I recently went to MEC to have my bike tuned. I have a nice bike but it's by virtue of getting it as a hand me down from a mountain bike enthusiast. I don't know half what you would expect me to know given the quality of my bike, basically I am the perfect person to take advantage of when it comes to this sort of thing.
The technician that helped me took the time to ask me about how I thought the bike was riding and did a spot check while I was there. He explained what had to be replaced, what could be replaced and what didn't need to be replaced. But more importantly he was honest about when it was worthwhile to pony up for the better (i.e., more expensive parts) and when I could get away with the cheaper ones. I checked all this advice out with an expert on all things bike and he completely agreed with everything the tech had told me.
When I went to pick it up it turned out that the tech had the price of one of the parts wrong when he told me how much it would be so they charged me the price I was quoted.
Based on this experience I would never go anywhere for bike advice/repair again. Plus you get that inclusive feeling because you're a "member".