United breaks guitars and the bank

Dave Carroll would never have guessed that when flying with United Airlines in March 2008 his $3500 710 Taylor guitar was forever going to change. Carroll and his band were flying to Nebraska to for a one week tour, they were flying United from Halifax to Chicago with a connecting flight to Omaha, Nebraska. When they arrived in Chicago and were waiting to de-board the plan the woman sitting behind them said,

“My god they’re throwing guitars out there”.

They looked out the window at that instant to see his band mate’s guitar being thrown.

When Carroll got off the plane in Chicago, he went to three different United Airlines employees describing what happened and asked who he needed to get in contact with to get his guitar fixed. They kept telling him he needed to talk to a different United representative. When all was said and done Carroll arrived in Omaha, his guitar was broken and there was no one to assist him in getting the problem solved.

On the way back from his tour he tried to get a number or a name that he could contact to get compensation for his broken guitar. After much effort, Carroll finally received a number that should assist him, after nine months of being transferred and told to call a different number he felt he was losing a losing battle. Finally, he asked if he could be compensated $1200 in flying vouchers (which was the amount it cost to fix his guitar) he was then told “no” and that there was nothing else they could do for him. He then told the employee he was a musician and that he was planning on writing three songs about United’s customer service, and would post them on YouTube letting everyone know about his horrible experience with United. The organization did not take the threat seriously and three months later, Carroll had posted his first of three songs on YouTube titled “United breaks guitars”.

Over the following weekend the video had over one million viewers. His video received many comments such as

“Revenge is a dish best served with country accompaniment.”

“United Sucks”

Though that was just the tip of the iceberg for what happened next; in four days, United’s stocked had plummeted over $180 million dollars due to this video Carroll and his friends produced informing the public of United’s customer service. He was able to take his musical ability and create a message that appealed to different audiences and demographics. United could have solved the issue in the beginning by reimbursing Carroll $3,500 for his broken guitar, but with their negligent and dismissive behavior tarnished their reputation and lost a large sum of money.

This story is social media at its best because there are so many different factors that go into it. Without social media Carroll would not have been able to share his experience with the viewers and see the effect of what his story has on the public and the organization. Since posting his video on YouTube he as be asked to appear on several different new stations commenting on his video and the affect that it has had on the viewers. Not to mention by being on the news he was then able to open to another social media outlet.

Carroll’s “United breaks guitars” now has had over five million views and has posted his second song “United breaks guitars 2.” He has even created a website where it explains in detail what happened and his personal feeling on the issue. The public is also able to get into contact with Carroll by his Facebook, MySpace and personal website dave@davecarrollmusic.com.

Today, social media is in Web 3.0, which means our world is connecting in ways we have never seen before, websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These social networks are becoming so powerful, and so large they now have the power to create trends and affect the public’s thoughts for the good or bad. To be given this power means that every person has a voice and is able to make their opinion heard by persons across the world. Ten years ago this would not have been possible. The fact that in a single day, a person can upload a video and have over a million views is astonishing. Web 3.0 is a rapidly growing trend because with this technology comes knowledge, and with knowledge comes the potential for power. Let us all hope that individuals use the power for good instead of bad.

It was too bad that United’s public relations were not informed of the issue earlier; otherwise the issue would have been solved by flying vouchers leaving the customer a little disgruntled, but none the less satisfied that he received compensation for his mishandled guitar. Instead, they let the issue spiral out of control making it a crisis management problem. This shows that within United’s own organization there is a communication barrier between departments that obviously needs to be resolved so they do not lose out on more money and become the forefront of humiliation, once again. Though, in the end United did offer Carroll compensation, which he kindly turned down telling them they should give it to a non-profit organization instead.

It is amazing that in this scenario all Carroll needed was a video camera, creative acting and a catchy tune to make this video viewed and reviewed. This story created a phenomenon that will happen again and again because with the endless possibilities of social media; this will not be the last of it.