I visited a friend at EFT recently, and have to disagree about their aircraft - they are in pretty good shape compared to a lot of other schools training aircraft (Not to say that the average is very good - but they're better than the 2 other JAA schools I visited over there) Also like to add I was glad to see that the planes were in maintenance - it means they were being fixed and had a good culture of reporting faults
Also - every one who was there, when I visited was completing about 3-4 days earlier than planned.
The guys at the school were upfront and honest about the situation, including the refunds.
No matter, where you intend to train, go and visit call and ask for references, I made the mistake of not doing so in Spain!