I did two shops this week, two different locations, and both times the fries were not good. Not just below par, but unacceptable. Both times they were undercooked (yukky texture and not tasty), and one time half of them were cut to the width of a big honkin' steak fry! Not well salted (which is OK with me, but not right for them), limp, etc. Last time I did these locations, the fries were outstanding. Such a disappointment this time.

And did you ever get a burger that you think had been cooked for another order but given to you instead? Twice recently I've gotten my burger within four or five minutes. Once in less than four, and it was dry and overcooked. It sure didn't seem as if they could have cooked mine fresh to order in less than four minutes!

Has anyone else had quality issues there lately? Or more than usual? It's getting so I feel like if I'm going to be out of pocket for a meal, which happens more often than not, it had better be good, or the fee had better be very, very good. Not just more than enough to cover the overage, but to cover the aggravation factor. I do two locations that are quite a distance from me, but I generally get pretty good fees for them. I'm rethinking what I need to get for those. I don't mind doing the local one for less, but I hope they step up their game....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2023 01:18AM by BirdyC.

Sorry you experienced this. I have not done any shops for the MSC since its latest payment snafu. I don't like Five Guys anyway and the MSC has been really stingy with the bonuses on these shops.

I had quality issues with one location making a grilled cheese. They didn't know how to do a refund, so I had to put it in the report.

This MSC has so little left in my area that other shoppers seem to be taking them on before they get to my personal pay rate. There is one location, though, that I had done twice in the past that had serious quality issues both times.

they my main squeeze right now. if its not easily verified by the cameras I dont report it. If its their word against mine i dont get paid. Had that happen more than once. DGAF anymore. Been doing the shops for 10 years or so. Fries are always great. I always order a regular instead of a small. Its $1 more for 2x the order. Both the locations here have the Coke Freestyle. Looks like Barqs just got a peach vanilla creme soda. I was pretty disappointed in the flavor. They never add enough vanilla for my tastes. When I worked at mcds at night I would add 3 pumps of the sugar free vanilla coffee syrup to a large diet coke. main drink there is Peach Fanta zero with Strawberry Fanta zero now. someone new this past fall came to my area so i can no longer wait for them to hit almost double the starting pay. not happy but thats economics 101.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2023 02:42PM by cooldude581.

@sestrahelena wrote:

This MSC has so little left in my area that other shoppers seem to be taking them on before they get to my personal pay rate. There is one location, though, that I had done twice in the past that had serious quality issues both times.

I don't think there are many shoppers in my immediate area because I almost always get my price when a scheduler calls. The shops generally sit on the board for quite awhile. If the quality issues keep popping up, I'm not sure how some locations can stay in business. I used to find very few issues with the food; even if it wasn't their best, it wasn't bad. But now? Seems like when they mess up, they do it well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2023 05:26PM by BirdyC.

From what I understand these specific shops determine the bonus that is given. I doubt they would shut them down.

The reimbursement just does not cut it for these shops. If the food is not good, what's the point of it all?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2023 06:02PM by ColoKate63.

There is a Five Guys three minutes from my workplace, but the nutritional content of their food is awful. I plugged a simple cheeseburger + regular fries meal into the My Fitness Pal app, and it came up as 1793 calories, loaded with over a full day’s worth of sodium, fat, and carbs. Just garbage food, IMO.

Wouldn't that be the results of most fast food? Carl's/Hardees, McD, Wendy's, Raisin Canes.

They all are going to be high in calories and fat.

I don't mind doing 1 or 2 of these per month (especially when fees are $30 or more). I took one at $25 the last time, but I really don't do for less than $30.

@ColoKate63 wrote:

There is a Five Guys three minutes from my workplace, but the nutritional content of their food is awful. I plugged a simple cheeseburger + regular fries meal into the My Fitness Pal app, and it came up as 1793 calories, loaded with over a full day’s worth of sodium, fat, and carbs. Just garbage food, IMO.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2023 09:53PM by hbbigdaddy.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Wouldn't that be the results of most fast food? Carls/Hardess, McD, Wendys', Raisin Canes.

They all are going to be high in calories and fat.

I don't mind doing 1 or 2 of these per month (especially when fees are $30 or more). I took one at $25 the last time, but I really don't do for less than $30.

@ColoKate63 wrote:

There is a Five Guys three minutes from my workplace, but the nutritional content of their food is awful. I plugged a simple cheeseburger + regular fries meal into the My Fitness Pal app, and it came up as 1793 calories, loaded with over a full day’s worth of sodium, fat, and carbs. Just garbage food, IMO.

I can get a salad or maybe a wrap or baked potato at the chains you listed. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is healthy at Five Guys.

"Peach Fanta zero with Strawberry Fanta zero now"

Peach Mello Yello Zero for me. Can't find it anywhere other than a Freestyle machine.

I will not do these unless the reimbursement is increased to cover the cost of a NORMAL meal. Here it is $15.45. IMHO, when an MSC puts the cents on a reimbursement then they are not giving enough room for real life to happen.

So if the shop pay was $30, you won't do the shop because the $15.45 is not enough?

Last combo I had was $19.58. I will take it when pay is $30 or more. I'm NEVER going to do a 5g shop at $10 pay.

@morsteve wrote:

I will not do these unless the reimbursement is increased to cover the cost of a NORMAL meal. Here it is $15.45. IMHO, when an MSC puts the cents on a reimbursement then they are not giving enough room for real life to happen.

I rarely do this shop, but the last three times I have done the shop have had an abnormal issue. Otherwise, the pay is not enough and I throw most of the food away anyway (like was said above, way too unhealthy for me) after doing the obligatory tastings. (I'll only do online shops now, where I can just get the food, check the restroom, and go).

I love five guys and do the shops weekly. Then again, never at base pay cause the reimbursement is not enough. So far their quality have been great in my area!

I get a phone call once a month with good bonus fee (that needs approval). I've never had any significant food quality issues. Once an order was incorrectly bagged. Other very seldom noted defects were cleanliness.

I guess I've been lucky.

Actually, I have noticed quality issues with 5Gs lately. I swear, one time my burger order was ready in 30 seconds yes 30 SECONDS! It was overcooked, dry, and the most awful.

90% of americans (me included) eat fast food regardless. a number of people only eat half and save the rest for another meal because it is a lot. to get paid to do so for an EXTREMELY easy report is highly desireable. currently from my experiece their report is probably the easiest i have ever seen for mysteryshopping hands down. they offer a reimbursment and a shop fee for all shops at least in my area.

I've noticed several grill cooks not changing gloves after handling raw beef lately. That used to be very rare.

Lots of face and neck tattoos lately. Not going in report. Not going back to those locations.

If you order a burger in a bowl, the nutrition and calories aren't too bad. Better than anything else on their menu and lots better than a Big. Mac or Whopper! I can fit one into my dietary restrictions with some planning. I try to not eat too many fries. Not usually easy when they're good, but wasn't too hard the last two times out.

I haven't noticed a quality change in their food here in central CA. Several times I have been given a cup and not charged for the beverage. Darn, then I have to explain why TWICE in the survey. One time it was the black shirt crew member!

@BirdyC wrote:

I did two shops this week, two different locations, and both times the fries were not good. Not just below par, but unacceptable. Both times they were undercooked (yukky texture and not tasty), and one time half of them were cut to the width of a big honkin' steak fry! Not well salted (which is OK with me, but not right for them), limp, etc. Last time I did these locations, the fries were outstanding. Such a disappointment this time.

And did you ever get a burger that you think had been cooked for another order but given to you instead? Twice recently I've gotten my burger within four or five minutes. Once in less than four, and it was dry and overcooked. It sure didn't seem as if they could have cooked mine fresh to order in less than four minutes!

Has anyone else had quality issues there lately? Or more than usual? It's getting so I feel like if I'm going to be out of pocket for a meal, which happens more often than not, it had better be good, or the fee had better be very, very good. Not just more than enough to cover the overage, but to cover the aggravation factor. I do two locations that are quite a distance from me, but I generally get pretty good fees for them. I'm rethinking what I need to get for those. I don't mind doing the local one for less, but I hope they step up their game....

Our job isn't to eat yummy meals. Our job is to report data, good AND bad. The company needs the data the most when it's 'not so great' data, so they can improve.

But we go with the expectation of eating food we like. These days I mostly just eat the fries from my son's shops...

@luckygirl0100 wrote:

Our job isn't to eat yummy meals. Our job is to report data, good AND bad. The company needs the data the most when it's 'not so great' data, so they can improve.

Well, yeah, I know that. And I do that--totally objectively. But I wouldn't do these shops if I didn't like the food. There are bunches of comments on this board about Five Guys' food. Why should I not comment that my fries weren't cooked to Five Guys' standards? And that one of my burgers was dry? After all, that *is* part of our reporting responsibility--whether or not it was cooked to their standards.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2023 02:22AM by BirdyC.

I've never had a quality issue at 5G. I need to start doing those shops again. I would do 2 a month and it would pay for a few of my "guilty pleasure" streaming services. Theater buff.

One thing I have noticed about 5G though...the folks who work at the one I most often do have to be the most unhappiest fast food workers in town. They are not only not smiling or overly friendly; they look downright miserable.

Its one of those things that I always think about when hearing about other mystery shoppers. I'm not saying that it is happening with you folks but a friend of mine does shopping. My friend, if you listen to them talk, has never had a positive customer service interaction...ever. We'd be late for work sometimes. We'd share excuses. Their excuse was usually that the fast food joint they stopped at was slow, or screwed up the order or something along those lines. They had also worked fast food at a previous job and I often heard stories about the stuff they'd pull on customers.

Anyway, when they started doing MS'ing...they had me look at some of their narratives. Seldom was there an issue raised. This is possible of course. But I think many MSers are just happy to be out of the house and give a good review when the service was neutral. Or a neutral review when service was bad. Or, at worst, a glowing review when the service was just ok. I'm glad that there looks like there are folks who (judging from this thread) are calling bad service, bad quality what they are.

Yep. There's (3) 5G I shop. And this is based on 3 visits to each: 1st one -nice staff, but burgers are just dry and bun is too. Burger King crushes it. (Trust me, I'm a fatty. I know!). 2nd one - same food problem and this one....the staff Is just plain mean. Imagine a DMV office in the bad part of town - that's the staff. It's being bonused this weekend and frankly I just don't feel like going there - people are mean - last time I sadly wrote EXACTLY that with examples -- lol I guess I dont want to get beat up hence I'm skipping it this time. Then there's one - which is GREAT -- each time. At that one I start to get why I'd pay more for FG than BK or MCD but many times, I come away thinking it's just an overpriced joke for people who feel they are too cool to go for fast food burgers.

I did the good one just now - it was so perfect BUT -- the girl taking me order - I now see she forgot to charge me for soda. I KNOW I asked for it. She put the cup in front of me - that's how I got a soda cup. The FG surveillance would show that. Maybe she forgot to charge because I also ordered a shake for my DD? Either way she and the crew did a great job - -I sort of feel bad they might get grief because she didn't charge me for soda. Ugh. I wish this happened at the mean one, not the nice one.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2023 09:27PM by BabyBooey19.