I assume many of you have seen or heard about the show Undercover Boss, where C-level executives go undercover in their own organizations to see what is going on. In most cases, they are trying to understand more about how the business runs or to confirm that the corporate office is correctly supporting the field operations. I have another suggestion: to see what their customers are really saying!

I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago at a car rental counter. When I returned my car, I was asked the usual questions: How was the car? Did everything work okay? Most of the time, I can reply “no issues” or “the car was fine.” This time, I told the agent that the car was not satisfactory, for a number of reasons, primarily due to the lack of windshield washer fluid and poor condition of the wiper blades.

Just as I anticipated (from prior experience), the attendant apologized and then told me I could talk with a manager if I wanted to (essentially, “Sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”). Since I had some extra time (my flight was 2+ hours from its scheduled departure), I decided to stop by the desk, as I felt the car really was not adequately prepared for the local conditions.

When I found a manager and explained my concerns, she asked me to wait a minute; she went into the back office and returned a few minutes later, waving a card in her right hand. She then said, “If you are willing to call this number and give us 9s for customer service, I can credit you for one day of the rental.” At this point, I guess I was dumbfounded. For a one-day credit, I was supposed to tell them their customer service was great? Is this how they achieve their goals? Offering credits for high scores?

Let’s see: (1) they didn’t provide the upgrade I was entitled to (and there were a number of cars in the garage when I picked up the car); (2) the washer fluid container had not been filled, and what was in the container was frozen, so it wasn’t usable; and (3) the wiper blades were old and didn’t clean the windshield adequately. Wasn’t getting the upgrade, ensuring the washer fluid container was full, and maintaining the quality of the wipers part of the service? And shouldn’t the desk agent at be able to credit the customer right there at check-in, when the customer reports that something was not satisfactory?

This isn’t the first time a company has tried to “stuff the ballot box.” The amount of marketing by airlines and hotels for the Freddie Awards has gotten so bad that there are now guidelines on how these organizations can market to members to “encourage” them to vote! I purchased a new car a year ago and even then the sales representative “encouraged” me to give the dealership a 10 rating. Recently, the UK tourism minister proposed phasing out the government-sanctioned star rating system in favor of traveler-written reviews. Yet we all know that many of these sites are questionable, with employees, owners, or highly disgruntled customers completing most evaluations, or companies paying customers for high ratings.

Me, I smiled, nodded, and took the card. As I was walking away, I wondered, “Is this what customer satisfaction surveys have come to?” How many companies are “buying” results, but losing customers? Maybe it is time for you and your management team to go undercover and see what it is like to be one of your customers.