All of the comments by the POS guys on this post have merit. Something always does seem to come up during a back office rebuild (downloading drivers, removing applications the unit shipped with, etc), but 4-5 hours does seem excessive for a server with an OS loaded (assuming it is loaded).
On the other hand, don't expect your local service provider to jump and down when you tell them you purchased your own hardware. Not neccessarily because they aren't making money on it, but because it can be a total pain the butt and very unpredictable with proprietaty likes of Dell, HP, etc. In these cases, something definitely always seems to come up--example: they'll go to install the key and see that your new PC has no parallel port for you parallel key, or some such nonesense similar to that. Then the fun begins.
These problems happen less often than they use to with customer provided hardware, but I still cringe a little when people tell me they've aquired their own stuff. The bottom line is many of the customers expect it to come out of the dealer's bottom line when it starts to take too long, all because they wanted to save a few dollars and buy something inferior or unproven. And that just isn't fair. (If you are not one of these people, then you're not doing anything wrong by attempting to save some money, as long as you accept the risk involved. Many times it will cost more than what the dealer originally charges, which is typically when the crap hits the fan).
What I am getting at is that there is probably more to the story here. This may be your dealers way of saying: "Look, we don't even really want to bother with this, so we're going to try to discourage you. If you still want to do it, we're not going to say no--but we're going to charge for it."
In all fairness to them, sometimes they are trying to discourage you from something that has a good chance of being a disaster, not trying to screw to you. But too often, I've seen bad ideas that customers insisted on, suddenly become the POS company's fault when it doesn't work out.
Last thing--something for all end-users to consider, which may also be part of the story. Are you slow to pay your dealer invoices? Do you tend to blow up when things go wrong? Do you haggle or complain about every thing the dealer charges for? This could be another reason they aren't in a big hurry to jump into this project. (By the way, please don't be offended if it isn't you, just making an example). In our case, we bend over backwards for customers that are "good" to us. Everyone starts with a clean slate, but problematic customers will arise, that's just a fact a life. And I don't mean just demanding customers, we can cater to those--I mean downright only-out-for-themselves difficult.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. I am not saying any of this applies to you, just pointing what might be the other side of the story. You can ask the other guys on here, I rarely stick up for an Aloha dealer
btw, the automobile is the greatest analogy for POS that there is--I use car examples all the time (customers seem to grasp them easily), so it made me laugh-it was dead on, too. The analogy in this case would be: Sure, we can use your equipment and your shop to rebuild your .350, but if it takes longer or we run into snags because of your equipment, it's on your dime.
