What do you think about this bike shop call?

I had this mountain bike wheel from a bike that was donated to me and I took it to one of the LBS for a pro appraisal.

I could see that:

1) at least 12 consecutive spokes were seriously rusted.

2) the rims were single wall and I could see that the pads didn't rub evenly on them because there were "minor" valleys on the breaking area, although it seem to be true.

3) the teeth were not seriously worn out but they were dented, like a little deformation at the trailing point of the tooth.

4) the free hub run smooth and had a nice clean sound.

5) spinning may be a little down but it has not been serviced for years.

The LBS assessment was to ride it even if it looks ugly and wait and see if a spoke breaks. With luck they will break one at a time and when is time to repair that spoke, will be a good time to further evaluate the rest of them.

I wasn't convinced but decided to service the bearings. Then I found that the cones were seriously pitted and the spokes were badly damaged from the chain dropping on them. About half the material had been gridded from all of them. The rust from the spokes had run and stained the rim tape. The tape curiously was relatively new. I thought that those nipples would not be any fun to adjust on those rusty spokes.

So, I bought a new set of wheels, cassette, chain, cranks... from a different LBS.

Nobody wants to be sold more parts that he needs but sending anyone with those wheels on single track rides would be irresponsible in my opinion. That wheel could collapse and cause some injury but even if only a spoke would break it could ruin my day in the woods... or my night, as I often ride with the full moon.