Automotive Diagnostic Center Misrepresented repair issue Marysville Washington

I really struggled with posting something here.   My wife and I have been using this shop for years, after being turned on to the business through low-priced annual service cards offering a variety of free and discounted services:  Free oil changes, discounted transmission flushes, etc.

I have taken my primary vehicle in about 8 times over the last several years.  In some cases, the work seemed to be done very well, albeit a bit more expensively than I would have figured, but there were several occasions where additional problems were found which I had seen no corresponding symptom for.  Over the years, I've simply authorized the additional repair and thought nothing of it.

Granted I have an older vehicle with significant mileage on it.   After all, you expect failures to occur on a car that has been driven extensively.  This is one of the reasons I debating posting a report here.

Recently, my vehicle began to have transmission issues.   This shop had already rebuilt my transmission and replaced my clutch within the past two years, so when I brought the car in, I half-expected to find it was a warranty issue and would be covered.  I was quite surprised to learn that the clutch would require replacement, particularly since the symptoms I was experiencing didn't seem clutch-related. 

This prompted me to begin researching the shop.  I checked here and found five reports (two with rebuttals) of varying credibility, and I checked the BBB to find the shop is not registered with them, yet has received 9 complaints in the last 36 months.

Not being the sort of person who does this kind of investigation often, I suspected that since the service one receives from an auto repair shop is often subjective, and people react negatively to large bills (which car repairs usually are) it was simply a case of sour grapes, or misplaced resentment with the shop.

I began researching other local repair shops and found this to definitely not be the case.  Shops that were registered with the BBB and had been around since 1975 had zero complaints with the BBB or on this site.  

Based on my research, I took my car to a competing shop and had it repaired in full for literally 25% of the price I was quoted here.   It was in the shop for only one day, and my vehicle has never driven better.

I wanted to give Automotive Diagnostic Center the benefit of the doubt, but in the end I realize I was a sucker, falling for the discount cards and pumping thousands of dollars through a shop that may not have been honest with me over the true nature and cost of the repairs they've performed for me over the years.  If my report can prevent even one other honest person from making an uninformed decision about this shop, then it was worth the time to write.

I sincerely hope my case was isolated and an honest mistake, but my repair record, mean time between car failures, and the feedback from a simple Better Business Bureau search point at a shadier likelihood.