I have worked at dealerships, and did it on a service writer and manage level in the 90's and early 2000's and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM DEALERSHIPS unless its for warranty work or a recall, THATS IT! And its not more so the service writers or managers fault most times. When I did either of the jobs, I also went and had mechanics show me the busted stuff, did not take their word on it. WHY? Because its the MECHANICS (and yes I was, and still am one but would NEVER do what I busted a lot of them doing), for I have busted them once before checking their "repair" needed, I caught one mechanic taking the new parts, and toss them in the trash, even when the customer needed them! Having them on whats called book time is great, and bad. Great because if the book says the job will take 3 hours but get it done in 2, they still get paid 3 and YOU still pay for 3. On the flip side, you got to watch for the ones that book says 3, but come back and say done in 1, at which point I ask what they did to do it so quickly, and most of the time, if not all, I get, give me a bit, I got another car on the lift I need to finish, as they do not think I am watching as they actually do the repair and then say come down and look. Most, if not all, service writer desks, and manager offices are not in eye shot of the mechanics, so they can get away with anything, and its up to the manager, and writers to go over the work performed and make sure its done for its THEIR asses that get ripped a new one as if they built/fixed the car personally. So kinda take it a little easy on them, and tell them if the mechanic did something dirty, to have them fire them on the spot, for I did many times, I did not need a mechanic there, no bad of how I needed them.
Also in this day and age, get yourself a dash cam or 2, for you will then be able to see and hear what was going on with your car the whole time they had it, just be sure to have the largest sd card in it it can take, and rez turned down. And Id get one like mine that has 2 cameras in it, for my 2nd one swivels so I can shoot it out the sides.
Another thing, and they cannot tell you no at all, is request to have ALL your old parts when they take them off, and tell them it is a must and will NOT pay for ANY job, unless you get the old parts it was to replace. This way the mechanic really cannot go saying you need xxx, for he has to produce the broken parts the new went in for. NO you may not have a clue what they are or look like, but google is your friend, and by putting in the type of repair and parts needed should give you pictures of the parts, just make sure what was handed to you looks like them, or close to it.
Now the real shit part, is YES, they will and have done is mess up ur car making it worse then when it came in. Luck can suck and does happen, but not often, so they will squirt fluids on stuff making you think you have a leak when you do not. So point is, what others have said, stay away from the dealership. And if the AAA rated mechanic cannot do a door handle, well they are NOT aaa rated, they are shit useless rated. I am disabled, and when the door latch went bad in my wifes 14 escape, I was able to replace it with my sons help. Everything I know between cars and electronics is ALL self taught. It was all before the internet, and YES, I fucked many things up, especially electronics, but cars are the easiest to work on, its removing bolts, and unplugging connectors, then reverse order. I decent tool set from harbor freight, 3ton+ jack, and 4 jackstands, and google, and you do not have to pay anyone really but the big jobs. As for local mechanics, I take my cars to some for a basic oil changge, and talk to them asking questions to see if they even know close to what I do or understand the question I give them. You do not need a AAA mechanic shop, but you do not want a back yard shade tree most time for they are the ones that may have been fired, or ones that wanted to make good money on their own, passing the savings onto you. If you want to know if they are a good or bad shadetree, just ask what scanner they have, if it is mac or snapon, and if it does engine/trans/abs code. If they say no, or have one coming then stay away from them, for those readers are in the several thousands and needed for modern cars, so a decent mechanic will have one, and you want to go to them and start making a connection with them, for the more you go, the happier both will be cus youre not going anywhere else and like them to keep coming.
On a off note, DUMP that POS. You need a car without those variable transmissions for a reg one say in my car, 19 escape, if it goes out and being a regular shifting one will cost about 1500-2500- to repair or replace, where as the VRT one will cost $5000 or more, and in most cases the car is not worth the price of the trans. ALL Nissans have that trans now but the trucks. I know ford doesn't (yet), or Chevy. Hyundai/Kia/Nissan few othere all but their trucks have them. They are great when they work right I guess, but its when they go bad and like you the car is 15 years old, want to hold onto it, but it makes no sense to spend that on a car that old, but the cost of repair because of the tech in it fucks you over. So I can just tell you that you can find escapes, ecosports, focus's with a regular shifting trans at dealerships and private all day long for way less then that repair, and do NOT need to go through a dealership to get a loan, local banks, upstart and the like can help you get one, or if you have cash, private is the way to go, just have it checked out at a mechanic before buying it. If at a dealership and buy, and MUST is a extended warranty for as long of one u can afford. IF it is a Ford, and highly recommend them, BUT ONLY if they have the 2.0 inline 4. Do not get the 1.6 1.9 1.3 or even the non turbo 2.5 for ALL but the 2.0 need timing belts changed every 60-100K where the 2.0 does not (another savings down the road) and with that its the "HOT" motor put in that has the most HP and torque, and can buy a chip, like I am as soon as I can afford it, to take my motor from around 240hp and 270` torques to 299hp 350 torques in a small light 2019 Escape AWD. Its about 7 sec 0-60 (if you know how to take off right by turning off trac control, smashing the brake, then the gas, spool up the turbo for about a sec, then let go of the brake and hear all 4 tires, stock mind you, chirp as you blast off). But you do not need that, but if a Ford, do not let them talk you out of it, YOU are the customer. And as far as Chevy goes, stay away from all they build, they are all junk crap anything made after 1989 unless you go full size with a LZ1 motor in it or better, but then you will get 12mpg
I know this was long, but felt Id take it to another level to help you or anyone else out.