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A Murcer (and a very nice guy by the way) asked me via PM about some audio equipment, and as usual, I got carried away with my response. I feel lots of people should hear that response though, because too many people just blow off stores like ours and then shop online, or worse, come into our store and take advantage of our knowledge and time, and then buy elsewhere.
The HTR and RXV series are now built on the same line, so supposedly they are the same if you can figure out what HTR model is the equivalent of the one you want. I don't know which, because we don't sell HTR. HTR is designed for big box stores where sales people know nothing, and they are rated at higher power because they have to rate apples for apples against how cheapie receivers are rated. RXV is rated at 20-20k Hz and HTR is rated at 1000 Hz only, which gives them an edge in selling against this stuff at Best Buy. RXV is nicer cosmetically, I think.
Retail price for this receiver is $399.99 USD. Sometimes we will give certain customers a 10% discount if they press us. The reason we don't sell stuff at our own cost is that we are not a charity. Employee salaries don't just appear out of thin air. We don't get a free ride when it comes time to pay rent, electric bills and insurance. It also costs a lot to design and build a nice environment for customers to shop in so they will take us as seriously as a business as they do the big box stores (which are publically traded and must constantly add new stores to maintain their revenue growth, so fund their nice stores out of cash flow.) If you can really even purchase this piece at such a ridiculously low price I will be surprised. Often these are bait and switch plays or they have to find some sleazy dealer to sell it to them out the back door once they have your order (like buy.com does), or they make money off shipping costs. There is also no warranty when you buy from unauthorized dealers. For our part, explaining all about a product to a customer and helping that customer buy the right thing takes time.. usually about an hour or two depending on the customer. This is an hour of salary, an hour of rent, etc., an hour of time we could be doing something else, as opposed to when you buy online, a computer spits out your order and takes your money instantly, and there is NO investment in customer service. We don't get kickbacks from Yamaha when we sell stuff like car dealers do.. cost is out of our pockets, and sometimes the inventory sitting on the shelves has to be financed, so while it sits waiting for you to buy it, we pay interest on the loan that went to purchase the unit. When your receiver needs service, you can bring it back to us.. when you need help hooking it up, we know enough about it to help you and might even come to your house to do so (for a fee that barely covers those expenses.)
You touched a nerve here. I know you don't mean offense, but your perceptions are similar to too many younger people's nowadays, and it grates. When I work my ass off for a measley 24k per year and I'm the highest paid person there (still no benefits except workman's comp.) and then someone tells me our prices seem steep, yet they seem to expect great customer service for the same price as what they would buy it for from BrooklynFlyByNightSleazebags.com, it pisses me off. How would you like the general public to feel like you don't deserve to make even a modest living? To have them take up your time and pick your brain and then accuse you of ripping them off if you don't sell the product at what is practically cost? We don't get to charge consulting fees for this. Pretty much 100% of our income is made from profits, so that $130 that we might have made selling the receiver gets eaten up pretty quick (the landlord, the electric company, the bank, the insurance companies, the taxing entities, and others we need to pay out of that profit do NOT give discounts, by the way.) I am just really sick of having to constantly justify my existence to people.
Someday these young, computer literate shoppers will need the help of someone they helped put out of business. They will need the tax dollars that retailer used to pay because now their kids' school district is broke. They will pay high prices for total crap because they have never heard the product they are buying and don't know any better. Serves them right.
Hi, hope you don't mind me asking some audio questions 
I am currently looking for a new surround reciever for my home theater, and as I have always liked the Yamaha line, I have concentrated my efforts there.
Currently I am skewing towards the rx- v557 - it has basically all I need, including component video up conversion, which would work wonderfully with my dlp projector.
I have noticed that some resellers also offer an HTS line of yamaha products - what is the difference between the RX line and the HTS line?
Also, my dealer is asking **** for the v557 - this sounds rather steep compared to the online prices of app $269 US.
I have no intention of purchasing anything from an online dealer or discount chain, but I would like to pay a reasonable amount for the receiver. What would you say a reasonable price would be?
I am currently looking for a new surround reciever for my home theater, and as I have always liked the Yamaha line, I have concentrated my efforts there.
Currently I am skewing towards the rx- v557 - it has basically all I need, including component video up conversion, which would work wonderfully with my dlp projector.
I have noticed that some resellers also offer an HTS line of yamaha products - what is the difference between the RX line and the HTS line?
Also, my dealer is asking **** for the v557 - this sounds rather steep compared to the online prices of app $269 US.
I have no intention of purchasing anything from an online dealer or discount chain, but I would like to pay a reasonable amount for the receiver. What would you say a reasonable price would be?
Retail price for this receiver is $399.99 USD. Sometimes we will give certain customers a 10% discount if they press us. The reason we don't sell stuff at our own cost is that we are not a charity. Employee salaries don't just appear out of thin air. We don't get a free ride when it comes time to pay rent, electric bills and insurance. It also costs a lot to design and build a nice environment for customers to shop in so they will take us as seriously as a business as they do the big box stores (which are publically traded and must constantly add new stores to maintain their revenue growth, so fund their nice stores out of cash flow.) If you can really even purchase this piece at such a ridiculously low price I will be surprised. Often these are bait and switch plays or they have to find some sleazy dealer to sell it to them out the back door once they have your order (like buy.com does), or they make money off shipping costs. There is also no warranty when you buy from unauthorized dealers. For our part, explaining all about a product to a customer and helping that customer buy the right thing takes time.. usually about an hour or two depending on the customer. This is an hour of salary, an hour of rent, etc., an hour of time we could be doing something else, as opposed to when you buy online, a computer spits out your order and takes your money instantly, and there is NO investment in customer service. We don't get kickbacks from Yamaha when we sell stuff like car dealers do.. cost is out of our pockets, and sometimes the inventory sitting on the shelves has to be financed, so while it sits waiting for you to buy it, we pay interest on the loan that went to purchase the unit. When your receiver needs service, you can bring it back to us.. when you need help hooking it up, we know enough about it to help you and might even come to your house to do so (for a fee that barely covers those expenses.)
You touched a nerve here. I know you don't mean offense, but your perceptions are similar to too many younger people's nowadays, and it grates. When I work my ass off for a measley 24k per year and I'm the highest paid person there (still no benefits except workman's comp.) and then someone tells me our prices seem steep, yet they seem to expect great customer service for the same price as what they would buy it for from BrooklynFlyByNightSleazebags.com, it pisses me off. How would you like the general public to feel like you don't deserve to make even a modest living? To have them take up your time and pick your brain and then accuse you of ripping them off if you don't sell the product at what is practically cost? We don't get to charge consulting fees for this. Pretty much 100% of our income is made from profits, so that $130 that we might have made selling the receiver gets eaten up pretty quick (the landlord, the electric company, the bank, the insurance companies, the taxing entities, and others we need to pay out of that profit do NOT give discounts, by the way.) I am just really sick of having to constantly justify my existence to people.
Someday these young, computer literate shoppers will need the help of someone they helped put out of business. They will need the tax dollars that retailer used to pay because now their kids' school district is broke. They will pay high prices for total crap because they have never heard the product they are buying and don't know any better. Serves them right.
.. charge for quarterly maintanence visits...if not enough money can be made from conventional selling, you have to get creative 
Fixed!
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