What's sad about this thread is that the bike shop mechanic couldn't have explained his reasoning, and ended up sounding like he was too arrogant or proud to do the job he was asked.
Had he explained that it would be a shame (and cost something in added labor) to cut up the existing wheel and salvage the rim, and since the OP was spending X for the hub, spokes (maybe not), and labor and would end up with one wheel, when by buying a new rim for $xx more he could end up with a spare, or one he could sell to recoup some of the expense.
I often wonder how much of anti bike shop sentiment is simply the result of poor communication.
Story (don't rad if you don't like my stories). Many decades ago I needed to replace my car's timing belt at 60k miles. My mechanic explained that it would make sense to replace my perfectly good water pump at the same time, because it was an opportune time to do it while the front cover was off, and the pump bearings tended to give out at 80k miles or so. So on his advice I paid $50 or so for the part and did it, as I continue to do whenever I replace a timing belt.
Sometime later a friend had his timing belt replaced, and complained that his SOB, crook of a mechanic also replaced his perfectly good water pump and padded the bill by the $50.00. Of course, if he didn't replace the pump and it failed in short order, he'd be blamed for that too. So apparently the only difference between a trusted good mechanic, is 3 minutes of explanation.
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