This is my favorite story of the day, as reported by the Chicago News. It seems United Airlines broke musician Dave Carroll's guitar (no -- would United ever do something like that?). Anyway, Carroll tried to get the airline to pay for the repair ($1,200) for a year. Major Stonewall. So he did what any self-respecting young music dude would do -- he wrote a song and posted the video on You Tube. "United Breaks Guitars" got a gazillion people to watch it (including me -- it's great).
Well, United may be the worst airline in the world (although friends of mine would argue Air France gets the award), but it's not stupid. According to Chicago News reporter Zach Christman, the airline apologized and even asked if it could use the video as training material.
Well, after the initial warm glow of knowing little guys can win, I am left with the same feeling expressed by Christman:
"All this is well and good, and maybe Carroll's video will actually help United deal more fairly with its customers when they have a legitimate complaint. But if it doesn't, where does that leave the rest of us? Posting YouTube videos every time a big company screws up? Hmmm."
Hmmm indeed. Maybe the next time I have a problem with a big company, instead of hiring a lawyer, I'll hire Dave Carroll.
