Say what you like, when it comes to signing on the dotted line, the vast majority of us never bother to read the fine print at the bottom of the page. The very fact that you are unable to read it without using some kind of magnifying device is significant enough, but supposing that you can, you`ll find it written in a language that is known only to lawyers, and their kin.
Yep, once you have added your signature, you`ll usually find that you have signed away all claims should anything should go untoward.
Loss, theft, fire and flood, with an Act of God thrown in, and that highly recommended company will shrug off all responsibility.
Of course, I am not saying that all businesses are `crook’ but despite their outward integrity, there arn`t many companies that don`t cover their rear, one way or another.
Just for fun, imagine that you`ve bought a nice new house somewhere up there in Steiltes, some millions of smackers, and you paid cash. You`ve signed all the transfer documents, and move in during the winter months. The first six months are Heaven, then come the rains. You find the ruddy place leaks like a sieve.
It has a flat roof you see, and it hasn`t been sealed properly. Who the heck do you go to, to get it fixed? Remember that there`s no guarantee issued when you buy a house, and what`s worse, if the building contractor goes `bung’ soon after he built it, you`ve really landed yourself in the fertilizer!
It`s as well to remember too, that when you are stretched out on a hospital bed, and you are all fuzzy from the pre-med they gave you, they`ll ask you to sign a slip of paper exonerating themselves from any medical slip-ups that may occur.
Taking off the wrong leg, or worse, mix you up with Mr. Smith over there, who is in for a prostatectomy is common place. From personal experience, I have been given my neighbours pills by mistake in a local hospital, so beware.
That overseas trip you are thinking of taking too demands a signature before you are given the tickets. Read the small print, and you`ll find that once you have booked a seat in the aircraft, if you default due to illness, you can lose the lot unless you have been clever enough to insure yourself against that eventuality. Again, it happened to me a few years back.
Whatever you do, when the gentleman behind the counter offers you his pen, read the blessed document first, before you sign. Better still, take the agreement to a lawyer, find out what you are signing for, it is your privilege to do so.
We are all guilty of being far too trusting. There are crooks out there eager for your hard earned cash, so please don`t do what I did, and learn the hard way. That deed of sale I signed didn`t include the clause about a `latent defect’. A legal term I`d never heard of until it was too late.
Meanwhile, don`t get caught with your pants down, read the fine print first before you reach for that pen.
