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The flip side of that coin is customers are also free to make their own rules. The nice thing about having a shop that behaves as this one does or badly in other ways is they do make a great "dressing room". But it is a shame when customers don't at least give him a chance to be competitive, unless they already know by reputation that he will not be and would sooner avoid the BS.
Depends on your definition of valid. Business owners are free to set their own rules, for the most part. It may not be a smart way to run a business ... and it may cost them customers ... but it's still their choice.
We have a shop in our area who has asked several divers to leave his shop and not return because he found out they were buying stuff on the Internet. Personally, I don't think it's a smart way to run a business ... but it's his business, and his call how to run it. I know quite a few people who are incredibly loyal to that particular shop. I know an almost equal number of people who won't go near the place. Bottom line is that he's decided to pick and choose who he does business with ... which as a business owner is his right to do.
Maybe if people would quit using shops as "dressing rooms" to go get all the right information they needed to make their Internet purchases, things like this would happen less. You can fault the shop owners all you like, but when they spend an hour or more of their time making sure you've got the information you need to purchase the right gear ... only to find out later that you then purchased it from an Internet site to save some $$ ... then they have a justification for treating you like you're wasting their time (because you are).
Sometimes it falls back on the customer. Using a dive shop for sizing information when you know you're gonna purchase from an Internet site ain't cool ... but a lot of people do it anyway. So in that respect, there's two sides of this story that need to be examined. Customer relations is a two-way proposition ... and the customer ain't always right ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)