This is a normal response for most shops. It's good to have an extra ballast for these situations. Hydro Farm will swap your system out if you take it to the right shop, don't think Sun System will. If you buy another ballast go to The Big Tomato on E 6th Ave just past 225 and buy Hydro Farm, they have in house repairs and usually only take a few days (still to long) to repair, if the system is under warranty they might just swap it out right there (they have done this for me a couple of times). It wouldn't hurt to give them a call they might be able to fix your Sun System also.