Case:
"United breaks guitars" Dave
Caroll versus United Airlines July
2010
United
Airlines passenger Dave Carroll had his Taylor guitar destroyed
by the airline's baggage handlers during a flight a couple of
years ago. After a year, during which United repeatedly declined
to reimburse him for the damage, he wrote a song with a funny
video about the incident and placed it on YouTube.
After 150,000
people had seen the video on YouTube, it appeared on CNN and at that
moment United Airlines gave in, apologized, paid for the damage and
even claimed to use the case from now on in their customer service
trainings.
This case shows clearly how social media channels have empowered the
consumer. Companies will have to rethink their customer service strategies,
as their customers become more empowered by social media channels,
and they will have to be very aware of what people are saying about
them online. Any negative experience by customers can turn into a
worldwide crisis from now on.
Making up with customers after they have taken action online is not
really an option anymore, because any damaging material online will
stay there for a long time and is often copied several times. In the
case of United Airlines, the video of Dave Caroll has been copied
several times and all these versions, including the CNN news flash,
can still be seen on YouTube. These videos have been viewed over 10
million times after United settled!
United
breaks guitars: the CNN news flash
United breaks guitars:
the complete video of the song
Social
media
