I shoulda been a mechanic....

There are three very important, very vital people in your adult life (service-provider-wise).
   1) Trustworthy and skilled mechanic
   2) Trustworthy and skilled doctor (these are pretty hard to find so I'd go with 85% each--anything more is a long shot, unfortunately)
   3) Trustworthy and skilled hairstylist

I am currently kicking myself for going outside the parameters of the trustworthy and skilled mechanic "realm" as I put my faith in the guys at Colony Tire near my house.

I have an older car.  In comparison to what most of my friends drive, it's pretty dated.  I like my car.  My car has been very very good to me.  My car has over 187k miles on it.  She's pretty tired.  My daily commute is around 73 miles round trip and I've been making this trek for 2 years and 11 months.  We've established the details of my car.  Moving on...

Every single time I've walked into a "chain" mechanic (Merchants, Colony, etc), I've come out with acute panic attacks, paranoia, and a laundry list of what is wrong with my car.  I look at the poor girl and think, "Wow, am I gonna make it home?"  Two weeks ago, I was in Colony having an oil change when the manager comes out to sit beside me and give me a rundown of the services that were needed on my car. Of the list of 7 things, the biggie?  My timing chain tensioner is leaking.  He said that if I planned to drive this car much longer, I absolutely had to get that "taken care of".  I thanked him, paid him for the oil change and walked out.  Later that day, I called my Daddy.  I told him the issues and he called his trustworthy and skilled mechanic.  Took it down to his house only to find out there was no leak at all. He cleaned out the area of any dirt and crap, drove the car 50 miles and checked for issues.  Nothing.  BUT!  He asked when I had my brake pads replaced and rotors turned.  I told him it was in October 2010.  I paid over $200 to Colony Tire to do it!  Lo and behold, my brake pads were metal on metal and it was about to turn ugly.  Now, I have the old brake pads in a bag and hell in my heart for what I'm going to say when I rip into Colony Tire!  For $200 and the fact that I do NOT ride my brakes (mind you, I hadn't had brakes put on for several tens of thousands of miles prior to October, 2010), my brakes should have lasted me well over 10 months.

I've been "had". And I am TRULY vehemently angry about it.  It makes me feel helpless and wronged.  And when I'm wronged, things go very badly.

So, a word to you my friends.  If you don't have all three vital folks as listed above, you better get your search on.  :)