United Airlines Breaks Guitars

It's fascinating how a customer service mishap can turn into a world wide rave, particularly when smart people are determined to let the world know about their situation in a clever way. Companies are on notice!

In the spring of 2008, the band Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and Dave Carroll witnessed his Taylor guitar being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago.

He discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. United Airlines didn't deny the incident occurred but for nine months the various people Dave communicated with were reluctant to take responsibility for dealing with the damage. Finally said they would do nothing to compensate him for the loss.

So he promised the last person to finally say "no" - a Ms. Irlweg - that he would write and produce three songs about the experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. This is the first song.

Direct YouTube link here

Dave says United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. Dave promises!

Well done Dave!

Thanks to Ryan for sharing this story.

Comments

[Jonathan Kranz]

Of course, the irony is that it would have been so much cheaper for United had they done the right thing and compensated Dave Carrol for the damage. Now they're going to pay, big time...

[Ron Arden]

David,

This reminds me of the 3M debacle awhile ago with the Post-It-Note Jaquar. Restaurants know that taking care of a customer is the most important thing in the world. Why can't big companies get this. Now rather than United making good for $3500, they will possibly be scorned by thousands of people and use millions of dollars. Good for Dave Carroll and his band, since he will get great publicity. Bad for United.

[Dave Fluegge]

This just reinforces that the consumer has so much more power than he/she did even a few years ago, and simply cannot be ignored. The video has almost a half million views, and I wonder if United will ever respond. Great post as always David!

[Joseph S Lima]

It is a brave new world. Dave is a talented musician and the video is very creative. Definitely going to look for more of his music. I wonder if UAL has responded yet?

[robkellas]

United responds through Twitter : "@tinamack This has struck a chord w/ us and we've contacted him directly to make it right."

Personally I think that response is taking the situation too lightly, the whole,"struck a chord" thing kinda makes fun of the whole issue.

Owning a Taylor myself & having had others damage my guitars, I understand his pain. I named my guitar after my daughter and its a really personal issue. If I were United I would put @DaveCarroll in-touch with an employee who also plays guitar, because to us players its much more than a piece of wood!

Good for you @DaveCarroll!

[Judith Harlan]

Clever! And effective. United responds, though only after the video hits, it seems. Oh, don't I wish I had such cleverness to deal with my bank!

[Tina Haisman]

Wow! Good stuff! Way to go Dave!

[Colin Warwick]

Maybe they should rewrite:

http://united.com/baggage

From:

"Limits of liability

United is not liable for damage to fragile items, spoilage of perishables, loss/damage/delay of money, jewelry, cameras, electronic/video/photographic equipment, computer equipment, heirlooms, antiques, artwork, silverware, precious metals, negotiable papers/securities, commercial effects, valuable papers, or other irreplaceable items and/or any item where a liability release was signed by the passenger."

..to simply:

"We'll chuck your stuff around because we don't care about it. So if you're foolhardy enough to check your $3,500 guitar, kiss it goodbye."

[Scott Tousignant - Fat Loss Quickie]

The CBC Canadian National News Television broadcast just played and discussed the video.

The public sure is letting United hear it ;)

I wish people would put as much effort into testimonials praising companies and products... I know that I sure try to.

[Geordie]

Nice one man, hope you make them pay mega time... let them burn for 8months

[Adele Revella]

My husband says he saw this on the national news - great example of how a small YouTube video can create a World Wide Rave of shame for companies that ignore their customers.

[S.P.]

It seems, avoiding the responsibilities is a very feature of the United Airlines: M. Kerjman v United Airlines http://mkwrk2.livejournal.com/

[Abi!]

Great Job!

[DaveMurr]

Very very cool!

I can see why some guitarists, like Steve Howe from YES, pay for an extra seat just for their guitars.

But will this really change anything? Meaning, we all have to fly and travel, sometimes a flight is only booked on a particular airline we do not care for. Wonder if the airlines are playing this card.

[Steve Seager]

Amazing. Yet another baptism of fire. And all it takes is a little listening. Seems like such a tough lesson. Blogged on it too http://tiny.cc/woZci

[Jason Karpf]

The big point: customer service is a division of marketing. I realized this when I was in a corporate marketing department and fielded product complaints from customers I was interviewing for case studies.

Take the $3,500 out of the salaries of the bean counter in accounting and the stonewaller in customer service ultimately responsible for Mr. Carroll’s runaround. Then calculate the brand damage from this incident and deduct the amount from pay to C-level execs and compensation to the board.

[John Edwards]

This also illustrates the power of the creative over the corporate attitude that plays everything by the rules. Common courtesy should of prevailed regardless of the airline policy, " You broke it, you fix it!" Instead David won and Goliath fell from grace. But the icing on the cake was the creative means by which Dave brought down the giant, music and power of the word, good for you Dave.

[Simon]

Nice. United needs to counteract this quickly... if only they could produce one on the same level as this old X-Box 360 one: http://adwido.com/view_content?vkey=24d3702eb47682087c61d3314e8b79e7

[Colin "@signalintegrity" Warwick]

The second video is released Monday. Can't wait...