| I had to go to court for a very garden-variety traffic offense (going a few miles over the speed limit). I have a spotless driving record with my insurance company and did not want to spoil that, so opted to go to traffic school/"driver improvement." At court I was told I would be contacted "in a couple of weeks" about when this was to occur. A month later, I had received nothing. About six weeks later I got a bill from VASAP asking for the money for my upcoming class (which I had not received even a date or location for, or any other correspondence on). I sent in the check as requested (which had to be a certified cashier's check, which meant taking extra time out from work to get this done), reminding them I still had not received a date or location for said driving school. Looking at the original court papers, I noted that I was supposed to contact them by phone if I had not received this information by a month before my back-to-court date, so I called them. At first they said they didn't have any records on me. I mentioned to them that their letter to me had misspelled my last name by one letter. They said, "Oh, that explains it," and that since it was so close to the back-to-court date, it would be best if I could go to the class the Saturday after next, which was in Salem (I live in Roanoke). They asked if I was familiar with Salem, and I said only somewhat, since I don't live or work there, but that I would certainly go. They said I would receive a map and directions and other info in the mail in "a couple days." About five days later, I got this info, including a very sketchy map. However, Salem is not too far from Roanoke. So the day of the class, I left 30 minutes early and tried to find the place. It is in a little obscure corner off some train tracks, and the map was USELESS. Consequently (despite it taking much less than 30 minutes to get to Salem, so I was driving around in circles for several minutes), I was five minutes late to the class and because of this, I was not let in. I was told to call their office on Monday and reschedule. So I called the person I was supposed to speak to Monday. Her assistant told me she thought I could go the FOLLOWING Saturday, then immediately transferred me to her supervisor - which she knew, I guess, would immediately go to voice mail. So I left a voice mail with my home and work phone numbers. No call back all day. Next day the supervisor finally called back, not with a date or any other info but to tell ME to call back. So I did, again getting only her assistant, who told me I would not only have to pay the fee for the class AGAIN but also that instead of being able to do this over the phone or via mail, I would have to take more time out from work, drive all the way across town, and hand her this check for this great privilege of taking the class. All this after THEIR nonstop screw-ups. By the way, if you look online, there are online classes that are "DMV-certified" and supposed to be okayed by the County of Virginia Court system. I would have happily paid online to take this court and not have to fuss with any of this scam, but these folks say it's not allowed, either. This is a SCAM. |
