When the computer sidled into our homes, we were all assured that our lives would get easier.

Computerisation would ease the process of paying bills, shopping and organising our financial affairs. As the pieces of paper ceased to clog up our shelves and files were consigned to the recycle bin, a few moments in front of our screens at home would speedily and effectively transact all our business, freeing us up to enjoy our leisure time swinging in our hammocks or growing begonias.

Wind forward a decade or so. All that has happened to me is that it has become immeasurably harder to make contact with any of the companies or institutions that we used to be able to ring up or visit and the computer invariably says ‘No!’ when you try get past the contact barriers.

When I received a printed bank statement regularly, I used to check it against my cheque stubs and I cannot recall one occasion in decades where there was an error. Since everything went digital, I confess I have failed to be as diligent. This week I needed to check a series of payments for a tax form and while doing so, a payment to a company I had never heard of leapt off the screen at me.

Now £39.99 is not a massive amount but it was, it seemed, the first payment of a direct debit.

My bank gave me information about the institution raising the payment. That institution told me I had to contact their client company to ascertain what it was. So much for computers making things easier. It makes things easier for the monoliths who harvest our hard earned cash and then make it as difficult as possible for us to contact them other than by email, which they don’t answer properly if at all. ‘Making things easier for the customer’ in my case means half a day spent already trying to discover who had taken my money and why, with as yet no definitive resolution.

When computerisation works it is undoubtedly remarkably useful. I can, say, get a book that I urgently need and which is not in my local bookshop within 24 hours, without leaving home.

But the big boys can really tie us in knots if they choose to, safe in the knowledge that a percentage of us will shrug and write it off to experience. Lesson – check your bank statements!