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giffgaff News to Remember - "The gaff" 2016 Roundup
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2016 has been an amazing year for all of us at giffgaff community, especially for us at "The gaff", your weekly giffgaff online newspaper. We have seen so many fantastic things happening. The giffgaff agents got a new home, PayPal was implemented, WFH educators, the giffgaff MarketPlace and much more. Let's take a look back at what has happened.
January
One of the first things we got to see in 2016 was the introduction of @richardf_, joining giffgaff to improve MGM and how we spread the giffgaff love - it's safe to say, it has come a long way!
Things got even better for the giffgaff Agents too, as we saw the percentage of members needing to contact them for help dropping significantly. That means you guys solved more issues - good job! We also saw some helpful changes to purchasing goodybags and payments, thanks to @gary_1989 and his team of developers. Awesome stuff.
February
It was announced that giffgaff would move into selling recycled phones, a big step into a new market. We also got some good news, a giffgaff member joined the giffgaff team. ianmorland, the developer of the my giffgaff Windows app.
The next big step for giffgaff was giffgaff money, and the site launched midway through February. It included the helpful tips and know-how section, helping thousands of members throughout the year.
March
March was full exciting news, with one of them being the Simplicity Update. This came with a range of new functions and features, such as making vouchers easier, simplifying Pay As You Go data, simplified pricing and so much more. Changes to the famous Hokey Cokey goodybag came too, which brought more texts and a flat rate of minutes into play - interesting stuff.
Remember the new Hub on the old site? We do too, and that is all thanks to March! The new Hub was launched in the early stages of March and brought a new platform for highlighting Community creations, which was fantastic! A new Hub came and also a new home for the Agents! Their office was spruced up and given a new lick of paint, new furniture and a nice new kitchen, making them really feel at home.
One of the last things happening in March was the PayPal announcement. We learned that giffgaff would finally be accepting PayPal for payments. Good news for everyone!
April
We got introduced to the new giffgaff Marketplace, a preview of what the pre-owned phone sales page would look like. Super snazzy.
April also marked the launch of the pre-owned phones Marketplace, a big step ahead for giffgaff and good news for members wanting some cheaper phones. It has been super successful so far!
Last but certainly not least, April was the month for Video Missions the Community Content Team went on the hunt for amazing members with amazing voices, to work with giffgaff to create some fantastic tutorials. It resulted in some really good videos being made, and the members getting a bunch of Payback - a win, win for everyone!
May
Megs May brought a lot of new and interesting things to giffgaff and the Community. Super Recruiters got a make-over with the new Super Recruiter Programme, allowing some members to make more money and up to £22 per recruit! Some issues had to be ironed out, but in the end, everything came together nicely. The official 'my giffgaff' Windows app got released on the 5th and so did PayPal payments.
Pesky Premium Numbers scams also got dealt with in May, with @m_a_v and his team working hard to stomp out the ways which scammers took giffgaffer's credit. giffgaff don't like dodgy things happening to their members, so it got dealt with quickly. That wraps it up for the month of May, but what about June?
June
To say June was a quiet month would definitely be wrong, as so much happened, kicking off with Community Blogs being brought to the 'my giffgaff' app in version 4.3.
giffgaff took another huge step forward and opened spaces for the first ever Work From Home Educators, introduced by @timo_t. This allowed amazing members of the Community to work from home and doing what they love, helping the Community. @benj_a also joined the giffgaff team for the Acquisitions Team, working with the Super Recruiter Programme, to make it even more amazing.
July
July brought a lot of new faces as @roxy_r introduced lots of the lesser known giff-staffers to us, allowing us to meet the staff at the gaff.
Summer streamed along which meant a range of awesome phone deals for members to enjoy, thanks to @gadgetchamp. We also welcomed carlottasanfro… to the team as she joined as Product Owner for the Mobile Acquisitions Team! 27th July marked the date where giffgaff launched the brand new £10 goodybag with more data, but less minutes.
July ended with a reminder from gregg_b about the best practise for passwords, and how to keep our accounts secure. Better to be safe than sorry!
August
August really did bring some interesting things, with the first things being the new giffgaff staff member benh_ for the Finance Team and the first ever Work From Home Educators. Those were _kara_, judd_r and guy_ow. With new WFH Educators, we also saw a sneak peak at the new Community design, aimed at being more responsive to mobiles and screens, making everything easier to use.
We also saw a huge list of prizes becoming available for Super September, with thousands of pounds worth of Amazon vouchers being given away - truly epic! Some of the Super Recruiters definitely enjoyed themselves with Super September.
September
Super September was finally here and we saw some well.. super stuff. The first being an amazing £10 free credit for your friends for activating and the results of the Data Survey, aimed at improving data for everyone. The Super September results also got announced with thousands of pounds in Amazon vouchers being given out
October
October ended on a sad note as Community Manager left giffgaff to join her husband into a new adventure in Amsterdam. gregg_b, Head of Community, moved onto another journey. We wish him all the best in the future.
November
November was the month which brought us even closer to the Payback season, but before that, we welcomed a new Head of Community; timo_t! Timo had been with giffgaff for over 4 years, so it was only right for Timo to become the next Head of Community. Payback Charity Nominations also opened, where the battles began to see which charity would receive the Payback Charity donations for the second half of the year.
The brand new Community design went live on November 17th, where the face of giffgaff was changed, making it even more simple and easy to use and navigate. We also saw another new feature, with that being the Credit Card Comparison tool, for giffgaff Money.
As usual, the giffgaff Black Friday sales occurred with some amazing deals and offers happening, as well as Timo bringing us a friendly reminder about the best practise for passwords to keep our accounts secure.
November ended with the announcement that giffgaff would shortly be opening options for members to sell their phones to giffgaff for them to be sold through the giffgaff Marketplace, a fantastic idea.
December
We received an update on the Payback Charity Nominations, with Crisis in first place and Great Ormond Street Hospital in second. International SIM delivery was also announced to be coming soon, thanks to @carlottasanfront and her amazing team, allowing giffgaffers from all around the world to receive a SIM.
The Payback payout timings were announced, bringing joy to members across the Community, with members receiving their payments on December 13th, woohoo. giffgaff teamed up with Kiss FM to giveaway an amazing iPhone 7 for Kissmas.
Another major breakthrough for giffgaff happened, with the launch of international credit cards being accepted! More amazing things have been happening too, like competitions to win even more mobile phones, and the chance to test out the new giffgaff Money Free Credit Report - cool stuff.
Last but certainly not least, the GAFFTAS have arrived! So, get your nominations in and vote for the members who deserve to win! Well, they won't be called the GAFFTAS for long as the name has to be changed for legal reasons, but that doesn't dampen down the value of them!
2016 has been an absolutely amazing year, and I'm really looking forward to see what 2017 has in store for us. If it can be even more amazing and magical than 2016, then we will be in for a big treat, for sure.
Thanks for choosing to spend your year with giffgaff and reading "The gaff" week upon week, you are all amazing! Let's rock into 2017.
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