“United Breaks Guitars”: Customer Complaints Go Viral
July 10th, 2009Author: Laura Halsch
Last year Dave Carroll was traveling to Nebraska on United Airlines, and watched as his guitar was thrown around by their baggage handlers. The guitar was severely damaged, and after 9 months of trying to get compensated, he instead decided to get even.
In 4 days, more than 1.3 million people have watched the video, it has been reported about across the web and in mainstream news, and will probably cost United more than the $3,500 they could have paid to avoid all this.
This isn’t the first time that companies have been faced with dissatisfied customers or disgruntled employees who have taken their message to the Web, with serious consequences. At the end of the day, it means companies are more accountable for their actions and have more incentive to provide stellar products and great service.
We’ve seen companies like Comcast and Dell learn and grow from major online brand attacks. United has apologized, and listening and making it right is the first step. We’ll see moving forward if this helps drive a bigger shift in their approach and communications.
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Tags: customer service, Video, viral, word of mouth
