2004 prius headlight problems.

So I'm new to this forum thing so I apologize if I posted in the wrong place.

I bought a certified used 2004 prius back in august 2014. I have had a few problems with it already (replacing lightbulbs, tires, accessory battery, and soon windshield washer line) that I wasnt extremly happy about but luckly have family members who could fix the majority, so no big deal.

Last month I had my drivers side HID light replaced as it was flickering in and out. I did not have this problem with the passenger side when it went out so I found it a bit srange. Now here I sit a month later and its back to its usual flickering self. Had my father look at it again and he found out that the rubber spacer within the connector was missing, so the connector was burning and shorting the light out. We're assuming that this was an issue the car had before we bought it.

So I reluctantly stepped foot in my local toyota dealership to have them look at it.
Took an hour for them to come out and tell me my entire ECU unit needs to be replaced as well as the HID lightbulb. (Despite the fact that the bulb inside was new.)
They wanted to charge me $572.25 for the ECU and $202 for the lightbulb. (Fun fact, the dealers get these for about $75 as that's where my father got the last one)

I walked, as at $120 an hour I wasn't about to pay around $1300 or more to fix a light.

So long story short I just want to know if there's anyone who's had this similar problem and what they decided to do? I've heard some have cut working connectors and had them reattached? Or would I be better off going to another non toyota service center? I feel as though the ECU is not bad, as I saw the connector for myself and knew it was broken. Also would calling toyota corporate get me anywhere, or would I be wasting my breath? Thank you to anyone who reads this and helps, I just really need other opinoins as I can definitely not afford the $1300+ repair right now.