i have encountered this on several occasions, although I don't live in the UK any more, trouble is that some bike shops ( not saying it's the case here ) sell all kinds of crappy dodgy substandard chunk o shite bikes and will do/say anything to shift them,
So. you email a load of questions through to enquire about a bike and they sidestep them, or most of them.. IMO they won't put in writing anything that's not true or they can be taken to task for later, especially if you're miles away and "Oh we need a deposit or full payment to hold it for you"..
"give us a call mate" So on the phone they bullshit about everything, you go look at the bike and it's nowhere near as mint/clean/mechanically sound etc as they tell you.. "oh but everyones opinion of clean and tidy is different", Yeah course it is but bullshit it just that, bullshit.. just my 2c based on some experiences over the years.. If anyone isn't prepared to fully answer questions via email or text then personally I would look elsewhere..