Was I Expecting Too Much

Plenty of ideas put forward why the sales team have acted as they did.

The Outlet might have policies that govern how they interact with a inquiry, and there is a monitoring of the Sales Staff.

In many situations today calls are recorded, maybe they have to show an assertiveness when dealing with phone inquiries. The idea of turning up in person and seeing what is able to be arranged might be the better approach, as turning away a encounter that seems to be a genuine sales inquiry, will be more difficult than thwarting ones inquiry that suggests ones intentions are from an educational aspect and not necessarily committed to a purchase.  

It does seem the idea of a Brand attaining a large proportion of sales over their competitors is quite a challenge. There are always a selection of Brands to be seen on a Shortlist or offered up a suggestion as ones to consider. Attached to this are the Brands Models that fit into the constraint of the allowed for Budget. 

All Brands are seemingly needing to depend on there retail support to get their products into the widespread arena, where the products can be encountered and demonstrated to inquirers.

Does it not make sense that a Brand should have a basic guideline given to a retailer on how they wish for their product to be represented. I would assume as much exposure through demonstration would be key.

It would also be beneficial to the Brand if they had a means put in place, for a customer/prospective customer to report back on how they feel they have been dealt with in relation to retailer handling the preparations for a sale.

A info being shared of this type, will certainly assist a Brand in identifying where there is wriggle room for their potential customers to encounter a satisfying experience.

Not much in addition would be required to sift out any Hoax Reporting.   

The OP @cbl117 has stated, 

" I've narrowed down to AMG and Brinkmann.  I was able to audition an AMG Viella yesterday, and was looking to audition a Bardo or Taurus for comparison."  

"How am I going to know what I want to purchase without demoing the options?"

The first statement is suggesting that it is known what is wanted to be purchased.

The differences between Brands is the drives are DD or BD.

The differences between the Models is that one is able to be configured to have a dual mounting for a Tonearm.

All the above models can receive a large selection of TA's or TA/Cart' configurations.

As the OP has not made it known about their intentions for the TA or Cart's to be used, the opportunity to learn how a assembly of ancillaries might best Wed to the TT's shortlisted.

If I were in the market to spend $15-$20K, I would be most interested in what I was going to be buying into, and especially how owners of the same or very similar describe their experience, if a report is offered. With this info at hand, the conversation one has about about their expectation for what is to be demo'd will be more sure footed and project a solid intention.

Not too many years ago I was introduced to and become very interested in a Bespoke Built Tonearm that has been produced in small numbers by a very adept EE with skills that are extended into micro engineering. To experience the Tonearm in use and compare it to my other owned TA's. Over the course of a year, I travelled a few journey's that are close to 200 miles as a round trip. The outcome being all roads lead to the purchase of this Bespoke Built TA, it has superseded in use all other owned TA's. 

I learnt what I was buying into, and am also quite confident, I will have to find another £5K - £10K as a purchase price to supersede the selected TA. I can say this as it has made a TA that is very respected and retails at £3.5K seem quite low in quality as a performance.  

The route to how the purchase is finalised would be the secondary consideration.