Elfster
reviews and complaints

The customer service is non existent, and it's funny because I tried to get help on Instagram and they blocked me. It's honestly a huge scam. I've sent out so many gifts and got nothing. Yes I understand that is unfortunately the way it is, but to then right after send my gift and get it confirmed to then have my account removed is scummy as hell. They're "service elves" do not care. Don't use this place. Go anywhere else.

I was invited to participate in a RECOVERY (ADDICTION). sanda exchange! So clearly I was partnered with someone who was also "participating". I purchased this woman her gift. And I been asking the woman and the other woman who created the exchange and I been scammed. And I don't know how to get my money back. But this is not okay! Elfster should be held responsible for this! I have bills to pay. And I can't afford food. I was being nice and I got screwed over and scammed. Did this! Or I am getting a lawyer. And I am filing a complaint against elfster along with the women from the exchange. I do not care if it was only $30. I want my money and I want it by the end of this business day! Someone better fix this. My phone number is [protected] if I do not hear back I will assume you are ready to see me in court. This is not okay! To let people scam others out of gifts and money! Do better elfster. I will most definitely make a TikTok about my terrible experience using your website. If this does not get resolved! I purchased her gift and sent it and she received it! And I got absolutely nothing in return and I also have messaged between me and the girl who created the exchange who made every excuse in the book as to why I didn't get a gift! So trust me when I tell you I will win this battle if I take it to court and then I'll be walking away with more then the,$30 I was scammed out of. Thank you.

I'm not new as an Elfster user, but I'm new as an admin for a new exchange. I sent out invites, then waited. I had no idea that when I was pressing "accept" that they had not opted in first. I thought those were people who asked to be part of it! So I press "accept." Little did I know that I was accepting them without them asking, and that the list was JUST those I had invited! It was super confusing! It looked as though Elfster was admitting them for approval automatically and I was just thinking I was saying ok.
So I sent out a message to people saying that I thought Elfster was auto accepting. I had no idea what was going on. There should be a label saying something along the lines of "invited" and those who want in. Not a list of people with no designation so you're not sure…it was so confusing.
Anyway, I sent that note and ask people that if they don't want in, to let me know and I'd take them off the list. And then I wrote to customer service in the chat asking why it was auto allowing people in. That's when the, you know what, hit the fan! The person in the chat begins to tell me that they were just about to send me an email. And that I was basically about to have some kind of bad rap sheet because I was blaming the issue on them and they were keeping track of me!
I INITIATED THE CONVERSATION TO FIGURE IT OUT! She says she sent me an email. It was bad. Telling me, along the lines of, it was YOU who had accepted the invites and we saw your messages blaming it on us! sort of thing. They went on to tell me how I was in the wrong. They said they got "several complaints"! I mean was in such shock and it literally made me feel horrible. I felt like I was in the principles office! Here I was doing something nice and trying to figure things out when they are reprimanding me like a child.
It was a horrible situation. They told me I had to write a message to let people know that I messed up and it was all MY FAULT.
The interface is TERRIBLE and the customer service treats you like a child.

I was part of a gift exchange on Elfster and found that the past gift exchanges from previous years created confusion for me. Instead of tapping on a current gift exchange, I mistakenly tapped on a past gift exchange and sent a gift to the wrong person. I am annoyed that this occured because there was no warning given at any point in the process of what I was doing, and the system allowed me to go through the entire process without any prompts to verify that this was what I wanted to do. This has created a waste of money by buying a gift that I did not need to purchase and embarrasment as well. What's more, it is not as though I am computer illiterate. I file court documents online virtually every day in my work and the online system for the state judiciary where I practice law is more user friendly than this gift exchange. If I am annoyed enough to write this complaint, then I am pretty pissed.

I was in two gift exchanges this year. Even though I got the gifts a week apart, I got two of the exact same item. It felt a bit of a rip-off. Neither person who gifted me marked their gift as sent. There is a great failure in this system.

I am the organizer for Craftin and Laughin. I hit draw name and a lot of my participates are not getting their emails of whose name was chosen for them. It has been a real hassle. I do not know what else I could tell you Linda Apsey Fischer

Instead of pairing you up with one individual - they pair you with someone that you will send a gift to and then another person who is supposed to send a gift to you.

There is NO guarantee that you will receive a gift in kind, however, this is never spelled out.

When someone does not follow through with the premise of Elfster, apparently they only thing that happens to them is they are "blackballed" from participating in the program every again.

They do not take the place of the person who did not follow through on their agreement. You are out. Screwed over. With nothing to show for your efforts. So much for feeling good and making a connection.

Elfster is a horrible program and I would never, ever recommend this for anyone. I will tell as many people that I can to stay away from Elfster.

It's so great that the holidays are coming. That's why many people buy special items from websites dedicated to Christmas. The Elfster wasn't an exception for me until the last time. I ordered Melissa & Doug Countdown to Christmas Wooden Advent Calendar - Magnetic Tree, with 25 magnets for my daughter in September.
It never arrived. Customer service says that it's on its way, but I don't know what to think. The order status doesn't show anything... I am very disappointed. I thought it would arrive till the 1st of December...

When I ordered the gift from the company www.elfster.com, I asked to wrap it in some nice paper and décor it for the Christmas. When I received the order, I was shocked, because the seller badly-wrapped and the paper was already torn in some places. It looked awful and untidy. I simply wasted money for this service and wrapped the gift on my own. Don’t rely on these guys and wrap the gift on your own.

Seemed to work OK for the adult gift exchange, until it sent out a 2nd set of drawn names for no reason. Never did get child accounts and wish lists to work for their own exchange. Declared Bah Humbug! after 3 weeks of effort. Help pages are way too general. I do half my job on the internet with a wide variety of government web sites all set up differently and have NEVER had so much trouble getting set up. Am curious if this works much better if only used for social wishlists? May try that next time. Cool in theory but VERY hard to use.