Complaint Review: California Truck Driving Academy

Deciding I needed a career change, I decided to go to CTDA to see about getting into the trucking business. I met with one of their recruiters and was told I could make up to $50,000/year to start off and that most companies reimburse the tuition. After supposedly running a thorough background check I was told that I was clear and that I could get hired by any company and that they would help place me into a job.

They told me it was going to be $5000 and they would set me up on a payment plan and had me pay $500 upfront for a down payment.

I started going to class a couple weeks later and realized it wasn't anything I expected. They rushed us through the training, not teaching us everything we needed to know on the tests, and the hands on training was very little. When it came to test time, we were given the answers with practice tests and never had a chance to go through them. We were told to just memorize the answers because when we took the actual test it was the exact same questions. During the course we had recruiters that would come through and tell us about their companies and would hand out "Pre-Hire" paperwork to the ones that fit their company basically guaranteeing their company would hire us. I received two from different companies.

I finished the course and obtained my license and began the hiring process. I applied to 25 different companies only to get turned down by every single one of them because of certain things on my record from well into the past, including the companies that gave me the "pre-hire" letters. It took me almost a year before I could find a local company that would hire me on as a driver, but offered no tuition reimbursement and paid me very little.

Because of this I was unable to complete my payments to the academy and was taken to court for a judgement. Afterwards, Byron and I came to a documented agreement that I would pay so much each pay period and they wouldn't file the paperwork for the judgement. I began making my payments every two weeks on time. After 2 months I received a text message and a call from Byron stating the amount we agreed upon "Wasn't working out" for him and that I needed to take out a payday loan or an auto title loan so he could get all of his money at once. I told him I was unable to get a loan and that I would continue making the payments we had agreed upon and documented, which he followed with saying HE was canceling the agreement. 

This brought about harassing phone calls and texts that weekend, continuing into the next week wanting a payment after he already told me that he was canceling the agreement. 

This state funded company is lying to people and pushing them through a very lacking course as fast as possible to get their money. They are crooks and should be shut down immediately. Byron Allen is a liar and a crook. Do not waste your time and money on this company.