Tips for ordering delivery from McDonalds in Da Nang

The enthusiasm will wear off soon enough but the entire city has gone McDonald's mental for now seeing as how up until a few weeks ago we didn't have a Macca's in this city at all. We had plenty of burger places but just like anywhere in South East Asia, most of these places were and are overpriced garbage. Many of them try to be some sort of artisanal or trendy burger places with burgers half a foot tall, but I do not like this kind of burger joint. Say what you will about McDonald's but I like it and I am happy that they are here in Da Nang now.

That being said, for a multi-national company and one of the largest restaurant chains in the world, they are really having some trouble with their digital aspects of things.

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I am not going to go to the actual McDonalds because it is on the other side of town and from what I hear it is a madhouse in there during all opening hours. This was expected but I do not want to contend with a hundred people vying for a burger. I would rather have it brought to me. This is where the problems begin. For some reason the PlayStore attempts to install the USA version of the app by default on your phone even though your phone knows you are not in USA and this app obviously will not work. The actual app is hidden and not easy to find then when you do find it, most people are getting strange errors during the sign up process.

This is the one that people are most commonly getting just as they get to the end of the signup process. For a programmer that might mean something but to the rest of us it is a WTF? moment. This has happened to everyone I know including me. You think you are done and ready to order and "Missing Token" error pops up on the screen.

The thing is, this error screen is in fact an error itself because even though you think your registration isn't complete, it actually IS COMPLETE. You just need to return to the login screen and voila! It friggin works!

I have heard that people who sign up using a computer do not encounter this issue and I think that the real problem here is that in the English version of the phone app, that the "welcome or congratulations on completing your registration" screen is simply missing from their database. When you get to that point you are in fact, finished and ready to order, but it won't log you in until you go back and make it happen manually. This is a massive flaw on McD's part and they really should fix this.

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What sets McDonalds apart from the other food delivery apps and why you should sign up to use them directly rather than a 3rd party is because they have their own drivers with specialized containers on the back of them. If you order from Grab (the SE Asian equivalent of Uber Eats or DoorDash) the driver doesn't give a damn about your food and it will just hang from a plastic bag from a wing-mirror resulting in you getting cold food. McD's own drivers have a heated containment unit that actually turns into a backpack when they arrive at your house. They actually bring a portable heater all the way to your door! This container also has a separate section inside of it that keeps ice cream cold as well so it is a great combo.

Now, onto the bad part. Even though this tech is great and far above and beyond what the other guys offer for delivery, your fries and nuggies will end up mushy by the time they get to your place. I think that most people, even those that claim to not like McDonald's, can agree that the fries are awesome when you eat in. This is not the case after they have returned to potato form from being inside a transport case.

The burgers were fine though. So therefore I recommend that people stick to burgers and drinks only when ordering. If you are expecting those awesome crispy fried to arrive at your house, you are going to be disappointed.

so here's the tl;dr

• get the non-USA app
• ignore the "missing token* warning at the end of the signup process, your registration is complete
• login with the credentials you provided in the form
• don't order fries expecting them to be wonderful like they are for dine-in...because they aren't

And that's it! Enjoy!