I'm not sure why this guy has gotten such a bad rap... it may be that he's gone out of his way to help people who were in a tough spot and already frustrated with the way their life was going.
At any rate, here's my experience:
I drove up, actually intending to go to the place next door.. but they were closed (on a thursday???), so I saw his sign and stopped in to see if he would look at my truck. He recommended some repairs after checking it out. Gave me a written estimate and said that if I did it, today's tests would be discounted out of the final price. I accepted his services, and the next day brought my truck in before work. About Noon (right when he had said), he called to let me know the truck was ready. I picked it up on my lunch hour, and paid exactly what he had told me it would cost. I've been driving the truck for 2 weeks now since the repair and it's working flawlessly.
Seemed like pretty good service to me.