I also have a Nokia 1208 and have had no problems with it at all. It sure seems that you got a lemon. When Nokia mass produces millions of phones, I am sure there are ones that turn out to be defective.
There are Nokia 1208's that come up for sale on this site from time to time, in case the warranty issue doesn't work out.

I have not called them but I can certainly try. Thanks for your advice.

The return period had already passed so I wanted to return it to Nokia to test and fix or provide me with a new one. Unfortunately I lost the receipt and so I am stuck with it.

Have you called Nokia and asked them if they will honour their 1-year warranty even without a receipt?

The 1208 hasn't been available all that long -- maybe less than one year -- so that may be enough to prove warranty eligibility. Also often manufacturers put manufacturing date-codes on their products. That too may be enough to prove you've had the phone for less than one year. And finally SO may be able to confirm the date when you first used the phone.

I purchased this phone from Petro Canada for my wife many months ago and since day 1, the reception/antenna seemed very poor as noted by my wife. She was not able to make calls sometime and after my own tests, I have confirmed the antenna is very bad or defective. The antenna bar would continue to go up and down and not be stable as compared to my 2760 I got from 7-11. I could not make calls sometime downtown when at work. The error message would say "Network Error". Never had a problem with my 2760.

The return period had already passed so I wanted to return it to Nokia to test and fix or provide me with a new one. Unfortunately I lost the receipt and so I am stuck with it. I guess you get what you pay for.

Has any one had calling and antenna problems with this phone? When I could make calls the phone is very loud and clear, I'd give it that. I do not recommend this phone at all unless my is a lemon.