Have you ever had the feeling that you are being ripped off by insurers or other financial service companies? I have that feeling from time to time and I got another nasty dose of it yesterday.

One example was when I bought a second hand car for Mrs O at a "car supermarket" in West London. We had just moved back from Germany and a friend had recommended the place. There was certainly a good choice of vehicles. I signed up for an "extended warranty" agreement which seemed like a good idea given that I had no friendly mechanic to inspect the vehicle. A year later there was a serious mechanical failure and my wife arranged for the vehicle to be towed in for repair. I realised that we should call the extended warranty company and called them after the event. I was told in no uncertain terms that I had invalidated the warranty by not phoning the company before arranging for the car to be towed and repaired. When I protested that this was a ripoff the call centre referred me to the clause in the agreement. Indeed deep in the small print there was a clause to that effect.

One of my sons is on an InterRailing holiday in Europe. He asked if he was covered by my travel insurance policy that I have through my work. I duly read the main sections of the policy but not the detailed small print. I concluded that he was well covered for things like theft of baggage and loss of tickets or passport. On Sunday he called from Krakow Poland to say that his rucksack had been stolen from his youth hostel with practically everything in it. I thought I would call the insurance company to get a claim form and was horrified to be told that he was not covered. His youth hostel had no lockers left so he had put a padlock to close his rucksack to protect it. I was duly referred to a clause in the policy which says that if a bag is unaccompanied claims are only valid if they are locked away with receipt to prove that it was locked away. I think you need a lawyer to help you make a claim. Despite that I am glad that my son was unharmed.

Aaaarghhh!