A woman whose parents bought $10,000 worth (£8,700) of Disney+ streaming vouchers by mistake turned to TikTok to fix their error.
Andie Coston, from Illinois, said her parents were planning a big Christmas holiday for all 16 of their family members to a Disney theme park and tried to save money by buying gift cards from Sam’s Club, a membership discount service.
But they accidentally spent the money on vouchers for Disney+, which she said worked out as “70 years of streaming”.
After posting a video on TikTok appealing for help, she received a mixed reaction, with some users upset for her while others wondered why a wealthy family was asking for assistance.
But the publicity clearly helped, because on Tuesday she posted another video in which she explained that she had “just got a text message that Disney has contacted my parents and is turning the $10,000 of Disney streaming into $10,000 of Disney Parks tickets”.
She thanked those users “who were nice”, giving a thumbs-up, saying “we got it done” and told “those who were mean” they “posted my comments so Disney would notice,” adding: “I’m glad this is resolved.”
In a video posted on TikTok the day before, Ms Coston said she realised what had happened when her parents, who are 78 years old, were having problems loading the gift cards correctly online.
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She said: “Yup. We have $10k of Disney+ streaming services. That’s over 70 years of Disney+.
“We need help. It’s not about the money! It’s about getting the money in the right form.
“We leave in six days and the parks are selling out of tickets because it’s Christmas.
“My mom is distraught, dad frustrated, and the kids worried we won’t get to get to Disney.
“Anyone know of someone who can help?”
Gift cards at Sam’s Club are often discounted by up to 25%, meaning for every $100 (£87) gift card you buy, it would only cost you $75 (£59), US news channel, 25 News, said.
The family were therefore hoping to save $2,500 (£2,000) on an outlay of $10,000.