Has my rebate arrived already?

Wow! A letter from the T-Mobile rebate people. That was quick! Let's open it up and put my rebate check in a safe place!

Or maybe not.

I can't believe it. No store receipt=no rebate. Do you really mean to tell me that their system isn't set up to issue rebates for phones bought on the web?

I scream.

I kick the cat.

I cancel Christmas.

But nothing seems to work.

No store receipt=no rebate.

I call the 1-877 number to explain that I don't have a store receipt because I didn't BUY THE PHONE FROM A %&*%$# STORE!

Only I am actually quite calm. I expect this to be sorted out easily enough.

A smarmy 15-year old kid takes my call. He's reading from a script. Apparently it's no problem that I don't have a store receipt. Valid alternatives include blah blah….

I interrupt to remind him that I've already said that I sent in my order confirmation e-mail.

Oh dear. This isn't in the script.

"Oh well, we didn't receive it, sir."

Fine. He tells me to send a copy of the order confirmation e-mail to the original submission address. He also tells me to contact them shortly after resubmitting it to confirm that they have received it.

Rebate paperwork

Now I just have to attend to the paperwork for the rebate. Seems straightforward enough. I just need the following:

• The bar code from the box in which my phone was shipped.
• Proof of purchase.
• The rebate form.

Bar code: no problem. Rebate form: made ultra-easy by the T-Mobile rebate website, which auto-generates it. Proof of purchase needs a little initiative as I didn't buy the phone in a store and so don't have a store receipt. No problem, though: I'll just send a copy of my order confirmation e-mail.

Here's what I submitted to the T-Mobile rebate shysters. (Whoops! I'm getting ahead of myself—nothing bad's happened…yet!)

It's arrived!

Hurrah! The phone has arrived! It's small, very light, and a battery charge lasts longer than 3½ minutes. I'm so happy!

Ordering the new phone

It's time to retire the ancient Nokia 3390. Let's see what T-Mobile is selling at the moment. Oooh... this looks nice:

By the time the $30 mail-in rebate is deducted, this Nokia 6030 will be very cheap indeed. A few mouse-clicks and my new phone is working its way through T-Mobile's system and onto my porch. Hooray!