Computers: Feedback: Palmed off

When Richard North was preparing his article, he asked the company if they had sizeable stocks of the machine and was told that they had more than 500 available. So he went ahead with his recommendation.

Unfortunately, his discovery of this succulent bin-end was followed by a national advertising campaign, and the stocks vanished far quicker than Mitac anticipated. At pounds 399, they could hardly sell any; at pounds 199, they could not sell enough to please the customers. A spokeswoman told us that Mitac in this country are trying to obtain stocks from elsewhere in the world, having brought in and sold out another shipment from Taipei. But they have no plans to make any more.