McDonald’s has been feeding the nation with affordable prices for generations, but one TikToker has grown suspicious about the fast-food chain’s app.
If you download the McDonald’s app, you get several exclusive deals and coupons to help you save even more money on your order, but TikTok user Emma (@bisexualcommie) has become suspicious about the way the app always seems to crash at the most inconvenient time.
“I think McDonald’s is preparing for a class-action lawsuit, if not one specifically from me,” she said in the TikTok, which has already amassed over half a million views as of Sunday.
“Because tell me why whenever I order from the McDonald’s app at home, if it’s like delivery, then it’s fine, it works perfectly,” she said. “But the moment I’m in the McDonald’s parking lot, sitting in the drive-thru, getting ready to pull out my coupon, the app crashes, it needs an update, it has a login error.”
@bisexualcommie #stitch with @Penelope 💟 ♬ original sound – emma
She continues, “They know I’m gonna be using a coupon in that drive-thru, and they hemorrhage the app, so it stops working. I have spent multiple three-dollar increments because the app stopped working when I needed it the most during the drive-thru.”
Because the app constantly fails to work at this inconvenient time, Emma believes that McDonald’s is doing this “on purpose.”
“Hear me out,” she added. “If they’re doing this to every person, not just me but every person trying to use the app in the drive-thru, they’re making so much money. They know that people could be spending two dollars on a double cheese instead of four dollars or whatever it is.”
“McDonald’s, I’m onto you,” she wrote in the caption.
Emma’s video is a stitched response to another TikToker calling out McDonald’s for its new terms and conditions one must sign to use the app. Recently, the fries-and-burger chain came under fire after people discovered that the terms and conditions “waived a [customer’s] right to a trial.”
In the comments section of Emma’s video, multiple McDonald’s customers said that they could relate to Emma’s experience. “I thought it was just me!” one wrote, while another suggested it was “every customer, every time.”
“My checkout button completely disappears,” a third wrote, remarking how repeated issues with the app led to them deleting it.
Whether the app’s malfunctioning is intentional or not, users suggested ways around it to ensure you still get the best deal.
“Order at home in the app, go to the drive-thru, and give them the code,” one commenter suggested, adding that they’ve “never had a problem” this way.
“I’ve started taking pictures of my order number so it doesn’t crash,” a second admitted. A third commenter explained how they “leave the app open” and “only close it after I give them the code,” to avoid issues like the app crashing, double-charging, or coupons not working.
The Daily Dot reached out to Emma via TikTok comment and to McDonald’s via email.
