Agree some consistency is required.
I always phone ahead, even if it's somewhere I visit regularly - as there may be something unusual I need to know that day.
But you do get a mixed response, and sometimes the opportunity to relay important information is missed.
On one occasion I called to get PPR and a briefing and was told "just call on the radio", only to arrive and get a bollocking for not knowing they'd moved the helicopter aiming point over the other side of the field a couple of weeks earlier !
Well, it would have been useful to mention that when I phoned and asked then, wouldn't it ?