Countdown timer is rendering 6-7 hours off across multiple sites/installations despite correct timezone settings

[RookDigital]

Hi ThemeCo team,

I’m seeing what appears to be a timezone/offset issue with the Cornerstone countdown timer.

Video: https://www.loom.com/share/7f5e9d7659924370b74924f68645663f

The issue is not isolated to one page or one site. I can reproduce it across multiple websites using ThemeCo, including in places where the countdown appears in the global header and on individual pages. It is also not isolated to FunnelKit pages/builds.

The issue

When I set a countdown to end at a specific Pacific Time date/time, the rendered timer is consistently off by roughly 5–6 hours.

Example

If the countdown target is set for Thursday at 7:00 PM Pacific, the timer output does not reflect the correct remaining duration based on Pacific Time.

As another reference point:
• If it is Monday at 10:39 AM Pacific
• And the event is Thursday at 7:00 PM Pacific
• The correct remaining time should be 3 days, 8 hours, 21 minutes

The timer is not reflecting the equivalent Pacific-time offset correctly.

Environment / settings
• Theme: Pro
• Theme version: 6.8.4
• Cornerstone version: NA
• WordPress version: 6.9.4
• PHP version: 8.6.0
• Site timezone: America/Los_Angeles
• Under Settings > General, WordPress reports:
• Universal time: 2026-03-11 20:57:49
• Local time: 2026-03-11 13:57:49

Those values appear correct for Los Angeles / Pacific time, so the site timezone itself does not appear to be misconfigured.

Scope of issue

• Happens on more than one website
• Happens outside FunnelKit pages
• Also occurs in the global header
• Appears to affect multiple countdown instances, not just a single element
• Offset is consistently in the range of about 5–6 hours
• Noticed a FunnelKit Birthday field displaying 6-7 hours off after submission when build in Cornerstone as well.

Steps already taken

I have already checked / done the following:
• Confirmed WordPress timezone is set to America/Los_Angeles
• Confirmed the issue occurs across multiple websites
• Confirmed the issue is not isolated to one page builder context
• Cleared caches
• Re-saved / reconfigured / Rebuilt countdown instances
• Verified the expected countdown math manually against Pacific Time

Plugin conflict testing

I understand support may ask for a conflict test. Before posting, I did perform a plugin conflict test on a staging site.

Result
• Deactivated all non-ThemeCo plugins except required basics
• Switched to a minimal test context
• Issue persisted

Specific ask

Can you please confirm:
1. Whether this is a known issue with the current countdown element
2. Whether the countdown is intended to use:
• WordPress site timezone
• server timezone
• browser/client timezone
• or UTC with conversion
3. Whether there is a known issue with cached/stale offset calculations
4. Whether there is a recommended fix or patch for countdowns rendering several hours off despite correct WordPress timezone settings

For speed, I’ve provided:
• URLs for multiple affected websites (will provide in a private note)
• screen recordings (attached
• Admin Logins

I’m trying to avoid unnecessary back-and-forth, so I’ve included as much of the baseline troubleshooting context as possible.

Thank you.

[christian]

Hey @RookDigital,

I see the issue in your site and currently stumped as to what’s causing it in your site.

I tested my site using the latest version and the Countdown element is working fine. Please try updating Pro in your sites.

If that doesn’t help, please provide us with staging copy of one of your site and disable caching in the staging.

Thanks.

[RookDigital]

Thanks for looking into this. Staging site created and added to secure note. This was and is still on 6.8.4. I’ve disabled the caching plugin.

FunnelKit has confirmed this appears to be a Cornerstone/Pro problem after a week of investigating the issue.

[RookDigital]

Any updates?

[christian]

Hey @RookDigital,

We’re still investigating. Please stay tuned.

[RookDigital]

Just checking in on this.

[christian]

Hey @RookDigital,

We’re still investigating. We’ll most probably provide an answer tomorrow.

[RookDigital]

Great. Can’t wait to hear what you guys find.

[christian]

Hey @RookDigital,

It looks like it’s affected by the server’s timezone so adding the timezone manually is needed. I’ll queue this case for possible improvement. For now, adding the timezone manually at the end of the date/time is needed for your case.

Without:

With:

[RookDigital]

Okay. That’s actionable and easier than doing complex math to figure out the time, but I don’t understand why. We have other websites with similar tech stacks and they are all performing just fine. What is it about this and the other website I mentioned that are causing this to happen? Is it the fact that they’re on SiteGround CDN by chance? Or can you point to anything else that would likely cause this issue?

[charlie]

We’ll update the Countdown elements date time to add that information in. We updated the date time control in 6.8, but we’ll change that field so it works like how it was before in the Countdown element. Have a great day.