I have had this happen for a second time now, and I cannot understand why this isn't an easy fix....
On Wednesday I ordered a $1000 e-giftcard so I would have two full days before I left for my trip to get the email with the card number on it. I had this same thing happen last October. I got the confirmation of my order within minutes. I then called the 800 number on the confirmation because the last time I did this I found out that they have to "confirm" this with Marriott Rewards (This is what happens btw when you farm out redemption to SkyMall).
When I spoke to the woman on the phone she assured me that I should have it within 8 hours. I told her the last time this happened it took 5 days to finally get this and it was because they had to "verify" that I had placed the order etc. She said I should be fine.
So Friday night at about 9 PM I realized I had not yet received my e-giftcard email from them. So I called the number on my confirmation email. I spoke with Mike. I explained the situation and he told me that he needed to check with Marriott Rewards/Customer Service center because they do not actually release the reward from their location. Of course they were closed and now were closed for the weekend so now I will have to wait until Monday before I get a hold of someone who will "verify" it is me and release the award. I have now made 3 phone calls to get this reward which once upon a time before this was farmed out to SkyMall came within minutes.
I suggested to Mike that they put a notice on the confirmation that for large e-giftcards like this that you will need to call "someone" to verify this. He did not really "hear" what I was saying, and that I'd need to call on Monday 6 days after I placed my order.
This is now the second time this exact same scenario has happened. Not only did Marriott last year basically double the amount of points needed for this reward, they make it extremely difficult to get your hands on it.
On another note, the link on the Marriott Rewards page which says redeem for Marriott Gift Cards still takes you to the Poplr page which says they are working on it. If I had not googled the issue and found in FlyerTalk the link to redeem miles for gift cards I would not have been able to order it at all. (I am pretty sure I'd cleared my cache too but will check it again)
Maybe it is just me, but it seems like Marriott made the actual use of points and redemption more difficult the second they turned it over to another entity to fulfill. I really miss the days of calling the Platinum special number and talking with a human being who appreciated me as a loyal customer and got me my reward (my gift cheques) right away and even fedexd them to me for free the next day. Now getting an "e-giftcard" takes 6 days, and that is only after I had to make now 4 phone calls to do it.