Originally posted by SVTC1136:
.... Got to be some explanation, I don't want to hear i got screwed although I wouldn't be too surprised.
At least my ac is back.


$185 is par for the course. You did not get ripped off. They have to pay for training, insurance, rent, disposal of hazardous materials, blah, blah, blah, .... If you fixed it yourself, yes, that would be expensive.

I read a story once where someone had a machine which was not working right. Its employees tried for two weeks to fix it but couldn't. The manager called in an expert who spent 10 minutes of diagnosis and then made a big circle on the machine with a marker. Said to change the component behind that mark and the machine would be fine. The employees were perplexed and did not believe it but when the component was changed, the machine worked fine. One week later, the invoice came for $10,000. Manager could not believe it and asked for an itemized bill. The itemized bill came back with..... $1 for marking the correct spot. $9,999 for knowing where to put the mark.

You paid for their expertise (and the markup on the refrigerant included that).

"Always do the cheap and easy ones first." 1996 V6 ATX 96K miles