wiper blades

have a 2000 Ford Focus and today while driving in snowy weather the wipers just quit working. Luckily I was close to home. I first thought the fuse but after getting out and looking I could hear the wiper motor working but they just don't move. I checked and there was no ice or anything clogging them. I can't be without the car as I transport kids from school to bowling practice for parents so I took it up the street to the dealer and they said it's the wiper transmission and are fixing it now. Not sure if I got that right but I think that's what they called it. Was told it's an expensive part so it's going to cost $300 to fix so I left it to be fixed as hubby and I don't know how to repair cars and I had no other choice. Are they feeding me a line with this? I have never had this happen on a car before. As bad as my 87 Hyundai was it never did this. We have just never heard of this before.

I've never had to do anything with the wiper system, but $300 does sound like a little price gouging...I'm assuming a good portion of that is the labor. The part itself shouldn't be too expensive, but I'm pretty sure that the motor is hidden (as are most parts on this car :( ) so it'll probably take some time to get it out, hence a high price.
EDIT: I just checked my Haynes repair manual, and the whole wiper assembley is underneath the cowl, so it isn't that hard to get to...just a few screws to get to the motor, then a few more to get the motor off. Unless the part is somehow astronomically priced, it's sounds like they may be feeding you some BS.

It's all fixed and working fine. Here is the break down. It was $286.11 for the part and $79.99 for the labor. I was planning on getting new winter wipers so I had them do it so that was $25 and the tax here is 8 1/4% soon to increase to 9 1/4% so the grand totoal was about $423. Since I am not under warranty I would just have the little service station up the street do repairs but they would probably have to order the part and I would have to wait and I can't be without a car tomorrow and hubby needs his to get to work so I didn't feel there was any other choice. The guy said it is located under the wiper motor and they don't usually go but maybe the sever cold caused it to break. When they stopped working I did hear a thud like I had hit a big piece of slush so I guess it was this part going. I had just never heard of this part before so I didn't know what to make of it.

That's seems like a whole lot of money, but again, I've never had to replace this part...hmmm...something seems sort of wrong with Ford's parts pricing when a wiper linkage costs $290, and almost all of the replacement parts for my right front suspension cost that when I had it replaced a few weeks back...