Quality Service, or lack thereof, is not a constant.  IOW, the same
shop probably will have a turnover of personnel, and what once was
shitto, could today be a good place to do business, and it works the
other way around also.

People don't stay in the same place.  Even businesses move.  So going
by past experience is no guarantee anybody is going to get a similar
result *today.*  Certainly managers come and go like clockwork.  Same
with salesmen, same with service department techs.  Nothing stays the
same.

So I see you had to coerce them into being *good guys* with the threat
of a lawsuit or somesuch.  No matter, it is your life on the line,
you're the one who stands to lose if the front end goes South while
the rest of the vehicle goes North.

Fact of the matter is, everyone and every business is expendable.  If
one place doesn't cut it, go elsewhere.

I figure if one monkey can turn a wrench, so can I.  So I save tons of
bucks by doing my own work.  Then again, I have an *official* service
manual to tell me what to do.  Then again, it is going to take me 10
times longer to do the work because many things I do to this vehicle
are new to me, having driven older cars all my life, or company cars
which got serviced under contract.

The limiting factor being: I don't have the _equipment_ to do a front
end alignment.  No way I ever will.  So like it or not, such things
are farmed out.  Nor have I ever done a front end alignment, or seen
it done step by step.  Nor have I ever messed with changing
balljoints, CV joints, half axles, or anything else having to do with
the suspension.  Nobody, can do everything.  Time comes for front end
work, I'll call up my insurance company and see whom -they- recommend
in my area.

All the other stuff...maybe I can do it...maybe not.  If you don't
have the gear/tools/instructions, consider it impossible from a DIY
standpoint.

I usually can get a pretty good idea about what is within my
capabilities by going through the service manual proceedure, and
seeing what tools and techniques are required.  For example, changing
my radiator someday is going to be a PITA, but it can be done in my
driveway or garage, saving me $700 in labor fees.  That is a lot of
moolah, and worth a few scraped knuckles.

That is 6 months worth of savings for me.  Even if it took me 6 days
to do the job, I would come out miles ahead by doing the job myself.

Lg