Before Christmas, like thousands of other parents, I was shopping for a home computer for my son. I had started out looking for an Acorn Electron which is a story in itself, but that isn't the point I want to make.

Since I couldn't find an Electron in the big stores I looked around a few smaller dealers on the off-chance. You find home computers in the most unusual places these days, don't you? One that I came across, sitting among reconditioned vacuum cleaners and second-hand black and white TVs, was a hybrid that could be a new species - a Vic 64.

It may seem like nit-picking to say that outside of a certain dealer's window in South London there is no such machine. It was obvious at a glance that the machine on sale was a Commodore 64. It was obvious from the price. But it still sticks in my throat. There is a Vic 20 and there is a Commodore 64. Would anybody buy a computer from a shop that didn't know the difference?

Of course they would, if they themselves didn't know the difference. It may not matter very much: it may be that, having found the machine, they will take it away and never darken the dealer's door again.

But if they do need help after buying it, what kind of assistance are they likely to get from somebody who doesn't know what it is that he's selling?

Is there no way of ensuring that people selling computers can demonstrate a minimum standard of competence? Perhaps the answer lies with the manufacturers since it is their reputations at risk.

Maureen O' Leary
Camberwell, London

It's their reputations but your money. Buy from a dealer who can give you all the support you're likely to want. - Ed