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I would think that this often happens. While on vacation, I've stopped at piano stores and played their pianos, I don't ever recall been asked if I'm buying today (like rude car salespeople do), realising that piano buyers rarely do buy on the spot.

You might test pianos in London, while someone from London is testing pianos in New York.

It's not like you're taking their car for a test-drive which costs them fuel and involves a degree of risk.

I "tested" the Bösendorfer Imperial - for the first time - for well over an hour when I was in their Vienna showroom many years ago. The dude there even extended his closing time for me .

As long as you can play something nice (and entice the punters to admire the lovely sounds you get from the piano ) and you're not taking the opportunity to practice something like the big Rach 3 cadenza or Stravinsky's Petrushka (which might put the piano out of tune.....), they're usually happy for you to demonstrate their pianos to other customers for free........

Don't be shy about asking to play pianos in a dealers showroom. Do be accommodating of salesmen and technicians needs to help clients and prepare pianos by changing your plans if the store is busy. Saturday or Sunday are probably bad days to visit. If you can go early in the day during the week you are more likely to find free store time.

If you run into a pushy/arrogant/rude salesperson who won't let you try pianos without being a serious buyer today-say to them "I need to learn more about your pianos and others and this will take some playing time not talking time".