Air Conditioning - Premium Capacitors

Hey all,

My Compressor stopped working a couple days ago and being a little gun shy with the Heating/Cooling system I called for service. They came out and w/in 10 minutes they handed me a popped capacitor. Said I could try to replace it myself or that they're sell me one for $293 (price printed on their service sheet). I opted for their service and capacitor and figured it might be a little more, but worth the hassle.

Anyway, I thought I'd price the part online and while I can find capacitors that have the same specs as mine, I certainly can't find any that cost nearly as much.

Am I missing something or just simply over-charged?

Was that the installed price including labor?

If just the capacitor it is a very high price.

Sounds like you ran into the infamous Flat Rate Pricing Program. It is kinda like the governments 250 dollar hammer. They calculate on averages how many labor hours/cost of parts/cost of tech training/overhead/profit etc. and come up with a set price for a capacitor replacement. Perfectly fair way to do business if you want to make a lot of money. That new Chevy work truck costs a a lot of cash also you know. You people can just stop complaining about cost, heck add a big fat tip on there 15% minimum. Awh life is good. NOTE: (this is a joke for those whom may not be able to recognize it as one, get your own capacitor they are about 10 bucks)

That's what i was afraid of. Lessoned learned. Thanks for the responses.

Sounds like you ran into the infamous Flat Rate Pricing Program. It is kinda like the governments 250 dollar hammer. They calculate on averages how many labor hours/cost of parts/cost of tech training/overhead/profit etc. and come up with a set price for a capacitor replacement. Perfectly fair way to do business if you want to make a lot of money. That new Chevy work truck costs a a lot of cash also you know. You people can just stop complaining about cost, heck add a big fat tip on there 15% minimum. Awh life is good. NOTE: (this is a joke for those whom may not be able to recognize it as one, get your own capacitor they are about 10 bucks)

Is the $ 293.00 including the service call ?

Any way you slice it it still seems a little high. We charge about half of that and that's commercial rate.