In Alex' defense, the EASA ground school portion has nothing to do with the practical flight training portion of the school and is very likely for liability reasons registered as a separate company.
Naples Air Center Inc vs Naples Ground School LLC or something similar.
when I was last there one of my ex-students was doing a CPL course and she was having a positive experience, although she hadn't finished
No doubt this connection was known and acted upon.
B2N2 illustrates some of the ghastly behaviour from certain JAA/EASA US based flight schools in the past, hence their generally poor reputation. He left out visa shenanigans and shockingly poor maintenance which also feature(d). It is certainly true that there are ATOs in the US that I would not do business with under any circumstances because of the damage to reputation that would inevitably follow.
If a certain way of doing business is part of an intentional business plan than this is guided from the top down.
I have personally worked for a company where the root cause of all the shenanigans was the Director of Operations.
Unless people in leadership positions have been replaced what once was...will still be.
As far as what I would recommend Matt;
Do an extended search on this forum.
Even when you find a thread from 7-8 years ago it can still be useful as some people may still be a member here.
Click on their username, click on their 'stats' and see when they posted on this forum last.
If that was within the last couple for months it is very likely they are still a member here.
Send them a PM and ask for their experiences in private.
You may hear more then can ever be posted on a public forum.
My offers till stands, send me a PM and we can call/Skype/Facetime.
I'll extend that invitation also to the ones that foot the bill, your parents.
I have no connection to any training provider but have extensive prior experience in the flight training industry.
Like everybody I've moved on in my career and now flying something pretty fast that Mr Boeing built.
Now to credit my primary flight training provider for that is ludicrous.
That is nothing more then synchronicity.
Unless the school is the one that is integrated with an employer the ones that claim their successes should also claim their losses.
A website should read " some of our former students have made it to the following airlines after they've left us and pursued their careers" rather then
" our students fly at XYZ because they chose to do their PPL with us " as that would be a blatant marketing lie.