McDonalds outage live: Customers complain as UK restaurants forced to close
McDonald's customers are not lovin' it as the fast food giant is facing major technical problems all over the world, leaving food fans unable to order and branches forced to close their doors.
The outage has affected restaurants in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, and Japan so far.
Unhappy customers who have been unable to order their Happy Meals, Big Macs, or any other popular McDonald's items on Friday morning (15 March) took to social media to talk about the problem - with some hilarious posts making light of it all.
A McDonald's spokeswoman said in a statement: "We are aware of a technology outage which impacted our restaurants. The issue has now been resolved in the UK and Ireland.
"We thank customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. The issue is not related to a cybersecurity event."
While the chain's tech woes may be sorted in the UK and Ireland, customers are still heading to social media to talk about what a hash it's been.
Follow our liveblog for the latest on the McDonald's outages.
LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER12 updates
More suspicions on the Hamburglar
It appears there are serious suspicions surrounding the Hamburglar...
So #maccas is down… I’m not saying there is a prime suspect, but authorities might have questions for this guy!! pic.twitter.com/5YkaHkOHnJ
— Court (@Hoobiemanchu) March 15, 2024
Burger King pokes fun at McDonald's IT woes
Unsurprisingly, some rival fast food chains have taken the outage suffered by McDonald's as an opportunity to poke fun at it.
First up, Burger King:
Not loving I.T. https://t.co/SSNkhnLaEZ
— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 15, 2024
Best McDonald's memes so far
Some of the funniest memes we've spotted about McDonald's being closed so far:
#mcdonalds Big Mac? pic.twitter.com/MO8H2EXJBQ
— egghead (@aibo82) March 15, 2024
Me
Registering my complaint with McDonalds 💀pic.twitter.com/DaucktfxdD— *🪬* (@_______0______) March 15, 2024
CAN WE ORDER A MCDONALDS YET?!?!?? pic.twitter.com/tCjdL76tb9
— ▶️👀iPoof (@iPoof) March 15, 2024
POEM FOR McDONALD'S
Ketchup is red
Burgers are brown
I ordered McDonald's
But their system is down
Mustard is yellow
Pickles are green
Where's Ronald McDonald?
Nowhere to be seen
Milkshakes are pink
And cola is black
I wonder how long
Before Big Macs are back?#McDonalds 🍔🍿 pic.twitter.com/pLJeCJIPt6— Paul Mathews – Comedy Author (@QuiteFunnyGuy) March 15, 2024
WHERE WERE U THE NIGHT MCDONALDS WENT DOWN #McDonalds #NEVERFORGET pic.twitter.com/JuI7DjdqSj
— CHET KELLY 🔥 (@chetkelly69) March 15, 2024
McDonald's Japan taking cash only
McDonald's staff in Japan are reportedly sticking to a very limited menu of nuggets and chips and accepting cash only while the online systems are still down:
I literally go into a Mac with my mother who has just landed and turns out there is a nationwide McDonalds Japan system outage, they only sell nuggets/fries and take cash only 😂 staff are calculating the totals on paper. https://t.co/0DQlS7ixac
— Ted Anderson (@TedsTechTed) March 15, 2024
News of the outage leads to cravings
For some people who haven't even thought about McDonald's for some time, news of the international outage has sparked some cravings. This customer is dreaming of a Filet O'Fish, while we're really feeling a Double Cheeseburger right now...
I didn’t feel like Maccas until news of the global outage. Now all I can think about is a Fillet-O-Fish 🤤 #McDonalds #Maccas
— Steph Bruno-Newton (@Steph_Bruno_) March 15, 2024
McDonald's Australia issues statement
McDonald's Australia has addressed the impact the outage has had on customers and confirmed that the issue is now resolved, with "most" restaurants now re-opened.
Their full statement below:
Dear customers,
Earlier today, we experienced a technology outage which impacted all of our restaurants.
This wasn’t related to a cybersecurity event and most restaurants have now re-opened and are serving up all your faves.
A huge thank you to our customers and our…— McDonald's Australia (@maccas) March 15, 2024
Is the Hamburglar to blame?
We're rounding up a list of suspects for who's to blame for the outage... Could it be the Hamburglar?
The Hamburglar stole all the PDQ’s https://t.co/gFBorLBmnO pic.twitter.com/ZuOwvqkURv
— 𝑩𝑬𝑵𝑰𝑻𝑶 (@BenitoHepton) March 15, 2024
Customer fumes after IT issues lead to wrong order
As McDonald's branches in the UK are back up and running, customers are getting their orders in - but not everybody is getting what they asked for.
One customer said he received a flatbread that was 'dry as Gandhi's flip-flop' after it appears the system messed up his order:
My mouth was as dry as Gandhi’s flip flop because of your IT issues.
Who orders a cheesy bacon flatbread and removes cheese? Why would I remove the cheese?
Disgraceful. Ruined my Friday. Ruined my week. Ruined my month. #McDonalds@McDonaldsUK pic.twitter.com/EyzCZLhEex— Rob Jeffries (@RobJeffries) March 15, 2024
Long queues in Invermay
McDonald's customers in Invermay are reporting long queues, as restaurants catch up with the influx of orders that have come in after the system issues were resolved in the UK and Ireland:
I go to McDonald’s Invermay and comes in front I thought demolition then… big huge line 1999 style ordering waiting in line for a bus and check news and outage then self ordering down wtf #mcdonalds @McDonalds
— Digitalarts99 (@digitalarts99) March 15, 2024
BBC's breaking news notification dubbed 'peak UK culture'
The BBC sent out a Breaking News notification via its app to alert users about the McDonald's outage - which some readers have found rather amusing:
Getting a breaking news notification from the BBC telling me that people can't order at McDonalds is peak UK culture.
— 𝙅𝙤𝙚 𝘿 (@triscoe) March 15, 2024
Getting a BBC Breaking News notification about McDonalds being broken means we have reached the peak of society
— RedScapes (@RedScapesTV) March 15, 2024
“Breaking news” standards have slipped 🤣 #bbcnews #breakingnews #bbcbreakingnews #mcdonalds #firstworldproblems pic.twitter.com/gxVmISO4V2
— 𝓛𝓮𝔁𝓲𝓮 (@LexieAshmore) March 15, 2024
'The end is near'
The idea of McDonald's going down worldwide is too much for some to bear:
McDonalds is down worldwide.. what pic.twitter.com/PUway5kiDL
— ⋆˚꩜｡ lacey ⋆୨୧˚ (@moonlitempire) March 15, 2024
McDonald's statement on UK outage
A McDonald's spokeswoman has issued a statement on the problem and said: "We are aware of a technology outage which impacted our restaurants. The issue has now been resolved in the UK and Ireland.
"We thank customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. The issue is not related to a cybersecurity event."
