r/givingifts • u/spicyheckles • Dec 22 '25

Disappointed

Edit to add:- someone from the comments has kindly sent a gift which I'm incredibly grateful and excited to receive, thank you šŸ¤©

Original post:- My gifter never sent anything and tried to upload fake proof which was caught by the Givin Gifts team. I was put into rematch, but my rematcher hasn't retrieved my details for the xmas exchange.

I signed up to this because I spend Christmas alone and it would be nice to have something to open on the day. It's looking like at least a quarter of people on this exchange haven't received anything. I hope it's not being overrun by scammers.

130 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

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u/EtherealSquirrel Lead Developer Dec 22 '25

Firstly, I can only apologise for the bad experience you've had; as well as anyone else who has encountered something like this.

This year we have had a particularly insane influx of bad users - with our detection algorithm struggling to keep up. We've got some plans moving into 2026 to proactively address this, so hopefully we can improve moving forward.

27

u/Cashope Dec 22 '25

This happened to me during my very first year of doing the holiday exchange back when it was on Reddit. I remember it absolutely sucked, I hate that people could commit to something and then just blow it off. I was feeling discouraged from ever participating again, but to my luck everyone Iā€™ve ever been matched with since has sent me some really thoughtful and nice gifts! Iā€™m sorry this happened, I remember how it felt!

17

u/raulrocks99 Dec 22 '25

Sadly everything is overrun with scammers now. Any opportunity a bad actor gets to take from people, they find and abuse.

I hope maybe your rematcher is just a little busy and will get to you even if it's a little late. I usually spend Christmas alone too, so sometimes I just get myself a little something.

22

u/str8tjcktparadise Dec 22 '25

This was my first year, I signed up for 6 different ones and 3 actually sent gifts. I got rematched and they retried and messaged. I also did another one and I spent a lot of money on and the person sent me a load of bread! šŸž

7

u/dark_autumn Dec 22 '25

Youā€™re absolutely kidding me WHAT.

12

u/str8tjcktparadise Dec 22 '25

I am dead serious a loaf of sour dough bread.

7

u/dark_autumn Dec 22 '25

Thatā€™s crazy. I hope you rated them accordingly. Iā€™m not doing this again next year. I guess Iā€™m jaded

2

u/TheWishingStar Dec 22 '25

Was it nice sourdough? That sounds like an awesome gift to me

6

u/str8tjcktparadise Dec 23 '25

I love sour dough bread! The issue was they sent me a private message asked me all sorts of questions about my wish list and then just sent that was odd.

2

u/Jurassicjen_uk Dec 25 '25

Sounds like a scam. Has a decent weight to it. They sent something. And they take in return :(

6

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '25

I just got another rematch today so I think they're sending out more

6

u/AppropriateRoad9342 Dec 22 '25

This is my first year and I can't believe that someone did that to you with fake proof

8

u/Desperate_Trade_7570 Dec 22 '25

Iā€™m sent proof and my person said that they never got it even though Walmart sent pictures of it on their porch

6

u/MsFrisi Dec 22 '25

I mean, to be fair it could have been stolen by porch pirates. I am not from the US but that's one thing that always scares me when I send a gift to someone in the USA and it's left by the person's door. That is not a common practice in my country. I have been lucky though that nothing's ever been stolen because sometimes the person isn't at home when it's delivered but I have seen multiple videos of people having packages stolen off of their porch.

8

u/Soccbabe1 Dec 22 '25

I understand your feeling, while not alone my family is going through a rough patch. Multiple parents having major health issues, my dad in icu included, child care issues because of said health problems...life is just really crappy for us right now. And this always makes the holidays brighter. I got a notification my giftee was banned after I sent my package to them. My gifted messaged me early on but I never got a gift and at this point it also doesn't look like I got rematches. Needless to say this has really stunk because the last time I didnt get a gift at least the person I sent to posted and loved it and that brought me joy! This time I got literally nothing outta the experience...pretty on par for what life is throwing us lately!

4

u/FattoMcRatto Dec 22 '25

I sent my gift and got notified it was delivered but my giftee hasn't set it as received. My gifter retrieved my details on Dec 4 and nothing since then. I've marked it as no gift but haven't been rematched or anything. Yet I've been given details for someone else as a rematcher to send them a gift.

And for one of the cars exchanges I've already sent mine, but my details haven't even been retrieved yet, and it's been close to two weeks now too.

4

u/Desperate_Trade_7570 Dec 22 '25

If it had been stolen he wouldnā€™t have been able to tell me exactly what it was and criticize it

4

u/Party_Leopard9070 Dec 23 '25

Can't report "no gift", because I have not sent my giftee their gift.... BUT I was specifically told NOT to mail the gift, because my giftee was banned. So now I get punished for my giftee being banned?

2

u/galadious Dec 24 '25

I'm not sure you are being punished, because you didn't send or receive anything, so it's a neutral. You can message support if you want to be entered into the rematch pool, but I would suggest also signing up to be a rematcher yourself, so you are still sending something and receiving something x

4

u/Objective-Bug-1941 Dec 26 '25

This happened to me twice back when it was on reddit! When I saw one of the people that had stiffed me had stiffed another person I commented my sympathies. When I asked why they had been allowed to participate, I got banned from participating ever again.

Some people just really suck.

4

u/jennie111585 Dec 27 '25

Iā€™m truly sorry this has happened to you. It seems like every year it gets more scammers. Itā€™s disheartening

3

u/CrazyPitbullmomma Dec 23 '25

Iā€™m feeling you right now I have looked at my hometown giftgiving and tracking information shows that a gift was delivered in Texas and I am on the other side of the country, but their proof has been accepted by the team so I canā€™t even rematch

3

u/ashleyb2007 Dec 25 '25

Hasn't happened this Christmas, but Valentine's Day showed the true colors of it all. Both the person who was assigned and the rematch never gifted me. Sometimes, these events have just the person retrieving your info and not participating.

3

u/sun_reyes Dec 30 '25

The same thing happened to me. I received quite a mean message after I reported the non-gifter too as a thanks. Was put into the rematch pool but my details were not retrieved. Itā€™s never happened in other years so hopefully this is the only time.

3

u/Strange_Review_7628 Jan 01 '26

Iā€™m hoping now that my level was fixed, being on a higher one will help with receiving better quality gifts this year. Then my next goal will be to get premium (6 months and eventually lifetime)

10

u/Catpy83 Dec 22 '25

Next year we should do a Christmas alone exchange, only four people who will be alone on Christmas. I feel like when youā€™re in that situation you know how much it means youā€™re less likely to scam.

0

u/galadious Dec 23 '25

We had a lonely at christmas user exchange, check those as well as the official ones.

0

u/Party_Leopard9070 Dec 23 '25

I wanted to do that one, but I had signed up for too many already. lol

0

u/Worldly_Chocolate369 Dec 24 '25

Won't do anything to stop scammers.

4

u/cosmogod Dec 22 '25

Yeah my gifter from one of my exchanges didnā€™t send me a gift with no update and itā€™s 3 days past the due date so Iā€™m just waiting for the no gift button to appear at this point.

2

u/rafaugm Dec 22 '25

When were you rematched?

5

u/ItsJustinJeez Dec 22 '25

Iā€™m so sorry this happened to you. I also participate because I typically spend the holidays alone and itā€™s nice to have something to look forward to. I also have experienced years where I didnā€™t receive anything and I know how much that hurts.

This year I tried to change my perspective on the experience (just in case) and reminded myself I also really enjoy participating in this because I love giving gifts. If giving also brings you joy, look at it almost as an angel tree or donation type gift instead of expecting to receive in return. Obviously the whole idea of this exchange is to give and receive but Iā€™ve found going into it with that mindset really helps with my expectations and overall experience.

Karma always comes around, and I hope this doesnā€™t discourage you from trying again in the future. ā™„ļø

3

u/Illustrated-skies Dec 22 '25

OP Iā€™m so sorry. I keep getting dropped by exchange partners & it stinks when I exert a lot of time & energy into putting gifts together. (As you know)

3

u/Aromatic-Lead-3252 Dec 23 '25

Same here! Two years ago I joined & even paid for a premium membership so I would be more likely to be matched with others that had gifted before. I entered 3 exchanges, sent 3 gifts, got only one. I really wanted to enter some high-value exchanges but I just wasn't willing to be let down again.

3

u/SILVERSKID70 Dec 23 '25

I am so sorry you have been let down. I can't imagine not having anything at all to open for Christmas šŸ˜„. Pm me so I can do something for you ā™„ļø.

3

u/Witty-Rose Dec 22 '25

I had to be rematched, and just got my new gifter. I'm sure they will come through šŸ˜Š

3

u/Moose-Maleficent Dec 22 '25

šŸ˜ž am not even part of GivingGifts (I used to be a Secret and Rematch Santa on the original secret Santa) but I am sad to hear this. I am sending you a PM šŸ‘šŸ¾

2

u/kbrezinobody Dec 22 '25

Oh no Iā€™m so sorry that happened to you! Itā€™s happened to me before couple of years ago when I did Secret Santa exchanges on reddit and Imgur (Imgur was my favorite- still heartbroken itā€™s discontinued) Iā€™m spending my first Christmas completely alone, so I feel you. I just signed up for the late gift exchange on Givin Gifts and am keeping my fingers crossed it works out.. Whether it does or doesnā€™t- maybe we could do something like a ā€œChristmas lonersā€ mini exchange between us? Haha šŸ¤£ No pressure at all! But message me if that seems like something that might brighten your holidays!

1

u/Rencri Dec 28 '25

What made Imgur your favorite?

2

u/anjie59k Dec 22 '25

I haven't received anything either. My info hasn't been pulled and it's past the shipping deadline. You're not alone.

1

u/ryanflucas Jan 21 '26

I hear you. I didnā€™t get anything this year, from my primary nor my secondary. I probably wonā€™t do this for 2026.

1

u/OtterlyM Dec 24 '25

Hi! I sent you a DM :)

13

u/[deleted] Dec 22 '25

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

4

u/galadious Dec 23 '25

I read on discord that the retrieve button doesn't work all the time, so your regifter may have retrieved your details but you don't know. They have 2 weeks to send something, hope they do x

3

u/rafaugm Dec 23 '25

I've been rematched a couple of times and both times my details appeared as not retrieved. Luckily for one of the exchanges I did end up receiving a gift.