Not all body shops are crooks. I used a local shop, near my business. They were very up-front about it being filler work, and could be 2-3 years for the entire process. My '67 took them 3 years, I would stop by about once a month to see at least some progress. When car was done, it was show quality, and they held to the agreed price. A few years later they worked on my '68 coupe. took them almost five years for that one, but again, entire car was flawless, perfect lines, color and paint was amazing. The shop Owner ended up doing that one for me in his 'spare' time.
I still stop by the shop every now and then when I'm in the area, and it still draws a crowd from his shop.
Neither car had any repaints, repairs, etc along the way. They were way more anal than me about alignment, cutting and re-welding seams for perfect alignment, etc. Both of those cars' bodies and paint were 200% better than from the factory!
Sorry to hear your story, but not everyone is like that.