United Breaks Guitars

United Breaks Guitars


“United Breaks Guitars” involves United Airlines, Dave Carroll, and his guitar. While deboarding a plane in Chicago for his connecting flight, Carroll and some other passengers noticed that United Airlines baggage handlers were throwing Carroll’s and his bands guitars around. (It was later discovered that Carroll’s guitar had been broken). Carroll notified the flight attendant who directed him to the acting lead agent at the gate. The acting lead agent at the gate informed him that he would need to notify the United Airlines agent in Omaha since that was his final destination. Due to the fact that the plane was late landing in Omaha and there was not a United Airlines agent in sight, Carroll and his bands headed to their hotel. At a gig was when Carroll realized that his guitar had been broken and the repair costs were $1200. Carroll actively tried to get the issue resolved with United Airlines, but all Carroll received was the run around from United Airlines. All Carroll wanted was some type of compensation for having the guitar fixed since the baggage handlers broke it. In the end, United Airlines denied Carroll’s claim and had his guitar repaired for $1200. (www.davecarrollmusic.com)

Carroll told the last person to deny his claim that he was going to write a song and post it on YouTube. What better way to express the injustices of companies and poor customer service. Carroll’s initial goal was to reach 1 million views on YouTube in a year, and he had accomplished that in a couple of weeks. The first video “United Breaks Guitars” was uploaded to YouTube July 6, 2009. Carroll received a call from United Airlines July 8, 2009 offering to now compensate him for the broken guitar. Carroll politely declined any compensation.

United Airlines lost on all accounts with this Public Relations fiasco. United Airlines did not deny that the incident with the baggage handlers and the guitars did not happen, but they refused to take any responsibility for the actions of their employees. United Airlines broke the bond of trust a customer has with them as an airliner. Customers put their trust in a product or service, and it is the responsibility of the companies, providing that product or service, to maintain that trust between them and the customer. United Airlines had numerous attempts to correct the situation, and they chose to violate the customer. The first video alone cost United Airlines around $180 million dollars. (www.rightsideofright.com) The cost of compensating Carroll for repairing his guitar is minute compared to what it cost United Airlines both short-term and long-term.

Carroll won on all aspects of this customer service nightmare. His videos have been a hit online, been a guest on news programs, and has also started a website called Right Side of Right. The purpose of the website is to bring those with similar experiences together and find a positive and healthy solution to the problem. Carroll has also stated that he is no longer angry about the experience. He has moved forward. (www.davecarrollmusic.com)