McDonald's app down, disappointed fans fail to redeem Hello Kitty plushies

Some fans faced disappointment after they tried and failed to redeem a Golden Pass for limited edition Hello Kitty plushies on the McDonald's app on the morning of Feb 5.

The pass allows customers to redeem all four sets of Hello Kitty 50th Anniversary plushies before their official launch on Feb 15.

The fast food chain had earlier announced that the Golden Pass can be redeemed with 2,888 Rewards points on the McDonald’s app from 11am.

Customers who are successful with the redemption will be issued a unique promo code. They can then head down to the McDonald's Singapore office with their code and collect all eight plushies.

Several Stompers said the McDonald's app was down when they tried to log on at 11am.

A message on the app stated that its servers were "temporarily overloaded".

Stomper C said: "I opened the app and refreshed at 11am exactly but no option to redeem appeared. I tried to close and reopen the app, but then it showed the error.

"After a few tries, I got in again but but there was still no option to redeem even after one minute.

"I only managed to see the option to redeem after five minutes and by then, it was all redeemed."

C told Stomp that the experience left her feeling "very sad".

Meanwhile, Stomper F said that at 11.05am, she was told to login despite already being logged in.

F recounted: "When I logged in, it looked like I might actually get it but it was frustrating when the app kept prompting me to log in even though I already was.

"I tried to manage my expectations before trying but still feel disappointed."

Stomper Hamster also expressed her disappointment and said: "I went in at 11am exactly but could not redeem. I restarted the app multiple times over the next few minutes but all I got was an error message.

"When I tried again at 11.07am, I clicked 'redeem' and there was loading for awhile. I got hopeful, only to be told that the plushies were fully redeemed.

"What a bust!"

Well, there's still hope: the plushies can be bought at $9.90 per set with purchase of selected McDonald's meals from Feb 15 onwards.