Are Dealer Recommendations Useful or Useless?

I am the buying direct type of person. I hate middlemen and dealers.

In my experience dealers have been no use to me at all. Dealers have always been quick to judge what components are "right" for me and more than ready to malign any component that I have interest in that they do not carry or stuff that I already own. I swear I have a this written on my forehead "I will buy up all your slowest moving stock to help you make room for new inventory, and I will do so with the upmost gratefulness."

I guess, in my opinion, selling is an art of subtle problem-solving information dissementation that may lead to a desired action/response. I think dealers think "What does information have to do with selling? Just do as I tell you and one of us will be very happy." Once I asked what DAC was in the Krell CD player that the sales person led me to auditioning, a piece I have no interest in but kept an open mind about, he replied, "Tissue paper! Who cares what is in the CD player as long as it sounds good."

I've had much better experiences dealing with and buying from small business owners who make their own products. These people tend to offer more intrinsic value to their products as they exude enthusiasm for their product and passion for audio. I would suppose the reason for this is smaller companies depend on consumers' word of mouth as their main form of advertising thus better products and service ought to be expected from them. Works for me!

Well, I bet you never knew that "consult" comes from "confuse" & "insult"

Well folks,

Good mentioning of con-sult but it's not realy the point.

A dealer can "hook-up" a millionair guy or his careless wife to enter the house, look-up arround to build-up >$100k AV system and what was realy notable the wires are used the top grade of Nirvana or NBS...

It's a dealer's job otherwise no money would be made if no fools are found. Nowday's our education is narrowed down significantly upto the levels that school student shouldn't realy know Ohm's law because for that he should get licence and pay for it. D'u think that dealers are the ones that know Ohm's law? Nah! Vast majority of them realy don't and it's good for business! They can believe to what they're selling and make others believe as well. They can be fed with loads of unneccessary information from the tongues of manufacturers, Stereophile or other audio magazine "reviewers" to transfer loads of myths to the consumers and there goes and established chain of business-es!

For those who still think that dealer "recommends" is wrong. Dealer sells because dealer must sell. To be able to sell he must be dressed in the skin of the same hobbyist as we are.

Viridian, I recognize that you're serious and I respect your opinion because it's based upon your direct experience. What I have trouble understanding is why if you walk into a Mercedes dealership do you expect them to recommend that you purchase a Lexus? Your expectation defies common sense.