The reason I thought it was a ripoff was that I have done my biannual several times 3 times in California and 4 times in Florida and the last biannual was I felt a long on - it included 15 minutes orbiting over a zoo so I could be shown an elephant pasture !! Some VOR tracking and a few performance take offs and landings lasted 2 and a half hours and then two hours ground school. One thing I have learnt as a flying instructor is don't argue with the checkout instructor - just go with it keep quiet and next time chose another school.
On the licence - I have a UK CAA PPL not JAR - same as I had my FAA licence issued on. The CAA have asked me several time to change to a JAR but I have resisted. CAA one is valid forever and dosn't need to be renewed. I love flying in the USA and usually it is very good value and very interesting. But unfortunately I did feel the biannual was excessive and was at least twice as much as I normally have to do.