What's your experience with snooty HiFi salesmen?

I knew a  snooty salesman that used  the ploy of asking customers how much they wanted to spend then demonstrating a well matched system that was much more expensive before saying -But of course you can't afford that -before moving to a bad sounding poorly matched system .It was surprising how many people fell for having their ego challenged and ended up buying the expensive products or system.

😂 I mean I can't hate that guy. I admire the hustle. And if those customers are so easily led - ending up with a rockin hifi is one of their better possible outcomes. 

My issue is when I want to purchase they many times try to go for retail price plus tax ,I feel you should get a minimum of15% off  and many times I have to buy online because a specific brand maynot be in my area.

Many are def strongly opinionated/full of themselves- to their detriment imo. I stopped in a well known store on Park ave in NYC recently to specifically hear a 10k DAC streamer. The solo sales guy spent an hour talking about every other DAC he could think of, all of his high end systems he'd sold, watches, cars etc. and never walked me over to see or hear the DAC. He monopolized the conversation and had an opinion on everything- other than stopping to actually listen to me and demo a couple products. I was only there to hear that one DAC and was completely serious about buying it. It was as if he had to talk the entire time and thought I'd buy without hearing or even seeing the DAC- bizarre.

Denver for some reason doesn’t have many audio stores.  The nicest one has snobby sales people.  They make me feel uncomfortable.    I have never purchased anything there as a result.

I subscribe to Redfin in order to see what homes are selling for in my area.  What amazes me is so far I have not seen a single pair of speakers sitting in a room.  What also amazes me is how people live in very expensive home are watching TV and listening to their tiny TV speakers.  Are people over extended and don’t have money left over to watch TV through surround speakers.  To me at least 50% of a movie experience is sound.  Also are people allergic to music?  I think people are over extended and living for their mortgages.  I can understand how hi-fi shops are doing poorly.  We must be a rarity.

An interesting, and appropriate question. In reading through the replies, I have to agree that I have run into a few audio salespeople who “knew everything”, and had no interest in answering my questions. I had also agree with the “80-20” rule cited above. At a CES Show at McCormick Place, many years ago, I was fortunate to speak with Richard Vandersteen about how much more money is required to have a small improvement in a system. So while I agree that are those “sales types” in the industry, I would be remiss not to cite the “Great Ones” that I’ve had the good fortune to find and deal with. Eric Lang at Salon 1 Audio in Ormond Beach, Florida, and Taylor Everhart at Goldprint Audio in Lexington, NC. The most receptive, understanding, honest and helpful dealers that I have encountered in 40 years in this passion. I also need to mention the great folks at Rogue Audio. Always willing to listen and help, the aforementioned folks are some of the “Cream” of the industry. Allow me to extend a personal “thank you” to these folks, and offer to all who read this post, speak with these folks and you won’t be disappointed.