Ah, the perils of modern-day parenting.
If you, like many of us, rely heavily on Amazon in order to get the Christmas presents bought this year (I mean; with the lockdowns and restrictions on movement, it has been rather tricky to get to the shops!) you might want to read this.
Especially if you have an Alexa in the house.
Now, don’t get me wrong – virtual assistants are dead handy when you want some Christmas music played, or find out what the weather will be like tomorrow or check things like bus times and to what degree you should cook a turkey. However, they are less handy to have around when they end up revealing the contents of that parcel you just ordered from Amazon – in front of your kids.
According to Netmums, it turns out that the delivery tracking function, which makes the device glow yellow when deliveries from Amazon and selected other retailers are due to arrive, has been accidentally letting kids know what they’re getting for Christmas.
The function, which lets you know where your order is, also announces what’s in the package to anyone who asks. You know, like giving helpful notifications like, your ‘PlayStation is out for delivery.
In other words; YIKES.
Blogger and mum Queenie’s Quest last year shared a post about the function on her Facebook page, where she warned other parents to check their delivery settings after her son nearly found out what he was getting for Christmas.
The blogger wrote:
“Oh my word, we had a close call with Master C, Amazon Dot and Christmas gifts today! While he was at Kung Fu, my order of my nieces Christmas gift arrived. Thinking nothing of it, I moved the box and went to collect him.
When he came home, he went in his room and his ‘Alexa’ was glowing yellow. He asked me why and I replied I didn’t know so he asked the device which confirmed my order of XXXX had been delivered.
WHAT IF IT WAS A GIFT FOR HIM OR MISS P????
I shall now be extra careful of future orders but thought other parents/grandparents or carers would like to know before a surprise is spoilt.”
After she shared the post, many other parents commented and revealed they had similar experiences.
“We discovered that our 8 yr old knows that this happens and luckily we managed to distract him as the delivery was Xmas gifts,” said one.
Another mum wasn’t so lucky. “Mine told my son his Christmas present yesterday!! So annoying I didn’t know it did that until I heard it telling him! x x x”
However, there is no need to panic. Sensing this can be an issue, there is a setting on the Alexa app that lets you turn this function off.
Simply go into settings, select notifications then Amazon Shopping and you can control what Alexa is going to tell you – including whether she announces the products in your package.
