Just curious why didn't you give interact a try? He was 1/3 of what you are going to pay. How many quotes did you get? I think interact scared a lot of people off. You probably could have got quality at less than what you paid, but not at interact's price. At least you were smart enough to not go with the cheapest and get junk.
I reviewed about 10 quotes, 6 from rfqwork and 4 from shops I use regularly.
You should never be afraid to quote a part, let your reputation/quality speak for itself. And allow the customer to figure out what he wants to do.
Interact scared me, I have been burned, as a matter of fact I have been burned on this site by giving a 50% down payment on a job. I need parts that are in tolerance, look good, are burr free, and that have been machined with a little “love”.
I have been running this shop for about 6 years, we have been in business for 21 and have seen the best and worst of it. I have a pretty good idea how machine shops work, we are cut throat and that’s how it is. Every other trade in the world has been able to uniform prices, if you call local oil companies and ask about LP prices they will all be within 0.10 of each other, plumbers, electricians, even welders are all able to keep there prices relatively even. As for machine shops some will quote at 15/hr and others at 80/hr. I know its all about overhead, but wow. You can only drill a hole so fast, you can only thread a hole so fast, so why is there so much difference in prices. It all boils down to the shops willingness to turn out a part, some do it for a profit some do it for jollies.
I don’t know how to make things better, but I do know something needs to change.
But it never will……………………..