Blog: Buy! Buy! Buy? Bye Bye!

Blog: I'm going to tell you a story this week that will make you worry even more about your elderly relatives – unless you are that elderly relative, in which case it'll sound all too familiar.

In my new bungalow is a deliciously deep and inviting corner bath. Since the first viewing, I've dreamed of lying back in a sea of fragrant bubbles (I haven't been able to get into or out of a bath for 10 years) and luxuriating.

The sensible choice would be a level-access shower but I just couldn't let go of my bubble-bathing aspirations and thought I'd try a bath lift. I contacted the market leader to arrange a home appointment but explained I wouldn't be buying anything that day.

"No pressure," the spokesman said. "You're under no obligation at all."

The salesman arrived with his demo equipment and friendly banter, but rather than getting straight down to business, he began to tell me about his personal life.

He told me he was a successful businessman, now down on his luck, after a marriage break-up had forced the closure of his company. He told me of the many miles he'd travelled to visit me and the huge cost of the petrol involved.

No obligation?

Well, he finally got down to demonstrating the bath lift and I was genuinely impressed, but at nearly £2,000, not impressed enough to buy one right there and then. He told me the deposit was only £425 and asked if there was anyone I could telephone to borrow the money?

No obligation, though . . .

When it became clear I wasn't going to cough up, he changed tack and told me about the much cheaper, inflatable version he sold as a sideline for a different company – but don't tell the boss! I liked that model too but told him again, I had to think it over and wouldn't be buying that day.

Eventually, I managed to extricate him from my lounge and he drove away, only to return five minutes later to offer me interest-free credit. Again, I sent him on his way and that seemed to be the end of it.

But two days later, on a Friday night, he telephoned me to say: "I need to make one more sale this week to be entered into the employee's Pot of Gold Draw which could win me £1,000.

If you phone and order a bath lift by Monday, I'll qualify. As a thank you, I'll drive up to your house on Sunday night and give you £200 of my own money in cash, halving the deposit price."

So I don't know why I ever worried about inviting a salesman into my house . . . after all, I was never under any obligation!