Are people so scared to say NO?
No, it is not a good idea, but it can be ridden. It is so easy to do a rim swap, why not just save yourself the hassle? A LBS is not a scam, thye know it won't work and they don't want to be held responsible when you keep *****ing about it. Ride it as long as you need to but it is broken. Swap a rim onto there ASAP, you can usually get them for free if somene ****s up a hub. Then the whole wheel goes in the trash, your own private shopping trip.

Rim swap: tape the new rim to the old one. Pass the spokes across and get them finger tight,don't use a tool. The take them to the localshop to get it tensioned.

Easy