Still Stuck in Dallas

Well, here it is over a week later and still stuck in Dallas on what was suppose to be a 2 day trip. The first shop (Marshall Auto Repair, http://www.marshallmotors.com/) in Dallas took 5 days and charged me $400 to change a couple of hoses and other items and the bug still overheated. So then they told me it was the water pump and timing belt that needs to be changed. Well, they thought that they could pull the wool over my eyes because I'm from out of town and they thought I was staying at a hotel. Well, I'm staying with family and I know quite a bit about cars and how to repair them. They quoted me a price of $1600 to change the waterpump, the thermostat, and waterpump. They also wanted to charge me $236 to change the hood lock as a plastic lever on it broke. The actual price to fix the hood lock?? It's $9. When I inquired as to why so much for the various repairs, the guy at the shop "explained" that he had to take parts off of the engine to change the thermostat and that would cost over $600. Little did he know, I know how to change the thermostat on the car, but I don't have any tools with me as I'm not at home. The thermostat costs $6.99 from autozone and you don't have to remove any parts from the car, there's 3 screws holding it in place. In order to change the waterpump on new cars, you have to remove the timing belt as it runs across the pulley on the waterpump. When changing the timing belt at the same time as the waterpump, you only have to put on a new timing belt instead of putting the old one back on. There is no additional labor involved to put a new one. Nil. Every mechanic suggests changing the timing belt and water pump at the same time as there is no additional labor costs, only the cost of the new belt ($39.99) Marshall Auto Repair in Dallas told me the cost of changing the timing belt and water pump were so high because it would take 4 hours to change the water pump and then another 4 1/2 hours to change the timing belt. Can you say trying to get over?? What makes it worse is that I chose to send the VW Beetle to Marshall Auto Repair because I visited their website and there was a link to an article that was published in the Dallas Morning News where the owner of Marshall's stated that she would like to think that practices of gouging in the auto repair business were a thing of the past. In the owner's defense, it was an employee there, Moises Guardiola, who quoted and gave me the lame excuses for the exuberant prices, however it is the owner who must approve of the practices in their shop as they have the power to hire and fire. Needless to say, I picked up my vehicle ASAP!!!! I went to a website that I knew, www.newbeetle.org, and put out a SOS for help finding a reputable mechanic in Dallas for help. Eventually, I was directed to www.kraut-burner.com and Jason from Kraut Burner introduced me to a mechanic who could do timing belt and water pump quickly as he knew that I needed to get home asap. I really appreciated Jason's help as he led me to someone who would be able to help me even though it cost him my business as he wouldn't be able to provide help as quickly as I needed it. So if anyone out there needs a timing belt kit for their Audi or VW please visit www.kraut-burner.com as he has very reasonable prices and provides service that cannot be equaled. So as I type this, I'm still in Dallas and hopefully the Beetle will be ready tomorrow or early the next morning and we can end our "vacation" in the hell known as Dallas. In conclusion, please avoid Marshall Auto Repair (www.marshallmotors.com) like the plague. The VW Dealership quoted repair prices half of what Marshall's did and traditionally it's the dealership that is waaaay overpriced.