Head stack needs repair

Below is a diagnostic from a third party data retrieval company. I think their quote - $1927 - is outrageous. Any ideas as to what I should do next. Can I send my iMac to Apple? Corey at the genius bar told me that my iMac is under warranty and there won't be a charge for a new hard drive.


Visual Media Inspection
There are no signs of external physical damage.
Electrical Analysis
The PCB board has passed all preliminary tests. Pre amp chip is fully functional.
Internal Inspection
The media has suffered from a head crash.
Read/Write Head Test
The read and write test concluded that the head stack needs repair.
Spindle Motor Test
Motor has passed all tests and is spinning at the intended specified RPM.
Firmware/Logical LBA Analysis
Logical test is inconclusive due to failed head stack.

Conclusion/Solution:
As mentioned, the HDD has suffered from a failed head stack assembly. Data recovery may be possible but obviously cannot be guaranteed until the retrieval process is finished and we have a file directory tree available for verification. We must manually repair the drive, and replace the head stack, only in the worst case scenario we will perform a platter transplant. Once we have repaired all mechanical issues, we will work with fixing the service area damage & bad sectors and using our industry leading extractor tools, we will clone your drive into an image, and retrieve your data manually. Once the retrieval process is completed, we will attempt to retrieve the original file table to preserve the integrity of the data.

You haven't completely described what you're dealing with - but I'm assuming you've had a HDD failure that has a lot of data that you absolutely must get back - and you DON'T have a backup for?

I've heard that data retrieval can be expensive but there are some data recovery tools you can try yourself if you're brave enough. I guess this comes down to how badly you need this data - is it worth the $$ to ensure success or do you want to try it yourself with the knowledge that you may actually do more damage.

Is the drive spinning? Does it read anything - or is it just completely dead?

There's nothing that says you can't shop around for another quote - I know I would if I absolutely had to use that kind of service for some reason. Of course, that's why I use external backups, so hopefully I don't ever have to deal with that.