United Breaks Guitars

PR CASE STUDY: UNITED BREAKS GUITARS
What is a public relations nightmare? In the case of United Airlines, Dave Carroll is. In March of 2008, Dave Carroll, a musician, was flying to Omaha, Nebraska. While waiting for his flight to begin it was brought to his attention by a fellow passenger that United employees were “throwing guitars”. Unbeknownst to the other passengers, Dave Carroll’s band’s instruments were being thrown with careless disregard for the contents. Panic set in, his livelihood was being carelessly destroyed.
Carroll alerted a flight attendant. The chain of command begins: the lower level flight attendant, the higher level attendant, third party person at the gate “that’s why you sign the waiver, talk to the ground crew in Omaha.”
A late landing in Omaha muddied the situation further. No ground crew in sight. Exhausted from the flight, left Carroll no time to inspect his guitar for damage. A day later, a week from seeing the Omaha airport, Carroll discovered the $1,200 damage to his 710 Taylor guitar. The nine month saga begins.
Carroll’s original intent was merely to obtain the money to cover the damages. After jumping from agent to agent, both U.S. and abroad, Carroll finally came to realize he was never going to see the money. He laid his final offer on the table. Make things right or welcome to a public relations nightmare. United chose to ignore his request, after all wasn’t that the point of the claims? To make things so difficult that individuals simply abandon them.
With that Carroll set out writing 3 songs. The first “United Breaks Guitars”, a catchy tune, brings light to the whole situation. Its release on YouTube opened a can of worms for United. Customer’s past and present flooded the site with their own stories. United stocks started crashing, opening their eyes to the situation at hand. Carroll was no longer some long lost claim, he was taking action.
After the release of the second video, United sought to make things right; too little, too late. Carroll respectfully asked United to donate the money they owed, to charity. On his website he thanks United for kick starting his career because of them he was able to introduce people to his music through social media and the common tragedies that come with flying.
United Airlines made a mistake that many companies make. They choose not to put the customer’s best interest at hand. Customer satisfaction is a key component to public relations. They would have been far better off to throw policy out the window, and compensate Carroll for the damages. United lacked the social media skills to realize the situation that they were getting themselves into. YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are the reasons for the rise and fall of companies today. One bad customer review can quickly grow to hundreds in a matter of minutes if it’s not handled properly.
Why else would Universities devote entire courses to social media and how to use it? Your online reputation is as valuable as your real life reputation. Companies look at your online profile to find out what kind of person you are. Individuals get noticed through the work on their professional blogs. Products and services are reviewed. What you post becomes who you are. Through one video, United lost millions of dollars. Their online identity was horribly damaged.
So what’s to be learned? In the case of United, listening to the customer and thinking through the consequences is what should have been done. A mere $1,200 would have solved a problem. Carroll could have been singing United praises, literally. Instead, United is left to look ridiculous and Carroll to look like the star he is.