AC unit upgrade options

[Lantley]

Geez, I'm sorry I mentioned it. Lantley, I guess I didn't make it clear enough. I mentioned I looked up the cost of a FURRION 13.5 BTU and it was $600 or so. No, if you really think that I am going to sit down and figure much less worry about all my time from ordering it to installing it, you've been in the sun too long. B eing able to save upward of $1800, I've never heard someone defend a dealers time more passionate that what you just did.. If you don't know, all work jobs are prefigured in amount of time to do accomplish the task, minimum of 30 minutes. That is what is charged no matter the time. I understand that there is overhead but come on. Even with a markup on an AC, you can't really believe that even with a modest profit that $1800 is not an excessive, gouging price. What I want to think is that they don't really want to do the job but if you'll pay the stupid price, then they will do it.
Guess I'll have to more cognizant of what conversation I enter. Let me see......half an hour just wasted. I an never get that time back.

You may not have figured exactly how much time is dedicated to the task . But you can trust the shop did.
You are not concerned about the incidental time it takes because your time is free to you. However, a dealer has no free time.
There are no volunteers at the dealership. There are cost associated with every hour of the dealerships day
I imagine a large shop faces a conservative $10-15K in overhead cost each month before the first customer enters the door.
I think I have a better understanding of the cost to run a business. It's not cheap. I don't think anyone is retiring to Aruba on the gouging amount of $1,800.00.
It's not that I love dealerships. If you read my post, they often point out the pitfalls of the RV industry and all that is wrong. Nevertheless I understand when you DIY something it's a lot cheaper than paying retail. I also understand the cost of running a business.
Without truly knowing all the particulars and if we're talking an apples to apples comparison. It's misleading to proclaim the dealer is gouging the customer without the details. You're throwing mud on the dealer without knowing the details yourself. You found a unit on Amazon for $600 and that is the basis or your gouging claims. You don't know if it's the same unit the dealer was installing. You don't know if the Amazon unit is complete. You skipped all the details and just focused on the price.
One thing I've learned over the years when making a purchasing decision is if I focus solely on the price I usually make a bad decision.
There is always a lot more to a significant purchase than just the price!