Sorry for letting off steam here but I just could not comprehend how anyone thought this was a good idea.  I was already having a rough day and the combined efforts of the bafflingly bad implementation of this app as well as the completely inept capability of the staff of the local restaurant literally put me over the edge.
l've never needed to excuse myself from others before, but I legit needed a bubble around me for a few minutes.  In retrospect it's not that big a deal, it's just one of those "straw that breaks the back" kind of things, but this could have easily been avoided by someone with a brain having a seat at the corporate table instead of someone's high-school dropout dipshit.


Anyway, it's about lunch time and work is busy AF and we decide McDonald's is a win.  There's one like 2 blocks away, one of us can go pick it up so we can avoid a delivery fee, and it's relatively cheap food, so I have the bright idea to use the app to put in an order ahead of time to minimize the down time between when someone leaves and comes back with food.  If you've ever used the McDonald's app you can probably see where this is going.

So I pass my phone around and have everyone put in their order, I slap some of my own food on there, put in the digits, hit submit, and am greeted with a "Thanks, keep your phone on you so that way when you show up we can begin preparing your food."
...  What?  Dafuq you mean begin preparing my food?  Dafuq you mean keep my phone on me?  This is gonna use GPS to tell the restaurant to make my food?  No no, hell no, this is not what I want, not at all.
But I see there's a button that says "I'm already here."  Ok, cool, I can cheese the system, tell it "I'm here," the restaurant gets a ping to drop my order, by the time someone shows up there it'll be about ready.  So I hit the button, there's a "thinking" screen, then it tells me "Looks like you aren't here yet, just use the app again when you are here."
WHAT!?!  So the work around for perhaps my GPS being off or broken or something, verifies input with GPS!?!?

So now they're making me go get it, or hand my phone to one of my coworkers for them to go, just so they can verify that it's me that's there, and despite me trying to save time by putting in an order ahead of time, I'll still have to wait for my food when I get there, for what reason I have no idea.  This isn't me picking up a damn diamond ring or something, it's $30 worth of fake cheese, beef laced with oats, and chicken gizzards.  "We want to make sure you're food is fresh."  It's a TO GO order, the fries will be soggy by the time I get them back anyway.

Ok, whatever, I gear up (because motorcycle), ride out there, go inside, gear down, use my phone to tell it I'm here, watch my order number pop up in the queue towards the bottom of the list, stand in line, get my food, put it in my backpack (which still smells like McDonald's btw), gear back up again, ride back to work, gear down, punch out for my lunch break, open up my bags...
No dipping sauce for the nuggets.
We ordered 40.  I was feeding the team.  We didn't get no 6 piece, we got 40 freaking nuggets and nobody at the restaurant thought "Oh, gee, I'll bet this guy wants dipping sauce for his nuggets."  IT WAS ON THE ORDER, WHEN I ORDERED 40 NUGGETS IT MADE ME CHOOSE 6 DIPPING SAUCES im ok, im calm, it's not a big deal, we have some bbq sauce in the fridge I think...
... Nope.  And then my coworker says "My cheeseburger doesn't have any condiments on it."
...
Ok, now I'm quite upset.  Pull the app back up, there's gotta be a system to make a complain or report an issue or request a refund or something right?  Grubhub does, they have customer service, does the McDonald's app have this?
No.
It was about at this moment I broke.
My coworker ended up handling the resolution because I excused myself around this time.  She called the restaurant and they said they'd have replacements made for us, she geared up (because motorcycle) and went there while I took care of some hangry with some dry-ass nuggets, some "free" plain cheeseburgers, some deep breaths, and a Monster, and when she got back she said they screwed up AGAIN and tried to give her the wrong stuff, but at least she checked it before leaving.

So the rest of my team got what they ordered, all I got was upset.

What sort of design intended to allow you to advance order food makes you wait for it anyway, and then needs to PERSONALLY verify that it's YOU getting it?
When I order Chipotle on the app, I show up, grab a bag with my name on it off a shelf, and walk out.  I'm in and out in less than 30 seconds, I can even specify a time when I intend to be there and if I'm late and my food sits it's nobody's fault but mine if it's cold.
When I order a pizza for carryout they drop that immediately and send me tracking updates via the app to let me know when it's done.
5 Guys pulls the "let us know when you're here so we can make you fresh fries" but then they actually let me cheese it, and I tell them I'm there when I'm walking out the door, I walk in, get my food, walk out, no problem.

McDonald's app?  Nope.  You can order it early but you still need to wait.  This is not convenient, this doesn't save anyone any time, this doesn't make me happy, all this does is make me anti-social.  If I want to have the full McDonald's experience minus having to speak to anyone, the app is great!  I'm not anti-social, I just have better things to do with my time than stand in line while my store burns down.



I put in a few comments about the app and specifically requested I get contact back about my feedback.  I hate to be "that guy" that gives some customer service rep an earful of stuff they have no control over but they need to know this is bullshit somehow.
4.4 stars on the app store my ass, how many free cheeseburgers they give out for that rating?  Literally no other food app works like this, if I had to wait my ass around for a carry-out pizza I called in a half hour before hand I'd probably commit seppuku in the lobby.

Did you try cleaning the carbs?