Cottman Transmission and Total Auto Care

I recently had a problem with my SUV where the shifter kept getting stuck. My preferred repair shop had recommended a new transmission at over $ 2000, so I decided to get a second opinion.
I called around and this was the only place I could find which would look at it that afternoon and not charge me a fee to do so. This place is definitely a grease pit, old school type of repair shop, but I find a certain comfort in places like this as I think they are more straight shooters with their customers.
They were able to diagnose the problem and I escaped with a $ 350 bill and a working truck.
So here’s the downside… their communication was non-​existant. I had to call pretty much everyday to get an update. Secondly, it took forever… my wife was without her truck for a week as kept getting the «yeah, we’ll look at it later today.» Finally, the primary problem was fixed but they introduced a new one (more of an annoyance, but still they should have seen it in the shop.)
I’d give them one star, except they did save me a significant amount of money. They took the time to explain what they saw and why it was not a full transmission repair. But their poor communication and 90% done job is enough to keep me away.