By all means sell to me but don’t scare me witless first

I know these are hard times for businesses but I have had four examples this week of very hard sell.

Example 1

Telephone call on my mobile from an insurance broker telling me she “needs to speak” to me about my home insurance. Then a letter, saying there are a few “points on your home insurance which need clarifying”. Feeling rather unnerved by this point and wondering whether there is a problem with the cover, I ring up. Of course, the brokers are just trying to secure the renewal of an existing policy. Actually, I am still comparing quotes.

Example 2

Letter from accountants warning that the risks of an in depth tax enquiry by HM Revenue & Customs have continued to increase. “HMRC officers are now using new wider powers to visit premises and inspect financial records…and the professional costs of defence are rising” and moreover “Even if you have done nothing wrong, the taxman will not give up and will still try hard to find errors”.  And the way to provide “peace of mind” against such an onslaught is of course to pay for “Fee Protection” which incidentally costs almost as much again as the cost of preparing accounts. Terrifying.

Example 3

Letter from a party wall surveyor informing us that they understand from council records that our neighbours are building an extension to their property and that they are writing to let us know some “important legal information”, namely that the Party Wall Act applies if the extension involves “digging foundations within three metres” of our house.  In these alarming circumstances we should appoint a surveyor “to safeguard” our legal rights and here’s a handy form we can complete nominating them. All very well except that we know that the “extension” is in fact a new bungalow our elderly neighbour is building at the end of her garden, nowhere near our house.

Example 4

Telephone call from the call centre of a nationwide optician telling me that my “next appointment is due” and indeed “recommended” by the optician and offering to arrange it.  That’s fine except I have no ongoing relationship with any optician and this was simply one of the last companies which checked my eyes a couple of years ago.

Whilst I am happy to consider buying all these services if I need them, I do object to being frightened or pressurised into buying them. Anyone else had similar experiences?