Message Stripped Merge Tag

So everytime I save the welcome message in group invite it strips the merge tag.

Like this:

Thank for activating the current Special %name%. Our support staff will call you during business hours 9am-5pm EST. For even faster service send a text anytime to 222 333-4444 and include WRChat in the message. Thanks!

What is printed in the box after saving:

Thank for activating the current Special. Our support staff will call you during business hours 9am-5pm EST.

Also the welcome text is never sent.

Server environment: Ubuntu 16.04 PHP7.0 NGINX

Thanks for any help you can provide.
Stu

ps- my Twilio credentials all check out and have texted our current number with no errors in the twilio console. There is no evidence in Twilio that JOT sent a text.

In error log also:

2017/07/28 15:41:28 [error] 49510#49510: *118734 FastCGI sent in stderr: "PHP message: PHP Warning: parse_str() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in /a1srv/mydomain/wp-content/plugins/joy-of-text/classes/class-jot-plugin-shortcodes.php on line 282" while reading response header from upstream, client: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, server: mydomain.com, request: "POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1", upstream: "fastcgi://unix:/var/run/ajenti-v-php7.0-fcgi-mydomain-php7.0-fcgi-0.sock:", host: "mydomain.com", referrer: "https://mydomain.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=jot-plugin&tab=group-list"

• This topic was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by dblinks. Reason: forgot err msg
• This topic was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by dblinks.