Atlanta International Language Institute

Sadly, I must join other reviewers. However, the only difference is that I couldn’t even make it to the classes, because every time they told me that an instructor would call to assess my level of Spanish, they never did so. I was forgiving the first time and the second time, however on the third time, I gave up. I am extremely busy and don’t have time to block my calendar to be «stood up». I am no longer interested in this school. If I receive poor customer service before I even get in the door, I don’t plan to receive any better once I get there.

I am only giving this 2 starts instead of 1 because the director gave me a refund and full credit for another class that is good for 1 year.
That being said, this was the worst language school I have attended (I have attended over 10 schools for 2 different languages over a span of 15 or so years). After I was evaluated for my level, it took the school 2 months to get me into a class because the original instructor never came back from her native country.
After several «miscommunications» with the school, I started with a different instructor. This was a horrible experience. The first day of class, I showed up and they did not have me on the schedule. It just went downhill from there. I attended a total of 5 ‘classes’ before I requested another instructor. The instructor assigned to me for the private lessons was extremely unprofessional and did not take the position seriously. Out of the 5 classes, he was late for over half. I don’t mean a few minutes late, I am talking over 45 minutes late for a 2 hour class! During the class, he was constantly texting or walking out of the room to grab a book or a pen or whatever. At one point, he actually took a phone call during the session. Unbelievable!
After 5 sessions of this nonsense, I told the director I would give them a second chance and try a new teacher or accept a refund. After several weeks, I was told a female instructor could teach, but a ½ hour later. I agreed. First week, the teacher was not able to make it to class. The second week, a substitute was there and could not answer any of my questions regarding the new teacher. Sub was OK, although she kept talking to me in English, which is counterproductive for learning another language. This would be acceptable if I were beginner level, but I am high intermediate. Interestingly, she also accepted a phone call during the session, albeit only a few minutes or so. I guess 2 hours is too much work for these people.
After that class, I requested a refund due to all the issues I had experienced. The director offered ½ of a refund, which I explained to her was insulting due to the amount of issues I had. Plus, I never experienced what could be considered an actual language class due to the unprofessional caliber of the instructors. She agreed to give a full refund. Needless to say, the refund process took over 6 weeks and a threat to visit the office in person as well as contact the owners. Other people have mentioned the same. I have received refunds before; none has taken more than 10 days to be processed.
Other reviewers also mentioned the lack of learning materials offered. This is true and a detriment to learning unless it is a full immersion environment. The lack of a book interferes with the ability to look over past lessons and learn from mistakes. Plus, it was impossible to measure progress or review the next week’s lesson.
From the looks of the reviews, this place may have been good in the past, but pretty much sucks now. I will try another school before I even sign up for a new session that would even be free because of my school credit.

like others, I’ve been waiting on a refund for about 3 months now. I canceled my class 2 weeks before the start date and they wanted to know if I could try a different class at a different time and then just never got back to me for another month. apparently they had another customer with the same exact name as me who they had also canceled the same class as me and they had given HER my new class registration information… yeah okay. at this point I asked for a refund again and was basically jerked around for another month and a half until they told me they would refund me 3 weeks from that date. it has now been about 5 weeks since then and I keep calling and emailing and being told that «someone will get back to me.» this place is a scam.

I would highly not recommend taking a class here. They are extremely unprofessional. The teachers do not have consistent coursework or books; instead, they make worksheets on their computers and then spend half of class trying to print them for you to view. There was no syllabus, book, or structure to the course. I was told a book was included in the price of the course.
When I emailed and called to discuss this with the management team, I was asked if they could return my call later, and I still haven’t heard back. I have been trying for about 2 ½ weeks to get in touch with someone at the school to share my experience, and no one will respond to me. I do not recommend taking a course with a company as unprofessional as this one.

I have been taking Russian classes at AILI since September 2010 and it couldn’t be better. I have had so much fun learning and the staff is incredibly helpful and friendly.
Seth Robinson

I have been taking an advanced Spanish conversation class at AILI for 9 months now and it has been fantastic. When I first called for information on classes someone from AILI called me back the same day and helped me to arrange a visit to a class.
My instructor Judy Herrera is fantastic. She makes the class interesting, fun and comfortable. Small classes allow me the opportunity to speak and increase my Spanish fluency. I plan to continue taking class here for the forseable future. Definitely a great value.

AILI is awesome and a great value for your money! The staff and instructors at AILI are friendly, helpful and patient — AND tuition is very reasonable. My Spanish teacher makes the classes fun and the language very easy to learn while also giving me the confidence to speak Spanish outside the classroom. The class size is small, setting is informal, classes are fun and I’ve made good friends. AILI is a GREAT value for the tuition cost and you will start speaking Spanish (or any other language) immediately.