When I go to my local fish and chip shop and buy a takeaway for the family, they have never (so far) come round to my house the following day to ask whether the newspaper in which it was wrapped was up to the task, whether I got the contents home undamaged and fit to be eaten or whether the batter was crunchy and the chips of a decent size and temperature. When I buy a shirt in person from Marks and Spencer, no – sorry – I mean Alexander McQueen or Givenchy, well whoever I buy a blinking shirt from, no-one subsequently pesters me to ask whether I found the fit, the packaging, the stitching or the detail to my satisfaction. Nor do they ask me to rate out of ten the style, presentation or the display in the shop, or the unctuousness or otherwise of the sales assistant.

I would like to put on record my gratitude to all those retailers and service providers that resist the urge to pester me endlessly about their goods and services.

On the other hand, like increasing numbers of my fellow citizens, I am enjoying the ability to make purchases at leisure on the internet.

There is some guilt involved I confess, as there are shops I would miss if the swing to internet trading drove them out of business, so I try to ensure that I make on site purchases whenever possible. But I make a lot of online purchases and am bombarded with irritating emails asking me to give feedback about the goods, their delivery and packaging.

As I write this one has just popped up on my computer, asking to rate my delivery of a phone charger on a scale of one to five. I ordered it. It came. What more is there to say? But there are a dozen and more requests to know whether I am happy, very happy, not happy, not happy at all or neutral! Well Mr box ticking programme writer, I was happier before I had to read and delete your annoying email than I was after I had wasted a few more precious seconds getting rid of it and the scores of feedback requests that daily clutter up my Inbox.

I’ll let you know if I’m unhappy don’t worry, so stop spending millions on statistic gathering and use the savings to cut your prices.