Really sad to hear of this again. It's worth getting something in writing with regards refunds - that way you can be happy to pay up front and feel confident that you have some comeback in the event of a refund requirement. Not all schools are crooks though, at my school we offer refund written into the contract, though any discount you attracted by an up front payment will be deducted as you didn't fly off the requisite hours that attracted the discount in the first place. Fair all round.
I think that any self respecting school would rather refund fairly than risk a bad reputation. Maybe name and shame is best, or at least the threat of it would suffice.