John Lewis: Unknowingly undersold?

I was in John Lewis in the Victoria Centre a few days ago splashing out on a new TV (bigger, better picture quality, can connect to the interweb).
I’m no technophobe, but neither am I a technophile and I like to know that, whatever I’m spending, I’m making the right decision.
I seemed to be heading in the right direction thanks to a young assistant who came over, asked me if I needed some advice and identified the TVs in my range which offered better picture quality. He went off to check stock and look at delivery options, so we were on the verge of a deal.
Only it turns out he didn’t work for John Lewis.
I discovered this from another assistant who came over to respond to the delivery query. His opening gambit: “Can I just ask what exactly you were looking for as he isn’t employed by us and he shouldn’t have been talking to you about televisions?”
The scenario isn’t quite as disturbing as it might sound, but it does throw an interesting light on the way retail sometimes operates.
The young ‘assistant’ actually worked for a company selling TV sound systems (which explained why he had started talking about an iPod dock) which had been given time to demonstrate and sell its wares on the John Lewis technology floor.
But he was on the verge of selling John Lewis short and leaving me with a TV which wasn’t actually the best option. The assistant who took over (an experienced old salt who knew what he was talking about and explained things clearly and convincingly) steered me in the direction of a TV which was £250 more expensive – but, technologically, far better. So, in the end a result.
What I found disturbing was not so much the fact that I got collared by someone who had no authority to sell me anything, but that it had happened in a shop where trust is a central part of the sales proposition.
The selling of particular products by people who work for the manufacturer or agent rather than the retailer isn’t unusual – you see product or franchise concessions in loads of stores. But it has to be flagged up – I thought my needs were being met with a product recommended by someone from John Lewis but that wasn’t the case and I wasn’t told. So something, somewhere went wrong.
I like John Lewis a lot. It remains a standard-setter on the high street. To borrow a catchphrase, in this case John Lewis itself was – nearly - unknowingly undersold.