WARNING – avoid paying up to £20 to book your theory test
July 6th, 2010 AdministratorFollowing on from Txt-Drive’s post on the Txt-Drive Blog in February it has come to our attention that pupils are still paying unnecessary booking fees when booking theor theory test online.
The BBC recently contacted Txt-Drive regarding our warning about the unnecessary fees pupils are paying. The BBC researcher had read our post on the Txt-Drive Blog, about two of our pupils who between them had paid £45.00 when booking their theory tests online, and asked if we would be prepared to talk about this issue in front of the camera for a new television series.
Txt-Drive then contacted some past pupils to see if any other pupils had paid these avoidable booking fees. One pupil had paid £47.00 for her theory test – a HUGE £16.00 booking fee – on top of the standard £31.oo theory test!! Another pupil had narrowly avoided getting tricked into paying these booking fees. The pupil had failed her theory test a few months ago when learning with another driving school. She recently went online to book her theory test & was just about to make a payment for £51.00 when she remembered her first theory test only cost her £31.00. The pupil did not make the excessive payment which included a MASSIVE £20.00 booking fee!!! She searched online again & thought she had found the correct website – only to discover that they would charge £47.00 for the theory test (including a £16.00 booking fee). After nearly an hour she eventually found the correct website & booked her theory test with the DSA for £31.00.
Nearly 6 months after our original warning on the blog – the Daily Mirror & the DSA have caught up & given this issue some coverage. Here is the article on the Daily Mirror website :
Over-charging driving test websites clean-upBy Andrew Penman on June 28, 2010 3:47 PM in Car scams
Learner drivers are being fleeced by websites that will book your driving test at a huge mark-up.
The rogue sites confuse young drivers into thinking that they are dealing with the official site by appearing with an online search for the Driving Standards Agency or DSA.
We put “DSA driving test” into Google and the first site to come up was www.theorytest.net.
It charged £51 to book a theory test – an outrageous 69% mark-up on the official DSA price of £31.
The AA has heard from learner drivers who have also unwittingly booked practical tests through unofficial sites, paying an extra £30 on top of the standard fee of £62, or £75 for a weekend or evening test.
“These so-called services invite you to type in the same details you would if booking directly with the DSA, only on a different website and at a hugely inflated cost,” said Simon Douglas, director of AA Driving Schools.
“Some sites include ‘DSA’ in their Google search listings or web page headings, which can make it confusing as to whose site you’re on.
“Paying hiked-up fees for ‘help’ to book your test is a waste of money few learners and their parents can afford.”
The official website for information is www.dsa.gov.uk, and for booking tests it is www.direct.gov.uk/drivingtest.
If you feel you’ve been ripped-off by an unofficial site you might have trouble chasing a refund.
We tried to contact www.theorytest.net but the site gives no postal address, email address or phone number.
It was registered by Iomart Group PLC, which manages web-hosting for businesses.
We asked Iomart for contact details for theorytest.net but were told: “We cannot give out details about our customers.”
From Daily Mirror website
Again Txt-Drive would like to warn ALL pupils (& those just looking at booking their theory test) that you should book the theory test online via the DIRECT GOV site www.direct.gov.uk/drivingtest or you can get information about the theory test from the DSA site www.dsa.gov.uk. The theory test is currently (July 2010) £31.00 & you can chose the date/time that suits you – then & there!