McDixons What a puerile and pathetic bunch. Dixon’s staff, I mean. Having undergone the Dixon’s Shopping Experience it’s understandablewhy you need to wash your hands. What a vile and sordid experience it is too. Vast piles of unlovely consumer goods piled high. Wow! Aren’t PCs ugly? Acres of hideously deformed, sorry, futuristically styled plastic everywhere, all demonstrated by Alans and Shirlees without a trace of humour but dripping with “HellomynameisAllan/ShirleewelcometoDixonshowmayIhelpyou?’ corporate monotone and the ‘Now-you’ve-bought-this-ugly-stuff-you-will-need-this-expensive-add-on-guarantee-otherwise-you’ll-die’ schtick. I don’t mean to stereo type but WAKE UP! God! How I loathe Dixons. Currys too. It is, verrily, a sign of the times that Apple must compete with PC vendors in cess-pits like these. Personally, I can’t understand why they need too. John Lewis stores sell Apple stuff. They give unrivaled guarantees, the staff are exceptional (for a high street retailer and, on a sexist note, the female staff are often attractive) after sales service is freely obtainable and they are ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’. What more do you want? If price is your only criteria then go mail order, though John Lewis will try to match or better any genuine price, but if you want good, personal service at a fair price then use John Lewis. O.K. the sales staff won’t be on a technological par with the average Mac buff but they’ve got to be light years ahead of the Dixon’s pond-life.   I’ve had some good experiences with mail-order firms but more bad. The problem with mail-order is the vendor’s remoteness. Usually at the other end of the country and therefore not in hands-around-the-throat-distance come the crunch, when everything has stopped working and the prat at the other end of the phone decides his/her lunch break comes first. Sure, they’re cheap but to quote the Tories when talking about one of their own, ‘You pay peanuts and you get Monkeys’. Just like McDixons in fact. Mike Smith (the views expressed here are not necessarily those of 1984 OnLine Magazine!....phew -Ed)