Angry customer + YouTube = Ruined reputation
July 30, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: HR Tech, In this week's e-newsletter - Tech
What happens when a company fails to quickly respond to a complaint from an employee or customer? In this case, more than three million people got to hear about it — in detail.
Last year, musician Dave Carroll flew United Airlines to Nebraska for a one-week tour. Before liftoff, Carroll — along with several witnesses — saw luggage handlers haphazardly tossing around his $3,500 guitar.
Carroll later found the instrument had been severely damaged. He complained to United repeatedly, but the company refused to take responsibility or pay Carroll for the damage.
After nine months of trying get United’s attention, Carroll took his grievance public. His band wrote a song and filmed a music video titled “United Breaks Guitars,” in which Carroll tells the story of the broken guitar and the airline’s reaction — or lack thereof — to his complaints.
Bad news for United: The band put the video on YouTube where it quickly got the public’s attention. So far, the video has been watched over 3.6 million times and counting.
But Carroll won’t stop there. He claims he told the last United representative he spoke to about his plans for the song — as well as two additional songs and videos the band will produce in the future.
Once the complaint was heard by millions, the airline backtracked and offered Carroll reimbursement. But it’s too late — he refused and said he’s pushing ahead with the next two songs.
Protect your reputation
It’s scary news for companies, but stories like Carroll’s are becoming common. Employees, customers, clients and everyone else have multiple avenues they can use to complain to the public about anything the company does.
What’s it mean to HR? A damaged reputation can deal a big blow your company’s recruiting efforts — especially in a video like Carroll’s, which shows United’s employees as incompetent oafs. How would that look to someone interested in applying for a job?
How to help: Work with managers to stress to employees the importance of customer service in this day and age.
And to keep disgruntled employees from using the Web to vent, encourage managers to listen to complaints and seek out constructive criticism. Often, employees seek alternate ways to complain because they feel they have no other place to go.
Tags: angry customer, disgruntled employees, United Airlines, YouTube
July 24th, 2009 at 9:26 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
It is a very well done video!! On sale at iTunes also!
July 24th, 2009 at 9:29 am
There are other venues to complain globally besides You Tube. Yahoo, Google and many other search sites have an area to critique businesses. I have seen businesses seriously affected by a negative comment that was posted that was just not a fair representation of the situation and there wasn’t anything the business could do about having it removed. This is a medium that could damage a lot of good reputations and good businesses.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:42 am
After nine months of no response or ownership of the accident, United got what they deserved and You Tube was a good place to put United in its place. Captains of industry have got to remember who pays for those inflated salaries – their customers. I keep telling family and friends, “don’t complain to me, call the store manager about your problem.”
I once wrote a letter to the company president of a home carpet cleaning machine telling him how disappointed I was with the product I purchased. Neither he nor anyone else from the comapny ever responded. Do you think I will buy my next carpet cleaning machine from that company?
July 24th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Well, I imagine that any “good company” witth a “good reputation” shouldn’t try to deny witnessed damage that they’ve caused and then stall for nine moths hoping the little nuisance complainer will finally go away if they ignore them long enough. Better to investigate complaints quickly and thoroughly and earn that good reputation that they’d like to claim. It is a shame that some companies get caught up in something not of their doing or beyond their control, but most, like United Airlines in this case, probably bring these things situations upon themselves.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:27 am
A one time “the customer was always right”. Those days are long gone. The feedback mechanism of writing a letter to the president of a company was always ineffective. The only way to “get back” at a company was to stop using their service. In my case, American Express refused to respond to a complaint I had…in 1985. I was spending in excess of $20,000 a year using their card. Even adjusted for inflation, 25 years of non-use, and the dozens of times I have refused to even discuss any business or personal relationship with AmEx, it is such a drop in the bucket that their is no incentive for them to care about a customer. YouTube and social networking systems provide the appropriate level of feedback to a company to get that company’s attention. It just a shame that we have come down to having to use guerilla tactics to get companies to do the right thing.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Absolutely United deserved this, I was referring to any company, typically your local Mom and Pop store, which can have reviews posted that are incorrect or one sided that damages the business undeservingly and there isn’t any way to remove the posting or dispute it. This situation happened to a friend of mine who owns a local business. The customer never brought the problem to her attention but wrote a very lengthy complaint online that was devastating to the business.
My point is this is also a venue for customers that are wrong to really do some damage to a business that is not deserving of the bad review. Once it is posted only the poster can remove it, even if it’s not truthful. In the case with United, I think they certainly had an opportunity to fix the problem and ignored it. They deserved it.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:29 am
it works, 21 million watch the dog and pony show on prime time wed and are now unhappy, dont know why?
July 24th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I would be interested to hear what HR folks think a company could and/or should do if it is an employee who uses the internet as a medium to make complaints about their employer, especially if the information they post is false!
July 24th, 2009 at 11:58 am
This story is ridiculous. I highly doubt the you tube video hurt United’s customer base one bit. Never check fragile luggage with the airline. Luggage falls off carts, conveyor belts, tossed around, squished by other luggage in the hold and bounced around during turbulence. The airline can not be held responsible. I doubt the ramp crew honestly said “hey, look a guitar! Let’s toss it around” They probably grabbed it quickly off the cart, tossed it onto the belt and then the worker at the top of the belt tossed it into the aircraft like everyone else’s luggage. If you are truly concerned about the welfare of your luggage you can 1) fly with carry-on only 2) ship your luggage ahead of time 3) purchase insurance for the items you check.
Does anyone ever read the Conditions of Carriage on their ticket? When you purchase an airline ticket, you enter into a contract with the airline. I’m sure the customer service agents already answered his questions and referred him to the contract. I’m sorry that he was not happy with the outcome but he agreed to the contract to the contract.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
It has always been possible to inflict damage with a false accusation. The only difference now is that a worldwide audience can be reached. How many years have airlines, all of them, damaged or lost luggage? Enough to fill warehouses and hold auctions selling a customer’s belongings! It took a talented artist with a catchy tune and video to bring it to the front, but the anger over airlines arrogance has been building for years. It is part of the reason the video is so popular. Everyone can relate to it. Maybe we will see improved problem resolution now that we live in a fish bowl.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I hate how frequently use this phrase is “with the caveat”…
July 28th, 2009 at 9:02 am
This isn’t surprising. I’ve had a lot of issues with United and have been tempted to do something as drastic. I never fly them anymore. On my last United flight, my seat was in the back next to the bathroom. Before the flight even left, the flight attendents knew the light was out in the bathroom but they didn’t fix it. So the entire flight, people had to go to the restroom, of course, but with no light, urine was everywhere, leaking into the isle, right next to my seat. The smell was horrendous and not to mention completely unsanitary with people tracking urine back to their seats. I complained to United and got nothing back. Good for Carroll. United, nor any other major airline, can continue to hike up their prices and still give poor customer service. Airlines are there because of customers – so they better cater to them.
July 28th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Sara,
A flight attendant is not authorized by the FAA to perform any maintenance on the aircraft including changing light bulbs. The flight attendants probably did call maintenance, however, if the aircraft was at an “outstation” (an airport where they don’t have a full operation) they may not have had the part. If maintenance was available, your flight may have been delayed by at least 1 hour and then you probably would have been complaining about that.
In the future, you can always avoid sitting next to a dirty bathroom by picking your seat in advance. Websites like seatguru.com offer people complete maps so they can choose the optimal seat.
United may not have written you back because your story sounds exaggerated. Every restroom module has multiple sources of light. There is a low watt bulb that is on at all times followed by a bright one that turns on once the door is locked. There are also several indicator and notification lights. Clearly they can’t all be out.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
I have to disagree with Cheryl. Even after the fact there is a way to resolve the issue. Sure you can’t go back & delete the statement, but the problem could be solved & the poster would be happy enough to post a retraction. I had an issue with a hotel years ago. I put my experience online & received a reply from a manager of the hotel. He apologized & they seemed sincere. But other than an apology, they never made any effort to make things right. If they had, I would have definitely have put it on the website. There is a tire company that has a commercial where they say we will treat you like our business depends on it. & I think of them & my experience with Wal-Mart for tires. If I could afford it I would not go back to Wal-Mart. I would rather shop at Nordstrom’s rather than where I shop now. There are a million discount stores out there I can go to & they don’t seem to care if they loose one customer. Nordstrom’s treats you like they want your business. There a thousands of hotels, & they don’t seem overly concerned about loosing one customer. So our only recourse is to post something on the web. If there is a problem find a way to resolve it, period, or suffer the consequences, period.
July 28th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
My point is not all complaints are legitimate and you can’t resolve a complaint that is completely fictitious. If you own a restaurant and your website is on your car and you cut somebody off, guess what, you just got a horrible review on Yahoo about a fly in your soup or if you own a business and your child just had a problem with another kid at school, you can “get even” on Google. You get the picture. I’ve seen this happen and my point is anyone who reads these online critiques has to take them with a grain of salt. It’s shameless what people can do now and part of the reason is because it can be done “anonymously.” People don’t have to be accountable for what they are writing which makes it so easy to post something that is incredibly damaging and completely fictitious.
July 30th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I am sorry but that is why we have constant disclosures due to unhappy people that do not read contracts or have common sense. They think it is a given that they can act up and not pay attention to somebody elses rules and therefor we have law suits.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
There’s a balance in customer service. That’s why trained customer service people need to be handling the complaints. A company can give tons of refunds and still not make people happy. In fact, there are websites on how to write a complaint so the company will give a refund – the key phrases to use.
In this day and age a company needs to spend more time on giving refunds and apologizing – which will in turn mean that they aren’t spending as much time defending their poor customer service tactics.
Furthermore, companies need to be reviewing complaints and making sure they are tracking who and what consumers are complaining about and try to come up with ways to eliminate those people and issues. It’s all about exceeding expectations.
If you go to a Motel 6 and it’s like a Radisson – you’re thrilled. If it’s an unclean, nasty place – people will complain.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Just recently, I read an article about this customer service mishap. In the article I read, United finally did attempt to make some arrangements with Carroll, but he was going forward with his next songs and videos. However, the article did mention that United planned to use Carroll’s complaint and song video in their training program. A lesson learned the had way…
August 4th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Why doesn’t someone write a song about Walmart? The supply of horrible customer service examples is endless. Just today I watched a store manager berate this qentle little old man. Not the first time I’ve seen it either. I’ve complained to “corp” but apparently its an accepted practice at this store. It broke my heart. Even the manager was quick to respond to his question about where he could contact corp, she said “WWW.WALMART.COM.”