A Six-Year-Old Boy Ordered Nearly $1,000 Worth Of Food On His Dad’s Phone
A friendly reminder to child-proof all technology that has your money tied to it.
Food delivery service has never been easier. With just a few taps on your phone, your favorite food can be at your doorstep within an hour. Oh what a time to be alive! However, with the ease that has come with takeout, there is also the risk of it being so easy that a young child with an appitite and a little determination can figure it out.
For one family in Michigan, their six-year-old son’s tech savvy nature ended up costing them big time. Keith Stonehouse was home with his 6-year-old son, Mason, while his wife was out with friends.
As part of his bedtime routine, Stonehouse gave his son his phone to play games on. However, instead of playing games, the apparently very hungry boy opened the GrubHub app and ordered over $1,000 worth of food from numerous restaurants in the area for a little midnight snack.
After Mason had fallen asleep, numerous food delivery drivers started showing up the house much to the confusion of Stonehouse.
“Time after time again, and it’s piles and bags of food. ‘What is going on?’ They’re dropping them off at the door, so, I’m not communicating with the drivers,” Keith Stonehouse told AZ Family.
“I said, ‘What is going on? Why are you bringing me food?’ He said, ‘I don’t know you. You ordered from the shawarma place,’” the dad said.
He soon remembered that he had let his six-year-old son play on his phone before bed. After looking through his GrubHub app, Stonehouse saw multiple orders from several different restaurants.
“I think I had left the app open, and he saw that when he was playing with my phone and just started going to town. He ordered multiple orders: chili cheese fries, the chicken pita wraps, ice cream, pizza,” Stonehouse said.
One of the orders Mason had put through was a charge of $439 from Happy's Pizza. The order was so large that it tripped Stonehouse's credit card fraud alert. The charge was declined and his bank notified him. However, he wasn’t so lucky with the $183 order of shrimp from the same location.
Stonehouse and his wife talked with Mason about what had happened, working to explain to him in kid’s terms that ordering that much food costs a lot of money. Though Mason had more pressing concerns on his mind.
“I was trying to explain to him that this wasn't good and he puts his hand up and stops me and says ‘Dad, did the pepperoni pizzas come yet?’ I had to walk out of the room. I didn't know if I should get mad or laugh. I didn't know what to do.”
Mom took a bit of a different approach and showed Mason a visual of what it looks like when someone’s hard earned money is taken away without their consent.
“I think it sunk in when we were actually taking his money to try to pay back some of it, just as a lesson. I know what this money in your piggy bank means to you. So, this is only a fraction of what you spent,” Kristyn Stonehouse said.
This is a great reminder to all patents that important phone applications with credit cards attached to them should not be readily available for your kids to click on when they’re using your phone. Oh, and maybe change your passcode, unless you are really, really hungry.
