Hey Man C Flyer,
If you've already paid your deposit, don't worry about, go and try and enjoy your time there. Be prepared to talk back to the management team thou, don't let them blame any problems you have (if you have any problems) on you for not telling them about any problems (if that makes any sense at all, haha!!)
The maintainence of the aircraft isn't good, but what are you flying out there? Cessna's or Pipers?? If you fly the Piper's, try to get in the Warriors not the Cadets, the warriors are newer and so they 'try' to look after them and they are maintained slightly bettter than the Cadets. If you are flying Cessna's, the 152's are in appaling condition, but the 172's aren't too bad as these are used for the IR training a lot of the time, which brings them in big money, so they try to keep these airworthy too!!
Like you say, if only you'd heard of this forum sooner, but as you've paid your deposit, go and try to enjoy it. It may take longer than the 45hours, depending on which instructor you get. Some of them do like to make you fly longer so they can build up there hours too, not all of them thou. When I went out there, I already had some flying experience, but they did make me start almost from the beginning because I didn't have any proof, other than what was in my log book, that I had done these hours, and even then it took longer than the 45 they state before I got my check-ride and PPL. As has been mentioned in another thread, keep an eye out for any miscellaneous charges appearing on your account, as there quite good at doing this and then not remembering what it was when you question it, so you end up paying for it anyway! If I was you, as long as you haven't paid them too much up front, only put 1 or $2000 in your account and just re-fill it as you go then you don't loose all of your money and they don't run your account down with charges, etc. Plus, it gives them an incentive to be nicer to you to make sure you continue to spend your money with them, lol!!
Sorry for the long post, just a few things i thort of, that might help you out. Have a good time anyway!!