Oh, that does sound aggravating. At least the repair people keep in touch. I hate when they just don't show and you have to call them back, etc. Big places with a window I call them in the morning and they can often tell you where you're "listed" so you can know if you'll be second or last and get a little better idea when they'll be there.

We had an old oil burner in our last house and we had the guys, when they did their yearly inspection, test it to see how efficient it was and whether we could make back the money by replacing it but it was still extremely efficient and it would have taken 20 years to make back what it would have saved in fuel bills, etc. Maybe you should ask the guys to go ahead and find that part out of state for when the next door one breaks, you know it will now that you know parts are hard to find