McDonald’s ‘crashes’ UberEats after reopening restaurants for delivery

Fast-food giant reopened 15 restaurants for delivery on Wednesday

(Getty Images)

On Wednesday, McDonald’s reopened 15 of its restaurants for delivery in the UK – but overexcited fans of the fast-food chain have had difficulty accessing their meals on UberEats.

According to several tweets, many customers have found the app keeps crashing when they try to order while others have said that McDonald’s is not showing up as an available restaurant despite being within the radius for deliveries.

On Tuesday, the company confirmed on Twitter it would be offering delivery from 15 restaurants in the south east of England.

But many disappointed customers have since replied to McDonald’s on Twitter explaining that they were unable to order their food.

“Hey, we are trying to order from the Tooting McDonald’s on UberEats but you aren’t showing up anymore,” wrote one person, who said they lived just five minutes away from the restaurant.

A spokesperson for McDonald’s replied on Twitter by clarifying that the restaurant was experiencing a surge in demand.

“Some of our restaurants are currently experiencing very high levels of orders and may not be able to facilitate all delivery requests and deliveries may become temporarily unavailable.

“Please do check back soon on UberEats.”

Another disgruntled customer tweeted: “What’s the point of @ubereats_uk and @McDonaldsUK​ saying they are opening when it constantly says unavailable?”

A spokesperson for McDonald’s replied with the same message explaining that its restaurants had experienced high demand.

Another person claimed that they lived just 0.4 miles away from the McDonald’s in Dalston but could still not order via UberEats.

Meanwhile, one user claimed that the Watford branch of McDonald’s had run out of Big Macs by 12pm.

In one response to a customer who was struggling to order from their local branch, McDonald’s said that its “pilot restaurants” were operating slower than usual with smaller teams that were practising social distancing.

“This means we are unable to process as many delivery orders as usual,” they added.

“Please bear with us as we adjust to the new ways of working and prioritise the safety of our people.”

The McDonald’s restaurants open for delivery are located in Luton, Harrow, Dalston, Watford and Chelmsford, among other places.

You can see the full list of McDonald’s restaurants that are open for delivery here.

In response to the complaints, a spokesperson for McDonald’s said: “We’re delighted to be back in 15 restaurants for McDelivery only from today.

“The safety of our employees is a priority and our pilot restaurants are operating differently, with social distancing and smaller teams. In order not to put any pressure on our restaurant teams, this means we are unable to process as many delivery orders as usual.

“We ask customers to please bear with us as we adjust to the new ways of working.”

An Uber Eats spokeswoman added: “As some McDonald’s stores begin to reopen in the UK, demand is very high, and we urge customers to be patient as we work with McDonald’s to help to ensure that orders are fulfilled.”