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Little girl orders dollhouse and cookies from Amazon’s Alexa, racks up big bill

Posted at 12:29 PM, Jan 05, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-05 12:29:27-05

A Texas girl ordered a dollhouse and four pounds of cookies during a conversation with Alexa, Amazon’s voice-activated device.

Brooke Neitzel, 6, asked Alexa: ‘Can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?’

The Amazon app logs the family’s conversations with the gadget. Brooke also told Alexa, ‘I love you.’

The family says it’s a teachable moment. They have now activated parental control requiring a four-digit code for purchases. They have set rules for their kids.

The family kept the four pounds of cookies but will not be keeping the dollhouse, a $170 Kidcraft Sparkle Mansion.

“It’s Christmas time.  Let’s give it to somebody else. She agreed. We are narrowing down the choices of who she would like to give it to,” said Megan Neitzel, Brooke’s mom.

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.