Gift cards (IMPORTANT)

ok guys, just got a line from Jen. There's some major issue with gift cards.

From Jen on facebook:

Morning folks. Sad to say we've got a serious blocker on Gift Cards atm, so they won't be reappearing in the store anytime soon. Support is currently outreaching to all customers with unshipped/unredeemed Gift Cards, offering options. If you've got one, of any denomination, I urge you to use it now or ticket us and we'll refund you.
I've got my hands full with this today, so won't be able to field questions here - if you're affected please send a ticket and we'll be on it asap. Sorry, again, and thanks.

So be aware, you will NOT be able to order a gift card for under the tree this year.

My heart goes out to the Makie staff, it's like everything is going wrong all at once.

Anyway, be aware of this and plan accordingly. If you do have a card atm, contact support asap.

Good luck everyone! and good luck Makie Labs! Goodness me, bet they can't wait for the christmas break, what a stressful end to the year.

Uh oh. I think my daughter bought me a gift card. Better warn her...

I wonder what she means by blocker? Technical issue or something else? (Not that there's much point in speculating, I'm just nosy like that)

But them basically giving people 3 days' notice on "Oops you can't use your gift card" right before Christmas is likely to be a major problem - especially since the last tweet is pushing gifting a Makie.

yeah, I told them that they should do an annoucement on social media because the official facebook page is asking "what's happened to gift cards?" and so on. I was tempted to see if I could mock up some sort of "IOU 1 Makie" certificate so people could get a refund, print the certificate to wrap and give and then sit with the child ON christmas day and order that way. I doubt the kids will care if there's no scratch card and code to imput, they'll just want to make the doll and be able to make it real right?
So that could be a solution to "save christmas" so to speak. I remember my dad used to do that kinda thing a lot. He didn't like just giving money to young kids so he'd make a fancy "gift card". One year he took my young cousins on a treasure hunt to find the "street of the regents" to go to Hamleys. They had no idea where he was taking them, they were just following the clues on the magical letter that had appeared, omg the look on their faces when we walked into Hamleys and dad told them to read the last bit of the letter which told them "you have £80 each to spend, enjoy" lol.
In a way, those presents were more magical than a standard gift card. I still get dad IOUs to this day lol.

Wow, your dad sounds so cool! What a magical Christmas!

jupiternames wrote:Wow, your dad sounds so cool! What a magical Christmas!

I just read your fb post about your bad day, p_m. I guess your dad is like mine. Really great with kids in general, but not great at understanding your needs as an adult.

Yeup, pretty much.
He's kinda like the jekyll/hyde of parenting. Sometimes he's awesome and then he's got me locking myself in a gas station bathroom refusing to get back into a car with him. He can be really deliberately nasty, but also really thoughtlessly insulting. He keeps bringing up deoderant whenever i'm in the room and i'm like "OMG really? REALLY?"

He's a freaking idiot.

But let's not derail things with my personal issues, bleh. Nobody wants to hear my angst and such.

Gift cards, yes..

I'm thinking I might mock up a "print at home" sort of thing so some parents who think making them themselves is "omg too hard" can just print it out. No reason kids can't still be gifted Makies, it just takes a bit more creative thinking. If it's not your child, tell the parents beforehand and give them the money into their account to cover the cost or something. It's not ideal but there's always always a way around this sort of thing. You just gotta be willing to work it out.

That's a great idea. Maybe Jenn can send some folks to you or you can set up a print at home thing on Facebook and Instagram. Is that what you're thinking? So nice of you!

Great idea about making your own gift card vouchers at home.  A kid is going to be excited about being able to make a Makie and order one, and buying the gift cards directly from the company doesn't really make that process any faster, anyway.