NEED A GREAT, EXPERIENCED ENGLISH TEACHER OR PERSONAL TUTOR? Contact Teacher Jack!
[Convenient New Feature: ARCHIVE of All Articles]A five-year-old girl, who was playing on her mom’s cell phone, purchased a load of toys and accessories that would make a normal Christmas morning look like nothing.
Jessica Nunes, of Westport, Massachusetts, said that she was "stunned" to get several unexpected shipping confirmations by email – causing her to think that there must have been fraudulent charges to her Amazon account.
"I was like, ‘What? I haven’t ordered anything,’" Jessica said. "So, I log on to Amazon, scroll down my order history, and I see that I had ordered five pink motorcycles from one seller, five blue ones from another seller, a toy Jeep, and 10 pairs of cowgirl boots."
Jessica said her daughter Lila, age five, who cannot yet read or write, had found her way to the Amazon app and made purchases totaling over USD$3,000.
"Lila has a big personality," her mother said. "She’s very intelligent. A little too smart, I would say."
When Jessica asked her daughter if she had made some purchases, Lila said, “Uh, maybe.”
"I don't think she realized the seriousness of what she had done," Jessica added.
The two had been in the car much of that day, running errands, and the mother said her daughter was bored.
Lila does not normally play on her mother’s phone or on any other devices, unsupervised
"She does not even have a phone or even a tablet," Jessica said. "She doesn't have any of those things. But, she does play a game on my phone sometimes. It is like a little makeup game, just a silly little app. I gave her my phone, so she could play her game, to keep her occupied."
Jessica said her daughter had the cell phone for "all of 15 minutes at most," and that was when she did her online shopping.
"Lila knew about Amazon because around Christmas, we scroll through some different toys," the mother said.
"She saw me adding them to the cart. I told her it was just to get an idea of what she liked so that we could tell Santa.”
Jessica said she had never actually purchased anything in front of her daughter and is unaware how Lila learned to complete a transaction. However, she added that she can understand Lila's choice of items.
"I had just signed her up for horseback riding lessons, so I guess she figured that she needed a pair of boots — or 10 of them!" she said, laughing.
She went on, "I think she thought that she was ordering one pair of size 10 boots, her size."
Jessica said that, the Sunday before Lila placed her Amazon order, they had seen a boy at the park who was riding the same Dirt Rocket bike that Lila ended up ordering.
"I knew it did not look like something that was for her age range, so I told her in the park, ‘I’ll look into it.’ I was going to get her something a little bit more age appropriate, not that exact model. But I still don't know how she was able to find that specific item on Amazon. It's crazy."
Jessica said she was able to cancel half of the bikes, thanks to a seller who noticed that something was strange.
"That seller had actually reached out to me and said, ‘We just want to confirm that you really want to buy [so many] bikes.’”
"[The seller said], 'If so, we will happily send them out. If not, let us modify your order.' I immediately said, ‘Yes, please! Cancel!’"
The mother was also able to return the 10 pairs of boots.
However, five of the 10 bikes had already left the warehouse, and the seller said that they were non-returnable.
"I was very stressed because those bikes alone were about USD$1,600," she said.
Jessica says that, fortunately, Amazon was able to help her get everything straightened out.
She also said that she takes full responsibility for what happened. Lila,however, will not get to keep any of the Amazon purchases.
"I told her that, down the road, maybe she can earn something and that we have to talk about it."
Jessica points out that the situation has reminded her of the importance of passwords.
Rather than punishing Lila, the mother hopes to teach her daughter some valuable lessons about money.
"I know that she does understand that she wanted something; she ordered it, and she got it. But I'm trying to make her understand more about the value of money and the value of earning things."
For a similar situation, read about Little Ryan.
LEARNING TOOLS
English questions about this article or about English in general?
Ask Teacher Jack at: asktjack1@gmail.com
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PAGES:
ARCHIVE/JOKES TEACHER JACK IDIOMS ENGLISH FACTS
NEED A GREAT, EXPERIENCED ENGLISH TEACHER OR PERSONAL TUTOR? Contact Teacher Jack!
Facebook: Full Spectrum English Tutor Teacher Jack
ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW AT
Offbeat English
https://linggle-offbeatenglish.blogspot.com/
COME BACK SOON!