TV star Nick Knowles says he doesn't eat McDonald's food but he does like a milkshake. And his frustration at not being able to buy one 'for months' has spilled over into a series of frustrated tweets.
The DIY SOS presenter dubbed his quest for the sweet milky treat 'The big McDonald's milk shake mystery' on his twitter account which has 171.2K followers. He wanted the global giant to explain why so many milkshake making machines were not working when he visited.
The 60-year-old tweeted: "The big McDonalds milk shake mystery... don’t eat McDonalds but I like a milk shake. Over 4 months 9 different drive throughs have said (after 30 min wait) the milk shake machine is broken!!!
"Apart from a suggestion to put up a sign so people don’t waste their time wtf is going on?" He added: "One or two would be unusual - 9 from Leeds to Cornwall over the last few weeks is odd?"
A subsequent tweet said: "I'm officially done with waiting in queues for half an hour in drive throughs only to find out they couldn’t be arsed to clean the milk shake machine. They’re winging it."
When contacted, McDonald's gave the following statement: “At McDonald’s, customer satisfaction is a priority of ours and we’re disappointed when we hear of any experience that falls short of our usual high standards. However, we strongly refute any suggestion that milkshakes or ice creams are not served intentionally. Both products are very popular and straightforward to prepare and serve.
“On occasion, our iconic McFlurry or milkshakes are unavailable due to the shake and soft-serve machine undergoing regular cleans and heat treatment cycles. We understand that it can be frustrating when a product isn’t available and we are grateful for our customers’ understanding and patience.”
McDonald's said its shake and soft-serve machines undergo heat treatment cycles every 24 hours. They’re also disassembled, sanitised and cleaned every 14 days.
Nick did get some sympathy on twitter. Eddie said: "Happened to me tonight at Colchester Tollgate, 25 minutes in the drive thru to be told no ice cream or milkshakes ! And I had ordered on the app before I arrived. Sorry kids."
Nicola Jones tweeted: "Ditto mcflurrys, have queued up in drive through only to be told that machine is broken, so have driven straight out again." While Steve said: "The milkshake/McFlurry machine at McDonalds constantly being broken has been a thing since the Romans invaded."
Lewis Baratt said: "Generally speaking it’s being cleaned, more often in the morning, different stores have different machines, it’s just unlucky if you get there and the machine isn’t functional."
