Consider asking if they can price match. This at least gives the retailer the opportunity for your business.

I actually sent the salesperson an email explaining this and sent her the screen shot of my shopping cart that showed the exact prices, discounts, no tax etc so she would know. I even told her that if she could come close she would get my business because I understand the customer value they provide.

Her quote price with all that information was still over $800 more.

When I bought my appliances I went through pretty much the same process; wanted to shop locally but wasn't sure about the price. I was upfront like you were, and at one of the stores the saleswoman was so fabulous that I really wanted to buy from her as I trusted her and wanted the after-sales support should I need it.

I asked her if the price was the best she could do, and shared what my alternate pricing was. She couldn't match it but she came closer and I did buy from her. Am really glad I did; we had an after-sales issue and she helped escalate it to the manufacturer for us. I will definitely buy from her again. But I still won't be shy about asking for the best price. :)

So I'd recommend that you ask your saleswoman if the pricing is the best she can do and tell her that you'd prefer to deal with her but just can't justify $800 difference. See what she says.

At the end of the day you don't ethically owe it to her to buy from her. You were upfront to begin with and $800 is $800 after all! There may be some delta you'd be willing to pay for the relationship; if so see if she gets to it, if not then if she can't match the price you are totally free to walk.

Oh just saw your other response. No, then since you already gave her the chance and you're not happy with the $800 then you are totally free to buy elsewhere. And $800 will buy some pretty nice accessories for your new kitchen!! Good luck and have fun with your remodel.

I shopped in showrooms a lot, and when someone was very helpful, I tried very hard to buy from them. I bought all of my appliances locally, so that if something went wrong I'd have someone local, with a local service crew, to call. This has paid off more than once, so I'm willing to pay slightly more for the peace of mind that comes with it. For $800, though, I'd probably go online.

I try to buy locally when I can, but an $800 difference is substantial. Did she provide $800 worth of service to you, or even half that? You can't be sure you would receive the other half after the sale. You were honest with her, that you were just looking.

There is a name for this. It's called showrooming. The retailers all know it exists.

Thank you everyone. FWIW, here is the email I sent her:

As I mentioned to you, I have been considering the Rohl Cinquanta faucet with sidespray and extended spout in Tuscan Brass (A3650-11LMWSTCB-2 for my main sink (Shaws 30 in farmhouse in biscuit [already purchased].)

While in your showroom, you showed me a Franke prep sink (RGX110) and recommended the Moen Brantford pulldown faucet (5985) in classic stainless. Finally, you showed me a small insinkerator insta-hot (can't remember the model number) that would not take up too much room in the prep area.

I am interested in receiving price quotes for the above described items. As I am sure you are aware, the internet has allowed consumers to easily seek out the best price on items - often with no sales tax, free shipping, and cash rebates.

Because I value your expertise and the help you provided, I want to be fair to you, while at the same time balancing my own economic concerns.

If there is a way [store] can come close to the prices I have found online, I would happily place the order through you. I realize, too, that the value of having the customer support [store] provides should be considered when reviewing the bottom line.

I can provide you with the prices I have found, or the links to the websites, for your review.

I apologize in advance if this is out of line in some way; I'm trying to be fair to both of us. **** end email

So yeah, I guess I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being shady.

What I have decided to do is purchase the prep sink, prep faucet, and insta hot from her. She was able to get very close to the online prices for those and that is the area she gave the most help. I am willing to pay the tax and shipping and lose the cash back on that part of the order.

Thank you for the feedback! And BTW, what do you think of my sink and faucet choices? :D

I completely agree you did the right thing. I will always try to buy local if they are willing too work with the price, or if they are in the ball park. I like seeing things in person. However $800 is a huge price difference. She could have worked with you and still made a profit, the overhead of the store was not changing for this month that sale would have only increased their profit for the month no matter how much they came down.

As far as follow up customer service, that is not why I buy local. I have found over the course of our whole house DIY remodel, the BEST customer service has come from the manufacturers themselves. I have unfortunately been in the position to have to call 5 different manufacturers in the past 4 years. Some with large problems, some with very small questions, but every one of them, from Samsung to Anderson to Minwax even has had stellar customer service. In all cases I tried the local place where bought first to no avail. With my Anderson problem my sales person from the showroom was actually fairly rude and took 2 days to call me back. It took Anderson 5 minutes on the phone to talk me through my problem.

My point is buying local doesn't always mean you are buying good customer service. I think more and more the manufacturers are understanding that their business is going through the internet and because of this they are taking the brunt of the customer service calls. They are also stepping up.

You could just buy everything online and separately give her a tip on the side for the advice. It sounds like you would like to compensate her regardless of the store's ability to come up with a competitive price offering (which is something probably outside her control).

Good question, I feel your pain, I struggle with this and its the reason I still haven't really purchased many of my major items I need, and I need them soon! I have a horrible inner struggle with trying to find the absolute best price, because we are on a tight budget, and also needing to see things in person and feeling overwhelmingly grateful and indebted to any sales person that is kind and helpful to me. I've ben working closely with 2 granite yards and I literally cannot decide what to do bc I feel so bad now that 2 people have been helping me so much and at least 1 of them is not getting my sale...to make it worse theres a 3rd place where its cheapest, but they weren't so nice to me...uggh!!

I'm not really in a financial situation where I can afford to overspend just because I feel bad. If I were, I'd totally always buy from the most helpful local person. To not even look at aj Madison to price compare?...wow....that's kind of funny, but I guess those people are kust more ethical than me.

I'm no help at all, and just rambled, sorry. Just glad to hear Im not the only one that thinks about this so much!

I think your email was really nice, and it sounds like you made a great solution. HOpe you didn't spend that much more than you needed to and that in some way it comes back to you!

I would caution you about only looking at the price when comparing faucets. We just went to choose our faucets from a vendor our contractor sent us to. When I asked about the "guts" of the faucets, we were told that all of their faucets have metal parts, but the same style sold at a big box store, and I'm assuming online, are made with plastic parts. That's how they can sell them for less.

I want my faucets to hold up. I think the reason that posters are so hot and cold, no pun intended, about certain faucets, is that some of us purchase them with the plastic parts, and some of us purchase them with the metal parts.

You still do what you want, but there's no way I want an inferior faucet in my house. Food for thought.

I think splitting the order and buying what she was most helpful on is a fair way to go.

Just to make your mind a bit easier about some of the added costs: in most states you are supposed to pay the sales tax, anyway, even on online purchases. I know in mine (NY) there is a part of the state income tax form where you are supposed to either take the standard "estimate" amount of untaxed purchases and pay the sales tax on that amount, or provide a more detailed list and pay the unpaid sales tax on those items.

While the online folks are promoting the "no sales tax" aspect of buying from them, in many states you still legally owe the tax and the online stores are in effect encouraging you to commit tax fraud.

The only thing that I bought after extensive online searching was a my Franke fireclay sink; but I bought it locally because their price was better than the online price. Go figure!

HTH

L.

You have no moral obligation to a salesperson who helps. I'm a KD so a salesperson.

Plumbing has gotten to be a comodity. In many cases on line sellers have arranged to get distributor pricing, pricing meant for them to sell to dealers. Most of the time a faucet can be haad for 5 bucks less than I can buy it as a dealer. So no, it is not worth the sale. Hence my showroom displays as little plumbing as necessary to make the point.

OTOH there are products I can make a fair profit on and compete still sell at the same price as on line. I'm a Hafele dealer, they don't have "distributor". I buy it well enough to sell at internet pricing, have a lot of it on display, I can advise and service as need be.

We all get to help decide what we want the world to be like.

The last faucet I needed for a display came from a local plumbing supply at full retail. Now I really can't afford to waste money, we are really tight, I have another display that needs a faucet just waiting till I can budget it. That will also be from a local supplier....that's my vote.

"We all get to help decide what we want the world to be like"

Exactly. :)

Another "ethical" issue is that you don't legally avoid sales tax by buying online - you still owe your state "use" tax that many states collect on the state income tax form. Many people ignore this but some states are starting to come after people. Not a good idea to advertise in a public forum that you are avoiding sales tax. Big brother is watching you :-)

For me, I bought mixed. All my plumbing though was local. Most of the items I was looking at were from companies that specifically said they only honored warranties from authorized dealers. The online authorized dealers were not the places with the cheapest prices. The local supply place was great to work with, they gave me contractor pricing and it was not much higher than online.

I was also worried about what would happen if my toilet arrived from the Internet broken, dealing with freight shipping is not my normal M.O.

Good point about the tax issue, thanks. I will strike the tax consideration from my calculation.

When we have gotten excellent service, we try to purchase from that store/salesperson. It is of course their job to sell but some people go above and beyond to explain features, educate, etc. As long as the price is reasonable, we reward that. Couple examples:

We had worked with lowes, hd and a contractor on kitchen designs. Our salesperson/"kd" at lowes was excellent, she clicked with us, and she provided excellent support. So we went with her. Didn't really want to go the big box route, but here we are.

We are looking for slate tile, so went to one store where the sales people were mediocre. Went to another store, much better selection, much more helpful and knowledgeable staff, lots of as piles and displays. We will be buying from that establishment because of the experience, although it is more on the expensive side.

As a customer, I want to reward good service and staff. Even though I am young and "technologically savvy", I hate buying online. That especially goes for durable goods and expensive remodeling items. I want a local place of service, not calling a call center states or countries away.

I own a business and have to compete with on line sales often. I understand that my customer's bottom line is as important to them as mine is to me. I do my best to come as close as possible to an on line price. If I don't have a product they are looking for I first offer to order it for them, if they can't wait for it I call both of my local competitors to see if they have it for the customer. Many times the customer is so pleased at the gesture that they will order from me. The ones who don't usually become a returning customer because they know we will go the extra mile for them.

There are many great sites that offer good service after the sale but I often have people come to my shop that got burned with a too good to be true price only to discover the product didn't work. I don't try to discourage my customer from buying on line but I do remind them to do their homework before ordering and read reviews.

Internet sales are here to stay and as a consumer I am glad for that. As a business owner I know that I offer superior service and I don't always have to be cheaper.

I came across this today as I was researching buying my new microwave and wanted to be sure I wasn't getting inferior insides by taking a discount.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plastic vs Metal rumor

I do a lot of online shopping but there are some things, like electronics and appliances, that I will only buy locally. I don't want a hassle if I need to do a return. With some things, I have been able to get a local store to match an online price. In that case, I will buy local, instead of online, even if paying some sales tax makes it a bit more expensive.

As for sales tax, congress is trying to pass an online sales tax law. Some big retailers, like Amazon, are already preparing for that possibility. States want to get their hands on that money, as they know that "use" taxes are ignored by most of their residents.

I'm not sure if I'd ever buy appliances online, but $800 is not competitive, for you to be feeling guilty over it. You tried!