Verizon's latest $10 freebie crashed harder than anyone expected

Verizon recently launched its new Simplicity plan and expanded its loyalty program, making its “Shine” rewards tier available to all Verizon customers, regardless of their plan. That’s great because the company sometimes offers useful gift cards through Shine Rewards, such as a recent $10 Ulta Beauty gift card. However, it appears the carrier wasn’t quite prepared for the number of people who tried to claim one.

According to reports on Reddit, the Verizon app crashed at the exact moment the gift card went live. This meant a lot of refreshing and waiting for customers to try to claim the offer. Some users report they were able to get the gift card, but it took multiple tries to do so.

The problem didn’t end there, though. Users who ultimately got their hands on the gift card reported that they were taken to another website to activate it, but that website was also crashing and throwing “502 Bad Gateway” errors.

Others reported different issues. Apparently, claiming the card required users to verify their email, and that step also kept failing throughout. Some folks also reported receiving a confirmation email, but not a gift card, while others said they received an email that read “here’s your reward information” without actually receiving a gift card.

Naturally, people who tried to claim the reward are unhappy with how things unfolded.  It seems Verizon underestimated how many people would be interested in a $10 gift card for Ulta Beauty — a chain of cosmetic stores. The app clearly couldn’t handle the sudden spike in traffic, resulting in an extremely upsetting experience for most customers.

People are even saying they found scoring tickets for the FIFA World Cup easier than getting a Verizon gift card. That’s not a good look for the carrier, especially when competitors like T-Mobile are successfully rolling out “Member Month” benefits. The carrier is now offering customers the chance to spend $60 to buy a soccer jersey featuring T-Mobile and Umbro logos all over it.