We Got Smurfed

Ways to spend $99.00:

1.) Enjoy a dinner for two at Bob’s Steakhouse.

2.) Fill up my car almost two times.

3.) Get a new Coach purse (from the outlet).

4.) Purchase 2000 Smurf-Berries.

The following story is true and should serve as a warning to anyone who lets your child play with your smart phone.

This story involves Davis and someone we will refer to from this point forward as “The Accomplice”.

Davis is 80% responsible. The Accomplice is 20% responsible.

It all started when I had a temporary lapse in judgment and volunteered to be the official scorekeeper for Hayden’s basketball team, the Titans. Basketball score keeping is way more serious than I envisioned and involves a Special Scorekeeper Seat when we are the home team.

Last Saturday was one of those games. Because of this, The Accomplice graciously offered to watch the two younger kids while I kept the score.

All was well until half-time when The Accomplice nearly sprinted across the court when the halftime buzzer went off. Nearly out of breath and visibly upset, she explained that Davis was playing with my phone and asked her to put in my password so that he could download something.

Sidenote: The Accomplice happens to know me very well.

Like very well…enough to know my catch-all password.

But apparently not enough to know that our kids are not allowed, under any circumstance to have our passwords. Not even if they beg.

So The Accomplice put in the password, and long story short, we are now the proud owner of 2000 Smurf-Berries. I didn’t even believe it was true until I got home and checked my itunes account.

It’s true.

Since I have been know to dispute an erroneous $2 charge on my credit card, I am obviously going to fight this until I am blue in the face (no pun intended).

So the first thing I did was a google search and found that it could definitely be worse. Check out this article.

Then I did some more research looking for contact numbers. I found that the Smurf game has a whole facebook page dedicated to it. I clicked on it, hoping, EXPECTING to find other angry parents protesting exorbitant priced Smurf-Berries.

But Get This. GET THIS!

Instead of other angry parents, I found people (11,224 people, no less) who had logged on to the Facebook page to join the virtual smurf Village. They were in fact complaining and whining… that the developers of the game don’t allow players to buy Smurf Coins…only allows Smurf-Berries.

“It’s Not Fair” they posted.

Who are these people? They’re living among us. Could they be our Neighbors? And more importantly, would I be friends with someone if I knew they were consciously buying Smurf-Berries WITH REAL MONEY?

***

Fortunately for The Accomplice, Jeff was more upset about the basketball game, so his first response when he heard about our new ownership in Smurf-Berries was “can you at least trade them in for Gargamel dollars?” It was a relief to see that he still had a sense of humor.

***

And later that weekend, we had this conversation:

Me: I am going to get a pedicure after church today.

Jeff: Okay, how many Smurf-Berries will that cost?

***

The Accomplice literally made herself sick over this accident. She offered to pay for it, but we’re not going to accept becuase I am holding out hope that I can argue with Pappa Smurf and the whole Smurf Village to get this charge reversed.

However, we  can't promise that we'll stop laughing about this anytime soon. I am certain we will be converting all purchases into Smurf-Berries for years to come. 

***

p.s. I'm changing my password.

***

Post edit: I just received this email from Apple, so Davis and The Accomplice are off the hook.

Dear Lisa,

Welcome to iTunes Store Customer Support. My name is Hareesh and I am glad to help you today.

I understand that your child accidentally made In app purchases and the purchase of "WAGON OF SMURFBERRIES " was unintentional. In five to seven business days, a credit of 99.99 USD, plus any applicable taxes, should be posted to the credit card that appears on the receipt for that purchase.

Please note that this is a one-time exception, as the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions state that all sales are final.