I have personally worked in shops that do the bait and switch on you, but you don't even know it. In most cases, there are "grades of quality" parts that can be bought by you, or the shop your car is at. The shop prices the high end "Cadillac" part for your car, and charges you for it, but they buy the generic brand and that's what you get. I'm not kidding.
In some cases, it's worth paying for an Original Equipment part, in other words from the dealership. But an amazing thing has happened in the last few years. The OEM Parts market has dropped dramatically and many times the original manufacturer part is cheaper or equivalent to the parts store parts. A lot of times it really doesn't matter if the part is OEM or not, but there are some cases where it does. That's where experience and honesty come into play.
I don't have any cut and dry answers for you to not be a victim of this practice of pricing higher end parts and installing low end ones. It happens a lot! My thought is to be aware of your surroundings while at the shop. Do you see NAPA or Dealership deliveries being made? Or do you see Auto Zone trucks coming and going? What do you see for parts lying around? Are they GM, or Ford? Or are they generic re manufacturer boxes?
Ask about a parts warranty. Keep your paperwork and make sure that your front end components are being greased at every oil change. Don't be afraid to ask your oil change place about doing it. Sometimes we forget, sometimes we assume that the parts are original in which case many are not serviceable.
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