Cascade Driving School

I’m very regretful in placing my daughter in this driving School and regretful that I am even giving them 1 star! I would rather give them no star! If it was my choice I would not have registered my daughter in this so called Drivers Training school, but my daughter needed to get her drivers license before the next school year due to running start and a 6 month practicing period is needed after she gets her permit before she can get her license, all other schools were booked or doesn’t start until the next month so we were stuck! These people are so unorganized and unprofessional and if your in need of reaching someone over the phone Good Luck because they do not answer any phone calls, I tried calling about 6 – 7 time within an hour span and no one picked up so I decide to drive to the office and Lo and behold there were 2 workers sitting right in the front desk but refused to pick up phone calls. My daughter’s first drive was horrific! As I picked my daughter up from The Olympia Cascade where my daughter goes she walked out of their office tearing and as a mom my heart sank and asked her what was wrong as I tried my best to comfort her, she told me that one of her driving instructor by the name of James Jackson was belittling her and when she got emotional from his belittling he said to her ‘why are black girls always the first to cry? (We’re Asian) and when my daughter told him she wasn’t black but Asian he said ‘oh honey your black’. ‘I should take a picture of you and send it to my sister cus she cries ugly like you’ Wtf! I am appalled by this person’s action! Mine you this man is black, but this certainly takes into no account on his racial profiling! It took me everything not to walk in that office and explode, my daughter begged me not to say anything yet because class was still in session. I took my daughter home and my husband asked my daughter what was wrong and she told him and being that my husband is one of those very protective of his only daughter dad both he and I went back to Cascade hoping to talk to James but instead got one of the receptionist. Long story short one of the instructors I’m not sure what her name was (long salt n pepper hair color) was very nice and attentive to my daughter and made sure all her drives were with her and made sure my daughter had no contact with James. She also was very proactive in making sure our concerns were heard. And the good news is He was let go yesterday. He will not belittle anyone anymore (my daughter wasn’t the only one he was racial profiling, belittling and harassing). I think this school can improve if they were more organized and was more professional, they really need to improve in that aspect. I’m glad my daughter almost done with this course. Needless to say I will not be going to them again for my next child unless they really start making some changes.

I would give this place 0 stars if I could. They are disorganized and rude!!! Please take your business somewhere else. I hate that we gave this place so much money.

My son enrolled with Cascade Driving School in August 2013. He attended classes at the Yelm location but tested at the Olympia location. Overall I was less than impressed with this business.
To start, the information on the website is outdated. I read the website thoroughly before enrolling my son because I wanted to ensure I knew what to expect. Everything the website told me was wrong and out of date. Therefore, we were always confused about what was the next step.
The website said that the first drive with the school needed to occur within two weeks or something like that. Well, they didn’t even have an opening for two months. This is typical for their scheduling. They never had a day/​time that was convenient for us and the next opening was always weeks out. Either they need more staff/​cars or fewer students.
The instruction was weird as well. According to my son, they worked on worksheets in class at their own pace. They also watched videos. There was no actual instruction.
Ronnie, one of the employees at the Yelm location, was really good with the kids though. My son really liked him and trusted him. As my son had report with Ronnie he felt comfortable driving with him. Since he didn’t know the other staff members, he was nervous driving with them.
The Yelm location is in a convenient location and parking was easy. The Olympia location looks like it should be a bail bond office. Parking is terrible at the Olympia location.

This is not the place to go if you are expecting people who give a crap. Not helpful in anyway when there are hangups. My second child will not be attending this drivers school when the time comes.

Took my daughter and her friend to drivers Ed. Funky retro office, classroom. Super low prices. ask for the 2 student special. Clearly a family operation that has long term staff who deal great with crazy 15 yo, better them than me. Price also includes DMV test.

Signed my daughter up a month in advance, letting them know that she would miss the first day of class, due to vacation. Returned from vacation, showed up, told she could not start class because she missed first day. We were clear that she was going to miss, the said no problem, can miss up to 3 days…
Well, they offered no solution, no apology, I asked for a refund, they did so and said «Good Luck»
Rude, unprofessional and certainly no concern for a very excited 15 year old who was thrilled to be starting driver’s ed.
Additionally, Dirty, tacky office and «classroom» and difficult parking lot.
My recommendation: Seek other options…

My son is currently enrolled at this school and thought he instruction seems fine, I think they are utterly overwhelmed when it comes to scheduling for drives and exams. The drive appoints are kept in a receipt book and it appears as it is not updated unless you are standing right in front of them — appointments made over the phone never get written down. As for the driving test, it is supposedly covered in the training, but they still charge $ 45 as a «gas fee» and the appointments for that are even more fluid than training drives. His appointment as been canceled 3 times so far and even when you can nail down a date, they are unable to give an appointment time for the test. If there was any other place besides 911, he got the run around on the phone with them when he tried to inquire about their classes, he would have gone.

So the Lacey DMV is currently outsourcing all DMV type activities. Weirdest set up I have seen thus far… Visited the DMV last Saturday around noon to take the written test as part of the process of getting a WA driver’s license. Got through the introductory line where you wait to tell someone why you’re there and get a number, and went to wait my turn to actually receive service. My number is called fairly quickly, but after telling the person at the counter why I’m there, I get a request to show my identifying documents and a piece of paper with addresses for driving schools. The DMV doesn’t do any kind of testing (written or driving), nor do they do vehicle licensing, as my friend found out when he rec’d a different paper with different addresses on it. A little befuddled, I call the places on the list and the only one still testing that day is Cascade Driving School, so on my way I went.
Upon reaching Cascade, I was greeted by a friendly person who charged me $ 25 to take the written test and later $ 45 to take the driving test. Keep in mind that does in no way reduce the $ 80 I had to pay back at the DMV in order to get the actual card. I would say the stress level is definitely lower in this place than testing at the DMV, which is a plus. It is kind of divey, and the test is xeroxed which makes seeing the picture related questions near impossible. I heard them discussing prices for driver’s training while I was there– they will match any competitor’s prices apparently. Don’t expect privacy or quiet while taking the test, but these folks do behave professionally, have great hours, and they will even rent you a car to use for your driving test if you need it (for $ 50 more). The best thing about this whole experience was that I was able to complete both the written and driving test in one day; if you want to do the same I recommend starting early– this was about a 4 hour process.
*Note: The location is up 4^th street right past Twister Donuts– get a celebratory donut after completing your test (s)!