I organised an intensive driving course with a particular company with a test as the end. Forty hours of tuition over a week.
I failed that test and took two further tests and a further 16 hours of tuition over the next month. I failed both of those tests.
After this I decided to change instructors and use my own car. My new instructor was horrified by how little I knew - from how mirrors should be set, to the MSM routine, meeting cars, moving off, manoevres etc I had never driven independently and had not been over huge portions of the town. I couldn't parallel park or bay park.
I had received very little feedback with the first instructor other than praise on how well I was driving. My requests for breaks, to focus on certain skills and more manoevre practice had been politely refused as unnecessary . We spent a lot of time just driving in a massive loop around the town, only approaching roundabouts from certain directions and never getting above 40mph. He just wanted to chat all the time, so i did very little learning, but with four tests in a month i was a wreck and not thinking straight. Even with 8 hours of extra tuition with a good instructor I still failed my fourth test two weeks later on something incredibly basic that we hadn't covered totally.
There were lots of other issues, but they are more for the DSA- aggression, discriminatory behaviour etc, but where I do i stand in a refund. CAB say I have a case as I paid for a service I did not receive from the company and the instructor. I have complained to the company and they said I received tuition, end of their responsibility. I have had some excellent advice from others and have written a complaint letter to send and asking for some money back, but if they refuse do I have a chance somewhere like small claims? Its a large sum of money to us and I don't want to write it off.