TV reception in Carnarvon, WA - Warning

Just wanted to pass on an experience we had in Carnarvon, WA recently in the hope that others can benefit and learn by our mistake.
We arrived in Carnarvon in late August for a 3 month work stint at a local caravan park. As we would be in town for quite a while, we got the TV antenna out and tried to tune it in - but could only get SBS. We looked around the caravan park and about half of the vans etc had the same antenna as us - a Foldaway TV antenna, which has always worked fine.
Anyway, to cut a long story short we went to an electronics place in town (wont name names but its on Robinson Street) and were told in no uncertain terms that this type of antenna would not work in Carnarvon and we needed to buy another type of antenna. After spending nearly $85 at that business, we trotted off back to the caravan park and tried, unsuccessfully, to get TV reception.
In the end, it turned out that our antenna was not the issue. The problem was that the TV tuner we use to get reception (using our laptop) was digital only, and in Carnarvon you need a tuner that receives digital AND analogue signal.
SO, we bought a cheap little TV from Retravision (very helpful Manager there who gave great advice), connected our original TV antenna and hey presto, all TV stations came through.
Unfortunately for us though, the electronics place who sold us the TV antenna we didn't need refused to give us a refund and left us out of pocket and feeling a bit ripped off. The manager and his staff were extremely rude and even became abusive and one staff member suggested we "be nice because we are the only place in town where you can buy certain stuff".
You live and learn all the time don't you?