While I do think that instructors are entitled to charge for their time, and a lot of students would certainly benefit from a more detailed explanation of the groundschool subjects, charging for a chat is totally taking the PlSS! Sadly it's very common in the UK flight training industry to rip off (potential) pilots so I would just be pleased that your experience has only cost you £130 to find out that it's a shoddy outfit.
Take your cash elsewhere, there are lots of good clubs/schools out there who would be happy to take on a new PPL student.
Remember,
YOU are the customer!!!
