Interesting points being raised here, but obviously, the more people comment, the more people will be able to get their own opinion. For you to slam someone down and tell them to "shut up" because they are voicing their opinion, well, its childish and to be honest, pathetic, not to mention a past instructor attacking a current student. Shows a strong sense of character when you yell at someone on the internet. If you know who the guy is, why don't you take it up with him in person? but i bet you haven't.
Nevertheless, i believe i may have a more diplomatic opinion on the club.
I'm going to give you my experience with OAA. I'm a second year grad student with Swin and did all of my preliminary training with OAA. I had my PPL half way through last year as i had already started flying before starting the course and i tell you what, never have i seen a club more disorganized and unprofessional in my life. I started out at a club up in Shepparton and then moved to OAA and after last year, i decided to kick the bucket and move to another school at Moorabbin and let me tell you.
The difference between a school where you feel as though you are getting your moneys worth and a school that simply lets you run around a field with no direction on how to get to the other side is, well, lets say, more than noticeable. In the time i was at OAA, i had a total of 5 different instructors, even though i was promised that i would have one instructor and only one instructor. 3 were past grads and constantly cut corners with their training and were unprofessional with their attitude of barely enough will be enough...
I couldn't stand the fact that i was often moved to a totally new instructor the day before my flight and found it extremely uncomfortable when i was constantly correcting the instructor. I can not tell you the advantages of having a single instructor and for those that feel comfortable! with rotating instructors, well, you clearly have no idea about you are talking about.
The current school that i am with is yes, smaller, and dramatically cheaper, but it offers 10x the that which OAA did and does. I have had my current instructor since the beginning of the year, and am on my way to having my CPL by the end of the year, hopefully. The atmosphere at the club is more orientated around me as a pilot, and me learning to the best of my ability. The structure around what I want to do and where i want to go is much better, the overall develop of me as a pilot, i believe is, much better than my co-students at OAA.
Simple questions that should be known, easily understood and answered are often not known by the other guys, {and yes, i have compared} all tell me that i made the right decision in getting out early at the end of the semester without having the issues that Charles is having.
My recommendation would for you to look around at other schools that offer a much more specific CPL structure. A school that offers more professional instructors that actually want to see you develop as a pilot, rather than a production line of pilots that barely know their stuff, have the bare minimum hours required and a much nicer learning environment with an instructor that knows where you are up to in your flight training, where you went wrong in your last lesson, where you need to improve and where your strengths and weaknesses are.
CASA sets those minimum hours for a reason. Its not for clubs to take advantage of and actually set a specific amount for this and that. A student should be able to progress to the next stage of his/her training when they are ready, not when they have this amount of hours.
Overall, i was extremely disappointed with the club and would never think about going back to them. I would say that i have experience with a before and after scenario and can only voice my opinion and hope that you take it and don't go with OAA