Butler Automotive III

I took my truck up to Butler on the recommendation of some friends. I put a lot of stock in referrals, and I’m saddened that my experience was beyond disappointing.
My truck was experiencing a power drain on the battery from an unknown source, so I took it in to have a diagnostic done. Butler tracked it down to a shorted subwoofer amplifier. Everything is good so far. I’m on the hook for an $ 89 diagnostic fee. Fine, makes sense.
Then things start getting scary. They quoted me a replacement price of nearly $ 800 to replace and install the subwoofer amplifier. I get it, the part is somewhat old (2007) and it’s a manufacturers part. I called around, it’s about $ 200 for the amp itself The amp is located behind the back seat in it’s own compartment next to the speaker. Now, their labor is $ 95 an hour. So you’re telling it takes 6+ hours to install an amplifier?
I wasn’t about to pay $ 800 for a subwoofer, so I told them to just disconnect it and put it back together. All I wanted was the diagnostic, but apparently it takes an hour to unplug the amplifier behind the back seat. The process is literally as complicated as I just described. You pop open the subwoofer grill, and unplug the amp. Done. $ 95 for that, apparently.
On top of that, their «25 point inspection» revealed that my thermostat housing had a leak. I already knew about that. It’s a problem inherent in the design of the truck (because Ford can’t design their trucks correctly apparently). Perplexing that the thermostat housing, which is much deeper inside the engine itself, is somehow cheaper than replacing the subwoofer at a pity $ 450.
So somehow a trip to check on a minor electrical draw on my battery turned into a potential $ 1500 service trip. I told them no, which apparently they hadn’t even factored in. They had to redo my quote to simply unplug the stereo, which again was somehow $ 95 to pull out a single plug.
I am disappointed to find yet another dishonest mechanic in Augusta. It may not even be dishonestly so much as incompetence, but that’s par for the course for this town.
I won’t be back, and you shouldn’t bother.