I'm like you James, email is just easier than phone as you can ensure you get all the questions written down and not risk getting sidetracked when on the phone and missing something important.
When I bought my last car out here I was totally ignored by my local Land Rover dealership when I sent a mail asking for some info and to book a test drive of a car they had in stock, and got the same (lack of a) response from another one I tried as well. It seemed like Mercedes were the most switched on when it came to replying to mails, with both dealers responding quickly and helpfully, and the Volvo dealer replied too but didn't have the right car in stock (I'm not buying an XC60 D5 with cloth trim). In the end my wife didn't like the GLK though, so we bought an Evoque from a third Land Rover dealer, and the two I tried to email first missed out on the chance for a nice sale with some finance commission on top.