I came in with a front end noise (one week after an out of province inspection was passed) and asked them to look at the exhaust as well since I knew there was a small leak behind the catalytic converter.
$80 for them to zip off the wheels and check the suspension.
On their estimate they told me both ball joints were siezed. Huh? I can still turn the wheel. They also wanted to replace an inner tie rod end and the steering rack bushings and do a power steering flush. Why not just replace the steering rack guys, it takes less time and is less expensive! Oh... I get it.
Long story short, estimated repair bill was $2800 (1000 parts 1800 labor), they never told me exactly what was making the noise but it seems to have gone away on it's own now. They never did check the exhaust, and to top it all off I had to walk there at 5pm when I was done work because their shuttle guy went MIA for two hours.
I told them I'd buy my own parts, they tried to talk me out of it, scare tactics like "If you get the wrong parts you'll have to pay for hoist time, we're not going to warranty that!" I called back the next week to tell them I had parts on the way could we schedule a time? "We decided over the weekend we're no longer using customer parts, sorry."
Oh, in case you're wondering. For the $1000 I'd be paying them I'd be getting:
2x lower ball joints
2x upper ball joints
1x inner tie rod end
front and rear bushings
steering rack bushings
For $500 online I got the following:
2x lower ball joints
2x upper ball joints
Steering rack including 2 NEW inner tie rods and NEW bushings
Outer tie rod ends
Steering damper
Power steering filter
front and rear bushings
This place is probably a great price for a newer car that requires advanced diagnostics, but definitely don't bring your beater here.