Broken guitar spawns viral sensation

by Dan Leahul, revolutionmagazine.com 09-Jul-09, 15:35

LONDON - Major US airline United was forced to apologise to a Canadian songwriter after the company broke his guitar while loading it onto one of its aircraft, but only after a song about the ordeal titled 'United Breaks Guitars' began to go viral on YouTube.

Songwriter Dave Carroll complained to the airline after watching baggage handlers damage his $3,500 Taylor guitar while carelessly loading it into the plane, but was met with indifference and infuriating episodes with customer care handlers.

After nine months of effort, United finally denied Carroll's claim, saying he did not follow the correct complaints procedure, and offered the singer a $1,200 flight voucher instead, to cover the costs for his guitar repair.

Carroll and his band, Sons of Maxwell, decided to write a song about the incident, called 'United Breaks Guitars' and posted the video on YouTube, which has been viewed nearly half a million times since July 6.

A sample of some of the lyrics include:

"United, United
You broke my Taylor guitar
United, United
Some big help you are
You broke it, you should fix it
You're liable just admit it
I should have flown with someone else or gone by car
'Cause United breaks guitars"

United caught wind of the video and apologised to the singer for the dispute, issuing a statement via Twitter, which read: "This has struck a chord [with] us and we've contacted him directly to make it right."

Comments

jim mcniven - 10/07/2009

I love it when a consumer successfully uses the web to force action from a previously uninterested corporate. His story is probably no surprise to anyone that flown on an American airline. If you ever want to experience the aviation equivalent of having teeth extracted then try Continental - just like flying Ryanair but long haul.