Lifeproof not McKenlee Proof...

So last Sunday evening my youngest daughter who had been begging for a new phone for months started bugging us again. Her phone had stopped working about three months before and she had just been making due with texting with her Ipod touch.  I'm not going to lie though it was kind of annoying always having to call her on her friends phone when I needed to track her down or talk to her.  Our contracts were up for renewal so we were able to purchase the Iphone 4s for $149.00.   I am sure this is due to the fact that the new one is coming out.  She had some birthday money so I told her if she was willing to spend her birthday money than we would be willing to let her renew the 2 year contract.  We had been doing some price comparisons and were pretty confident we were going to be sticking with Sprint.  I was kind of surprised how quickly she jumped at the idea. (It's very hard for my girls to part with THEIR money sometimes)

Dave and I had already discussed that when we updated the girls phones we were insisting on the lifeproof boxes for them.  When McKenlee shattered her Ipod touch screen a few months back the salesman who replaced the screen introduced us to Otterbox and Lifeproof and we were pretty impressed and felt it was definitely worth the extra money.

Within hours of the Iphone arriving at our door Dave and McKenlee were at the mall purchasing the lifeproof box.

This box claims that it is shatter proof and more importantly WATERPROOF.

We learned this from the salesman and also from Sydnee's roommate Katie who's phone has the box and who took darling pictures of the girls UNDERWATER with her Iphone.  McKenlee was very excited about the prospect of taking her phone in the pool and taking pictures.

Fast forward three days.  Yes, that's right I said three days.  My daughter was the proud owner of an Iphone for 3 days!!!  Because of course we got the Lifeproof box that was defective. (after researching on line hind sight is 20/20 we discovered that this happens quite often)  So when she took it in the pool it got wet.

She was heartbroken and we were heartbroken for her.  I immediately got on the phone with the Lifeproof company who promptly told me that they "guarantee the box not the merchandise in the box" and would be "more than happy to send me another box."  To which I replied "the box does me no good without a phone to put in it."



Don't worry there is a happy ending to this story, kind of.



Because we felt so terrible for McKenlee, I used my upgrade and purchased her a replacement phone. (it should be here Tuesday) Of course this meant that Dave and I were out $149.00 of OUR money and I will be carrying my Blackberry for two more years.

But my sweet girl will have the phone that she has wanted for so long and used her very hard to part with OWN MONEY to buy.

The moral to this post:

 Lifeproof boxes, Otter Scuba boxes, all of them as far as I am concerned can fail at any time.  IT IS NOT WORTH THE RISK.  If you do buy one, think of it as insurance just in case your phone happens to accidentally get wet or is dropped on a hard surface.  Don't buy it to make your Iphone an underwater camera.   Because in my opinion you are taking a HUGE and EXPENSIVE risk.