Here in India, most dealers do not have a demo piece. The problem starts there. If a brand new piece is set home for a demo for a week to say 10 homes, the 11th guy who wants to buy the product may come and ask for a boxed packed piece. What happens then? Abroad, most dealers have demo pieces which they can send around.
Most of us want boxed products, not all. All of my hifi gear is either new old stock or pre-owned. Many times, an un-boxed product can be purchased for a much lower price.
However, I do agree with Prem, especially for expensive gear, it is not always possible for dealers to keep demo pieces on hand.
now you guys have got it
Prem hit it on the head
most of the times you may not buy a pc you demo or as sridhar says "conveniently buy from a cheaper source"
Now the dealer has opened it from the box and you have got your full refund
now what is the dealer supposed to do?
cut his margin,sell the pc at a demo pc ? - who takes the hit?
If you go down to the basics the reality is that though the hifi market in india has been there for some time , its still too young
Open box pieces cant be sold easily without taking a hit that dealers are not willing to take
if i were a dealer i would be comfortable only with a demo fee ( no full refund) for slow moving expensive gear
Obviously for fast moving regular gear like a NAD/ marantz etc im sure the dealer can have 1 demo pc
Btw :i cant seem to understand why dealers dont have presence on this forum officially
i consider this to be a prime forum for audio in india
Most google results for any audio queries throw u hifivision
This forum can has potential to generate serious revenue
Dealers are missing out by not being here
Maybe if more of them were here the Op's requests would be granted