Companies which sell occasional purchases that bombard you incessantly

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

We have bought some excellent things over the last few years, but they are clearly 'investment' items of the sort that you buy once and then don't need again ever - or at least for a very long time - from companies that only specialise in a very narrow range of items.

Nevertheless, we are now bombarded with sales literature from them, urging our next purchase, suggesting that they genuinely think people will keep buying them again every few weeks - these are arriving by post as well, not just the mass spam emails.

There are a number of these firms that do it, but the worst has to be a company that sells very expensive reading lights. Their products are brilliant, really worth the price; but we have bought one now and are happily using it. If we did want another for a different room (and could afford it), we know exactly how to find their website. Every fortnight or so, we get another catalogue in the post from them, and I'm baffled as to just how many customers they have who regularly buy their products from them at the same frequency as they buy in the family groceries. It must cost them a lot in printing and postage - all to specifically target the people who have already bought the one-off purchase from them!

AIBU to wonder why they do this? Is it just a case of having a customer list and thinking that they must be somehow exploiting it, however pointlessly; or does their doing this really translate into a great deal of repeat sales from people who presumably want 8 reading lights in every single room of their house? Are they thinking that their customers have gone cold and deserted them, when in fact they just obviously don't need another one?!

YANBU. I’ve had a companies I bought a walking frame, a recliner and an iPad from pushing me to buy more of their stuff mere weeks and months later!

Mine is cars!! I buy a car and keep getting new car emails from the garage (not service plans or mots and shit) do I want to buy another bloody car???

I bought a new mattress last year - still get daily emails from the bed shop trying to sell me a bed. How many beds do they think one house needs 🤷‍♀️

YANBU Big Beanbag company I'm looking at you. yes I'm very pleased with my bean bag. yes the colour is lovely. No i am not a regular buyer of bean bags and no I'm not going to buy another one because you have launched your spring colours. how many bean bags does one need?!

Same here!

We get a Christmas card from where we brought our sofa from. And regular brochures from them too.

IME cruise companies are among the worst; I now get about 15 emails A DAY from various agencies touting "deals not to be missed", including repeated ones from the same companies

YANBU. We had a (local!!!) firm replace our kitchen. That was 3 years ago. We still get flyers and emails every month or so. How often do they think we want a new kitchen?! The first one lasted nearly 40 years as it was!

I bought some socks and it's was essentially daily emails from them until I unsubscribed!!

Mobile phone contracts ! Surely if you're in a 2 year contract you don't need another one for another 2 years .

KitchenAid do this! I bought ONE mixer (from Lakeland actually but registered the machine with KitchenAid for the warranty) and if I was going to buy any accessories it would be using my Lakeland vouchers, not direct from KitchenAid! But alas, every week I get an email telling me they have new colours.

I just open the email, scroll down to the very bottom and click 'Unsubscribe'

No i am not a regular buyer of bean bags and no I'm not going to buy another one because you have launched your spring colours.

Yes!!! The belief they seem to have that you will buy the same one-off purchase all over again, just because they've introduced a new colour!

Even companies that sell things that you likely do buy quite regularly really need to learn the absolute basics of email advertising. Send me an email once or twice a month and I might read it and then possibly buy something from you; send me one email every day and I will unsubscribe and then completely cut off that valuable channel of permission that I gave you until you abused it. It's the retail version of killing the golden goose.

I bought ONE mixer (from Lakeland actually but registered the machine with KitchenAid for the warranty)

I think they see the customer registering for the warranty as a green light that you're now their best friend and just desperate to buy everything they can possibly think of to sell; rather than realising that it's your warning to them that you've paid good money for their product, so you'll be on their tails if it breaks.

Even the insistence on 'registering' your warranty seems unnecessary and deliberately calculated to grab your data for exploitation - you used to just keep the receipts for big purchases somewhere safe and then present it as proof of purchase if you needed to claim from them: no need to contact the company at all unless/until their product failed.

Ghd is forever hounding me via email to buy more hair straighteners. I know how to find you when I want another one.
For reference my ghds are still going strong 15 years later I brought these as a gift for Xmas.
I find it's the same with ads. I buy a washing machine then every other ad is for bloody washing machines. Newsflash 99% of households in the UK have ONE washing machine.

Yes! We went on one cruise with my extended family about 5 years ago. Every month we get a brochures showcasing their very costly top of the line cruises (much more expensive than the one we actually went on).
We moved house 2 years ago. Within the month they had found out our new address!

Mmmh, I bought a bag recently from a small company recommended on here. I ticked the box to receive emails as I'd like to receive the odd message about their new designs. What I've actually received is an email EVERY OTHER DAY about their products, so I've now unsubscribed and as a result am less likely to buy from them again.

Seriously, when will businesses learn that less can be more?

Amazon are the worst. I get emails from Amazon advertising items, that I, shock horror, have already bought! How do I get around that?

Also, I get bombarded by Just-Eat, Argos, Disney, eBay, Facebook, Bunches, Sainsbury's and Calendar Club amongst a few others. Again how can I get around these? Obviously the status updates are useful, item dispatched, tracking numbers etc, but could do without the daily/weekly bombarding.

I don't mind ticket agents though e.g. Skiddle because they curate gigs for you based on gigs that you have already been to and I find that useful.

Amazon are bad for this, I agree. I bought a freezer last year from them, then kept getting emails and notifications suggesting I might like to buy another one.

It took a bit of burrowing but I did eventually find the 'deal alert' settings and removed the notifications.

When DH was 75, my present was a mini cruise to see the Northern lights. Ten years later, still getting brochures. Also getting brochures from the reading light company!

Bloody PORTALOO.

We rented one once for 2 weeks while we had massive works doing.

I must say, it was good service. It did the job. They delivered it, it was used, and then they came and took it away. All happy.

But, 2 years later and despite me trying to block them, i still get regular emails and texts from them reminding me about their uses.

I mean ... the thing is ... in what scenario would an email from them prompt me to re-order?

''Oh god! Thank you SO MUCH for your email reminding me about portaloo. We've been shitting and pissing on the drive for months now and wondering why it's a stinking mess! We forgot all about Portaloo ...... i will reorder immediately''
🙄

Amazon are the worst. I get emails from Amazon advertising items, that I, shock horror, have already bought! How do I get around that?

Ah, yes - and eBay as well. "You looked at this item". Yes, and if I decide to buy it, I know exactly where to find it. If I had been desperate to buy it in the first place, I already would have done!

I think Portaloo is a strong contender for the winner so far, though! Even if you were a construction or events company, you would still know that you definitely needed one if you had an upcoming job/event; and that you definitely wouldn't need one if you didn't - it's not like you're going to push the boat out and arbitrarily 'treat yourself' to the use of a Turdis for a week!!

I recently subscribed to a freebie website and ordered a Queen Elizabeth commemorative coin - just had to pay postage. It came in a fancy book-like tray with lots of empty coin spaces.
A couple of weeks later received a call from a lady asking if I was happy with my coin. She then reeled off a well rehearsed sales pitch which went on for a good 3-4 minutes trying to convince me that I needed the rest of the collection. When I could finally get a word in, I told her that finances were a bit tight at the moment and politely declined. She then rattled on about their amazing credit plan, (buying a coin every other month as apposed to monthly). Again I declined and she immediately spoke to me with utter disgust in her tone and couldn't understand why I wouldn't want these "most desirable" coins. I'd had enough of her incessant high pitched voice so then ended the call.
Then the texts and emails started so ended up having to block them.

Oodie are exactly this.

I’ve bought two. I don’t need anymore. Especially now it’s coming up to summer

Ultimately email is basically free for companies so it costs them nothing to bombard you.

I worked in a Gulf country briefly where they bombard you with sales calls. I walked out of a stationery store when they refused to sell me a printer cartridge without being provided with my mobile phone number.

Ultimately email is basically free for companies so it costs them nothing to bombard you.

True, but they're stupid if they don't respect the cost to their bombardees - in their time and annoyance - and end up losing the potential sales channel entirely.

Most people have unlimited texts/WhatsApps are free etc. - but if you took advantage of that and messaged your friends, dates, colleagues et al every couple of minutes, there would be similar negative consequences!