When I was a fresh faced noobie
nearly 2 years ago I had likewise decided that a dob was the way to go, again based on all the excellent advice offered by folks on this forum (and they were all dead Right too!)
Anyway I had done a lot of research, even had a spreadsheet with 14 diffrent makes and models of dobs as available from all the different retailers I could find, with features, included "extras", etc, all listed. I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted to buy, but I somehow needed to hear at least one human voice answer some basic questions to reassure me that I was on the right track.
I phoned two retailers (neither of which were Andrews nor Bintel) and got little more than "insert credit card here" out of them, so the 3rd company on my list was Andrews Communications.
The phone was answered by Lee Andrews himself, and after my initial sentence to explain that I "thought I wanted to buy a dob, but didn't know much as I was a brand newb"
Lee gladly took the time to explain all the things he thought I should or might need to know (and in doing so answered every question I had written down in front of me, plus a few more). We spoke for about 25 minutes with Lee really taking the time to give advice on things that were obviously not even related to this imediate sale, ie at no apparent monetary benefit to his company.
In short Trido you mentioned above that you might ring a few places and see who/where you get the best "Feel" - well that's absolutely what I got from Lee that day.
I ordered my 10" GSO dob (which arrived here the following day) and I have never looked back since then.
I want to point out that I have bought other items since from both Andrews and Bintel, as well as A.O.E., MyAstroShop, etc, and have had
fantastic service from all of them with no hassles at all, but I WILL be ringing Andrews again for my next GSO dob purchase!