Reaper's Rewards is game-breaking

X-posted on Steam discussions:

I'll give the TL;DR version, and then detail as many of the issues as I can type through before I get tired.
Short version: A lot of people say that they don't care about this event because the rewards you get are not that enticing, anyway. That's a double-edged sword. If the point of the event is to entice people to participate in a specific type of gameplay which is going under-played, then obviously the team should have made the rewards worth the work. However, with as many game-breaking issues as there are with the event, and most of the tasks being impossible to complete due to bugs, then at least fewer people really feel like they're missing out on something. Personally, I would like the rewards offered, and I'm frustrated.

Long version:
I began the event with my regular save file, with mods on, the week it began. I was only able to complete the first task, and the event will not progress any further. The event will not recognize the planting of any lily or snapdragon. I have spent weeks looking through forums on various platforms, with hundreds of people trying to fix this issue. I have deleted mods, disabled the rest of my mods, deleted suggested package files, started a new game... I have followed other advice like making sure my freshly planted lilies and snapdragons are fertilized twice, watered, evolved. I've planted them inside and outside. Per suggestions on Reddit, I've let the sims run autonomously and just waited. I've followed complicated strings of troubleshooting steps and then made fresh characters on a fresh save file- still, no task completion, five weeks later.
The Ambrosia society newsletter - On my very first attempt at participating in the event, I "expedited" the mail and received the first newsletter. The dialog said I would receive subsequent newsletters. None has ever come. In fact, on every new character and new save file I have begun, trying to move forward with this event, I have never been able to receive even the first Ambrosia newsletter ever again - there's no option to expedite it; it's as though it doesn't exist.
On my first playthrough, I had to troubleshoot extensively to get "ask three sims about ambrosia" task to work. Now, it is one of two tasks which does work without issue, whenever I start a new game/character. The other is "research ambrosia on your phone, tablet or computer."
Nothing else works. What's worse, the original household where I began the event is now inaccessible. Whenever I try to load the household, the game remains on the plumbob screen indefinitely, and I cannot close the game. I can't even return to my desktop. I have to ctrl-alt-delete and reboot or shutdown my computer in order to move on with my life.
I have read on TS4 forum that the tasks in the event can be completed in any order, and are not contingent upon one another. However, either that is not true, or the event is so broken that it's making the tasks appear linear, since no tasks starting with and subsequent to "plant a lily and a snapdragon" work.
I have looked ahead at several other tasks (such as befriending Grim, which I have done, but no event progression/task completion has occurred) using game forums and attempted to complete them, to no avail.

I have sunk hours and hours into troubleshooting this, with less than two weeks to go before the event ends- still stuck on week 1 tasks. I'm frustrated, I'm not having fun, a well-developed household is seemingly permanently inaccessible- I've actually come out of this situation worse than when it started.
I utilized TS4 forums, Steam discussions, Reddit, YouTube, and more game guides and blogs than I can count for help with this.

Dear TS4 Team,
Please, either fix all of the bugs and allow us more time/indefinite time to complete the tasks, or just give us the rewards for our trouble. I know scores more people are echoing these specific issues (and more, but I haven't gotten as far as they are, yet) AND there are scores of people who are not bothering to complain because they have opted to no longer participate due to lack of interest in the rewards.