A local shop stopped selling Specialized and I asked why. They said Specialized tried to bully them and tell them how to run their shop. So there may be a bit of truth in what they told you.

Honda motorcycles is like that. The only way to get access to the whole Honda product (generators,mowers,ect.) line is be a one brand dealer or have Honda in a separate building. They cannot make you a one line dealer but they sure can light a bunch of flaming hoops to jump through.