I booked with Escape2Poland for a tour of Auschwitz, a few weeks before my trip, and was impressed with everything during the booking process. I emailed them a few times about the different options for the tour, and I was really impressed that they would reply back very quickly. I paid a deposit for the tour when I booked, and was informed how much I would have to pay the driver in local currency.
A few days before my tour of Auschwitz, I received an email telling me what time I would be picked up from my hotel, and an estimated time for when I would get to the camp. On the day, the driver was right on time, and picked me up in a minivan. During the drive, I was shown a film about the liberation of Auschwitz, which prepares you a bit for what you’re about to see. Once at Auschwitz, the driver introduced to my guide for the tours of Auschwitz and Birkenau. My guide spoke fluent English, and was full of information about the camps. The tour around Auschwitz I shows you all the facts, as this has been set up as a museum, showing possessions of prisoners, as well as other things from the camps. The tour of Birkenau is more about getting a feel of things, as you walk along the train tracks, and see the barracks where prisoners were kept. You tour around Auschwitz I for around an hour, then you meet back up with your driver, who then drives you to Birkenau, which around a five minute drive away. The option I had booked gave me extra time to look around by myself, and my driver recommended I look around for an hour by myself. I met up with my guide at the gates of Birkenau, and while most of the buildings at this camp were destroyed during the end of the war, there were still plenty of barracks around, so you could see the terrible conditions people had to live in.
After my guide left, I looked around for a bit more, then caught up with my driver in the car park. At no time when I was outside the main gates, taking photos, did I feel he was wanting me to hurry up, which is something that you want. I was then driven back to the hotel and paid the rest of the money to the driver, and left in shock at the sights of one of the biggest killing machines the world has ever seen.
There are plenty of companies that offer you tours of these camps, but I would Escape2Poland would be the best way to go, I know if I want to do some sight seeing again in Poland, I will definitely use them again.