In reply to Gracieclimbs: If you book directly with pretty much any self employed Mountaineering Instructor (whether myself, Jez or any of the others who post here) you will be looking at prices in the range of £150-£170 per person for courses with two students for two days.
Booking through any VAT registered companies, as you found, prices will be around £250.
As with many things it is a balance between time and money. On a weekend course with a professional instructor you might learn a roughly similar amount to that you'd learn over perhaps three weekends climbing even with a really supportive club or more experienced friends who will undoubtedly have their own agendas rather than being solely concerned with teaching you.
If you're free every weekend, not earning much, are a short drive from great climbing and know loads of climbers then professional instruction will undoubtedly look extremely expensive. Conversely, if you're only free for the occasional weekend, are a long drive from any outdoor climbing, are on an above average salary and don't know many experienced climbers then things are likely to look very different.
Only you know your own circumstances, so I certainly wouldn't be swayed one way or another by online comments by random strangers.