United Broke His Guitar -- And Learned a Lesson
I've had a lot of crappy service in my life. And I've written a lot of mean letters to unsuspecting presidents of companies. To quote Garth Brooks, I bury the hatchet but leave the handle stickin' out. But I've never done anything this clever, this viral or this effective. After musician Dave Carroll had his $3,500 Taylor 710 guitar broken on a United Airlines flight back in 2008, he tried to go through all the proper channels to get the situation remedied. No such luck. So he took matters into his own hands and wrote a song about it. "This is what I do for a living," he said. "Why don't I do this for fun?" The song and accompanying video is a lot like his other tunes, which his bio describes as music that subtly transcends musical barriers, bridging the genres of pop, rock, country and folk.
"United Breaks Guitars" is hysterical (in a misery-loves-company kind of way) to anyone who's ever had the runaround from an airline. But to the folks at United, it has become more than just a venomous rant. It's now going to be one of their training tools. Rob Bradford, managing director of customer solutions at United, asked Carroll if United could use the video to train its people. "It could be used to improve the way passengers are treated around the world," he said. And he didn't say it, but I think it could also improve the way airlines handle guitars, strollers, golf clubs and other checked luggage.
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
RRick says:
This is a great song and a fun video. It is also an extremely clever marketing tool for Dave to introduce his music to a whole bunch on non-Canadian listeners. This is a win-win situation for everyone except his busted up Taylor guitar.
A. K. says:
The tune sounds like a female country singer’s song about ‘reminds me that I’m flying friendly skies.’
Mike H says:
We should all buy one on his songs on Itunes … $1 x a lot of people = one happy Canadian Artist.
Steve Wysong says:
They promise to come out with two more songs about the broken guitar as well as his interaction with United. My brother works for United and his response was “There is no such thing as bad news.” It is true that if they respond quickly with ads that show they are taking their customer concerns about baggage care seriously that this could be a win for them.
hana says:
I am not so sure that United was serious about changing their customer service. Coincidentally I saw this video the day after I flew with American and put on a third flight after many were canceled with United. My bag was misplaced and I understand the confusion with changing airlines but when trying to speak with United representatives, they repeatedly told me they could not help me and were extremely rude to the point of losing it on the phone with me and yelling that it is not their fault but mine that the bage is misplaced. I commented that I was surprised with their attitude after this publicationof the United service video. So perhaps United has made empty promises to somewhat appease the frustrated but I think they are quite empty.