Assignment #2: Case Study

In July 2009, Dave Carroll, an upcoming country musician, wrote a song after United Airlines broke his $3,500 Taylor guitar. The video went viral on YouTube and stock in United dropped. I read Carroll’s story on his website, davecarrollmusic, and I can’t believe that United handled this situation they way that they did.

After Carroll realized that his guitar was broken, he attempted to make a claim with United. First of all, the claim system at United seems to be joke. They sent him from one person to another, giving him different phone numbers to try and everyone seemed to ignore his claim. This is where United went completely wrong. There should be one department at each airport that takes the claims and if they can’t handle them immediately, they need to be sent to one direct office. There should be no wild chase for the customer to have to go through. The purpose should be to reconcile with the customer and fix their bad experience so they will want to fly United again. Building relationships is so important. Sending a customer all over will only anger him or her more and create more problems than there originally was.

In an email from a representative in Chicago, Carroll was given reasons for the denial of his claim. The reasons were that he didn’t report it to the United employees when he landed in Omaha, he didn’t report to the Omaha airport within 24 hours, it was an Air Canada issue, Air Canada already denied the claim, and someone from United would need to see the damage to a guitar that was repaired. All of these reasons are contradictory, especially the reporting to Omaha if it clearly was an Air Canada issue. This is horrible public relations. None of the reasons make sense. Normally when baggage is lost or damaged, the airline will compensate the customer in some way, even if they don’t want to. It is all about customer service. Why wasn’t this the case for Carroll? It would have been so much easier for United to compensate Carroll for the $3,500.

I agree with Carroll’s assessment of United Airlines; their system is set up to frustrate customers. Most customers with complaints will give up after the third or fourth disconnected phone call and won’t get to the compensation. Carroll wanted to use satirical lyrics and his story to make others aware of his situation. He turned it into a joke. I think his reaction was reasonable. He is a musician so he used his music as an outlet. It was also a great PR move on his part. Carroll’s name is now out there on and people know who he is. His videos are catchy and memorable. I’m sure he realized that his videos would not only cause a stir among United but would also be a good career move for himself.

I now have a very different view on United Airlines and want to be more of a skeptic when it comes to other airlines. I flew 13 times in the space of five weeks this summer and I watched them throw my bag around but it never really occurred to me that if something was broken, I could make a claim. I always pack very carefully and carry-on all of my breakables. I do think that Carroll should have put more thought into it and carried his guitar on-board, there is no way I would have checked my expensive guitar in. It is common sense and this situation should never have happened. However, United still reacted very unprofessionally and should have compensated Carroll for the damage.