On Sunday morning, as Holly LaFarbers was preparing to go to church, delivery workers dropped off a box of 25 pound lollipops in front of an apartment in Lexington, Kentucky.
And another. And another. Soon, 22 boxes of 50,600 lollipops were stacked on two walls in five boxes high. That was when Mr. Raffers heard something his parents didn't want to hear. Her child unconsciously placed large online orders on a massive basis.
“Mom, my sucker is here!” said her son Liam, who was out to ride the scooter.
“I was in panic,” said LaFarber, 46. “I was hysterical.”
In an interview, Laffers said Liam, 8, was familiar with Amazon and other shopping sites during the pandemic, and that she regularly ordered supplies. Since then, she has occasionally let him browse the site if he stores items in his cart.
However, over the weekend, Liam's lollipop expired. He told his mother he wanted to sort out the carnival for his friends, and he said incorrectly, he ordered candy rather than booking it.
So the double walls of suckers rose to the door. There, an e-commerce overload crossed the path alongside close communities.
Laffers said he discovered something was wrong after a shopping trip when checking his bank balance online early Sunday. “It was red,” she said.
The problematic item was a $4,200 bill from Amazon for 30 boxes of Dum Dum. Desperately upset, she called Amazon and advised her to refuse cargo. Mr. Laffers managed to untie eight boxes of a total of 18,400 lollipops, but 22 boxes had already landed, including 50,600 lollipops.
“My Alexa didn't even ding to tell me they were delivered,” she said.
Laffers said that Amazon later told her they couldn't get the candy back for a refund because it was food. So she tried to send what she had dropped off from her in the first place back into the virtual shopping world.
“Everyone! Liam ordered 30 dam dams. Amazon won't let me return it. Sold: $130 boxes. Still sealed.”
The post attracted attention from local news outlets and national media outlets, highlighting the financial betrayal of online activities.
Parents have confusingly shared solutions on their Facebook pages, such as separating payment methods from online accounts, setting up large purchase alerts, and simply moving their kids away from their mobile phones. One child spent $980 on virtual Roblox game currency. The 3-year-old playing with the phone during a delay at the airport spent $300 on a movie. The female granddaughter spent $1,000 on Google Play.
“As a mother who has experienced unnecessary commands, I feel your pain,” the woman wrote.
Companies offer steps on how to prevent and challenge fraudulent purchases in online shopping and games.
Roblox recommends using password-protected purchasing and calling the customer service center before initiating a dispute with your payment provider. This will stall the refund process. Epic, the manufacturer of Fortnite, has safeguards that include a “intention to intent” step and buys cancellations.
With Apple devices and accounts, family verification settings include a control called Ask To Ask To Ask to Ask to Ask to Purchase a Child's Device, or a “Do not allow” control for in-app purchases.
The Google Play purchase inspection process includes additional protections for family accounts that allow users to be allowed to make purchases on apps aimed at children under the age of 12.
Amazon ultimately told Raffers that she would give her a refund. In an email, the company said it “worked directly” “to turn the sticky situation into something sweet.”
On Wednesday, after the refund was made, Raffers decided to hand out a dam dam instead of selling it. One neighbor offered to distribute some for Halloween. A local chiropractor asked for two boxes and said the bank in Somerset, Kentucky, would take five boxes.
“I either give them to individuals who offer to buy them from me, or donate them to charities, schools, churches,” Raffaz said. “The people I'm involved were willing to buy someone to help me.”
Spangler Candy Co., the company that created the Dum Dam since 1924, invited Mr. Raffers and Mr. Liam to visit their Ohio factory. “We also like that a lot of people jumped in to buy additional cases,” its CEO, Kirk Vachaux, said in an email.
Liam's online browsing privilege is suspended. However, Raffers said he also tried to find a way to get her money back and told his mother.
