| Reviewers Male / Female |
Recommend Yes / No |
Number of Reviews | Classes & Instruction | School Facilities | Accomodation | Cost & Expense | Total Average Rating |
| 1 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 2 | 4.00 | 3.50 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.38 |
| Date Submitted: | September 10, 2009 |
| Language School: |  don Quijote - Barcelona |
| Language & Location: | Spanish :: Barcelona, Spain |
| Classes & Instruction: | 5 out of 10 |
| School Facilities: | 5 out of 10 |
| Accomodation: | 1 out of 10 |
| Cost & Expense: | 1 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | No |
| Review: | not recommended. I didn't believe that the review from donquijote is the worst could really be unexaggerated. So I booked. I went to dq barcelona, stayed at the residence and realised how such a situation could occur. DQ is not a SCHOOL - it's a cash cow. The bottom line for them is money, and how obviously and unashamedly this shows is almost sad. The 'director' is a tyrant and acts as though everybody is a student in kindergarten and he is the fat playground bully who barks, has short term memory loss and acuses you of his errors, and tells you to "speak spanish" when you demand to have your rights as a customer, because he's obviously going to win every argument in spanish. He is incredibly rude, even though you are essentially a CUSTOMER yet he will treat you like a STUDENT when it is convenient for his "class planning" (as some classes are held until 7pm). This is absolutely unacceptable. Just because he is the "director" of his "school" doesn't mean anything to a customer. The customer is still always paying for something. And a bait-&-switch is what DQ seem to manage to pull on plenty of things. The staff in "administration" will always tell you that what ever problem or query you have at that time, is not what THEY deal with, you will need to ask moron number 2 at the admin desk who will be back in another 20 minutes/2 hours/day. This was such a bad experience for what was supposed to be a nice semi-holiday in Barcelona. If people wanted to be treated like children, they would not go to a place promoted like DQ Barcelona is promoted. The course itself - I've done better language courses elsewhere. Although the teachers are nice, some were obviously underqualified and couldn't teach/explain the language well. But then some were great. So it's just luck which ones you get. I don't believe they have very strict curriculums and so the material you cover is very much based on how your teacher teaches. And different teachers teach the same course levels - so there is a lack of consistency between classes in the same level. As a cash cow, DQ's lack of care whether or not you actually learn anything is apparent as there are no weekly/fortnightly tests. So in this respect, you are treated not as a Student but more like a customer. The residence was an absolute dump. The beds are terrible to sleep on. You can hear the springs screeching outrageously from any small movement. The bathrooms are either tiny or gigantic - but all tacky. The cleaning lady is atrocious. She's so rude and constantly suspicious of students leaving garbage in the bins, leaving plates in the dishwasher, 'stealing' her brooms, buckets. And the kitchen is disgustingly old. The lift is indefinately out of order. There are cockroaches in the 'dining' area. The vending machines are always breaking down after you put money in (and when you ask for this back at the school, they make it such a big issue that in the end you just cannot be bothered). The 24hr security at the residence which is advertised is actually only 24 hrs on weekends. All in all, the DQ-Barcelona experience made my experience in Spain unpleasant because I felt like what I had paid for was an institution (complete, with tyrant installed)to make me feel ripped off and hopelessly unable to exercise my rights as a customer due to their "terms and conditions", in which all the fine print really must be read before you consider booking. Don't be fooled by the facebook forums with 2 "opinions" of the school which are positive, as the DQ admin have obviously deleted all the bad reviews. Don't go here. Don't waste your money. There must be better schools who treat their students/customers with more respect or at least more consistency so you can have the benefits of at least being treated as a 'student' OR 'customer' and not only have to deal with the negative aspects of being either. Comments [ 0 ] |
| Submitted by: | Demitrioisanass 35 year-old :: Male Reviewer :: Czech Republic |
| Date Submitted: | July 24, 2008 |
| Language School: | don Quijote - Barcelona |
| Language & Location: | Spanish :: Barcelona, Spain |
| Classes & Instruction: | 3 out of 10 |
| School Facilities: | 2 out of 10 |
| Accomodation: | 1 out of 10 |
| Cost & Expense: | 1 out of 10 |
| Recommend: | No |
| Review: | DO NOT GO HERE!!! This is the most expensive language school that I came across in my search. Because of this, and their webpage, I assumed this would also be the best school. To begin with, the residence was DISGUSTING. I travel a lot and do not mind staying in hostels and this residence was by far much worse than anything I had seen in my travels. The worst part is that they charge $1200/month to have your own room there. You can get a room in the center of Barcelona in a nice apartment for between 400 and 600 euros. I knew a lot of other people in the residence who were unhappy. I also heard constant complaining in class about the apartments. The biggest problem with this school is that the cancellation guarantee that they have is just crap. Along with many of my friends, I fell down the very dangerous stairs in the residence and hurt myself pretty significantly. I could not even attend classes for almost 2 weeks and I could barely walk. When I started to feel a little better I was still unable to sleep in the residence because they have the most uncomfortable beds I have ever slept in and it was aggravating my injury. While I had been staying in the residence I also had my food stolen from the kitchen and clothes stolen from the laundry area which I reported to the office both times and nothing was done. So considering all of this, when I was in so much pain I was ready to throw the towel in. I went to the office and said I wanted to use my guarantee (which I paid an extra $600 for) to get my money back. I was told to get a Dr's note and to leave the school and that in 3 weeks I would get a refund. I did what they asked and when weeks went by and I heard nothing I returned to the school. Olga in the office denied ever telling me any such thing, pretended she did not speak English all of a sudden, and basically told me I would be getting no money refused to tell me who I could even talk to about this. When I tried to contact Maria in Salamanca, which is who my contact was during the registration process, she would be mysteriously out of the office every time. E-mails consistently went unanswered as well. Basically I was at this school for one month and they kept my money for 4 months even though I had the guarantee and did what they asked. They are liars and crooks and you cannot trust them. They made my experience abroad miserable and it kills me every time I think about the large sum of money they stole from me. There are many less expensive schools in Barcelona and look on Loquo.com for apartments. Comments [ 17 ] |
| Submitted by: | donquijote is the worst 24 year-old :: Female Reviewer :: Orlando, Florida, USA |
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