Kagi has academic, PDF, and customizable filters. I can’t compare them to Google Scholar, but they seem to work well.

Please, for the love of god, leave that joke on Reddit.

Not sure about them causing new, real issues, but I know they’ll try to sell fixes for problems that don’t exist. A classic is replacing filters whether they need it or not. I had a dealership ‘replace’ an air filter I knew was clean without asking first, and they tried to charge me for it until I asked for the old one back.

There have been news team investigations into that sort of thing, like this one: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/you-were-robbed-nbc4-i-team-exposes-new-tricks-and-tactics-at-jiffy-lube-stores/2060915/

They for real responded with a poop emoji? Can you post a screenshot?