Dear Future Gamer

Like SadB (FG36), I don't care whether or not independents go out of business - in my experience, they're nothing but rip off merchants. My local independent is a dingy little shop which will (illegally) buy used PC games from you for a ridiculous price (about £5 for a game that's a couple of months old) and then proceed to sell them on for about £25.

My complaint is not the low purchasing price but the fact that they don't actually explicitly say that these games are secondhand. I bought Half-Life last year for £25 and thought I was getting a bargain. Unfortunately, when I tried to play online, the CD key I entered was apparently already registered; the previous owner had obviously played online and so I could not. I tried to return it but, of course, the independent shop denied all liability so I was forced to purchase a new copy from Electronics Boutique.

I don't wish to tar all independents with the same brush, and doubtless there are many reputable and deserving independents out there. In future though, I'll be quite happy to buy from the high street, safe in the knowledge that I'll receive a quality product with after-sales service.

Michael Rosser

FG: That's outrageous! I've got nothing against a retailer re-selling secondhand games myself, but you've got to be told they're secondhand. Obviously you should have spotted that the game wasn't wrapped in cellophane, but even so, you should have been able to at least test to see if you were going to be able to play online. It's this kind of rubbish service that gives the rest of the independents a bad name.