Singaporeans complained online about not being able to access McDonald’s delivery app and website to order meals after the system was overwhelmed by demand for limited-edition sleepwear that remained unavailable Tuesday morning, forcing the company to launch pre-orders starting Friday afternoon.
McDonald’s Singapore apologized to customers at about 7pm last night, stating that it was “experiencing high traffic” after sales of the food/apparel set went online at 6pm. About two hours later, it pleaded with customers in another announcement to “refrain from accessing the platforms” as they were still fixing the issue.
“Such a big organization should anticipate overwhelming respond [sic], and have contingency plan! App down, land line down, website down! A hungry man is an angry man!” Facebook user Chong Wui Liang William said.
The cause for all this convulsion? The McDelivery Night In Bundle set, which came with a box of chicken wings, nuggets, and pajamas featuring a top with a hamburger and french fry design printed on them and a pair of yellow shorts. Each set was sold for S$24.90 (US$18) and can only be purchased via the app or website.
Separately, those who spend more than S$18 in a single receipt also got a sleeping mask with the phrase “dreaming of fries” printed on it. Because apparently that’s a thing some people need.
Unfortunately for those dreaming of going to bed clad in marketing, many people, including those who accessed the app or website at 6pm sharp Monday, were unable to make a transaction. Hundreds took to McDonald’s Singapore’s social media pages to complain, with a majority criticizing the company for not preparing enough server bandwidth for the overwhelming response.
Others said they waited around two hours before they could make an order via the website and app and get ahold of those jammies. The less fortunate could only get in at about midnight, when the McDelivery Night in Bundle had become “temporarily unavailable.”
Some of the pajama sets have ended up for sale on the Carousell second-hand goods app for around S$50.
Find all episodes of The Coconuts Podcast
Related story:
People are scrambling to get in line for the S$54 phone at Huawei outlets across Singapore
