Possibly a stupid question concerning Speed Shops.
 

I've gone to two Speed Shops in my area, looking to have my 05 GT tuned with SCT's X-Calibrator 2. Originally I planned on buying one from MT.com, but the price keeps putting me off. (Not dissing MT.com by the way, as their price is right at the same level as any where else I've seen.) So, I went to these shops, looking to have a tune done, after I've installed exhaust & C.A.I.
They both included the price of the tuner into their estimates. What I want, is just the tune.

Have any of you heard of a shop doing a tune, but not requiring you to buy the actual tuner itself? Is that an unusual, or unreasonable, request?

Buying a tuner is just about universal.This is the only way to tune our cars using the stock computer that I know of.

Once you create the tune, the tuner is "locked" to that car. SCT dealers can unlock them. Once the car is returned to stock, the tuner can be set to a different car but only by an sct dealer.

No one is gonna give you a tune and not make you buy a tuner. There not gonna eat the cost of a tuner for you.