Pricing rant

[JTK]

I'm have been kind of exploring the idea of a receiver upgrade just for laughs.

I've made a very frustrating discovery.

In the two years that have elapsed since I last bought any hardware for myself, I've come to find that competitive pricing at authorized online dealers is a thing of the past.

Two Januarys ago I bought my HK 635 from One Call and they had that thing marked down a good $400 or so off of MSRP, like you would expect from aggressive salesmanship and just being competitive.

Three Novembers ago I bought my Onkyo DVSP1000 for $1447 from Vanns when it was brand new with an MSRP of $1999.

Same concept.

Wow, are those days long gone and over with. Now they're all like Crutchfield: MSRP.

I can't catch a @#$%ing break legit to save my life! My local scene is abysmal. That's MSRP plus sales tax, period. Choice leaves a lot to be desired.

So I'm at the mercy of the Internet or I can drive for over an hour to a Best Buy, but I see they're not even being that competitive.

For laughs, I called Crutchfield yesterday and called one of my old regulars and haggled with him for the best possible deal conceivable that they could do for me on a particular receiver.

I was put on hold for 5 minutes while he went to his supervisor and he came back on and acted like Santa Claus had bestowed this great gift: A whole whopping five percent off MSRP.

I hung up on him.

Just ridiculous. Do I HAVE to go gray market and take my chances of having a DOA item or hot merchandise and no manufacterer's warranty just so I don't get @#$^ing raped on prices ?!

At that rate, this entire industry deserves to feel serious pain from the consumers and I hope they do.

That just plain sucks, folks. Dead wrong.

If they want people to steal and go black/gray market, all they need to do is continue on as is, becuase now even I'm angry enough to be half tempted to do it.

P.S. I know our friends outside of America will rightfully have zero sympathy for me. You guys have it 1000 times worse than what we do here in the States.

EDIT: Hmmm...I see it varies from brand to brand. Maybe all hope isn't utterly lost here after all, but jeez.