Taco Bell’s App and Website Crashed During Free Taco Promotion | Eater

"A national fast-food chain’s promotional giveaway of free Doritos Locos Tacos—specifically a Cool Ranch Doritos Locos taco (the author explicitly prefers Cool Ranch over Nacho Cheese)—triggered widespread customer fury after the app and website repeatedly failed during peak redemption hours, making online ordering effectively impossible; hundreds of customers vented on Twitter. The writer’s test between 1:00 and 2:30 p.m. found both digital channels unusable, forcing would-be redeemers to either wait in line at physical locations during the advertised 2–6 p.m. window (if a given store was prepared) or be shut out. The piece theorizes that such glitch-prone promotions function as a funnel—persuading users to create accounts and download apps even if many can’t immediately claim the free item—because habit formation and future paid purchases can outweigh short-term goodwill losses. Company representatives acknowledged overwhelming demand caused delays, pledged to make affected users whole, and said they will issue Redemption Day coupons allowing impacted customers to redeem the free taco through June 20." - Jenny G. Zhang