Michigan man says his 6-year-old son ordered $1,000 worth of food from Grubhub
Politics
CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan man says he was left with a $1,000 bill after his 6-year-old son ordered a virtual assortment of food from several restaurants last weekend, resulting in a series of unexpected deliveries – and possibly a starring role in an ad campaign.
Keith Stonehouse said food quickly piled up in his Detroit-area home on Saturday night after he left his son, Mason, to use his cell phone to play a game before bed. He said the youngster instead used his father’s Grubhub account to order food from one restaurant after another.
The boy’s mother, Kristin Stonehouse, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Grubhub contacted the family and offered them a $1,000 gift card. The company is also considering using the family in an online promotional campaign, she said. Grubhub officials did not immediately respond to a message from the AP seeking comment.
Keith Stonehouse said he was alone with his son while his wife was at the movies when Mason ordered jumbo shrimp, salads, shawarma and chicken pita sandwiches, chili cheese fries and other foods that a Grubhub driver delivered one after another to their home in Chesterfield Township.
“It was like something out of a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit,” Keith Stonehouse told MLive.com.
He added: “I don’t find it really funny yet, but I can laugh a little with people. It’s a lot of money and it came out of nowhere.
Keith Stonehouse said his son ordered food from so many different places that Chase Bank sent him a fraud alert denying a $439 order from Happy’s Pizza. But Mason’s $183 order of jumbo shrimp from the same restaurant went through and arrived at the family’s house.
Stonehouse said it took the arrival of a few food orders for him to realize what was happening. At that time, he couldn’t do anything to stop the orders from coming.
Kristin Stonehouse told the AP that Mason is extremely intelligent and has been reading since he was 2½.
“He’s very smart,” she said. “Not your average 6-year-old.”
She said her husband had just used the Grubhub app on his phone to order dinner before he left and probably left the app open. She said her son took the phone, hid in the basement and ordered his feast.
She said she and her husband had a conversation with Mason on Sunday morning and told him what he had done amounted to stealing.
“I don’t think he understood that concept at first,” she said.
To drive the point home, she and her husband opened Mason’s piggy bank and pocketed the $115 he received for his birthday in November, telling him the money would go to replenish their accounts. The boy didn’t seem to mind.
“Then he found a penny on the floor and said he could start all over again,” she said.
Keith Stonehouse said most of the food went into the family fridges. He said he also invited neighbors to eat it.
He said he’s heard of things like this happening to other parents, but not on the level he experienced last weekend. He recommends making sure important apps aren’t easily accessible to children when using a parent’s phone. He said he was changing his password.
“I knew it could happen, but you just don’t think your child is going to do something like this. He’s definitely pretty smart, I just didn’t expect that,” Keith Stonehouse said.
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