Boy Accidentally Orders 70k Lollipops on Amazon. Panic Ensues.

[cliffly]

https://archive.md/ZmoKJ

[troist]

Amazon's policy on not taking returns for food items can be very frustrating, especially combined with leaving packages on the doorstep without informing you.

I've had food items in broken glass jars left on my doorstep, and Amazon refuse to do anything about it. They also follow that pattern of making it hard to reach an actual customer service person, instead trying to send you in an endless loop of FAQ pages.

Needless to say, I no longer use Amazon for food items.

[poplwang]

Interesting - I've actually had the opposite experience (granted, this was in Canada) Ordered a fancy honey twice, and both times it arrived in a broken glass jar. When I asked for a refund with the reason "item arrived damaged", it instantly went through both times without question. Maybe a regional thing? Or perhaps more lenience for long time customers/Prime members?

[5123125]

Shouldn't that be reported under "Item arvived broken" ? In this case it is not a return item but they should just refund.

[gavinray]

Almost half of my food comes from Amazon and I constantly return damaged items...

[AStonesThrow]

Once I ordered a case full of fresh organic juice. It was packaged in 32oz glass bottles. I believe that for that order, I went direct to the grocery vendor. So it probably came from a fairly local warehouse. It was delivered to the local USPS station. Rather than deliver it to my residence, the "letter carrier" left a slip for me to go fetch it from the station. When I approached the counter, the clerk said "Oh no, it broke apart and spilled all over our floor. It's a huge mess."

Now what I should've said is, "I'll take the sticky gooey remainder" because I 100% guarantee you that after I refused delivery and abandoned the package, they opened up the intact bottles and had a party with the remainder of the cargo! How often do they get to enjoy a pirate's booty like that?

[lynx97]

Me neither. I only ordered Pesto once, and it arrived in two broken glasses. As a personal anecdote, that was sufficient for me to never try ordering food items from Amazon again.

[jmclnx]

She is a better person than me. I would call my credit card company and dispute the purchase. I very much doubt the child's name is on the Cred Card used. That means it was illegal use of a Credit/Debit Card.

As others said, in the EU this would be against the law, we need laws like this in the US.

[readthenotes1]

So we need another law for something already illegal? I don't follow the logic.

[senectus1]

lol the things were called "Dum-Dums"

Parents letting their kids access an amazon account with CC details saved definitely fits that description.

[supermatt]

That wouldn't be a problem in the EU. Children are not able to consent to a contract.

That amazon assume that it is the adult authorising the transaction is a decision made by amazon to facilitate purchase. i.e. it is Amazons problem, not the parents.

I'd guess the number of contested transactions are sufficiently low that amazon generally doesn't care to enforce additional authentication to reduce the likelihood of unauthorised purchases.

[consp]

Amazon drops shipment, says you accepted it and calls it a day. Tale as old as time. You can replace Amazon by any shipping company. Good luck fighting it if you lose it or never wanted to accept it in the first place.

[chrischen]

Actually these things usually pretty customer-sided. Obviously if you ask Amazon they will say you got it, but if you side-step them and they didn't get a signature it becomes hard for them to defend. They usually skip signature confirmation and leave it at doorstep because 95% of the time it's what the customer wants and works.

That's why for anything more expensive they will get a signature, and ebay requires signatures on high priced items, because the 5% risk at that price point is no longer acceptable.

[5123125]

No one is going to be home at 10AM on a weekday to wait for a delivery. Online e-commerce is worse experience than traditional retails if you start requiring people to sign for every shipment.

[beAbU]

> Since then, she has occasionally let him browse the site if he keeps the items in the cart.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[SamvitJ]

"Accidentally"

[cliffly]

> He told his mother he wanted to organize a carnival for his friends, and mistakenly, he said, he placed an order for almost 70,000 pieces of the candy instead of reserving it.

That's his version and he's sticking with it

[fergie]

LOL(lipop)

[pjc50]

The physical version of a more common problem described in the article: kids making big virtual purchases without their parents realizing. It's very difficult to prevent even with helicopter parenting.

[chneu]

Lol no it isn't. Stop linking your account to smart devices and stop enabling one click ordering. Never give a child access to a credit card without preset spending limits.

You're trading convenience for the likelihood of these things happening. That's a CHOICE.

[lynx97]

Wha? Whats difficult about not giving your child unsupervised access to your credit card? Thats pretty plain negligence. I need to keep saying this, apparently: What about modern parents actually get their shit together and do some actual parenting? Either society is blamed (see social networks) or the system is blamed for their failure to take care of their children.

[echoangle]

How is that difficult? Only log into your accounts that make purchases on personal devices that you don’t give to your kids. Have dedicated devices for your child (good because you can lock it down more) or have a shared family device.

[pain2022]

Why is it difficult to give a kid their own device (or an account on shared device), and don’t enter parent’s credit card details there?

[jmb99]

It’s incredibly easy - a kid can’t have a credit card or a bank account, so don’t give them yours. The end, they can’t make purchases without your knowledge.

[globular-toast]

Like other commenters I'm surprised by this. Could you expand on why that's difficult with your particular setup?

[ChymeraXYZ]

No... No, it's not. Just require password/confirmation for every purchase. I have 3 kids and not a single one has purchased anything without me approving it (where they did not pay with their own pocket money).

[AStonesThrow]

xkcd: Listening

https://m.xkcd.com/1807/