Associated Incidents
DALLAS, Texas — It's the Amazon order that's gone viral.
A six-year-old girl's conversation with Amazon's voice-activated Echo Dot ended up with her parents being charged for a dollhouse and four pounds of cookies.
For 6-year-old Brooke Neitzel, the gadget made dollhouse dreams a reality, she told KTVT.
"Alexa, order me a dollhouse and some cookies," Brooke said.
An innocent conversation led to high dollar charges. Just like that, 4 pounds of sugar cookies and a $170 Kidcraft Sparkle Mansion dollhouse arrived at her mom, Megan Neitzel's door.
According to Neitzel's Amazon app, which logs her kids' conversations with the gadget, Brooke asked Alexa.
"Can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse? She immediately said ‘Alexa, I love you.’ I said of course you do," recalled Megan.
The Neitzels see this as a teachable moment. They have now activated parental controls, requiring a 4-digit code for purchases, and have set rules for their kids, who are back to asking Alexa life's important questions.
While they have put a dent into the cookie tin, they will not be keeping the dollhouse.
"It's Christmas time. Let's give it to somebody else. She agreed,” explained Megan. “We are narrowing down the choices of who she would like to give it to."
Amazon says shopping settings can be managed via its Alexa app, including turning off voice purchasing and creating a confirmation code before any order. The company also says any "accidental" physical orders can be returned for free.