint is repetitive but also contradictory. I explained that we, as a driving school do not teach solely for the purpose of passing the driving test and the driving test is not something that is allowed to be taught, as prior to the lesson, the parent requested that the instructor take the student on testing routes to make sure that her daughter passes the driving test on the first try. I explained that it is against the law for driving instructors to go on any testing routes and that on the test, the examiners simply give directions and do not converse with the student. We have a strong policy to limit the dialogue in the vehicle to drivers education only, to avoid any miscommunication or anything that can be misconstrued. Unlike, other driving schools, we pick up and drop off from wherever our students need us to, which is sometimes not a familiar area for the instructor. The instructor was using his phone for the GPS directions. In response to her request, and that she wanted to go to a different driving school, I processed a refund which already went back to her credit card, after we completed that phone call. She stated that she wanted to go to a different driving school, and I stated that that was completely her prerogative. Attached, please find the receipt that shows the refund.

  Thank you
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/05/2025

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response provided by the business regarding complaint ID ********, and I find the resolution is satisfactory. 
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ****** ******
  
  
  
  Hi Melissa, I was able to confirm that the driving school did, in fact, refund our payment so we are satisfied with the resolution of this case. Please make this in our file that is was successfully resolved. Thank you for your assistance in this matter. It is greatly appreciated.

  
  

  ******
  

  Sent from my iPhone

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/21/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid for lessons in advance. I was only able to do one in-car lessons before my father passed. I let the owner's wife who does the scheduling know that I couldn't scheduling my next lesson because of my father's death and she told me that it was okay and to just contact them when I was ready to start back up again. I emailed her to ask about scheduling for lessons and she said because I took so long that I couldn't receive a refund and that I she wouldn't schedule me for lessons. I didn't ask for a refund just to receive the lessons that I already paid for. I haven't received a response about scheduling lessons and she said I can't have a refund. I don't think that is fair.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/22/2024

  Good morning,

  thank you for contacting us. Ms. ******** emailed and asked to take an online adult course for which we said, we are not the owners of the online course. This is a completely different company and therefore a different payment, separate from our school. I we can certainly offer her another lesson, but that she needed to give us dates of availability for which we received no response. We are more than happy to provide her with her second lesson and we were apologetic of the fact that she lost her father. Our summer months in this business book quite quickly, but under no circumstance did we say that we would not schedule her for her additional lesson. The refund had nothing to do with timing, it had to do with signing a no refund policy.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/16/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid $412 for these driving classes. During these zoom classes the instructor mostly talked about California and his old car he drives. My daughter did not pass the first test and the company was not accommodating for a new date even though they stated in the email that they would be. After several text messages we figured out a solution. Well my daughter showed up for the class and no one was there. The instructor was 40 minutes late. So my daughter missed her first soccer game because they couldn’t be on time. Regardless of that the instructor was playing with pieces of his gun while students were taking a test. His son was also running around being a distraction. My daughter was asked if she took the test already and she said yes but the instructor continued to make her take that test and then proceeded to make her take a second test because she wasn’t supposed to retake the same test. She was informed she did not pass. I called the driving school and had a heated conversation about what happened. Ari repeatedly made excuses as to why he was late or why he was there and blamed my daughter for not passing the test the first time. He preceded to say it’s his federal right to carry a gun. He denied what my daughter said but it was confirmed by three other students. I demand my money back. This was a waste of time and a trauma to my daughter.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/25/2023

  Ari K******* gave verbal response to BBB staff (**):

  I own Overbeke School of Driving.  We are licensed through the state of Ohio as a driving school for teens, licensed bonded and insured. The student that’s in question, the mom is ***** ****** and the student is **** ******.  They have also made the same complaint to the Ohio Traffic Safety office.  They are under the jurisdiction of the State Highway Patrol and the Governors office. All driver training, all investigations go through their office and then they contact us. We spoke with the state.  There was no proof whatsoever that based on the alleged that I was playing with a handgun. There is no proof of that.  I am allowed, by law to carry on my property. And I was doing so.  I am also licensed to carry.  And its for my protection, for my schools protection and is under the Governor's law.  I don’t play with a handgun.  A. that’s not something that is taken lightly and B. its not something that I do.  The fact that she saw that I had one on my person, its my right to carry.  Its my bear arms.  If they have a problem with that, that’s completely up to them but its not against the law. The fact that the mother is claiming that several students told her the same things, there is no basis to it.  Because, again its my right to bear arms. Also, there was no time for me to be doing such a thing. Because I was issuing a driving test to all the students that were there. She is correct in the fact that we were late to the scheduled test.  I had pneumonia and I wasn’t supposed to be the one going to the test and my driving instructor unfortunately was delayed because of traffic.  Things like that can happen, however we were in touch with students that were there letting them know that we were on the way to take care of them.  We offer the driving test, the in class test, we are legally required to offer it one time each month.  We offer it 3 times each month to accommodate the students.  We offer it once at the first lesson of the month at 5pm before the lessons for students who have already completed their in classes.  We have one that is offered the day that we offer the final lesson, lesson 10 we offer at 5pm that day before the class starts for students that have completed all 10 lessons.  And, we offer one after that last class, the same day for students who are sitting in for lesson 10 and they are doing so because that is there last lesson and they are there in person at 6pm for the final test that takes place at 8:30 at the end of class.  So, it is offered 3 times and students are able to take it 3 times.  We are not required to offer it that many times but we do so to assist the students in getting the lessons done.  With regards to the information that we provide to students during the lesson.  Lessons can be taken in 2 different formats in the state of Ohio. The first is in class, in person or on Zoom as the same package.  The students can come in person at 6pm to our office. Or do it at the same time the class is being taken in person, they can go on Zoom to observe the class in that format.  Something the Governor put in place during Covid. Students can also take the driving school course online on a self-paced program.  It’s a contract that we have with another company, its self paced and they can do so on their own. Its got to be 51% state specific.  We do not offer that specific course.  Again it is a contracted location that students have the ability to go to and are not required to go to ours. But, this student chose to go to our in person classes, which is the recommended way of taking drivers education as it is 100% state specific. The mother is claiming that the driving instructor only spoke about his car in California.  I was on those Zoom calls as well, the driving instructor teaches 3 curriculum one is the Ohio Drivers Ed curriculum which is run by the Ohio Traffic Safety office.  The second is Adtsea.  It is an independent organization that does driver training and its much more in depth and I like that course and its approved for me to use.  We also use a curriculum that I personally worked on and have copies and approvals from the state for all of these.  Everyone of those classes is taught by a licensed driving instructor.  We discuss things that are outside of Ohio included in that course because we know that students aren’t always going to be living in Ohio.  Because of that, we cover specific things that might be of importance in the future.  Just like we discuss, for example, our lesson discusses insurance and most of the information is more catered to the parents because the parents are obliged to buy insurance for students to be able to drive. But, the students are still obligated to know the information regardless if they pay for it at the time or not.  Its still part of the Ohio drivers ed curriculum. The instructor goes over all areas of drivers training.  When I spoke to the state, they have approved my drivers lessons, my driving lesson plans based on the curriculum that are approved by them for my school.  Speaking to the state, **** is under contract with our driving school.  They signed a no refund policy as part of that contract.  That contract is digital, so when you are registering for the course, you are agreeing to the terms of service and in those terms of service are the no refund and no chargeback as part of that requirement.  In terms of her being late to a soccer game because of a driving test.  She was given, when I did get there and it was only 15 minutes late as I have on record because of my log in on my alarm system at my office, I wasn’t 40 minutes late I was 15 minutes late at most.  The students were then handed their tests.  The students that were already there were told if they had already taken a test then please let me know so I don’t give you the same test twice. I wanted to make sure everyone started as quickly as possible because of the situation where I had to be late. All the students except for **** let me know they had already been there before and then they were given a different test.  **** did not mention that to me, she proceeded to take that same test a second time and when I went to grade it, I looked in her profile and saw that she had already taken that specific test.  I did let the state know of that.  However, I did offer at the time of that test, I told her that I need her to take a different test because you had already taken the test and you can’t take the same one twice.  If you can’t do so today, you can always come back and take it a different time. And she said, no its ok I’ll take it today.  And, she actually signed the final test.  When I was grading it, I made sure to grade it at that time instead of having her wait.  I graded it at the time that she finished her test and she did not have a passing score on test E. She had taken test D twice and then did not pass that first one, given the second one and didn’t tell me that she had taken the second one, was given test E which is in essence now the second test.  She is by law allowed another chance to take a test.  Again, all part of the state contract.  We don’t veer from that contract.  That is why its in place.  As a human being, I think I’m entitled to make a mistake once or twice in my life and the fact that she was given the same test twice, I apologized multiple times to her mother for that during that conversation that she had with me after her daughter left the class and was calling us approximately 20 times after she left my office. **** had said she would take the next test then and she did not proceed to tell me that she had another place to be.  And, that’s also irrelevant of drivers education. What a student chooses to do in their own time is completely up them, its up to their parents.  But, sports and extracurricular activities are not part of our requirements and has nothing to do with us.  Our job is to teach drivers education, our job is to give the evaluation to the students they have 3 chances to pass that test.  Again, she took a second different test and did not pass that test and is therefore allowed one additional chance.  We originally had the idea of giving them a full refund however, after speaking with the state and them siding with us as a driving school and the fact that we had done everything by the book and also calling the state to let them know in advance what the situation was we are still allowed to abide by that contract.  We are still legally required to complete any training within 6 months and she is well within those 6 months.  We have decided not to give a refund because we are within those 6 months, within the contract guidelines and we are within the  state of Ohio’s permission to continue the contract as is.  If **** and her mother choose to go to a different driving school, that is their choice to do so. They would be doing so and if they do would be required to retake all 24 hours of drivers education because they are bound by this contract. If she chooses to take the test with us again, we are more than happy to have her take the test a third time. By law this is all part of the Ohio revised code 4501.07-.08 and all the sub guidelines of the Ohio administrative code.  Based on the state law, based on the fact that she has completed all 24 hours of the drivers education course with us she is not able to get a refund because she has taken all the training already.  If she chooses to go to another school, that’s her choice.  I know that she wants a refund, but she is bound by contract and ultimately the mother signed the contract. The mother was told by the Ohio traffic safety office if she had any further questions or concerns that she could contact them but as it stands, right now, the state of Ohio is siding with my driving school and my position and the contract is enforced.

  She does have a hard copy.  Every student is required to have a hard copy of that.  You can’t sign up to our school without going through the terms of service and signing off on the terms of service.  That is a state law. We have a hard copy of her actual signing of the contract, dated and everything. Done on a word document rather than a pdf file.  It is the same contract, just a hard copy contract.  It was dated 5/17/2023 which allows us until 11/17/2023 to complete her classes.  Toward the end is the refund policy.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/25/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  
  Attached are messages between myself and whomever operates their text message service. Stating they would authorize a refund. Also proving that their communication is a joke. I also have messages proving that he was more than 15 minutes late for the test and will provide them. I want on record the awful service this company gives. Yes you may have the right to carry but you need to make parents aware that you are carrying around their child. Own up to mishandling this entire situation and indirectly calling myself and my child liars. 
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ***** ******
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/12/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On March 22, 2021 I enrolled my 16 y/old twin boys in the Overbeke School of Driving. The owner never returned my phone calls and when he did he said he was in the hospital. His wife is very rude and disrespectful. I paid $700 money upfront and they switched my boys Driving Instructor‘s more than 5 times.
  
  When I tried to call and schedule for the Driving Instructor they assigned to them to... I got no response. After calling and texting and emailing for months I finally received a phone call from a very rude new person that’s “helping” Ari. She stated that my son had timed out of his instruction. No one told me that and or tried to schedule before he "timed out". I couldn’t reach the Driving Instructor or the owner or anyone from the office. I would like my money back for the twin that did not complete his instruction ($350.00)

  Business Response

  Date: 12/12/2022

  Good Day,

  *** ***** has been given drivers education per the Ohio state revision of the Ohio Revised Code who, on May 1, made the law go into effect. The law states that students who are enrolled in a driving school, must complete their training by or before six months of the date the student began classes. Ms. ***** claimed she was unaware of this law, however she signed and her children respectively where they were required to. Both parent and child had that obligation to finish and while we reach out several times, before the expiration of the contract, we terminated the account. The requirements to finish is not based on our school or any for that matter, it is purely based on Ohio law and not of our in. In fact, Ms. ***** has already written a bad review on google. 
  She legit has nothing to stand on. They maxed out of time and said that no one can finish everything in six months, yet somehow, we have at least 1000 students do it every year. We also gave her son a FREE lesson after he failed his driving test numerous times 

  Her son who was placed on the schedule was given plenty of time to finish the course and on multiple occasions the son refused to attend not only and of not wanting to go, but also not having his required learners permit. It wasn’t until after the 6-month rule that the family had contacted us. We have also the signed documents for the BBB as you need and this will show proof of Ms. *****’s signature and IP address where she made the original signature.

  Thank you,

  Business Response

  Date: 12/29/2022

  ********** ********* ******* *********
  ***** *** ******** **********************
  ***** **** *** *** **** ** **** **
  ******** ****** *****
  *** ***************************
  
  
  
  Good evening
  
  I hope this email finds you well. I just received an email regarding the above named person that complaint is filed as unresolved. The purchase was made 2 years ago. And the customer still got a refund. On top of that, she filed a claim with the Attorney General’s office. What am I supposed to do in order to close this matter
  
  Thank you,
  *** ********
  New Direction Driving School
  Overbeke School of Driving
  BTW School of Driving
  ***** ********
  Working together to make Ohio’s Roads Safer!
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/02/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  
  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]

  I never received a refund.  To close the matter, I would like a refund for my twin that was not afforded to complete his lessons due to no communication from the company.
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ****** *****