2/3: I run to Ace Hardware and buy the exact same capacitor the technician proposed to install. I even bring the box from his capacitor to make sure they're literally identical. When I get back home about 20 minutes later (traffic), the tech is gone.

I call the company back and go ???. They get me to the service manager who says, no, we will not allow our tech to install a capacitor you bought.

I holler, just a little.

He says he'll come out personally this morning to make things right.

Cut to this morning:...

3/3: I get up early and do a little homework on how to just replace the damn thing myself to avoid the service manager having to come. I could do it, except that yesterday's tech removed the old capacitor and left the wires dangling so I don't know what the connection sequence is.

Because I'm me, I also look more closely at the original, dead capacitor. It's a 45+5. I look again at the capacitor the tech was going to install. It's a 40+5. I research whether the two are interchangeable. They're not.

So yesterday they were going to charge me $185 to install the wrong capacitor at a 33x markup.

The service manager arrives. We have a conversation. After initially trying to justify the difference as falling within the ± 6% leeway (6% of 45 ≠ 5), he finally admits his guy tried to install the wrong one. The service manager installs the correct capacitor, closes everything up neatly, and waives all charges.

So our AC got fixed for free instead of for $570. (I'll be returning the one I bought from Ace.)

What's sad is that this is a well-reviewed contractor, which installed our AC in the first place just 6 years ago, and I would have used them forever if they had proved themselves greedy and inept.

It's 10:10 a.m. here in Oregon. Is that too early to start drinking?