I'll bite: How much work does go into restoring a turntable?
I can see repairing a changer being fairly time consuming, and therefore expensive, but most CEC derived tables seem to me mostly to need cleaning up and some rebelting/lubing.
I do both fairly routinely, and thought myself that the prices mentioned were higher than I would consider sensible. But having done a lot of camera repairs in years past, I'm also aware of three things: 1.) Some people aren't good with their hands, so they need to pay someone to do things for them, and those doing them need to make a living. 2.) There's no accounting for taste, and some people not only want stuff other people don't want, but paying a fair amount for it validates their choice (a good deal of the high end is based on this). 3.) Any repair place has to make money on simple repairs since most often they lose it on complex repairs, and going in, who the hell knows whether it will be simple or blow up in your face? So charge enough to cover yourself a bit either way.
But I don't think that it makes sense to get indignant about complaints about cost -- either its worth it to the buyer, or its not, and all the other comments are beside the point. Getting hot and bothered actually adds to the suspicion that not everything is on the up and up.
Personally, I think veneering a Radio Shack table is an odd way to spend money, but clearly the original poster disagrees with me, and its his dough to do with what he will.
