He said they were really busy and no longer doing the licence validation etc and I would have to use FTO
Some of the busier FSDO's have started farming this out to Designated Pilot Examiners or DPE's who have to charge for their services.
Now in my mind that is a bad development but then again, nobody has asked for my opinion.
This process with the FAA has always been free and should remain a free courtesy service.
Unfortunately the FAA has had to deal with budget cuts which have lead to the merging of FSDO's resulting in overworked and understaffed monster offices.