Tandy online: dead in the water?

They'll be back tomorrow. Honest

Oh dear, oh dear. Has another Web strategy gone titsup.com? Well, Tandy - now owned by Carphone Warehouse and never allowed to use the name Radio Shack over here because some bloke in North London had it - doesn't look too well.

Pay a visit to its Web site and you'll be greeted with the message "The Tandy Store is close. Please check back tomorrow". Yes, that is the word "close" - which would suggest that its closure was not a well-organised affair.

And, of course, checking back tomorrow is liable to offer you more of the same, especially since it has been down for at least a week. Ignoring the poor wording, you'd also do well to look at the page itself. Check out for example the shoddy graphics, well, graphic, stylishly repeated again on the rest of the screen. (We also like the fact that Tandy seems to think a Web site is like one of its small-town stores - you can just close it up and pin a notice on the door.)

What's going on? Has the whole strategy been pulled? Did bulldog clips, cables and those tiny bits of assorted components not cut it in the online world? Or was the site hacked to pieces before Christmas and the techy in charge has yet to return from holiday?

Well, we called Tandy's UK headquarters to ask them. And, bizarrely no-one is answering. At all. It just rings off. Funny things are afoot, we tell you. ®