Experiences of Stapleford
Whilst I cannot comment on the training aspect of this thread, I would like to share my experiences of Stapleford and its customer care.
About 18 months ago I moved to Essex and was looking for an airfield to rent a plane on a regular basis. I chose Stapleford on the basis of convenience & reputation. I had flown into Stapleford on a number of previous occasions and and had no reason to think of Stapleford other than as a professional airfield with a decent cafe.
The checkout was fine and there was no problem with the instructors - they were polite, friendly and professional - however the aircraft was rather tired.
The reception staff were in a class of their own in their approach to customer care & one person in particular stood out & not in a good way. The staff at the Reception Desk seemed to take adverse pleasure in ignoring you for as long as they could even when they weren't busy and then would treat you with almost complete contempt at having had the audacity to ask them a question and attempt to line the pockets of Stapleford Airfield. Why????? It wasn't a one off occasion where the staff may have had a bad day but on almost every occasion I dared to brave the Reception Desk.
On one occasion, I booked the aircraft for a late afternoon session only to find that it was low on fuel and that the fuel pumps had been locked for the evening. No one bothered to call me so it was a wasted journey which I was pretty cheesed off with.
Another time, the aircraft was wrongly booked out - so another opportunity to fly was lost.
My wife was appalled at the service we had experienced (as she was with me on each occasion) and categorically insisted that we find another airfield to fly from as it wound her up even thinking of flying from Staplefield on a regular basis let alone consider doing her PPL there.
A pity as Stapleford has a lot going for it but I won't be spending my hard earned money there.