No "Promotions" has been implemented without bugs.
Especially Time reductions have failed, resulting in severe problems to play the game.
And now you can't even end it without failing.
No, the gems did NOT add directly to my gem balance. I used the Add to Storage button.
No, change zone or re-loging did NOT make any change (of the Specialist Weeks).
Though I might already had lost login session and just had to log in again.
Edit: Now Specialist Weeks are turned off, reloging (again) one day later.