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What could have been a moment of innocence has turned into a logistical and financial headache for one family. In the United States, a young boy used his mother’s mobile phone to order – unsupervised – almost 70,000 sweets from Amazon. The most ironic part of the story? The sweets were indeed delivered… but are now impossible to return.
One click too many
The incident occurred after the child, left unattended for a few minutes, accessed the Amazon application on his mother’s smartphone. With just a few gestures, he was able to place an order for astronomical quantities of sweets, without her noticing immediately.
It wasn’t until the delivery was made that the mother discovered the extent of the problem: whole boxes full of sweets had been left outside her house, for an estimated sum of several hundred, if not thousands of euros.
Inability to return products
What’s most confusing about this case is that the products ordered are not eligible for return under Amazon’s policy. This is because, for health and safety reasons, edible products cannot be returned once they have been delivered, even if there has been an obvious error. As a result, the family was forced to keep or redistribute these huge quantities of sweets, with no possibility of a refund.
This type of incident, although rare, is not without precedent. It serves as a reminder of the importance of activating parental controls on mobile devices, particularly on e-commerce platforms. Features such as double authentication or deactivation of automatic payments can prevent many surprises.
With its mix of humour and absurdity, this story highlights the extent to which technology can sometimes get out of hand… especially when it falls into the hands of inquisitive little hands. An excess of sugar that, if not consumed, leaves a bitter taste.
