USMC,

It varies by FSDO. STL is the same way. In fact, 99% of the time you call and they just tell you to call a DPE. I was "lucky" and took it with a Fed. In the two months I waited between the oral and flight I spent as much as I would have for a DPE trying to stay current.

I had a guy tell me $800 for the CFI. I laughed and hung up on him without saying anything else. $400 is the going rate around here for a CFI initial. After that it's anywhere from $200-300.

Really, I think anything more than $200 is insane. Most do it off the books (you are paying cash) and most checkrides shouldn't be more than 4 hours with the exception of the CFI initial. I think $50 an hour is more than a fair rate when most of these people are doing it for extra cash.