A major milestone for many proud parents these days is when their little angel manages to master the computer and can happily navigate their way to the latest update on Barney or Dora without help from Mam and Dad.
But a couple in Stanmore Bay, New Zealand found the true cost of producing such tech-savy offspring when their toddler woke early one morning for a quick surf.
Three-year-old Pipi Quinlan logged on to her mother’s computer and clicked into the TradeMe auction website. After examining a number of live auctions she promptly put in a bid for a €9,000 earth mover. The seller of the huge Kobelco machine was happy to accept the offer.
Pipi’s mother, Sarah, had been on the site the previous night surfing for toys and had a number of toy diggers on her watch list. But a transaction on a much larger scale was taking place as she and her husband Reid had a lie on.
"The first I knew of it was when I came down and opened up the computer," Ms Quinlan told the Rodney Timesnewspaper. "I saw an email from TradeMe saying I had won an auction and another from the seller saying something like 'I think you'll love this digger'."
“It wasn’t until I went back and re-read the emails that I saw $20,000 and got the shock of my life”.
She immediately called the auction website and the seller to explain the unusual predicament she found herself in.
Pipi won’t be paying the bill back with her pocket money over the next few years and the Quinlans won’t have to extend their driveway to make way for their new digger beside the Honda - Trade Me agreed to reimburse the seller’s costs and the digger was relisted for another auction.
