United Breaks Guitars!

I’ll start this out on somewhat of a philosophical principle: The endeavor of any company should be to deliver a quality product and leave the customer wanting more. That’s how things work in a free market economy. If you can’t deliver a service which the customer is satisfied with it will result in a lost customer. You will eventually go out of business.

United Airlines safely flew Dave Carroll, and his band Sons of Maxwell, from Halifax to Omaha. (With a layover in Chicago) Their checked luggage on the other hand didn’t receive such a safe delivery. United employees moving luggage were careless and damaged Carroll’s Taylor guitar ($3,500 in monetary value, more in sentimental). The band’s bass was also thrown and damaged.

Safe delivery of luggage is assumed by customers and airlines alike. United Airlines had no legitimate excuse for what happened.

According to Carroll’s first song, “United Breaks Guitars,” he tried for a year to get some kind of compensation for the damage done. The final answer was “No.”

United Airlines probably wouldn’t consider compensating a passenger $3,500 to be a feasible decision financially if they damage a great deal of luggage. So, it says something about the company’s luggage services that they wouldn’t offer any kind of compensation. Damage must occur frequently.

Obviously, United didn’t expect Carroll’s song and accompanying music video to take off like it did. With over 7 million views for the first song, and 800,000 on the second, the company has taken a huge hit.

Since all of this, United has finally stooped low enough to offer the Carroll the compensation which they’d been denying him for a year. As Carroll says in a YouTube statement “United has been in contact with me and they have generously, but late, offered some compensation and I’m grateful for that, but as I’ve said before, I’m not looking for compensation.”

Back to our philosophy talk; United Airlines was fully responsible for the damage of Carroll’s instrument. Regardless of the financial implications, they should have come clean with their mistake from the beginning. Only after significant damage had been done to their image did they seek to make amends.

Now onto Carroll… His tactics have proved to be hugely successful. As I’ve mentioned, he persistently tried to settled the dilemma with United Airlines. They continually said “no” even after he warned them about songs he would write about the incident. It all still ended up being fruitless. Carroll wrote the songs to prove a point and to poke a little fun at the situation.

Because of his campaign to make a statement and hopefully make a difference, Carroll and his band Sons of Maxwell have been featured on several television talk shows and their band has seen an increase in popularity. Using the vein of social media to get a message out became viral, and was a very wise move!

See video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo