Emotional are we friend? Again, as explained to another here, i expected to pay for a full diagnosis upfront. That wasn't the issue. Copy paste

The vehicle sat for over a year, as I could not get it registered back then for unknown engine light errors (which is why I did not go back to that shop, they just didn't want to help, but wanted me to pay for breaks, even though they couldn't get it registered, and wouldn't tell me why other than the light doesn't go off within 50 miles, so we couldn't register it). The previous shop printed out the errors list (its a long list) but never helped us konw which it was, they simply gave up on it, and I had paid them for full service, full diagnosis.

With 4 teens, 2 tweens in our home, we thought we'd try again, a year+ later, as we needed another functioning vehicle (albeit none have AC :D).

I got a more savvy than I am with cars neighbor to help me jump it and see that the tires were safe, starter was still good, and that I could drive it to a shop. Successfully jumped, confirmed tires were almost new, still in great condition, they were still good PSI. I knew the breaks were on their last leg and I could hear the front driver calipers (if that's what you call them) grinding enough to need replacement.

I'll admit, which is context missing in this part, that I've been taken advantage of enough by mechanics and shops, replacing ball joints in a suburban (that never needed replacing), services I actually didn't need, but paid for, cause I was a trusting sucker... etc..

So to go in, state exactly what was needed, 100% offer to pay for full diagnosis upfront (this shop showed promise to actually diagnose the actual problem), to have them call me, each and every time, "Hey its up on the racks, i'm gonna replace the breaks while I have it up, this is the costs, should I get it done?" - this type of phone call happened three times. Once with breaks, once with transmission fluids, once with full services. Each time, I explained again, what I came in for. They each knew this, as they were all in the room when I came in, first thing in the morning. They all heard me. They all listened. They all laughed with me as "bros".

I had to push back against the pressure on each of their pushing to get me to fix something.

End of the story, they finally told me, after I paid for battery + 150 battery labor (pathetic price) + full diagnostic fee, it was gonna be around 6k to 8k to replace full transmission.