Venting: I hate shops..., was I taken advantage of? Options

[m0dd3d1]

Ok, so I really need to vent! Here's the story. My old 5sfe had a rod-bearing knock. Ok, so it was pretty bad, deteriorating out the ying-yang; so I replaced it. I went to this shop near where I live becuase I knew the people and I thought they'd be good candidates. First-off, I payed $3800 up front with a Debit Card, so you know I had the $$, and they couldn't give me a week to come up with another 1K...bastards, ok, understandable, I would have done the same...maybe to someone I didn't know! But i've brought them so many of my friends for business as well as myself! So I get it replaced, they take their sweet time, I guess b/c maybe they think it's cool, b/c they know me...riiiight...anyways, after moving the dead-line 3 times, that's right, '3', it's finally finished, then I get a call the day i'm supposed to go get it, and the tech's like, oh yeah, I checked out that sound you were talking about, and it sounds like the bearing. Maybe at this point I should've just left. But noooo! I'm an idiot. So i'm ok, order the part. In the end he tells me he can't put on the bearing b/c I guess our Celli's have pressure-fitted or something bearings (it's the right front bearing). So he just sold me the part at cost ($60) and I was on my way. That was when I got back in touch with a friend I hadn't seen in forever and now he's a Dealer @ Toyota. So I bring her up and sit around for 3 hours (there're more issues than just the bearing!) and the tech is telling me the sound is definitly not a bearing sound. It's a random clunking noise from when I shift into 2nd from 1st, no dogging, @ ~2k rpms. He's telling me it may be the suspension, and they want to look at it. I really need this fixed b/c I can feel the loss my car is taking when it drives...it just doesn't feel up-to-par, needless to say, i'mve been driving like a grandma lately. And then he tries to tell me i've got full aftermarket suspension, when all i've got is eibach pro-kit springs...i'm like, ok, you're right, i'm wrong! Anyways, that's my venting....i got back to work tonight and i'm hating life. It seems like it's one thing after another, you just get knocked down after you pick yourself up. Life sucks.

Thanks for reading! Didn't mean to bore you.

-Triscuit