Q. Routine Enquiries recently replied to a reader who had bought a computer under what subsequently turned out to be false or misleading advertisements.

I purchased a Dragon 32 some 18 months ago under the mistaken belief that it would later be possible to expand it to 64K. Time has shown that this is not possible, and the opportunity to trade it in against a new improved version with lots of extras which I do not want or need is, in my view, unacceptable.

While I am quite prepared to take action through the Courts, I would first like to ask you if you think that by doing so I am acting in a fair and reasonable way.

Peter Dootson, North Devon

A. We at PCN weren't familiar with the small print of early Dragon Data advertisements, so the initial reaction to your query was fairly sceptical. However, a little research did in fact clinch it. When Dragon Data launched the Dragon 32 it was indeed advertised as 32K RAM standard, expandable to 64K RAM.

The advertisement in question, incidentally, was also grossly sexist, and we'd reckon that was a much more serious crime.

Despite the existence of printed evidence, we don't think you have all that much of a case. Technically, you can't upgrade a Dragon 32, but as a Dragon 64 can be supplied instead, and the original advertisement didn't say anything about the cost of the upgrade, it's likely you'd be wasting your time going to law.

The other case to which you refer is more clear-cut than your own, and you'll probably recognise that although a lot of micro products do not perform in accordance with their original specs, it's not totally clear that yours is in this position.

Take the position of Oric 1 owners, for example. The Oric 1 clearly doesn't perform in the way its initial advertising led buyers to believe, and the Modem, Oric Speedprinter and disk drives never appeared for it, never mind the new ROM. However, even in what seems a relatively clear-cut case we don't know of anyone who has successfully demanded compensation for this.

Your case is more flimsy. Whilst we don't think you'd be unreasonable to go to law, you'd probably be foolish. If you're set on seeing it through, bear in mind that your contract of sale is with the shop, not with Dragon Data.