I occasionally work ground ops at Leading Edge (the Cumbernauld club mentioned above). Well done Virgin350!
We have always had a policy of erring on the side of caution when speaking to potential new students. A couple of years ago before the fuel jumped up in price we were estimating about 7-8k dependant on how the course panned out. But anyone who walks in now is told straight up that it's going to be around the 9-10k mark.
There is no point in stringing people along with the notion of a 6k PPL, it just leads to unhappy customers who are likely drift away when they inevitably do a running check of their costs. This might get a few more hours on a clubs bottom line, but I'd like to hope that most outfits see this isn't a good thing for the industry long term. We need to get new pilots coming through, getting their PPL and staying flying after they pass maybe even going further in aviation.
One thing I'd like to see, possibly from the CAA or maybe a self regulated body? Would be a charter mark sort of deal for flight training with standards regularly monitored (customer service and training standards). Alot of people starting out on their training jump in blindly with the first organisation they encounter. Everyone here in hindsight knows all the potential gotchas like not paying up front. But even those who do research the topic before taking the plunge might not get the full picture, even google isn't infallible. I realise this could never be a perfect solution but how hard could it be to have a website which has all the faq's and guidance and rough costs explained. A one stop shop for anyone looking to learn to go and find the right training provider to suit them.
Sorry for the longer than planned post!
Paul.