The thing this thread has highlighted is the lengths some training outfits will go to too rip people off.
I was fortunate enough to be taught by an honest man who sent me off on my own after 4 and a half hours (honest enough to say "I don't think you'll kill yourself") and have only met one rip-off merchant since then in the last 35 years of flying.
I can say rip-off because that was what it was and no getting away from the fact.
I spent 5 hours all in the circuit with this guy without once being allowed to complete a full circuit without him interfering in some way i.e. adjusting throttle/trim, taking control without warning and releasing back to me without warning and a multitude of other little things that got me doubting my own abilities.
The only reason I was undertaking this training was to gain a microlight rating on my NPPL which I'd gotten in exchange for my old lifetime CAA PPL
I didn't doubt my capabilities as I'd just done a GST to revalidate and was flying back and forth to this training school in my Tomahawk.
Initially, I thought a couple of hours would do it but boy was I mistaken and how on earth did I allow myself to get sucked in to this instructor's guile and spell.
I'd understand if I was converting to flexwing but it was a simple 3-axis type that if it had any unusual aspects to it's performance it was it's tendency, like many 3-axis microlights, to float on, something that is easy to contend with after a couple of landings.
So, from my experience, it can be easy to become beguiled by an instructor if you're not careful and even this sly old fox got caught out.
Went elsewhere a couple of months later and got my rating after 2 hours instruction which mostly involved bimbling around for 90 minutes doing some local sightseeing after my instructor had satisfied himself of my proficiency in the first half hour.
I don't know where to begin with identifying good instructors/flying schools from the rip-off merchants but asking questions at an early stage and keep on asking them has got to be a sensible approach to this issue.