In the spring of 1982, I flew to New York City to spend some time with a friend. Being a devoted musician I took my beloved Washburn 12-string along for the trip. It was a great adventure but during the return flight my treasured guitar was damaged. United Airlines was completely unhelpful, rude and refused take any responsibility for the broken headstock. I was crushed.
Fast-forward 28 years to the era of personal empowerment in the form of …
You Tube.
Guitarist Dave Carroll recently had the same difficulty with United Airlines. United apparently damaged his treasured Taylor guitar during a flight to Chicago. Dave spent over 9 months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor guitar, but had no luck
During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for You Tube exposing their lack of cooperation. The Manager responded : "Good luck with that one, pal".
So he posted his video on You Tube. The video has since received over 7.5 million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: "Good luck with that one, pal".
Incidentally, Taylor Guitars sent Mr. Carroll 2 new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has lead to a sharp increase in orders.
What goes around come around – sometimes it only takes 28 years.
Check out the video at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo&NR=1
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