Where to get legal advice as a foreigner in Bremen

Hello.

Is there any department or private counsel office that helps problems from foreigners in Bremen?

We are about 10 people who have been to a language school and got a problem. The matter is;
we paid for ZD and had the exam at the language school, but never get the results. The school secretary told us several stories, like, someone stole the results, DHL lost the parcel from the exam centre, etc.
Only recently, the person in charge of the school told one of us that the secretary hid the exam papers in the cellar, and didn't send to the exam centre. It was only done by the secretary who got a mental problem, so it can't be helped. The school recounce all responsibility for it. They are not going to tell all the students who have the same damage, because they don't know who has had the exam. It's been long time since the exam papers and the fee are kept in the school. It would be quite a large number of foreigners, and of course money. Additionally, the school gave the faked result document to the students who pushed them to give the result.
I think it's clearly a crime, but don't know what can we do. If there is no official place to ask the help, should I hire a lawyer in person?

I hope someone give me an advice.

Thank you.

Hi Upa,

Was it a reputable language school?

As far as I can see, Zertifikat Deutsch is run by a cooperation between the Goethe Institut, TELC and ÖSD, and in order to offer the Zertifikat Deutsch test, each test centre has to apply for a licence through these organisations. Judging by this website, it looks like the only licensed test centres in Bremen are the Goethe Institut and the Volkshochschule, although I'm not 100% sure about that. If anyone else is claiming to offer the test, it might be illegal, which would explain your experience. Or if your school is licensed, they're clearly not doing what they are licensed to do.

I would suggest you get in touch with the Goethe Institut to find out if your language school is legitimate and to make an official complaint about your school. I'm sure they would take such a complaint seriously and might be able to point you in the right direction in terms of legal help.

Good luck!

Hello olywg,

thank you for the reply. The school is licenced for ZD and Test Daf as well, at least the licences are hanged on the wall.
We'll visit Goethe institut as following your useful suggestion! Thank you

ZD via the usual integration course route is run by TELC, not Goethe, and their very useful website, telc.net, lists 7 centres in the Bremen area (so we could, er, have a go at guessing which one the OP means ).

You might be advised to drop them an email with all the info - date of test, names, test centre etc. You can do this via their web-site. I find them responsive and helpful when I need info from them.