The company had given the single-use $15 voucher to customers who spent $65 or more in any of its on-line or off-line shops or over the phone during August and September. The voucher had no minimum purchase requirement and customers had to provide the voucher's code if ordering on-line or by phone.
However, it appears that Disney used only two codes on all the gift certificates and took no technical measures to prevent customers from using their coupon more than once or passing the code to other people.
Over the weekend, orders were four times higher than normal as Disney's promotion backfired. After discovering that the order volume was so high, the company discovered that the voucher codes were being passed around on shopping discussion sites. It stopped automatically accepting the voucher and posted a notice on its site requiring consumers to e-mail the company after placing their orders.
According to CNet, Disney will not charge full price to consumers who used the voucher to order goods before it placed the notice on its web site, but said all other customers would have to pay the full price. The company is apparently examining the orders to determine which ones it deems to be legitimate.