the game my cell phone company plays

Here is the game my cell phone company plays:

I upgraded my cell phone, hoping to find happiness. My new phone works great, it is shiny and new, but I am no more happy than I was before. But that’s not why I’m writing you, the Internet User, today.

There is a $50.00 rebate, so the whole upgrade costs me a whopping 20 bucks. Nice. But here is the game they play:

On the rebate receipt, they warn:

“Merchandise is not eligible to be returned if the Manufacturer UPC code is removed from the box.”

Okay. Fair enough.

But on the $50.00 Mail-In Rebate Offer sheet thingy, it says:

“Please note, if you remove the bar code label from the equipment box, the product cannot be returned. Do not remove the bar code label to submit for rebate until after the return period is over.”

And of course, they want you to cut the UPC bar code off and send it in to get the rebate.

So. Two warnings. How long is the “return period”?

15 days.

What are they trying to accomplish with this? In two weeks, how many people are going to forget to send in their rebate form, or lose the paperwork? Tricky. Oh my Corporate Masters! You are more powerful than me!

Otherwise, I've had two days of zenlike non-drama cool-froodiness.