I think the problem with the Houston shop is a general snotty attitude to paying customers. I ran into the same thing decades ago when remodeling my house. I would try to buy electrical, plumbing, and lumber from shops that catered to "professional" tradesmen near my in-town Atlanta house and was ignored at the counter. One guy even told me they would sell me lumber but only gave decent prices to their regulars with accounts. I drove farther to buy from the then-new Home Depot, and within a few years all the snotty places were out of business.

Same deal with auto repair. I learned in my 20's it was easier and less stressful to do it myself. A Brake-O once put a new drum on a hub that spun a bearing (ruined), charged me $600 and said "you can swap the hub yourself". I called an Aamco asking the price to rebuild a transmission I pulled and they said they didn't have anyone who rebuilds transmissions (imagine what they do for high prices).

I suggest the OP rebuild the front end himself. You can buy a cheap spring compressor at Harbor Freight, just use a backup chain thru the coils as you compress it (like I did). Since then, I bought a better inside-the-coils spring compressor. The lower ball joints are tricky, but many posts w/ photos on here.