French Ski School Esf Flaine — Attraction in Bonneville

I chose ESF for my son’s first full week in snowboard lessons. I have previously been recommended to avoid ESF my several parent friends of mine as they felt that they do not consider each student as an individual and it is quite an impersonal service. We were visiting Flaine outside of school holidays and when we arrived it turned out that there were no other kids in the kids snowboard lesson I booked. I was told then that he would go into adults lessons. He’s only 8 and had many hours of indoor lesson on snow in the UK. There were two major problems.

He felt really uncomfortable with adults. All his previous skiing lessons were with other kids with age appropriate methods for teaching. He felt left out and uncomfortable.

He was in between the two groups of adults they had. One was more advanced than him and the other was super beginner doing the absolute most basic aspects of snowboarding. On his second day he was in the basic group and he was already well exceeding what they were doing. This is frustrating as I called before we arrived to confirm his level and described what skills he had already and I was told it would all be fine.

After the second day he was upset, feeling left out and out of place and doing stuff he had learnt months ago in the indoor places.

When I asked esf what could be done, I was told there were no other children so that’s the best they can do. Or I could choose to move him to private lessons which were not available until day 4, were 3 times the price and only available in the afternoon.

I felt this was far below a good standard of customer service and explained this to the manager. They had several ways they could have improved our experience. They could have called me before I arrived to say, “hey just so you know he’s going to be having lesson with adults”. That way I could have chosen if we still wanted to go ahead. And maybe there would have been other options available at that time. They also could have restricted me from booking online. Why let me book? I gave them his age when I booked the kids lesson online. They could have staffed the kids lesson with a teacher. Sure there was only him, but that wasn’t his fault. We paid for kids lessons. That might not be cost effective for ESF but if that’s the case they had plenty of time to call before I arrived to explain that I would need to find another alternative.

In the end the manager was very aggressive and rude with me. He was dismissive and full of attitude. I took a refund for the remaining 4 days and got private lessons with an independent snowboard coach for much less than ESF were charging. It’s was just very frustrating as the situation could have been resolved if they were in the ball more and his time wouldn’t have wasted for two days out of six in snowboard lessons that he was not enjoying or learning anything from.

All in all, listen to what people say about ESF. Impersonal and inconsiderate organisation. Avoid if you can. Choose an independent they just care more.

One final note: this isn’t a negative against the teachers themselves. They seemed fine and perfectly capable. This is an issue with the organisation and...

After going for the last 2 seasons at Flaine and have been sking with ESF ski moniteurs for more than 80 days, we can say that we have a good knowledge of the school.

In a few words, we highly recommend ESF Flaine.

Our family has been skiing extensively with Christian Sauvage, Bernard Moge, Adrien Donzel, Yannick, and Denis.

My wife and I learned to ski with Bernard Moge over two incredible seasons. He took us from zero to confidently tackling red runs and our first black runs! Bernard's technical expertise, patience, and enthusiasm made learning enjoyable.Outstanding instructor, genuine friend. Highly recommended!

Christian Sauvage has been an exceptional ski instructor for my child (6 years old) over the past two seasons. His technical expertise, patience, and interpersonal skills have created a supportive and enjoyable learning environment. Christian's instruction has not only developed my child's skiing abilities but also instilled a lifelong passion for the sport.

Christian and Bernard gave us the chance to enjoy quality family time and invaluable life moments that we will never forget.

More than meeting two instructors, we meet lifelong friends.

Also, our son (from 4 to 6 years old) experienced skiing with Adrien Donzel, Yannick, and Denis. They took him at blue - red runs, jumped at the box at Balacha run, jumped at the border cross, and sking at the forest. Our son developed an incredible bond with the instructors and Flaine, forcing us to come back!!, lucky us!!

Our teenage daughter's progress with ESF group lessons has been nothing short of remarkable. Advancing from 2-star to Class 4 in just two seasons, she effortlessly transitioned from blue runs to tackling challenging red and black runs, mastering slalom, off-piste skiing, and freestyle jumps.

Finally, but not least, Giulia at ESF Flaine Forum's front desk is amazing! Her kindness, efficiency, and dedication made our experience unforgettable. Always smiling, helpful, and knowledgeable. Thank you, Giulia!

Overall, ESF Flaine will give you

Expert instructors Friendly, motivating approach Safety focus Inspiring passion for Alpine and Backcountry skiing Genuine friendship Efficiency and dedication from a well rounded Team.

Until next time, ESF...

I had a horrible experience with them. I signed up for a beginner’s course staring on Monday but most people had already started on Sunday! So even though they advertised a beginner course starting on Sunday and one starting on Monday, they basically merged both groups and expected the Monday people to just catch up with minimal instruction. I found that overwhelming and I was having a bad day so I fell a few times and the instructor reacted with zero empathy or support. I decided to leave the lesson after an hour and the instructor agreed and told me to ask the school for private lessons that would work better for me. I went to the school to ask about private lessons and there were none available before the day I was leaving. After finding a wonderful private instructor elsewhere, I went back to the school two days later to ask for a refund or a voucher since the group I had signed up for was unsuitable and they didn’t have private instructors available. I have never experienced a more horrible customer service! Both the woman at the counter and her supervisor were gaslighting me, arguing that if I had asked for private lessons on the day I left the group course there would be some which was simply not true! With a combination of irony, rudeness, implications that I was lying, zero empathy and various stupid arguments, they were refusing to give me a refund or a voucher! I was shocked at how horrible they were but I knew I was right so I couldn’t let it go until they gave up and gave me a partial refund that was calculated badly and didn’t even correspond to two days of the course but at that point I was too tired to keep arguing. Bottom line, avoid them if you can! I heard they have some good instructors, but the experience is not guaranteed — a good school should ensure that all instructors are of the same quality, otherwise it’s not a good school — and the rudeness of the people working there...