P.S. I hope the shop doesn't read sci.electronics.repair and connect you
with this discussion. Noone likes being told they are a ripoff before
any money has changed hands :-( As to our reputation as a trade, when
was the last time you hired a plumber? There are a lot of us over here
leaving this trade for plumbing as the hours are better with PAID
overtime, better pay, more grateful customers and *far* less sh*t from
them ;-)



And if you think plumbers can be bad, try HVAC. A neighbor paid $5500 to
have a heat pump installed. I put a nicer unit in my house for $1300 and
that included a few specialized tools, a tank of refrigerant, and the
test to get certified to buy said refrigerant. Granted I did some
scrounging and got some new scratch & dent equipment but even factory
new it would have been less than $2k. The guys who do it for a living
usually buy the stuff wholesale, double the price, and then charge
$80-$150 an hour for the labor but it's not rocket science.