Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Crossroads Truck & Career Academy's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Crossroads Truck & Career Academy

  200 - 1392 Cyrville Road Gloucester, ON K1B 3L9

  
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  Crossroads Truck & Career Academy

  2020 Bantree Street Ottawa, ON K1B 5A4

  

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:24/08/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Between the dates of July 10, 2023 and August 18, 2023 I was enrolled in training course at Crossroads Academy ****************************************. This course was Truck training to lead to an AZ driving license. It had several components, many of which were not delivered as advertised i the course curriculum. I received only 70 hours of training in class, not 133 hours listed. My classmates were also given short shrift as per my description above. Far more importantly, the course did not deliver anywhere near the advertised driving instruction behind the wheel of the truck and practice backing up. Instead of getting the 70 hours supposed to be delivered, I received less than 40 hours total. In addition, mastered, When driving, there was one instructor and three students in the truck, but only a total of two seatbelts. We were also given no practice in blindside backup training, a critical skill assessed during the *** driving skills assessment testing. Not suprisingly, on August 18, 2023 i failed the *** test as did 8 other students from the same course that is a failure rate of 8 out of 13 students registered for this specific course. I filed a student complaint with Crossraods and was eventually offered one additional week of training which i declined given the quality of the earlier instruction. Instead i took another loan to get a degree in education which wasn't my first choice. I paid $12,947 dollars for this program but did not received anywhere near adequate instruction and or driving practice. I am requesting a fees refund from Crossroads Academy.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 28/10/2024

  Hello, please see the attachment of my receipt paid for Crossroads Trucking Academy.

  Thank you

  Customer Answer

  Date: 30/10/2024

  Yes, I accept this refund and would like Crossroads to refund the full amount to the ministry. What will be the next steps please.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 17/01/2025

  To Whom It May Concern,

  
  

  My name is *** ***** and I am the President of Crossroads Truck & Career Academy. I spoke with *** in the Better Business Bureau Calgary office, and he requested that I prepare this document and that he would be making your offices aware of what is currently transpiring regarding the above referenced complaints. A competitor of ours, *** ******** who is the owner of **************************************************************markjs="true" class="markrahkmq96b" data-ogac="" data-ogab="" data-ogsc="" data-ogsb="" style="color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; border: 0px; line-height: inherit;">Academy, is utilizing your organization through these complainants to discredit our company. There were six individuals in total who became disgruntled when they were not successful on their AZ road test. These six then went to *** ******** who began coaching them on filing complaints against us with no validity. As we are regulated by the ********************************************************, an inspector visited our school to investigate their complaints by reviewing all of their files and found no merit to their claims. We felt this matter was now closed, however it appears that *** ******** has now found a new avenue, over a year later, through your organization in attempts to once again disrupt our business and to potentially benefit from a monetary position.

  
  

  All but one of these former students (*****-Tresor Ndayishimiye) were funded for their course through the Government of Ontario's Better Jobs Ontario program. Therefore, it appears that they are trying to receive reimbursement for funds that they did not pay themselves and had the Ministry found merit in their complaints, we would have been ordered to reimburse the Ministry, not the individuals. It should also be noted that the cost of the program, which the Government paid on their behalf was a total of $12,147 and not the $12,947 they have each requested for a refund. Regarding *****-Tresor Ndayishimiye, he opted for our regular AZ program which carries a cost of $10,147 of which he only paid $7000 towards and still has an outstanding balance of $3,147. All of these students completed their programs and per our legislated refund policy once a student has completed a minimum of 50% of their course no refund is due, which they acknowledged when they signed their contracts for the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities.

  
  

  *** ******** is well known in our industry and we are not the only subject of his harassment, slander, interference and otherwise unethical and immoral business practices. As you will note all of the complaints reference seatbelts. *** ******** has tried to have our trucks pulled from the road and has in fact had our trucks pulled over, stating we do not have seatbelts for everyone in the truck (1 trainer and a max of 3 students). However, we have highway tractors which have a sleeping bunk in the cab and the students sit on the bunk while they take turns driving. By law, we are not required to have seatbelts in the bunk, are not allowed to modify the tractors for this purpose and ARE allowed to have the students sit on the bunk during training, which was all confirmed in writing by the Senior Supervisor of the ************************************************  We also have documented proof in the form of email communication between *** ******** and this group of complainants where as he coached them on what to say when they filed their initial complaints with the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities. The complaints you have now received are identical in their wording, grammar and structure right down to the spelling mistakes, as were the complaints that were originally filed with the Ministry. In regards to the other two students which are mentioned not by name in the complaints, who were also unsuccessful on their AZ road test, returned to our school and were successful in obtaining their AZ license. These two students were approached by this group of complainants to join them and *** ******** in their attempt to discredit us, however they chose not to. They also advised us that this group, with the assistance of *** ******** were going to "take Crossroads down and put them out of business". Attached please find an email from one of those successful students for your reference.

  
  

  As you will note, we have been members of the BBB for many many years and have never had a complaint filed against us prior to or since this group. We strive to ensure every one of our students has a positive experience and if not, we do everything in our power to rectify any concerns brought to our attention. Even though this groups complaints had no merit, we offered each of them additional training at no extra cost to them as that is the foundation on which this company was built and has been for the past 28+ years. Should these fabricated complaints be published, they will be used by *** ******** to further attempt to discredit our organization which is his ultimate goal. We have also been advised from students of his organization, as well as a past employee who does not work for us but felt we should be aware, that *** ******** is directing and bribing his students to post negative reviews about our organization through *******

  
  

  To further allow you to understand the quality of our organization, training standards and business principals, we are a respected driving trainer service provider for organizations including ****, ***, Ottawa *************** Ottawa Hydro, ****** Post, Ottawa Airport Authority, Hydro One, Ottawa ************************* City of Ottawa and several major transportation companies including *****, *********, *********, ****** Waste, GFL, ********* and ***** to name a few. We also currently have 4 former students of **************************************************************markjs="true" class="markrahkmq96b" data-ogac="" data-ogab="" data-ogsc="" data-ogsb="" style="color: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; border: 0px; line-height: inherit;">Academy who have been unsuccessful thus far in their endeavours and have asked us to help them by providing them with proper, quality training in order to finally be successful on their AZ road tests. These students have also willingly shared of their own volition and have been able to validate for us the unsavoury tactics *** ******** has been using to slander Crossroads Truck & Career Academy's reputation.

  
  

  Due to the structure of these complaints and the amount of people involved, should you wish for more clarity on past and present occurrences I am available at any time to discuss. Please feel free to reach out to me on my cell phone at ************ and I would be happy to provide you with further details. We feel that this abuse of your organization is reprehensible based on the integrity and honest service the Better Business Bureau stands for.

  
  

  Kind regards,

  
  

  
  

  
  

  *** *****

  Crossroads Truck & Career Academy

  President

  
  

  Toll Free: ************

  Direct:     ********************

  
  

  *************************;

  Ottawa, On  K1B 3L9

  
  

  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 17/01/2025

  ATTN: Complaints Department
  RE: Complaints
  ID ******** - ***** - Tresor Ndayishimiye
  ID ******** - ******* *******
  ID ******** - ******* ******
  ID ******** - ********* *******
  ID ******** - Abdulaziz Althufairi
  Habakumbuki ****** - (has not filed a complaint with BBB as of yet, expect high probability that you will receive one from him as well)
  To Whom It May Concern,
  My name is *** ***** and I am the President of Crossroads Truck & Career Academy. I spoke with *** in the Better Business Bureau Calgary office, and he requested that I prepare this document and that he would be making your offices aware of what is currently transpiring regarding the above referenced complaints. A competitor of ours, *** ******** who is the owner of ************************ Driving Academy, is utilizing your organization through these complainants to discredit our company. There were six individuals in total who became disgruntled when they were not successful on their AZ road test. These six then went to *** ******** who began coaching them on filing complaints against us with no validity. As we are regulated by the ********************************************************, an inspector visited our school
  to investigate their complaints by reviewing all of their files and found no merit to their claims. We felt this matter was now closed, however it appears that *** ******** has now found a new avenue, over a year later, through your organization in attempts to once again disrupt our business and to potentially benefit from a monetary position.
  All but one of these former students (*****-Tresor Ndayishimiye) were funded for their course through the Government of Ontario's Better Jobs Ontario program. Therefore, it appears that they are trying to receive reimbursement for funds that they did not pay themselves and had the Ministry found merit in their complaints, we would have been ordered to reimburse the Ministry, not the individuals. It should also be noted that the cost of the program, which the Government paid on their behalf was a total of $12,147 and not the $12,947 they have each requested for a refund. Regarding *****-Tresor Ndayishimiye, he opted for our regular AZ program which carries a cost of $10,147 of which he only paid $7000 towards and still has an outstanding balance of $3,147. All of these students completed their programs and per our legislated refund policy once a student has completed a minimum of 50% of their course no refund is due, which they acknowledged when they signed their contracts for the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities.
  *** ******** is well known in our industry and we are not the only subject of his harassment, slander, interference and otherwise unethical and immoral business practices. As you will note all of the complaints reference seatbelts. *** ******** has tried to have our trucks pulled from the road and has in fact had our trucks pulled over, stating we do not have seatbelts for everyone in the truck (1 trainer and a max of 3 students). However, we have highway tractors which have a sleeping bunk in the cab and the students sit on the bunk while they take turns driving. By law, we are not required to have seatbelts in the bunk, are not allowed to modify the tractors for this purpose and ARE allowed to have the students sit on the bunk during training, which was all confirmed in writing by the Senior Supervisor of the ***********************************************. We also have documented proof in the form of email communication between *** ******** and this group of complainants where as he coached them on what to say when they filed their initial complaints with the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities. The complaints you have now received are identical in their wording, grammar and structure right down to the spelling mistakes, as were the complaints that were originally filed with the Ministry. In regards to the other two students which are mentioned not by name in the complaints, who were also unsuccessful on their AZ road test, returned to our school and were successful in obtaining their AZ license. These two students were approached by this group of complainants to join them and *** ******** in their attempt to discredit us, however they chose not to. They also advised us that this group, with the assistance of *** ******** were going to "take Crossroads down and put them out of business". Attached please find an email from one of those successful students for your reference.
  As you will note, we have been members of the BBB for many many years and have never had a complaint filed against us prior to or since this group. We strive to ensure every one of our students has a positive experience and if not, we do everything in our power to rectify any concerns brought to our attention. Even though this groups complaints had no merit, we
  offered each of them additional training at no extra cost to them as that is the foundation on which this company was built and has been for the past 28+ years. Should these fabricated complaints be published, they will be used by *** ******** to further attempt to discredit our organization which is his ultimate goal. We have also been advised from students of his organization, as well as a past employee who does not work for us but felt we should be aware, that *** ******** is directing and bribing his students to post negative reviews about our organization through *******
  To further allow you to understand the quality of our organization, training standards and business principals, we are a respected driving trainer service provider for organizations including ****, OPP, Ottawa *************** Ottawa ************************************************************************************************************************, City of Ottawa and several major transportation companies including *****, Purolator, *********, ****** Waste, GFL, ********* and ***** to name a few. We also currently have 4 former students of North American Transport Driving Academy who have been unsuccessful thus far in their endeavours and have asked us to help them by providing them with proper, quality training in order to finally be successful on their AZ road tests. These students have also willingly shared of their own volition and have been able to validate for us the unsavoury tactics *** ******** has been using to slander Crossroads Truck & Career Academy's reputation.
  Due to the structure of these complaints and the amount of people involved, should you wish for more clarity on past and present occurrences I am available at any time to discuss. Please feel free to reach out to me on my cell phone at ************ and I would be happy to provide you with further details. We feel that this abuse of your organization is reprehensible based on the integrity and honest service the Better Business Bureau stands for.
  Kind regards,
  *** *****
  Crossroads Truck & Career Academy
  President

  Customer Answer

  Date: 24/01/2025

   Mr. ***** response to this complaint and to the complaints of the other students who formed the group receiving driver training is an effort at obfuscation. He casts this whole situation as an attempt by one of his competitors to undermine his firm. This is but one example of the red herrings that intersperse his response. In focusing on the presumed motives of one of his competitors, he doesnt respond directly to the allegations of misrepresentation of services offered and lack of delivery of the services described in the Crossroads marketing materials and in discussions prior to course enrollment.
  It would appear that he is asking that these complaints be dismissed out of hand by virtue of the past involvement of a competitor with this group of students. At least one of the student group took additional training from North American Transport Driving Academy in order to qualify for a less demanding license to operate smaller vehicles.
  At issue here is whether the training offered during this program was consistent with the promises made at the outset as documented in the Crossroads marketing and training materials. Simply put, it was not adequate leading to a minimum of a 75% failure rate from the students enrolled in this program.
  Either this group of students did not meet the minimum requirements to enrol in this course or the training was woefully inadequate the 75% failure rate allows no other options. If the students were incapable of learning these skills from the get-go, then Crossroads should not have enrolled them in the program. If they were potentially able to learn these skills,then the training was nowhere near up to standard unless Crossroads has a standard failure rate of about 75% on *** driving skills assessment testing.
  Indeed, Mr. ***** recognised this implicitly through his offer to the students in the affected group who failed the *** driving skills assessment of additional training (initially offered for an additional fee but eventually at no cost)is indicative of his recognition that this program went off the rails for this student group. He has steadfastly refused to consider refunds for any and all students who paid out of their own pockets for this training.
  
  
  
  The facts are these:
  The students in this cohort received only 70 hours of classroom instruction, not the 133 hours described in the marketing materials. Crossroads subsequently removed this material from their Web Site, but copies of what was originally posted and promised at the outset of the course are available to support this claim. Mr. ***** does not address this issue at all in his disjointed response.
  The students received only 40 hours behind the wheel instead of the 70 hours described in the marketing materials and promised at the outset of the course. Once again, Mr. ***** does not address this aspect of the complaints against him.
  From the limited behind the wheel training offered, the students received 0 hours of behind the wheel training in blindside backing up, a critical component of the *** driving skills assessment testing. This is the largest single reason these students failed the *** skills assessment. Again, ******** does not address this complaint in his response.
  Instead, he describes some of his high-profile clients such as the **** and Ontario Hydro. Clients of this type insist on performance and would go elsewhere if the training proved to be substandard. It is one thing to focus on demanding high-profile clients and to offer them a gold-plated service. It is quite another thing to take advantage of a fragile client base often recent immigrants without the wherewithal and resources to hold any firm to task for substandard service offerings.
  If the tuition for this training was supplied by the Government of Ontario as part of a training program, then any refunds of tuition would need to be returned to the Ministry. Students who paid the tuition themselves should be entitled to a full refund which Mr. ***** has refused in the case of ***** Tresor Ndayishimiye. (see complaint # ********).
  
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 13/02/2025

  Hello, 

  I hope this email finds you well, I'm writing this to confirm that I accept mediation about this case.

  I'll be available for mediation on Monday February, 17th at 2pm.

  Thank you

  
  

  ******* *******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 14/02/2025

  As stated in my previous response, we are aware that the complainant along with the others are being coached in their responses and filings of theses complaints. We will be attaching the original offer from 2023 for them to come back and retest and no additional cost. They chose not to accept and instead went to a competitor and thus this began. Please see the additional documentation.
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/08/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Between the dates of July 10, 2023 and August 18, 2023 I was enrolled in a training course at Crossroads Academy ****************************************. This course was truck training to lead to an ** driving license. It had several components, many of which were not delivered as advertised in the course curriculum. I received only 70 hours of training in class, not the 133 hours listed. My classmates were also given short shrift as per my description above.Far more importantly, the course did not deliver anywhere near thr advertised driving instruction behind the wheel of the truck and practice backing up. Instead of getting the 70 hours supposed to be delivered, I received less than 40 hours total. In addition, the driving instructors were chain smokers meaning that most of our instruction took place in the yard learning coupling and uncoupling skills that we had already mastered. When driving, there was one instructor and two students in the truck, but only a total of two seatbelts. On one occasion I was thrown forward from the berth behind the seats when the instructor applied an emergency stop procedure while another student was driving.We were also given no prctice in blindside backup training, a critical skill assessed during the *** driving skills assesment testing. Not surprisingly, on August 18, 2023 I faiiled the *** test as did 8 other students from the same course - that is a failure rate of 8 out of 13 students regiostered for this specific course.I filed a student complaint with Crossroads and was eventually offered one additional week of training which I declined given the quality of the earlier instruction. Instead, I registered at another school where I was successful in obtaining an ARZ license which is far less useful than the ** license that I sought originally.I paid $7,000 dollars for this program but did not receive anywhere near adequate instruction and/or driving practice. I am requesting a fees refund from Crossroads Academy.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 30/08/2024

  We were first made aware of the complainant's dissatisfaction with our services after they had completed their full program. We took immediate action to investigate the alleged allegations and despite minimal evidence to support their claims, we purposed what we believe to be a fair solution of one additional week of practical in truck training at no charge to our client. We also agreed to waive the outstanding balance still owing to us for the clients program which was not paid in full even though they completed the program including their road test. It was unfortunate that the client was unsuccessful at their road test and in fact failed at the skills they claim they had mastered.  We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction and success, and after multiple conversations with the client we then offered to restart the client from the beginning of our practical training portion of the program (4 weeks, full time), again at no cost to them. The client initially agreed to this solution but then refused to return our calls to confirm their start date. Shortly after this we became aware through written proof that the client was in contact with a competitor and being coached on how to discredit our company. Notwithstanding the above, our offer is still available to this client where we will start fresh with no animosity for what transpired over a year ago.

  We feel that our proposed solution is above and beyond what any other company would offer and believe that is what sets us apart from the others and why we are well respected in our industry.

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/09/2024

   
  Complaint: 22092905
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The response is nothing more than a fabricated tissue of lies.  I complained about the quality of instruction several times and submitted a student complaint form prior to the termination of the course. There was no action taken to resolve the complaint.  there were at least 8 other complaints similar to mine from students funded by the Government of Ontario - ample evidence of a sham operation.  If you examine the grades awarded to students who failed the road test, you will see a huge disconnect, great marks but awarded as part of the sham not reflective of knowledge gained.  

  The offer being made is unacceptable because the system of instruction hasn't changed.  I am being offered the same instruction package taught by the same chain smokers who pay only lip service to the amount of time allocated to behind the wheel practice.  How is it that 8 of the 15 students on this course failed their drive test - and this after they had received "glowing marks" from the supposed school?

  Would any reasonable ****** risk their lives by becoming the third ****** in a training truck and having no seatbelt?  As to coahing from a competitor, I did attend a different school where instruction was remarkably better and qualified for a lesser licanse as a result.  I am not being coached from or by this school but this is not pertinent to my complaint.

  Quite simply, I did not receive the program offered at any stage whether in class or on the road.  I have no interest in returning to this operation for more of the same - it would be pointless.  I didn't expect Crossroads to agree to a refund and I know that the BBB has no enforcement powers, so my next step (unless they agree to a refund based on this process) will be to see how a judge in Small Claims Court sees this situation.  

  Sincerely,
  
  ***** - Tresor Ndayishimiye

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/11/2024

  In classifying the response from Crossroads to this complaint as "good faith" you are endorsing a training system that is fundamentally unsafe.  When two students and an instructor are in the vehicle during driver training on the road, there are not enough seatbelts to secure the non driving student who therefore rides illegally in the cab.  Does this constitute part of a good faith offer?

  Did you not receive several other complaints about this firm, indeed about this particular course indicating that there were serious issues throughout?  Do you really expect that Crossroads will get its act together to rectify this os just continue to bilk the vulnerable.

  I am very disappointed in your efforts - I hoped for more but should have expected you to side with the business.