Get your money back, come to the USA, get a license by going to the DMV and asking for one, go back home.

Most American students do the same thing in high school driver's ed. Waste of time but usually a necessary evil.

They are your lessons. Tell him how you want to spend them. If he refuses to adapt to your needs you're better off without him.

Sadly, you don't have much of a leg to stand on in the money back front. You can ask, but if he decides he wants to keep it there's not a lot you can do. The lesson is try before you buy.

How can I tell him to just shut up telling me stupid stories? He has bored me for almost 4 hours with his anecdotes of people failing their test and about how his friend was done for insurance fraud and about his customers when he was a taxi driver.

Ask him what he knows of man-love, has he ever been tempted, etc, etc. That might help him focus the mind a little......

Try being diplomatic, perhaps?

Just tell him what you want to do at the start of a lesson. If he continues boring you whilst you're driving I recommend laughing enthusiastically at his jokes. Then combine the times you laugh with an unfortunate habit of swerving to the right. Works every time.

In America, swerving to the left probably works better.

Or mainland Europe. Where do you live SYnapse?

Change instructors.

redhouse: I think you're missing the point. He has paid up front. The guy is self-employed. He wants to either get the money back or learn how to drive from the guy he gave the money to.

It takes about 10 hours to teach someone how to drive. After that its just practicing what you learned. Since you paid for 40, he's got to fill up the time somehow. I would just ask for a rough outline of what you'll be learning/doing and when. Like a lesson by lesson syllabus.

Consumer advice

First of all look at any contract you've signed. Does it say anything about cancellation rights? If so follow any procedure it sets out, giving notice in writing at the earliest opportunity for example.

If you don't have a formal contract was anything discussed prior to you handing over the money?

How was the contract formed? You have enhanced rights to cancel if the contract was formed at a distance - telephone, internet etc.

If you are unsure about your rights and wish to cancel anyway. Send him a recorded delivery letter ASAP cancelling the remaining lessons. Ask for your money back. He may say that the lessons are booked and he can't find replacement drivers in time. The more notice you give him the thinner this excuse is. Also find out if he is a member of a trade body (most are) if you don't get your money back, write to them.

In the final analysis, you could take a a simple court case to reclaim money for services not provided. The supplier of the services has a bigger responsibility to spell out any cancellation policy - and if none are stated, the judge holds that against him (The principle of Contra proferentem).

Good luck with it.

Bugger - forgot about most important consumer advice.

How old are you? If below 18 your case is even stronger - you are too young to be held to a contract that isn't a necessity. Be sure to include your age in any correspondence you have with the service provider.

I am 23 years old. I do not have a contract, I just paid him "up front" for 20 lessons (a block booking to make it cheaper).

Think of it as a game of Diplomacy. You both want something. How do you both get it? I don't know all the details, but if he just wants money he's got what he wants, just tell him what you want. Definitely do something.

Why on earth would you pay someone upfront for driving lessons?

It's cheaper

I'm a compromising guy myself:

"Hahaha that's a great story. Tell me the next one while we're driving though."
Then you start the engine and take off.

@ red

No one in their right mind would pay upfront, but we all make mistakes from time to time.

@philcore

I would agree with you, but the trend of the modern learner is for a lot more lessons to be taken (I think the norm is close to 40 hours now). To be fair the test is harder these days, and the roads are trickier, but personally I think youngsters today are too soft :p

redhouse: my sister did it too, but one lesson at a time, which makes more sense. She also had the possibility to switch instructors. Basically it has to be in the contract clearly and it's fine. It's really much cheaper when you agree on such a contract with 40 hours or so in advance so it does make sense.

Octavious: well, I noticed a trend: there's the ones who take 40 hours and they succeed in one time and there's the ones who take a few lessons, then try, then take a few more lessons, then try again etc. That's much more expensive. In the Netherlands anyways.

SYnapse - if you don't have a written contract the terms of the contract you have are harder to interpret (obviously). In law that helps you the buyer. The instructor may argue you got the cheapest rate based on a large number of lessons, he may have a point. He may also say that advance bookings deny him the opportunity of teacher someone else in that slot - again this argument has some merit.

If you think you are wasting time with this guy - cancel in writing and see how you get on. Try and negotiate a refund in part. He may charge you for the next lesson and add on a bit for the lessons you received at the lower rate. He should then refund the rest. If not consider (a) court action or (b) cancelling your cancellation and grinning and bearing through the lessons - the broken relationship will make him less chatty anyway.

On the diplomacy side you could try getting into the car and saying something like - "I'm so in the zone for driving and will ignore all other distractions today" - you could refuse to nod or acknowledge his stories, just don't get involved, When he rambles about a former pupil just say - could you show me the ...three point turn (or something else) again.

Are you guys actually sitting in the car when he's telling these stories? Or is there a classroom type setting?

I complained when my instructor made me drive 20 minutes each way to the area the driving test would be held - right from lesson one - so I only got 20 minutes actually driving under instruction and the rest was spent at 50mph on a long straight road learning nothing. I complained and we started spending a lot of time driving around the narrow busy streets of my local town instead. Much better.

What you should do is bluetack a camera onto the dash and tell him you're filming the lessons and are going to post them online as part of your "How I learned to drive" blog. Bet he bucks his ideas up after that.

If he tells you that you can't make him justify it. If it's not in the contract (what contract?) anywhere he can't stop you. THEN negotiate for proper lessons or your money back in full.

In texas we learn to drive when were 13 my pop taught me

How did you make it to 23 without being able to drive?

I spent my early adult years abroad in various places.

@brownpapertiger

It's really quite common. Aside from people like SY, if you go from school to gap year to uni and you can easily get to 23 without ever needing to drive. There are huge costs and often very limited gains, so frankly for a lot of people there's no point.

Really Octavious? Guess it depends on where you live, but I can't think of a single person I know who couldn't drive by the age of 23

Most of my friends my age don't drive. In the UK, the public transport system is quite good, so it's not really necessary in the big cities.