A small aircraft pilot reported complete electrical failure and diverted to the nearest tower controlled airport to land. The FBO staff told the pilot they did not follow the correct procedures for electrical failure.

Narrative

I previously submitted a report on DATE but want to correct some statements with this update. I'm submitting some corrections to previous statements that I find inaccurate. I rushed some reports immediately after this event happened and was kind of shaken up; so with more clarity; I'm submitting this summary of events. Around XA:30/XB:40pm Eastern Time DATE I was flying an aircraft rented from a flight school; was doing touch and goes at ZZZ and requested south departure from Runway XX to go to the south practice area and eventually return to ZZZ1. I was told by Tower frequency change approved and began to head towards the south. I initially tried to tune in ZZZ1 ATIS frequency. I heard some audio for a second and then the audio cut out. The display again began to fade; shortly after the departure in a climb around 1000 ft.; com1 went blank. All audio went out/the volume would not work. I tried to switch to com2 and tried to tune multiple frequencies in and request for help. Upon transmit; the screen would go blank. No audio heard. With no working radios; I entered the communications lost code XXXX into transponder. I decided to climb to 2000 ft. approximately during troubleshooting.I was close to ZZZ; it was the airport I just left/last had communication with; and they were controlled; safety; so I decided to return to the airport immediately. I spoke with the lead CFI at my flight school; after this event but there are some previous inaccurate statements I/he made that I want to clarify. First; my checklist was out on my knee board at all times. The checklist was visible on my lap with the people that came to see me after I landed too. Evidence I used it; it was out open on my knee board clipboard. I was already low and during this catastrophic electrical failure; I was worried that I would lose my engine and briefly saw the fuel gauges low; and given the series of events that had happened; my low altitude; no communications/electrical system or transponder; and the fact that I just left the airport; and the fact that it was controlled; it was safest to land immediately in this situation as a matter of immediately life safety. I did not trust the aircraft at all and had no idea what else would fail at the time and being single engine; decided to land immediately.The south practice area is extremely busy with traffic and without any communications or transponder my safety concern was not to continue flying around; I decided the best thing would be land immediately/safely. Going out over the ocean; attempting to climb and then land at an uncontrolled extremely busy south practice area airport with no communications was unsafe and probably not the best thing to do; given the circumstances. No Tower would be able to communicate with other aircraft or give advice; which supports my landing decision to ZZZ. Landing at a controlled airport was wiser; given all of the traffic; and the fact that I had no communications. I needed a Tower to be able to communicate with other aircraft to avoid a mid-air disaster.Upon making the decision to land immediately at ZZZ; I first wanted to get the plane on the ground as soon as possible so I believe I lined up for another runway at first but realized the winds were too high to my back and I was slightly fast and I did not see the green light in the Tower so I decided to continue flying; make a tear shape and line up for the runway I last departed from for a final approach. I was unable to get the flaps all the way down on final; the electrical system was completely out by then. Even the transponder was blank before I landed. At no time did I over speed the flaps. I made a statement that was not accurate earlier; which could have indicated that was the case but it was not. Once I landed normally; relatively smooth; on Runway XX; I taxied off the runway and waited for the green signal from the Tower. I saw the green signal and continued to taxi to the nearest FBO location. At each stoppingpoint; I stopped and waited until I saw the green signal all the way until I parked the aircraft at the local FBO.Someone from the Tower came out to talk to me and briefly inspect the aircraft. It should be noted my knee board was in place; all checklists were already out on my knee board on my lap/right knee. Multiple people witnessed this. A person from the airport got my name; cell; address; and pilot's license number; briefly talked; ask for statement; I explained what happened; etc. I immediately called the flight school to notify them of the situation once I was safely parked. The FBO tied down the aircraft. We noted when trying to cycle the master; the electrical system was dead; flaps could not be retracted obviously because there is no power. I make a note of this in my previous reports; but wanted to clarify they were not 'over speed' at any time; just stuck in position noted when they tied down the aircraft. Since I was a bit shaken; any priority with understandably do this to someone; I might have misstated details about the flaps in a previous report so I am correcting that now. Once I landed/was tied down I also immediately contacted flight school senior flight instructor leadership including a phone call to the flight instructor and also sent a statement to him and another instructor. I also quickly filled out an incident form the flight school sent to me.The aircraft was left at ZZZ per instructions from the flight school staff. The times were recorded (1.2 hrs.) and the binder/keys were left inside the aircraft. A representative from the flight school picked me up; drove me back to the school. I then immediately wrote statements/emailed them from the lobby; was slightly shaken up at the time); but confident in my flying abilities and decision making. I felt I made the best decision in the situation at the time in those circumstances and with no other information. Once I sent out the statements; they had me pay the flight rental bill and then I left. I did speak again with the flight instructor afternoon on the phone. He called me. There are some inaccurate statements he made to me and apparently in the report that I sent him; so he asked me to send him another statement. This is the statement I'm sending in response.One major concern that everyone has; I did the correct communications out procedure as it is in the checklist; but the transponder gave erroneous data to ZZZ Tower; including showing me in an impossible climb from 3000 to 7400 ft.; which I never was at; and which made the situation even more dangerous. This erroneous transponder data was occurring during the time I was coming in for an priority landing. ZZZ representatives have contacted me about this and I was unaware that the transponder was giving bad data during this priority; but it must be investigated. I wrote a very brief aircraft squawk in the binder about this incident once I was tied down at ZZZ and took pictures of it for record. I do not feel safe in the flight school aircraft and I will not be renting from here again. I did the best I could in this situation. The checklist was on my lap on my knee board out at all times but after this event; I realize the LOW VOLTAGE checklist would not have solved my problem in these circumstances; since I already lost all electrical; there was basically no electrical load to shed. I was low; close to ZZZ; it was controlled space; safer to guide all the traffic with communications loss; I had just departed from there/they knew me; I decided to land there.I was not panicked; that might have been a bad choice of words; just in the moment; understandably slightly concerned and felt urgency. To demonstrate I was not in panic at the time; procedures were followed during the entire event and I did make a safe landing. Not only was this the case; I also ensured I had the green signal from the Tower to continue on landing and taxi. I disagree with the statement the instructor made to me on the phonetoday that I should have climbed and done checklists with more time and only landed at ZZZ2. Why would I land at an uncontrolled airport with extremely busy traffic area with no communications and no Tower to control or notify other aircraft which many times are not paying attention that would have been a potentially bigger safety risk that I mitigated. Given the series of catastrophic failures and that I was single engine; I felt it was best to land immediately as described above. I safely landed. It was a smooth landing. I was kind of shocked at the tone I got from the lead flight instructor from the school on the phone today and failed to correct some details (above) so I'm providing this statement to correct some of the previous inaccurate details. His tone suggested that I did everything wrong; this was all my fault; and he also told me they would not be renting anymore to me until I talk with one of their flight instructors or something. I can assure you; I will not be renting from you anymore because I feel the aircraft fleet is unsafe; the attitude of people there is unprofessional and always shifts the blame to others; and that I've ran into; lost count; of the times aircraft have had issues at this flight school. This catastrophic failure was a learning opportunity for me and I have learned from it. I can assure you I am a safe pilot and always open to learn and there are things I can/have learned from this event; but I want it to learn from an unbiased party not this flight school. I do not feel the attitude on the phone today was good at all nor was it in my best interest to continue with this flight school. I will be reflecting more on this event. I have reviewed safety procedures again after this event occurred. This is my updated statement for this event.