Who is the WORST Audio Shop?

All,

Chasing the "Grail" since 1972. I have had Good, Bad, Ugly experiences and all the Shades of Grey in between with dealers.

2016 was a good year! Both in-person and through FedEx / UPS route.

Jan 2016- Elusive Disk; Bought an Audiodesk. It leaked and dripped all the fluid onto my hardwood floor in the 1st 24hrs. In (9) days it was replaced by the factory with the new Pro Model.and I have been satisfied.

Jan 2016- Ordered a Spectral 30SV from Goodwins Highend ; Rec'd it finally on June 30th. I was very happy for (7) days even placed my order for a pair of DMA400s. Then the 30SV decided that it did not want to play well with others ( my Manley Steelhead & Pass Xono phonostages ) Went through a 1 1/2 month of Hell !!!! Short story of it; Alan Goodwin lost a $44,000 sale. And Spectral lost a 20yr Spectral owner.
But Alan Goodwin was a standup dealer through all of this.  

April 2016- Had my '88 vintage LP12 completely tuned by a master of the Linn  by Tom at "Ovature Audio" in Ann Arbor, MI.

April 2016- Bought a Kuzma Sta S  from Brian / Essence Audio at Axpona; Great deal, Great Service, Great setup.

May/June 2016- Bought MIT Oracle ICs , Oracle Speaker Cables from Scott Markle in AZ. And Oracle power cords from Joe Abrams. Both excellent service.

July/Aug 2016- Time spent  trying everything Alan Goodwin could think of to get the 30SV to play well with others;including an expedited trip 
to the factory. No Luck! Ugh!!

Sept 2016- Mark at Reno HiFi sent me a pair of Pass XA160.8s to audition for (2)weeks; then I asked for another (2)weeks. Gave me a Great deal and they are my current amps. 

Oct/Nov- Bought NOS Telefunkens from Brent Jesse for the Steelhead. Others have posted unfavorable reviews of him. but I took a chance. NO Complaints from me. Fast service (he is local to Chicago), well packed, The "Magic" of tubes that I was looking for, and QUIET!

Some records while at Axpona, also (6) stillpoints for my Avalons and (2) copies of Santana Abraxas UD1S 001 -- "It is Spectacular"

Lyra Kleos from "Needle Doctor"
Dynavector XX2 MKII from Brian at "Essence Audio"

Diffusors from Music Direct and GIK Acoustics.

NO Problem with anybody mentioned. The couple of problems that did happen; were taken care of professionally.

Best Wishes to All on this Journey.
It is what You make of it.

bdp24,

My point exactly. Pass up the worst dealers and move on to a good dealer. Yes, I live in Chicago and have more than a few dealers within a hour drive and more if I want to make a weekend of it and/or a long day. Others do not have the same accessibility but can, if they put the effort into it or a few $ for shipping.
Stop whining !!!! Deal with it.

You can be a fantasy and angry client like jafant; who wants to call out dealers on this site and probably others because they won't accommodate him wasting their time. Just look at his posted system under "Alabama Gateway" and take a good read of his "profound advice and insight?????" 
 
There are good dealers out there working to help clients get the experience and equipment they want. They might not be a 10min. Drive away but they still exist. I really do not remember anything being cheap or easy on this Journey. Oh , you can go to Best Buy.

Best to All on this Journey 

Natural Sound is very dependent on the salesperson. There is at least one or two pushy salespeople there who I have seen flipflop position on different pieces of equipment, or try to upsell customers in a very obvious way (think cables). At times I've said I'll never go back there again. But, I've been going there for 30+ years and if they're the only local shop that's got what I'm looking for I'm sure I'll go back.