Buying new acoustic headache.

[earldunk]

Today was going to be the day i got a martin guitar(soild wood), got to the music shop and the 1st one was a Martin DRSGT, finally got the money in the bank and was shocked on how it played I did like the sound but i played on some cheaper guitars that sounded just as good, I asked would they throw a set up in (to lower the action the nut and saddle needed work) and the shop owner wanted to charge me an extra £60 on top and more for a hard case, I tried most of the martin guitars in the shop and they all had high actions and needed work doing to them, even took a feeler gauge and print off of the martin recommended string heights and not one guitar met there specs, if i am spending that sort of money on a guitar i would expect to buy it and not have to mess with it on the day i brought it to make it comfortable to play.
The reason i wanted a martin was the guitars keep their value and is a good investment who knows what will happen 20 years from now. Had a go on some high end tanglewoods and that was a different story they all had great actions out of the box so to speak, they sounded every bit as good as the martins, liked the taylors they were good and in the same price range as the martins (£1000 plus I know they hold their value), and they played very nice indeed. The reason i want a pedigree acoustic is my i always go for mid range guitars and over the years when i have needed to sell a guitar i always make a loss. My work horse acoustic guitar i had for a long time is bellying really bad and the cost to fix it is worth more than the guitar it self.
So i left the shop empty handed today in the hope of finding a uk dealer that will do what i want in terms of doing a set up at no additional cost, if i was buying a cheap guitar i would expect to pay extra for a set up but not on a £1000 plus guitar I would of got one of the other guitars tried but did not like the owners attitude. Am i being unreasonable?.

[tippie53]

I agree

[tippie53]

Martin has a spec sheet and if the guitar is out of spec the set up should be done at point of sale . In the UK I am assuming the dealers are not held to the same standard as in the US. Since this is a building forum not a resale forum we will close this.