Christmas 2019 is rapidly earning a reputation for Advent calendar drama.
It all began with #Bountygate, when a frenzy of social media comments was sparked by people opening Celebrations calendars to discover Bounty chocolates behind the first two doors.
Mars was then replaced in the spotlight by Cadbury as some of the Birmingham-based giant's calendars were discovered to be missing one key ingredient - the chocolate.
And December was only three days old when the Manchester Evening News reported Hotel Chocolat's bid for Advent calendar notoriety.
Comedian Justin Moorhouse was typical of a number of Twitter users when he posted: "Ok. So this Advent Calendar from @hotelchocolat contains no dairy,nuts, gluten and wheat. And what ‘annoyingly’ else? It’s the 3rd today. If you need a clue."
The problem has arisen because manufacturers of Hotel Chocolat's Christmas countdown calendar have replaced the December 3 window with a second December 7.
Social media users soon saw the funny side, with one posting: "It's three from everything it seems (hmm, that joke doesn't work typed down)."
"I’d take it back. Does this mean that you now need to open presents a day early?" questioned somebody else.
Bethan Pickering tweeted: "Erm @HotelChocolat where’s me number 3 hun?! And why are there two 7’s?! You had one job."
"Hey @HotelChocolat loving the advent calendar but where is door number 3. I want my chocolate!!!" exclaimed somebody else.
This prompted TV brainbox Richard Osman to seize the biggest positive from the situation.
"But the 7th is going to be a great day," he commented.
Hotel Chocolat's spokesperson said: "As an ethical company, we’d never waste chocolate or packaging if we can help it. Ever!
"We noticed we’d made an error with our advent door numbering. So we reduced the price of the calendar and added a sticker on the outside, openly explaining our mistake."
