Here's another reason why parents need to be careful when handing their phone to a toddler to keep them amused.
A San Diego woman is stuck with a $430 couch after her 2-year-old daughter bought the item off Amazon after pressing a "Buy Now With 1-Click" option on an Amazon page, KNSD reported.
"I was just so shocked," Isabella McNeil told the television station Thursday. "I thought, 'Did I buy a couch in my sleep?'"
Nope. Her 2-year-old daughter Rayna did.
Last week, McNeil was searching for a couch to buy and used her cellphone to browse several possibilities through an Amazon app, KNSD reported.
When the toddler asked to play with her phone, McNeil handed it over -- without clearing the websites.
The toddler apparently opened the Amazon page on McNeil's cellphone and pressed a button that automatically bought the gray tufted couch, according to KNSD.
McNeil said she did not realize her daughter made a purchase until she received an email confirming the item had shipped, the television station reported.
"I said, 'What? My couch has shipped? I didn’t remember ordering a couch,'" McNeil said.
It was too late to cancel the order, and McNeil discovered there was a $79 restocking fee and that shipping the item back to the seller would cost more than $100, KNSD reported. When the large box arrived, McNeil started thinking of ways to sell the piece of furniture to recoup her losses.
"Lesson learned," McNeil told KNSD. "Now I know it's really dangerous and [I need] to make sure the Amazon app is closed before my daughter takes the phone. It's just so easy."
McNeil's listing on OfferUp explains her situation: "Brand new in box. Ordered it by mistake, my toddler actually did. …Darn buy with 1 click on Amazon. Anyway, it's more of a hassle to ship back, so I'll take a loss."
McNeil is willing to accept $300 for the couch, according to her listing on OfferUp.
It was an expensive lesson. McNeil said she would clear off all apps from her phone before handing it to her daughter again.
"Make sure all of the apps are closed, make sure your passwords are fingerprint-locked, make sure they don't know your number password, because kids are a lot smarter than we think," McNeil told KNSD. "Sometimes, when you're a mom and you're just in that desperation and you just kind of want them to settle down, the first thing you go to is, 'Here, play with my phone for a little bit.
“It’s not worth $179 to just let her play with my phone. Now I’m going to be a lot more aware of my Amazon app.”
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