Something I did not notice when I bought he car fom teh dealer was that the heater air control does not send the air to the designated location.

So, when the switch shows the whit dot pointing to teh windscreen the air is directed to the feet; if it is directed at the 9 oclock position (windscreen and feet) it is directed to the face.

is this something simple that I can correct myself - I'm and engineer but did not want to start trying to do something that might cause damage. Any advice gratefully received.

Just to confirm is this the manual system rather than the automatic one?   

lowedb- Yes that's right - the right hand knob of the three used for manual control of ventilation

I'm not familiar with the system, but looking at units for sale on ebay the distribution and temperature are controlled by cables. The cable appears to clip into the back of the unit. I wonder if your unit has been taken out, then the knob moved before being clipped back. There doesn't appear to be anything to ensure there is only one way to get the cable in.