City of Tulsa utility payment glitch redirects calls to McDonald's

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — If you're craving a cheesy jalapeno bacon burger, the McDonald's on Gilcrease Museum Road can take care of that with no problem, just don't ask them if you can pay your water bill.

"They said that their phone's been ringing off the hook. It's been hundreds of calls," said a concerned resident who wants to remain anonymous but wants everyone to be on the ball when it comes to trying to pay their water bill over the phone when you call the City of Tulsa.

"I put my credit card in and then it comes back that the input was bad and then it says it's transferring back to customer service but instead it transfers me to McDonald's on Gilcrease," she said.

At first, she thought she had made a mistake, so she tried two more times before realizing that the problem was on the city's side, and when she called the city...

"They weren't going to tell anybody about it. I said, 'If you know this is happening why are you sending people over and over again to put their payment information in?' and they said, 'Well, they didn't want to get everybody worked up,'" she said.

Worked up as in the ransomware attack from the summer of 2021.

"Are you worried that somebody out there that's not from the city has your credit card info?" NewsChannel 8's Burt Mummolo asked.

"It seems definitive that somebody out there that's not the city has my credit card info because I don't know why else they would hack the payment system," she said.

Meanwhile, in the drive-thru at McDonald's...

"Can I get a large fry, a large Diet Coke, and can I pay my water bill here?"

Employees declined to speak on camera but told us it's been happening a lot, which is what our concerned resident says she was told as well.

"I said, 'Has this been happening a lot?' She goes, 'Oh, I've had to answer the phone all day long,' she goes, 'it hasn't stopped ringing,'" she said.

Mummolo asked, "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the city's transparency on this?"

"Zero," she said.

The city of Tulsa has released the following statement:

"At about 5 p.m. today, a City of Tulsa customer care agent notified management of a complaint from a customer advising they were transferred to a McDonald’s on Gilcrease Museum Road after making their utility payment. The report was marked as a priority concern and elevated to the City team and vendor. The payment the customer made was properly received and credited to their account. The misdirect seems to occur once the caller has completed their transaction within the secure payment system and opts to be transferred back to the City of Tulsa. Rather than hearing a customer care agent after that secure process, they’re somehow getting routed to McDonald’s. The glitch is a misdirect and no customer information is compromised. While we are working with our vendor to identify and correct the misdirect, that customer and any others who may be receiving the same misdirect can rest assured there is no breach of data."