With regards to PPI companies, I am 100% behind BarryW.
I have just gone through the process with one of these companies and believe me I have been mugged.
I thought like many other's nothing ventured nothing gained and so what if they get 25% of what might be nothing then why not give it a go.
To cut a long story short, I did all the work, the positive side, was that the bank owed me money, the negative side is the bill plus Vat, came to nearly half of my claim, when not only did I do it all, including phone calls, it was very easy to do.
Please look into mis-sold PPI with your bank but do it yourself, if you want any advice, I am only too willing to help anyone. You might be very surprised, many people have got money back that they had no idea they had paid.
Also be patient, banks have just been told that they must inform customers that were mis-sold PPI, in writing and they will be telling them that they do not need to use these companies to retrieve their money.
