Reviews of Balda Driving School (Driving School)

M K

Did 4 behind-the-wheel sessions at a reasonable price, with JOHN. He was a nice guy who knew what he needed to teach. Spend a hour with him and you'll know how to change lanes, merge, etc. like a boss. P.S. The Chrysler 200 V6 (293 horsepower) has enough power for some fun. It spins tires easily

Rachael Mennenga

The OWNER is extremely rude! During the class she talks in circles to the point of absolute boredom. Very difficult to work with. Does not communicate well. And treats costumers very poorly in from of other staff members. While the owner was chewing me out I witnessed another staff member upset to the point of crying because of embarrassment. If I could I rate a 0 stars out of 5. Do not come here!!!

Sophia Bill

I was a student in her class this past winter and it wasn't bad. It was just hard to understand what she was teaching us, and also when scheduling behind the wheel driving. I still have two left, but I drive with Harvey, so he makes things much easier to learn and understand, and makes driving fun.

Dar dar Thomas

Frightened by my instructor while driving. He would scream at simple mistakes. A couple of times in the heat of the moment driving he would scream at me to change lanes or something like that and I did it once because he told me to and then he remembered you aren’t supposed to change lanes at an intersection and blamed it on me for changing lanes when he literally screamed at me multiple times to change lanes after I didn’t do it. He also yelled at a student in my car who dropped out of high school and told him he’s gonna do nothing with his life if he doesn’t stop getting in trouble and get back in school

Jordan Mccarroll

No matter what time you call them on any given day they never pick up there phones! Just lazy and stupid employees the worst place you could ever go I wouldn't even ask hitler to get his license here 0/0 stars is my rate.

Sobti Deep

Staff is very rude and unprofessional...they don't listen to u and use insulting words.very bad experience with them

K J

I drove with a man named Joe and he was beyond nice and professional I recommend getting him as your driving instructor

Karla Janicke

Due to an intense school schedule we were unable to get my son into the driving courses at school. Balda taught him everything he needed to know in a compressed time schedule to get it out of the way. They have a lot of different schedule options for convenience. This was a perfect alternative for us!

Darla Kohns

Hated this place and I do not recommend anyone to ever come here! I promise, evil and scary instructor, also 3 hours is too long for a lesson, an hour and a half would be better

Henry Barth

I enrolled at balda to get my driving permit because I couldn’t take it at a public school due to a contradicting schedule. Mrs Christina (the owner) taught my class. She called students that did well in the class “nerds” and made fun of them while calling the students who did under the passing grade “retarded”. She was so racist that nearly all the students that weren’t Caucasian dropped out within the first two weeks. My driving instructor (Harvey) however, was very nice and helped me become a better driver. The only thing that got me through this class was telling stories to my family about some of the things Mrs Christina did. Terrible class, but very memorable.

Jennifer Kovach

Staff is rude and condescending. Refuses to communicate with Secretary of State making it nearly impossible to get a license. Acted like I was an inconvenience because my autistic son needed extra time before he could obtain a license. Would recommend ANY other school.

Mrs. Jones

Yesterday, December 3 rd, around 5:40 pm, my husband and our 2 kids, were coming out of shop Flying D at Metro Center in Peoria. Suddenly, we noticed a grey car FLYING by at a high speed right by my kids-luckily, my husband grabbed my daughter’s coat sleeve to pull her to safety: she would be run over by this insane driver! The plates said BALDA 9. We immediately called Balda Driving School, and spoke with some VERY rude female , who basically told us to “ stay away from their cars”, and, after I asked “ so, they are allowed to do anything in residential areas? Even to run people over?”- sge said “ yes”. And hung up.... I called their number multiple times today-to speak to the manager-nobody picks up. I called Peoria Police Department, spoke with Sgt. Figis, they will be investigating. Sgt. said they have to follow the road rules like everyone else. I called Journal Star-the article will follow . My husband and I are both health care professionals, and will not leave it alone. My kids were scared to death, we were shaken.... but after I spoke to that absolutely rude female, I am going to escalate it until she gets repramanded. It us absolutely unacceptable. I will make sure I will spread a negative word to all my patients I see for my appointments. These cars should NOT be practicing on streets.

Brittany Shegog

Did 4 behind-the-wheel sessions at a reasonable price, with Harvey He super nice guy who knew what he needed to teach. The first day of spending 90 minutes with him I felt like a boss , I learned a lot and I recommend him to anybody ! He’s awesome , doesn’t yell & if you make a mistake he’ll let you know without making you feel belittled.

Franklin Wright

I am DISGUSTED at how I was treated. I would get yelled at when I did stuff right. The instructor would yell at me that I’m speeding when I would be going the speed limit or under. He would tell me to turn my blinkers earlier and when I did that he screamed that I turned them too early!! Like WTF!!! That doesn’t add up, he made me drive places I have never been and I did not feel like I should be driving. He slammed his brakes on me when I stopped at a stop sign and pulled ahead a little more to see. He contradicted him self so much it was annoying and stressful. I would do what he would say and he would try to diminish me and make me seem idiotic. There is one thing that makes me over the moon mad and it is when my human value and mind is obliterated. I will not tolerate being acted upon as an idiot. I have been driving for months and months now I barely make mistakes and mine were not big enough with him to have been treated that way. I should not have been yelled at or slammed on brakes. It was disgusting to see this loser diminish me and get away with it! I do not recommend coming here ever. Look at the other reviews! Also I have driven in multiple cars in good condition. The car i was forced to drive in had brakes that were way to hard to push down on. It was a safety hazard and it’s ridiculous it’s allowed to be in use. The driver also Would pop his bubblegum frequently and it was distracting and rude....

Pamela Davis

The owner, Christine, is extremely rude and impossible to deal with. After we enrolled in behind the wheel instruction, she refused to give me any dates/times of when my son could drive with the instructor. When I asked her if she could give me a general idea of what month we could anticipate driving to start, she responded that I was being a problem to deal with and would refund my money. Any communication with her is frustrating ; she does not let you speak. She scolds, lectures and then hangs up on CUSTOMERS! Her staff that answers the phone continuously apologizes and states she is difficult to communicate with. I will say that our driving instructor was wonderful to deal with and a good communicator. But Christina's customer service is so awful that I would not recommend this school to anyone.