In the same sense that it is neither unreasonable nor unfair to expect a certain level of service when the cost of that service is incorporated into the price of a product, it is not unreasonable to ask for a discount if one isnt getting that service.
A friend who used to own a traditional high-end shop had customers who took months to finalize a system purchase. The way these customers would hang around the shop, it was clear that they wanted this to be a special experience. They took hours and hours of his time and tied up his listening rooms. He had no problem with that and frequently invited them out for meals, concert events and sometimes introduced them to other customers in their homes. In short, he earned his commission.
On the other hand, I have walked into shops that had exclusive territorial rights to an entire product line, but only carried a few products from that line. When I inquired about auditioning something from that line that wasnt in inventory, I was informed that I would have to make the purchase before they would order that product because they didnt want it in their inventory. In those cases, since I am receiving none of the services that one associates with a hefty retail markup, its not unreasonable to ask for that markup to be lessened commensurately.
On the other hand
