there is a catching feel when coasting and when pedal backwards the chain bunches up
That's one of four options.
1. Your hub is internally dry and just needs a little lube, which requires someone to take it apart and put it back together. 5-10 min job on most hubs. Your exact symptoms happened to me mid 24hour mtb race, and I thought the hub had internally exploded, nope just needed a little lube.
2. Someone previously tried to perform #1 and put something back together incorrectly, so it's binding. A quality shop should be able to show you what is binding.
3. Your shop took your free hub apart, found physical damage internally (not typical) and it really does need to be replaced.
4. Your shop doesn't care to waste time diagnosing budget wheelset because the owners are typically cheap, or they don't care to work on a funny looking bike and just want to make an easy $200 off someone who's none the wiser.
I don't personally know your shop or the mechanics but as the saying goes. You either have enough money to just blindly have a shop do everything or you're mechanically sharp enough to fix everything yourself.