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Jul 14, 2009 -- Gripe song about United Airlines becomes web phenomenon
An enterprising musician who had his guitar broken by United Airlines has created a protest song that's become a runaway web sensation.
Dave Carroll's $3,500 Taylor guitar was broken by United baggage handlers at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in the spring of 2008. During the ensuing 9-month period, Carroll attempted to get some compensation for the guitar. But he was repeatedly given the runaround by customer no service representatives.
His response? To film a video for an original song called "United Breaks Guitars" that has now gotten nearly 3 million views on YouTube. See the video here:
After the surprising success of Carroll's clip, United came back with its tail between its legs and offered to make him whole. But the disgruntled musician refused and told United to donate the money to a charity of his choice.
The lesson here is that the web gives consumers a new level of power against businesses that have wronged them. There's a similar kind of power in sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor. Both sites cull the collective wisdom of users' experiences with a variety of companies so you know who is safe and who to avoid.
In an example of the collective wisdom sites at work, Clark's brother called him one night in need of last-minute accommodations in Bryce City, Utah. Clark used TripAdvisor to locate hotels in the area and read the online reviews to help his brother make an informed decision.
Meanwhile, The Financial Times of London reports that 92% of people say they trust word of mouth from friends, associates and colleagues when it comes to making a consumer decision. 75% say they trust collective wisdom sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. And only 60% of people report trusting traditional image-based advertising.
United would do well to remember it's no longer about the image you try to portray in commercials. What really matters is the trust you establish with customers based on how you treat them everyday.
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What others are saying
Customer No Service!
Hey how about I pay you for a song about Home Depot who ruined my wooden floor due to their careless bungling installing a new dishwasher that cost me $10k in repairs, legal fees after having to sue the company for damages that took 16 months. This may be how American corporations do business. Yeah! Way to go!! Song does me proud. cheers to he hapless consumer. Jeers to the government who have no teeth to regulate consumer protection laws and policy.
Air Travel
Hi Dave Carrol, I have a similar situation with Air Tran Airlines. How much would you charge me to do a song about my experiance...?
The WORST airline ever
My kids have booked flights on United so I've had to deal with this worst airline ever.
They don't know there own procedures and, if they have partnered with another airline (which they often do), what gates their flights are flying from or going to or even which airline is responsible for each portion of the flight.
And on top of that, they're NASTY!
twitter
If you complain on twitter, the companies come running to help.
They know that twitter can turn into a company bashing party, so they pretend to care about their customers.
If you call into the same company, chances are they will stonewall you because you are just one person.
I agree, Power to the people! Vote with you wallets, and please vote for the best candidate, not a party or the best of the worst.
United Breaks Guitars
Power to the people!
Taylor Guitar Response
Comments from Taylor Guitar company in response to damaged Taylor guitars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12WFZq2__0
Hey bsb, you are obviously not a musician and have never been on a tour, had to eat Ramen noodles, have a huge music festival bounce their check, try to sell merch, have to set-up / strike your gear, pay all of the musicians, get screwed by criminal club owners with drug problems, and yes have to transport your own gear on the tour. United sucks, $3500 is nothing compared some of the vintage instruments out there. I would be raising hell for this, and what kind of idiot baggage handler broke his ax?
I applaud the guy for coming up with this. You have to fight these big greedy companies anyway you can and the pr hit United may take for this is well deserved.
Broken Guitar - Great Musician Ethics!
The musician's ethics are not on trial here. It is far from unreasonable for a paying customer to expect reasonable care for possessions under the care of the business.
Apparently his approached WORKED-he took an opportunity to use creative means to draw attention to the businesses' failure to remedy the situation. What other options did he have? Large corporate entities basically just ignore you, leaving you with no alternatives assuming small claims isn't feasible.
And apparently people love his approach, and it's entertaining too.
Blaming the victim does not resolve the source of the problem (bad customer service) or draw attention to the responsible parties.
Broken Guitar - Broken Musicians Ethics!
EVERY guitar player (especially the ones who travel) know that guitars in a standard case are prone to breaking (especially at the head stock). Music shops sell kits and special guitar cases for guitar players (especially acoustic guitars) because the guitar case holds the neck of the guitar up leaving the head stock suspended without support. This musician was a victim of his own incompetence and United Airlines (who of course has the reputation of not handling luggage delicately in the first place - AND THEN CHARGING EXTRA FOR HANDLING IT these days) is made the subject of this... persons music video. Parody will be what this musician is now know for. He definitely not a great song writer!
Fantastic commercial for another airline
Just bleep the name United and everyone would still know who the airline was.
Takin' it to the streets - I love it!
I'd write a song about my experiences with Delta Airlines, but the language I'd have to use might make hard core, gansta rappers blush.
Yepper
Rather catchy tune this fellow has. Bet the head honcho of United is wondering about his future with clowns like that as customer reps. Bet the pr department is working overtime trying to figure out how to cover this up and make people forget about it! Don't fly on these overpriced airlines myself, my trips are usually by car, safer on the back roads and more enjoyable. Oh by the way I am a pilot also, so if you see a little yellow airplane overhead, it's just Grand paw farting around, here,there, and yonder.
