Misleading Rewards System and Poor Customer Service

I wish to formally express my extreme dissatisfaction with McDonald’s and the manner in which its rewards system is structured, communicated, and subsequently handled. I recently made a purchase exceeding R10,000, acquiring 140 Big Mac burgers. This decision was significantly influenced by the advertised rewards structure of 10 points per R1 spent, which reasonably led me to expect an allocation of no less than 100,000 reward points. To my frustration, I was credited with just over 18,000 points. Upon raising this discrepancy, I was informed — after the fact — that there is an undisclosed maximum cap of 20,000 points. Because my account already reflected approximately 1,000 points, I was merely “topped up” to this cap. In practical terms, this means that customers making large purchases are systematically disadvantaged, with diminishing returns that are neither transparent nor fairly communicated. This raises serious concerns regarding the misleading nature of the rewards programme, as the advertised earning mechanism does not align with the actual outcome for high-value transactions. Equally unacceptable is the complete lack of responsiveness to my follow-up queries and complaint submissions. The absence of any meaningful engagement or resolution reflects poorly on your customer service standards. For a global organization operating in 2026, this lack of transparency, coupled with inadequate complaint handling, is unacceptable and undermines customer trust. I therefore expect:

A review and correction of my rewards allocation to accurately reflect my qualifying spend A formal response addressing my complaint and the lack of engagement to date

Until this matter is resolved, I remain deeply dissatisfied with both the product experience and customer treatment received.