It’s Not Just You. The FTC Is Investigating Why McDonald’s McFlurry Machines Are Always Broken

The Federal Trade Commission is taking up a long-time complaint of McDonald’s (MCD) customers with an investigation into the fast-food chain’s seemingly always broken McFlurry machines.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the FTC sent letters to the McDonald’s franchisees earlier this summer looking for information on how the burger chain reviews suppliers and equipment as well as how often owners work on their own machines.

The FTC investigation comes not only after McDonald’s has been plagued with McFlurry machines that aren’t working across the company, but is part of a probe pushed by the Biden administration in July to look at products in a range of industries to see if manufacturers prevent their customers from fixing items themselves.

The Journal’s report indicated that the FTC wanted to know from the franchisees why the McFlurry machines failed so frequently and said the “preliminary investigation does not indicate the FTC or its staff have found any wrongdoing.”

The challenges with the McFlurry machines stem from a number of issues, from cleaning the frozen-treat equipment to legal battles over repairs.

The McFlurry machines at McDonald’s are made under the Taylor brand and are reportedly difficult to repair. They require an automated heat-cleaning cycle every night to prevent bacteria that can lead to the machine’s malfunction until a repair technician is able to arrive to repair it, the McDonald’s restaurant owners told the Journal.

The issue got more complex when Kytch stepped in to help McDonald’s franchise owners fix their own machines with a diagnostic tool it created but were told by corporate the product was not allowed for use, the report went on to say.

Kytch sued Taylor in May, claiming it was infringing on the rights of the franchise owners to repair their own equipment and stealing intellectual property, which Taylor denied, the report said. At this time, the FTC got involved.

Taylor and Kytch told the Journal they were not contacted by the FTC for an investigation. McDonald’s also told the news outlet it was not the focus of any FTC investigation.

McDonald’s broken McFlurry machines have been a long-standing grievance of consumers of the fast-food chain. It has led one ice cream fan to create a website that actually lets McDonald’s customers know if the McFlurry machine near them is working or not with an interactive map called McBroken.