What would you do if a neighborhood mechanic did this to you?

First of all I agree with auto shops charging to diagnose a car. That is fine as long as it actually takes some time to perform the diagnosis.

Yesterday I ran over a large rock and I could see my exhaust pipe dented and of course their is a low frequency hum while driving so is annoying. I thought I would give some business to a local shop in our small neighborhood. I dropped and and told him I drove over a rock and my exhaust pipe is damaged. I asked him if they could tell me about how much it would be to fix it because I would have to budget for it since I did not have money now.

So I drop by later as he said they would have some time. He said "it will be about an hour". I thought that was a little long but figured they needed that amount of time to work the car into rotation. So I hand out and walk my dog and a few minutes later I see a guy driving into the shop. I walk in and say "Hey are you going to let me see it". They said no because of insurance reasons I can't set foot in the auto bay. Ok so I wait and after 40 freaking minutes I start thinking "why the fuck would they keep it in the shop for 40 fucking minutes when I already told them what was wrong with the car". I go into the office and I ask them what is going on" and find out they are charging me for diagnosis. So I guess it was going to take a full hour because that was their minimum. So they put it in the shop for an hour but of course it only takes about 15 seconds to see it needs a new exhaust pipe. Fucking cunts. I refused to pay and told them to give me my car back. I drove away. Cunts!

There is another popular auto shop in the city that never fucking charges to give people estimates as far as I know. Sure I guess if it is something that takes a long time they charge but mostly not.