Success story right here! Been qualified 2 years with no previous experience! Skills now valued enough to have an apprentice with company!
I did my quals with Birmingham metropolitan. My dad was my "mentor", he strongly advised against the training centre. I paid 2700 for fires cookers meters boilers and CPA. The course was 10 months. It was good, think that was largely down to the tutors, but far too much information to retain in a short period if time! In my opinion, having watched others that I went to class with, if the mentor and tutor are crap then there's very little chance of success!
It all comes down to the person learning being able to understand the responsibilities involved BEFORE opting for a career within the industry and finding a mentor that's happy to spend a little time to mould a future engineer!