I miss winter

Last summer I had the local Dodge dealer service both the front and back AC units in my 06, because the front had stopped cooling all together, thinking (mistakenly) that if a leak was found during the service - it would be fixed under warranty before it expired.
The tech made a big deal about how he added dye to find any leaks.
This summer, on my first road trip through Alabama, I found out that once again the front unit would not cool. This time I took the van to my trusted private shop and was told the the sniffer pointed to a leak in the evaporator under the dash. Had the tech employed a sniffer last summer, I am certain he would have found the same leak! So - for those of you in the south atlanta area....beware ..Landmark Dodge has one sprinter tech....to justify his 3 hour "book" rate billing for recharging two systems, he spent 30 minutes doing the service, and 2.5 hours doing a brake job on another 3500. I really enjoyed seeing that when I walked back in the shop. Watch these people like a hawk should you do business with them.
Enough of my rant:
Question - has anyone had experience tearing apart the dash and heating and cooling box to get to the evaporator? EPA concerns (evac etc) aside - how difficult was it.
Dodge quoted me $1500 to do the job "because it is so intensive".......
Any thoughts

3 hours for recharging the AC system? Last time I did it on a different vehicle it cost $20 for the 18 oz can of r134a a few minutes to do it.I think I would do that more than a few times (1500/20 = 4500)before I spent $1500 to chase a leak. Also the replacement recharge claims some ability to stop small leaks.