I am in timezone “-5” (Eastern) and the countdown time is correct as long as the time remaining is > 5 hours. If the page loads when the countdown time is less than 5 hours, the expirytext displays.

The countdown will continue to display correctly if it starts greater that 5 hours. In this case, when it reaches 5:00:00, the countdown will correctly go to 4:59:59 and continue to count down. But if the page is then loaded (or refreshed) when the countdown is less than 5 hours, the expirytext shows.

I am using the shortcode:
[countdown date=”2014/12/18″ time=”15:00:00″ timezone=”-5″ display=”default” format=”ydHMS” direction=”down” expirytext=”Event has begun!”]

Carl

https://wordpress.org/plugins/cssable-countdown/