Not to get you guys fired up, just because they are non-union doesn't make them incompetant. Many non-union shops come from and have people that were in the union and went thru the classes. My point here is even in union shops there are bad mechanics, we should help each other. A few bad ordeals by either and it gives all of us a bad scent.
Workingsuper,
your getting good advice here. My suggestion is to collect references on similar jobs, even from manufacturer and choose who you work with accordingly. It does seem as though this problem has gotten way out of control.