Agreed. The shoe repair shop will do repairs to my stuff for $2. If I have a low key repair, I use them all the time.Who says it's unrealistic? I know makers who do alterations / repairs free of charge. Maybe you'd have to be a regular customer for that but who says the OP isn't? Or maybe Vanson thought they'd give him a good deal on the repair, hoping he'd become a regular customer. Who can tell? It's not the customer's responsibility to assess whether a quotation is realistic. He's not the specialist, Vanson is.