Olpal, I'd like to give you my take if you don't mind?
Being in business for a VERY long time, I personally get upset when anyone shares my pricing and I always ask people not to disclose the pricing I give them because I DO give them special pricing. I think each place should give their best price without ever knowing what the other has quoted. You find out how much they want your business really fast.
That said, I treat all my sales associates the exact same way. When I see something from another company, I call my Sweetwater guy and say "I'm interested in this. So and so has an incredible deal on it...what's your price?"
During this time, I never share what the other place quoted me. My sales guy used to ask me..but I have him so trained now, this doesn't happen any more. But back in the day, he'd say "well what did so and so quote you?" to which I would respond "listen, anyone can just about match or beat a price. I send you a boat load of business...show me I matter and give me the lowest price you can on the first try. Do this enough times and I won't ever look elsewhere...deal?"
8 times out of 10, he obliterates the prices without me even telling him. I had a recent issue with strings with a company. I buy them by the case for both bass and guitar. My sales guy from another place sent me a case of strings without giving me the DD discount. I sent him an email that read "Are you serious? Click this link" which brought him to a place that smashed his price. I don't normally do that...but this was goodbye. You get one chance to service me...you blow it, I'm out. I spend too much money to deal with this and there are too many people that would kill for the amount of business I send per month.
Well this guy couldn't do enough for me. He took $15 off the string order. I told him "look, you might as well leave it as is...I'm not coming back. When I buy from you and do not check prices because I trust you, you don't take advantage of that." We're not talking a couple dollars here...this other company smoked him by $10. That's a pretty considerable amount. Especially when you look at the last time I bought strings from him....they were $12 cheaper. It goes to show you how fast they forget. He won't forget this one. He not only lost the strings, I was good for $1000 a month on a bad month.
Try making them fight for it without telling prices. Just tell them so and so really gave you a deal that you can't refuse but you felt it was only fair to show your loyalty and give them a shot. When they ask how much....just tell them "would you want me to give out the special prices you give me so they could beat you? How much do you want this sale?" Works every time. I did that with all the vehicles I've ever purchased as well. :)
No man, you could never be considered a douche no matter what you do. You're too good of a guy in my book. :)
-Danny