Veianya H.

I signed up for the Berlitz Connect French, and was really excited about it. They had no problem with taking my money right away. But then it took a full week (with my constantly checking in) to obtain my login and access to the program.

Once I obtained my information, I tried accessing the website and it barely works. Every page was taking a full 1-3 minutes to load. There are security risks (they still use flash and they emailed me a username and password). And for the 1-on-1 sessions, you can only do them by phone or skype. No option for zoom or hangout, etc.

I immediately requested a refund and to cancel. Which resulted in my receiving several emails where they tried to talk me out of it. And now they're refusing to proceed with the refund until I speak with someone over the phone "to have it explained to me".

This whole experience has been a nightmare and I feel like I've just been scammed out of my money.

I just started my third month in the web development program. Wanted to leave a review because there weren't many out there before I decided to sign up.

The good:
• The introductory course was a good way to discover that their teaching style is a good fit for me.
• I have learned a LOT in a short time. The large projects and strict deadlines keep me learning at a much faster pace than I ever would studying on my own.
• Having the main tutor, community manager, student tutors, and fellow classmates available. They're there if I have questions, need help, need to vent, etc.
• It is an incredible value. It's almost a year's worth of coding education for only $1000. Even when things aren't perfect, I can't really complain since I've saved so much money by going here instead of other (pricier) boot camps. And I feel like I'm receiving a very quality education for that price.

Could be better:
• Maybe it's because I'm older and not as quick as I used to be. But I spend a LOT more time on this course than I expected to. It's been the equivalent of a full-time job for me. They say 10 hours a week minimum. But I don't know how realistic that is depending on your experience level starting out.
• Sometimes there is a language barrier. The way things are worded on the learning platform can be difficult to understand. We also have live coding events and it can be difficult for me to understand what the programmer is saying.
• The learning platform can be frustrating. If you don't answer the question the exact way to the computer is expecting you to, then you can't continue. And if nobody is around on the slack channel to help you, then you can be stuck there for a long time. Which is not only a time waste, but also prevents you from being able to access your project and start working on it.
• This isn't really a negative thing. But they have a lot of faith in us lol. The projects we do every two weeks are not simple. It's not rare to feel unprepared and overwhelmed every time we see the instructions. It usually feels impossible at first. And the code reviewers are very strict about what they'll accept. Yet somehow, I keep managing to stick with it and complete everything.

Hope this is helpful to someone out there.

I paid the fee specifically to receive employment information on myself. There was nothing there. And the rest of the information on me was either missing, wrong, or incomplete. I looked up a few friends, and saw the same for them.

So I immediate wrote customer service asking for a full refund. They replied by the next day, and approved the refund.

I can't say I had the best experience with this site. But I did very much appreciate their quick and courteous customer service team.