Sorry to hear this friend. This is what literally made me a mechanic. I kept taking my car from one "expert" to another only to spend hundreds of dollars with no improvement and often no car. My neighbor across the street asked if I was serious about getting the car fixed, I said, yes, he said to go to the store and buy a set of tools and I did. He took me under his wing and taught me how to fix things and make things better.
Even if you don't turn wrenches, being able to diagnose a problem quickly and accurately is essential these days. For that you have to have some kind of basic or even a bi-directional scan tool that pull codes from every computer on board and it's better when you have one that can interact with them.
Like many of us, you've learned an expensive lesson. Always trust your first instinct and get the codes and know what they mean. There are a lot of nice, lazy and deceitful people out there.