Letter to the Editor: Last month we bought an HP PC for our 13-year-old son, Nick.

It was an expensive gift but one we hoped would last him for a good many years.

On Xmas day he was delighted with the gift and couldn't wait to set it up.

My partner and my son successfully set the PC up and my son downloaded a game.

This was all fine but we were due at my mum's for lunch so Nick never got to use the PC.

Upon arriving home, when my son signed in, a message came up saying "PC repairing itself"' then an "Unable to repair" message.

My partner could do nothing to rectify it so they both packed it up, got up early this morning and were at PC World for their 8am opening.

We had the receipt and all the necessary paperwork and packaging so my husband was expecting a straight exchange. No!

After attempting to reason with them and negotiate, they were unwilling to do anything except send it off to attempt to repair it and it will be gone until at least January 8. They would not budge!

My son has come home in tears, his brand new Xmas present is sitting in PC World and there is nothing anyone is prepared to do about it.

How can it be acceptable to offer only to repair a brand new £550 PC that a child hasn't even been able to use yet? All we asked for was a straight swap.

How can a company do this to a child at Christmas? And, as it was such an expensive gift, we were unable to buy Nick anything else so he now has no Xmas gifts at all.

Sid Radia and Sarah Daly, Souldern Street, Watford