Wow, I don’t agree with your neighbor at all. Azaleas are everywhere here. I mentioned to a landscaper one time that I liked “PJM” and they cringed- too common!
Here in central NH, I have azaleas facing north and east under oaks in shade and part shade, facing west in full sun, and facing east under white pines in part sun. All of them thrive with no effort from me.
I’m not sure where you are exactly, but here around the lake, I’d stick with zone 5 as a pretty hard cut off. You can get away with zone 6 sometimes- I have a few. But while they limp along, they don’t flourish. I don’t bother with winter protection though. If you do, you might be able to push the horticultural zone a bit. The local nurseries only carry zone 5 or hardier (except annuals, of course.) And high quality mail order companies will typically void warranties if shipping plants to addresses here, if the plants aren’t hardy to zone 5 or colder.
I agree with Descant- if you buy from a local nursery, you’ll be fine. The local big box stores routinely sell zone 6 plants. (Plus their plants are often root bound or otherwise compromised.)
Another thing to consider- azaleas like acid soil- maybe that’s why your neighbor was disappointed? It’s easy enough to test and fix. The good news- I think you can certainly have azaleas!
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