A bike shop priced up a bike build (components, wheels, handlebars etc.) for me yesterday.

Now, the quote was a decent amount, somewhere like £1,150 for parts and £60 for labour. I asked for a discount. You would, right?

I naively believed a volume discount was reasonable as I could individually purchase each of these items elsewhere and likely cheaper. They refused to grant even a token gesture or waive the labour – "It's three hours labour, you know."

What stories do you have with discount and shops? What is the secret? Where did I go wrong?