Persuasive tactics are often used to sell inside people's houses

Pensioner Anastasia Hoare was caring for her disabled husband when a company rang to say she had won a therapeutic bed.

After three similar calls, the couple agreed to let a salesman visit their house to demonstrate the bed.

When the bed and salesman arrived, Mrs Hoare, 68, soon discovered that it would not be free as had been suggested.

But the salesman said it would cost her just �195 if she gave the company the contact details of five friends - something she was not prepared to do.

Further misunderstanding and confusion led to her agreeing to pay a �50 deposit and take the bed for �3,000 - to be paid with monthly instalments of �335.

"The bloke that was here didn't put me under pressure. He knew I didn't want the bed, because I was saying no, no, no.

"It was the bloke on the phone," she told BBC News Online, referring to a second salesman from the company.

It put me under so much pressure Anastasia Hoare

The bed was delivered the next morning to their London home, but was unsuitable for her 82-year-old husband anyway.

Mrs Hoare, now a widow, ended up sleeping on the couch downstairs, fearful that her husband would fall out of the new bed.

She also had financial concerns - she could not afford the bed at �3,000. Mrs Hoare said: "It put me under so much pressure.

"I was sleeping on the couch, I couldn't rest at all, I was up all the night pacing."

When the first monthly instalment was taken, she contacted the company explaining that she had not understood the paperwork regarding the credit agreement.

More importantly, she told them that she could not afford the payments - but they responded that Mrs Hoare would have to pay whether she had the money or not.

Turning to the Citizens Advice Bureau for help, the case was referred to Mrs Hoare's local Trading Standards Department.

The company eventually removed the bed, while Mrs Hoare was in hospital.

Trading standards managed to get the agreement cancelled and the deposit returned, but Mrs Hoare remains �335 out of pocket.