Marathon purchased a AT&T cell phone a few months ago with the understanding (he had been expressly told and it was written in his carefully made notes) that he would receive a $100 rebate after the purchase. The salesman was helpful enough to fill out the rebate form on Marathon’s behalf, seal, and address the envelope. He told Marathon all he had to do was slap a stamp on it and put it in the mail.

Which is what we did.

You know how those rebates are – they seem to take forever to arrive.

When it finally did arrive, it was for half the amount we were told we would be receiving.

I called the salesman and inquired about it. He told me the rebate center was a separate entity from him and his company, and that once the rebate was submitted, it was out of his hands. There was nothing he could do.

So, I called the rebate center and explained my situation. The person I spoke with was sympathetic, checked and double-checked her paperwork, but the phone model Marathon had purchased was entitled to only a $50 rebate.

Now what?

We had never actually seen the rebate form since the salesman had filled it out and sealed the envelope. We could call him again and make a big fuss about it — threaten to go public with his seeming deception if he didn’t supply us with the remainder of our rebate.

In the end, we decided the stress and negative energy it would create in us was not worth $50. So we let it go.

We’ve learned a hard lesson: We’ll fill out our own cumbersome rebate forms from now on, thank you.

And, thank goodness, Marathon is pleased with his phone!