I am disappointed to hear that you had a bad experience Thunderchild, my own experience of Arizona Microchip as a company to deal with has been nothing short of outstanding since I started using their products in the early 90's. Friendly, helpful staff and fantastic support of their products.
If I were to have any axe to grind it would be the same one as everyone is likely to have with such a fast paced technology company, in that the documentation of their products evolves at a pace two steps behind the marketing department's ability to sell them.
I suspect that your higher price has been brought about by customs duty, instead of buying from the site, especially a foreign one, why not look up their UK distributors list and buy one from them. Farnell for instance have it at £18.00 + V.A.T & shipping.
I am at a complete loss to explain your "cheeky reply", it has not been my experience of the company, quite the contrary in fact, however I would be passing it along to their boss and asking them for an explanation.
rgds