(CNN/KTVT) — 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.
Alexa promises to make life a little easier. “She tells knock-knock jokes, and obviously she can order things with great ease,” said Megan Neitzel, the Texas mother.
For 6-year-old Brooke, the gadget made dollhouse dreams a reality. An innocent conversation led to high dollar charges. Just like that, four pounds of sugar cookies and a $170 Kidcraft Sparkle Mansion Dollhouse arrived at 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!'”
The Neitzels see this as a teachable moment — they have now activated parental controls, requiring a four-digit code for purchases.
While they have put a dent into the cookie tin, Neitzel says they will not be keeping the dollhouse. She says they will be donating it.
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.
