Berlitz Deutschland GmbH Reviews 124

*Auf Deutsch unten*

I had taken 3 private courses from Berlitz in the year 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Now in 2026, I contacted them again for a government sponsored course.

Berlitz Staff sent me an E-Mail on Friday evening for a Placement test on Monday morning. I expressed my reluctance on Friday evening itself because of such short notice. Berlitz staff then refused to give another appointment date via E-Mail and asked me to visit them in person to book an appointment. Because of this absurdity, I had to withdraw my interest.

The response of Staff reflected a lack of respect for my time. They didn't write anything politely such as "if the appointment date doesn't fit, please let us know". Rather, they pushed me with so much entitlement which caused disgust in me.

The Staff further kicked a fuss with statements like "you are not picking the call". They didn't bother to ask if call is my preferred mode of communication.

They also wrote "because of organizational reason, we can't roll out another appointment date via E-Mail" although that seemed like a standard process with other schools.

Berlitz expressed so much urgency on Friday evening until Monday as if their seats would be filled up soon. (As a matter of fact, all seats are still empty, as I am writing this about a week After the incident)

That's not the kind of customer service I appreciate, and I am never going back to Berlitz unless they provide satisfactory reason behind their irrational behavior.

Unthankfully,
Rachna Singh

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

Ich hatte in den Jahren 2023, 2024 und 2025 drei Privatkurse bei Berlitz besucht.

Nun, im Jahr 2026, habe ich mich erneut an Berlitz gewandt, um einen Arbeitsagentur geförderten Kurs zu belegen.

Die Mitarbeiter von Berlitz schickten mir am Freitagabend eine E-Mail mit der Einladung zu einem Einstufungstest am Montagmorgen. Ich habe bereits am Freitagabend meine Zurückhaltung wegen der kurzen Vorlaufzeit zum Ausdruck gebracht. Die Mitarbeiter von Berlitz weigerten sich daraufhin, mir per E-Mail einen anderen Termin zu geben, und baten mich, persönlich vorbeizukommen, um einen Termin zu vereinbaren. Aufgrund dieser absurden Situation musste ich mein Interesse zurückziehen.

Die Reaktion der Mitarbeiter spiegelte einen Mangel an Respekt für meine Zeit wider.

Sie schrieben auch „aus organisatorischen Gründen können wir keinen weiteren Termin per E-Mail anbieten”, obwohl dies bei anderen Schulen offenbar Standard ist.

Berlitz drängte am Freitagabend bis Montag so sehr, als würden ihre Plätze bald belegt sein. (Tatsächlich sind alle Plätze noch frei, während ich dies etwa eine Woche nach dem Vorfall schreibe.

Das ist nicht die Art von Kundenservice, die ich schätze, und ich werde nie wieder zu Berlitz zurückkehren, es sei denn, sie liefern eine zufriedenstellende Begründung für ihre irrationalen Verhalten.

Rachna Singh

€1085 for 10 one-to-one sessions of 1.5 hours equals €72 per hour, which is an absolutely disproportionate price for what you receive in return.

The course relies almost entirely on a digital platform that feels tedious, outdated and poorly structured. There is no clear pedagogical thread: lessons consist mainly of moving from one screen to the next, with static content that lacks progression, context and motivation. While the platform may be acceptable as a self-study tool, it is clearly insufficient as the sole classroom material, especially at this price point.

What I did not do at this academy: work on the four language skills in a balanced way; engage with authentic texts; receive complementary learning materials; practise through games, interactive activities or guided speaking tasks; use handouts or supporting materials; or receive clear grammatical explanations using the whiteboard and structured revision activities. In short, everything that, in my view, should be part of a proper language class.

The lack of varied materials and real-world content also results in very low motivation, which is particularly problematic when learning a language.

I strongly recommend saving this money and investing your time in other methods, whether other language schools or self-learning systems. Some alternatives are genuinely effective and even free, such as learngerman.dw or Learn German with Anja.

I wanted to get more info about Berlitz's language courses. Got contacted by a guy named: Thomas Gedrat which was very rude and disrespectful!
In email he only wanted to get the voucher I have. When I asked to talk and ask a few questions he replied he doesn't have time, when I insisted I want to talk he called me immediately (my convenience didn't interest him) and was very rude on the phone. He mentioned again that he didn't have time for me. When I asked if we could talk in English, he gave me a lecture that I am supposed to speak German. And all of this before I even signed! I can't imagine how would be the experience after signing to a course.
I am booking my course in another school!

I DEEPLY REGRET booking a course with Berlitz. Was a waste of time, effort and time.

If you're someone taking lessons after 8h of work, you'd expect something interactive, challenging and motiving to keep your attention and concentration. Which is not the case at all. The Berlitz method is quite slow, there are not a lot of listening and writing exercises and the feedback you give is ignored by management. At B2 level you learn things that should be covered in B1. After 3 months I've learned nothing new or substancial to improve my proficiency. You pay 700 euros expecting stellar classes and methodology and end up with an old book that has terrible UI, a teacher that gives 4min long answers after a simple question and absolute disregard for your time and money, and they WILL NOT give you a refund if you cancel mid-way after being frustrated by the terrible classes. Honestly the WORST german course that I've ever taken; for the price it's not worth it at all.

DO NOT BOOK COURSES IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME AND MONEY.

I took a German B2 course at Berlitz, and unfortunately, my experience was far from satisfactory. The teacher we had lacked the experience and expertise needed to teach a course at this level. She had only arrived in Germany in 2022, which became evident in her inability to provide proper examples or explain grammar concepts clearly. It felt like she was unfamiliar with effective teaching methods and failed to provide structured coaching.
Classes often felt unorganized and unproductive. There was little focus on ensuring that students understood the material thoroughly or were prepared for the exam. Instead, we were rushed through topics with no real engagement or feedback. It became apparent that many students were struggling, and unfortunately, several of them failed their B2 exams due to the lack of quality instruction.

Moreover, the schedule management was poor. Classes frequently started late or ended early, and there was little accountability for making the most of the allocated time. This made the overall experience feel like a waste of both time and money.
I would not recommend Berlitz for B2 German courses, especially if you’re serious about passing the exam. Look for institutions with experienced teachers who are invested in your learning process.

High quality teaching from the instructors in online learning and TOP TOP Customer Support Team. Very fast, effective and friendly replies!

I registered a german course in Heidelberg Berlitz, i confirmed my level is a2, they called me and did an oral test and suggested me to start at a2.1. Then i took the placement test and it was also a2. They took extra money from me because of the a2.1 level materials. They even didn't give any materials, they didn't open a2.1 and even didn't inform me. At the first day of the course they told me that my level is a1.1. I only joined the course at that day. I paid 1000 euro and 90 euro for the materials. I didn't want to pay this much money and review the things i know as they didn't open a class. But when i explained this and not to continue, they refund only around 60% of my money and even didn't refund for the materials which they didn't give the materials at all.

- No replies to get a payment via bank transfer
- Rude customer service during the assessment
- Delays in confirming the course (still waiting after almost 2 weeks)
- Continuous wrong invoicing (still waiting)
- List will continue...
I didn't give one star because I have no clue how the course is going to be, I will update the feedback.

Some teachers are not German native speaker, they cannot express themselves well, the plan and the organization of this institute is really awful. They are going to have only business and earn money, don't care the quality of class.

Very unpleasant experience.
Due terrible disorganization I missed multiple classes in a row.

The Teacher doesn't speak correct German herself and whenever she doesn't know something of when she suspects something isn't right she says: das ist sehr forciert... often it's downright wrong. how are we supposed to learn German from a teacher that doesn't know German herself. I'm am shocked and truly sad because I really hoped to be able to learn something from this course. When people ask questions she gets frustrated. And she actually said: even if you all fail the test I get paid the same; so I don't really care.

Our daughter and a friend went to the Berlitz Sprache Camp in Möhnesee during this past October and the experience was horrible. Neglect from the camp instructors (kids unattended playing with fire), instructors taking naps during the day, punishment applied to students that were late to activities (such as staring at the walls), and that’s to give only a few examples. We paid 699€ and our daughter had in average 4 hours of screen per day (again, kids were left on their own). I sent an email to Berlitz and RECEIVED NO REPLY. Incredible, they don’t care!

Unfortunately it seems random in terms of quality. There was an issue of toxic work environment that happened to be taken seriously by one of the teachers and was totally ignored, hence fuelled, by the other teacher. Also we were presented with a 'job opportunity' that was absolutely offensive, in terms of a lot of stress for below minimum wage compensation, and that was actually called out by the teacher who cared about the quality, but non the less, it was introduced by Berlitz. Also it seems to be a money grabbing business, taking payments from the government and returning very low quality by cutting corners and saving money, such as paying only for a cheap equipment -sound quality not at all considered, only check the box as 'equipment purchased' not considering its usefulness when you have to listen to speakers in a hybrid course and the sound quality hurts your ears when it encounters the room acoustics, really not user friendly at all, but anyways, they also seem to be giving false self employment contracts to teachers, leading to burnout of staff that seriously decreases quality as well, and unethical, besides being literally illegal, so I do not understand how this business is still being funded by the government whilst not complying and on top wasting everyones time. Maybe they can do better but I hope there will be an improvement as it's deeply needed.
...and yes, I can confirm that there are posters hanging all over the place offering compensation for a positive Google review, it's placed next to the WiFi login information in order to reach the most audience, which is fair enough I suppose, they try everything as I see in responses to negative reviews. Unfortunately poor understanding of customer relations 💁‍♀️

Awful experience. Do not recommend. They're really letting the Berlitz name down in the Berlin branches. So many other great schools to choose from... Kateryna Eckermann particularly, whom is in charge of onboarding and Sybille Keller should be fired. They have such poor people skills given their position and lack the simple ability to apologize on behalf of the company, when they have made a mistake at your expense. Furthermore the equipment in the school barely functions, I mean it's not so much to ask to be able to see the projector, right? I had to request a new projector from admin and the teachers thanked me after, as they were too scared to ask for one themselves. Need I say more?

I attended a german course for 6 months and completed the test successfully. I did not attend to the second part (pesonal problems) and they refused to give the certificate for the first part! (And I paid for both parts..)The person is stuborn not possible to talk. Expensive and not nice.