With few exceptions, I read that the retailers in the UK for electronic devices, from computers to TVs, are in severe economic recession. Now, this is not a new topic for me as I perennially find the experience of shopping for IT-related goods in the high street an absolute pain. And today was no different.

I want to upgrade the memory in my laptop and we're interested in replacing an old ink-jet printer in the office for a more modern one that runs more economically and has a bigger duty cycle rating. The memory in question is a DDR2 667MHz SODIMM, and we're intersted in one of the new Epson WorkForce laser replacement ink-jet all-in-ones.

I venture into our local Staples store. I can't find where they display PC memory because the store layout has changed yet again. So I ask a member of staff. He knows instantly where to show me, even optimistically suggesting he might have a bargain for me in their clearance section (it's an old laptop and the memory spec. is quite old). Unfortunately, the price (in the clearance section) is twice what I know I can get it elsewhere from.

Next, the Epson WorkForce all-in-one range. He's never heard of it and suggests I should buy an HP. "Zero out of 2," I said to him, with a frustrated expression, adding: "Not very good." He didn't seem in the least bit concerned.

All I can say is that if I was him I would make darned sure I was up to date with what was available even if I couldn't personally supply it. That way I would avoid the situation where the customer thinks I'm a hopeless case and loses all faith in my store.

I thought I would then try PC World. No sign of the Epson AIO models I was interested in, and once again their memory prices were very uncompetitive. Indeed, I could have bought the memory I wanted for around half the price by buying from the PC World website, through one of their own 'Web-only exclusives'. How an organisation thinks it can generate good will among its customers by segregating local store and web customers like that is a mystery to me.

As I have often said before, if you go into an electronics store in the US the experience is so much more positive. In general the staff appear to know what they are talking about and the range on offer is much wider.

But I'm not in the US, so I'll just have to put up with high street retailers foisting bad prices and poor choices on me. Excuse me, but I'm off to place some Web orders...