Goethe-Institut Online German Course Refund Denied
On 19.09.2026, I completed my registration for the Goethe Institut Izmir’s online beginner German course “Online Deutsch A” and paid the course fee of ₺15,820 by credit card. Despite the payment being taken, I did not receive any information or guidance e-mail giving me access to the course, the lessons or the system. I sent information e-mails on 28.09.2026 and 02.10.2026, but none of them were answered. When I finally reached the institute by phone on 05.10.2026, I was told that they were extremely busy, that they could not respond to e-mails or calls, and they did not offer any support over the phone to help me access the course. After many attempts to reach someone, one staff member told me to call 0212 249 69 29 for the registration department. During the specified hours this number could not be reached, and with my own research I found out that this number was wrong and that the actual number for the Izmir branch was different. However, I could not reach a responsible person through the Izmir branch number either. When I tried to log in to the website, I received an error message under the “Reservation” section stating that my reservation was either cancelled or not confirmed, which prevented me from accessing the course. Although the institute offers online classes at weekends, their communication channels are completely closed on weekends in case of technical or administrative problems, so there was no way to get support. Because of all these problems and the fact that I could not receive the service, I requested a refund of the course fee. Today, in response to my latest e-mail, the institution informed me that they would not make a refund and vaguely stated that they had “sent instructions and other participants had joined without any problems.” The fact that other participants could attend the classes does not eliminate the loss of time I experienced, the incorrect and incomplete information I was given, and the lack of support despite my repeated attempts to resolve the issue. Since I was never granted access to the course I paid for, could not reach a responsible person despite all my efforts, and lost time and energy in this process, I request a full and unconditional refund of the ₺15,820 course fee I paid.
