BreyerFest 2020 Wrap Up

BreyerFest 2020: The Year of the Glitch

BreyerFest ended rather suddenly on Sunday July 12^th with a lovely last Live video. The selling ended at 4 PM EDT being the last technical time that the store restocked one last time. Auction models were sold, raffle winners posted with the exception of the Glossy Ballynoe Castle RM raffle. But this BreyerFest has had it’s ups and downs!

Friday morning was off to a late start due to a huge unexpected glitch, nothing loaded! It was worked out quickly, but models sold out faster than ever before. When everything was fully back online, it became a race to see who had the fastest computer, the fastest internet, and the fastest refresh finger. People quickly used their Store Trips because they were only able to purchase one item at a time, although there was one and only one time that I was able to grab two at one time and I have no idea how since I was using my phone and my internet had cut out. But tempers were high because beside the Limited Edition problems, the Special Runs had issues as well. The Special Run went from 30 minutes behind to over 2 hours behind. Even I had this glitch on my account. However, after 2 hours, I was rewarded for my patience on this glitch as I must have been near the front of the line and was able to get what I had listed. Complaints flew into the group faster than I could handle them, but for some of the complaints, there was just no answer other than to try Customer Service. I have said it more times this weekend than ever before, I just do not work for Breyer. I run this page, group, and all of the Road To BreyerFest social media as a fan. So on Friday night, I created the Complaint Department Thread and it did see a lot of action over the course of the weekend. Friday night ended with no ideas of when the next restock would be, the Special Runs being placed on hold, but the new Celebration of Horses Evening Performance being streamed at 8 PM EDT and was an absolute delight to watch.

Saturday came early for Road To BreyerFest as I got up early and did a Morning Live. During the Morning Live, it was noticed that Breyer was having another huge glitch. So I messaged Breyer Customer Service and was told to log out and log in again. I think that became a mantra over the next few hours and the next few days. After a rocky start, BreyerFest Limited Editions were restocked and selling extremely fast. Once again, it came down to connection speed, computer speed, and your finger speed. I know that I was unable to get a Grab Bag at all. The Special Run line never fully opened up and what did open up was quickly shut down again. The Special Run line was noticed to be giving multiple choices rather than just the ones that were selected for you and for some reason, it seemed to center on the Slainte Surprise. As I went through the Complaint Department, because trust me they were flying fast once again, I came to the conclusion that the Master List was causing some problems as it was those that had the individual tickets that were not seeing these large glitches. It was also on Saturday morning that the Store Trip restriction was removed. So many people complained that this was causing them to not be able to purchase the models that they were trying to buy. However, soon after that, the complaints came again that this was NOT what they wanted and now the models were being sold too fast and being flipped over on auction websites. Breyer took note and started to crack down on those accounts. The raffle winners were announced over a very buggy Live Feed that ended up being on Friday’s page for the Single Day Ticket page. Then sales stopped at 8 PM EDT.

BreyerFest opened on Sunday morning with only one glitch, but this glitch was another doozy. If you went to purchase something, you were told that you needed to have a valid Special Run ticket. The same advice was given when asked, log out and log back in. That did the trick and many things were back online. The first few Special Run lines went without a hitch, my time included. But I got exactly what I had received on Friday. While I am nowhere near upset over this because who doesn’t want two Oaks and two of the Mares and Foals, many people complained that they were not getting what they had requested. The Preference List had been just that, your Preference, though. Those options were NOT guaranteed and Breyer did state that many, many times. Limited Edition sales were still fast and furious with many complaining that they were not being able to purchase models or that models were being swiped from their cart. Sadly, that does happen with internet sales and there were suggestions to add a timer to the cart. I am certain that Breyer took this into consideration for future events, but once things are going strong, they would have been unable to shut down the site once more to rewrite the code to put this into place. In just one day, Breyer Model Horses received 1.3 MILLION hits on their website! That was absolutely incredible. The Auctions were likely the highlight of the weekend with Auction John. He added some humor and a sense of wonder to this event that I do not know what else could have done. Perhaps we made a new collector? Plus, I want to know exactly what was in that cup of his! His descriptions of the models were filled with wonder and he truly seemed to be enjoying himself. The raffles were next and while they had a glitch, the Sunday Raffle was posted with no issues. However, the Glossy Ballynoe Castle RM was not a part of this and when questioned, Breyer did state that they would email or call the winners and it was not promised that they would be released on the site. Road To BreyerFest received major kudos on the Live Feed with a shout out from Kimber Goodwin and Jaime, expressing their thanks to this group and page. I believe that I screamed and cried at the same time while getting glares from my husband and my tiny human screaming to know what was wrong. The sales ended quickly with one last refresh at 4 PM EDT.

However, after the wrap up, the rumor mills started operating once more. Refunds were being discovered as Breyer started auditing accounts during the Saturday Special Run Glitch. This glitch caused MANY people to be able to purchase more than their allotted amount of Special Runs at one time and people were boasting online that they were able to do this. Repercussions were bound to happen in that case. I am reminded of the 2019 BreyerFest Special Run Line when people were upset that there was only Pepper and one other left and they were leaving the line without a purchase. I want to say that on your tickets, it does state that you are entitled to purchase UP TO TWO Special Run models, but you are NOT guaranteed any models in reality. Breyer has stated this numerous times and in our files, we have this exact statement shared as well. There were other rumors that purchases were disappearing, but a quick search of mine showed that if you tried to check the pages of what you purchased, it would tell you Page Not Found as they were simply not there anymore. The best thing to do in both of these cases is to absolutely check your Account Details page, inspect each purchase, and go from there. Before calling or emailing Breyer, I recommend doing this. As for the Special Run Refunds that are being issued, first check your accounts as this seems to be specific to Saturday and the Slainte Surprise only, but I could always be wrong as I do not work for Breyer at all and am only stating what I have been seeing online.

So, to me, BreyerFest was a crazy weekend. I was not able to see the event other than purchasing models because I was answering questions and doing damage control with the complaints. I am happy that it was virtual as I was able to spend the time at home and in a cool house, however I am just as tired as if I was truly there since I had to literally be available for all time zones. I messaged so many people, received so many messages, approved and answered more questions that I could imagine, and even tested a new feature for Facebook all on the same weekend. BreyerFest will always be a weekend of adventure and new things to explore for me, but what I missed this year was meeting my friends. As someone who has anxiety and does not leave the house often, BreyerFest is my one time a year that I can finally be with “my people” and my friends know that I am always there with a smile and ready make someone else have a great day and I always have the information available. I hope that this weekend, I provided you all with the information that you needed and that you had a great event. Road To BreyerFest is a year round group as we are also a very positive model horse community that loves sharing your experiences, your real horse adventures, and the model horse hobby. There are also some contests and shows that need judged, but they are coming soon as we all recover from this event! The Live Feeds will continue when I am able to now that I have an awesome set up thanks to my husband and we will also be working on getting Zoom meetings and that together soon to have small parties and such. There is much still in the works for this group and I hope that everyone will share it with me! I run this group with the help of two other amazing Admins and one Moderator, but to be fair, these ideas and the whole idea of Road To BreyerFest are my babies. There are no funds earned from this, no income at all, and there is certainly no advertising other than word of mouth so I hope that you will tell your friends about this crazy group that answered questions for you during BreyerFest.

And with that last sentence, this has been my BreyerFest 2020 A Celtic Fling wrap up. It was actually on time this year and not almost a month later. Thank you everyone for being a Roadie and I have that you all have had at least one memory from this year’s BreyerFest that you can smile about!

With all my Love, the Number One Roadie, Rachel Alford.