Catch-99!
We are familiar with the idea of Catch-22, from the book and film and much use of the term. Recent experience has seen something similar. A small savings bond has become due to pay out. I was contacted about this by email, having previously received a letter by post saying that the Insurance company no longer had a telephone helpline, and all business would from the date on the letter onwards be done via their website. The form itself required completing, which would mean either printing it out, or completing what was required on-screen. Although they can’t be contacted by me through post, the insurance company requires that an actual signature is provided on the last page of the document, they will not accept an electronic one, so I am having to post it, having first printed out and signed the document. Built into this one-way system of them insisting, and the anxious saver doing as they are instructed, is an incredibly heavy technology requirement. Help!
If you don’t have internet access, you can no longer save with this particular insurance company. If you don’t have internet access, you will not receive any information about your savings. When you do receive information, the forms somewhere or other along the line require printing out and signing, and then either scanning the document to send it as a file attachment, or else taking a physical hardcopy to a post office to post it by snailmail. And although I do have software that enables me to read PDFs, I cannot convert these into writable versions because I cannot afford the software.
So I do have a laptop computer, but I don’t have a scanner or printer, and like many academics and students I rely on a printer at the University I work in, but which is now inaccessible because of Covid issues and closures of some facilities. And I don’t have the software that would mean I didn’t have to print something out in order to get my signature onto the document. I have an electronic signature which I use for publishers et cetera, but apparently this is not legally sufficient for financial purposes.
Getting the payment that is due to me will require a trip to the local town to print the document out, then returning home to complete the form and sign it, then going back to the printer to get a copy, then going to the post office to post one of the – signed – copies. And none of this would be even remotely possible if I didn’t have a laptop computer and a router which enables me to receive electronic communications, both of which represent quite a high financial requirement. Without all this I wouldn’t even know that my insurance payments had come to fruition.
Last updated: 27 January 2022
