United Breaks Guitars

sonsofmaxwell · 31.6M views · 2009-07-07 · 4:37

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Overview

Dave Carroll's song and music video about United Airlines baggage handlers breaking his Taylor guitar and the airline's refusal to compensate him. It became a viral example of a customer fighting a company.

On Hacker News

Used as the classic example of terrible airline customer service, and of how a viral video can force a company to respond.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2012–2023

Topics

Music performance & songs Internet culture & memes Product, marketing & sales

What people said

crazytony · 2023-07 · Joke / meme
It's weird to me that they unloaded anything in the hold for what should have been a refuel-and-go. Unless they're expecting you to be held on the ground for 3+ hours, they typically don't even bother getting the pax out much less the bags. But there's always [VIDEO]
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sandworm101 · 2022-07 · Reference
Take to social media. Plead your case to the masses. If you are cute enough (I suggest a puppy in the screenshot) it may go viral and get noticed by PayPal's marketing people. They have actual decision powers. That is how consumer service works these days. These guys did eventually get they money after the morning news shows featured thier song. [VIDEO]
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tlss · 2022-02 · Reference
If you're talking about terrible behaviour from United employees, this is not an isolated case. See also "United Breaks Guitars" [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by sonsofmaxwell, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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