For years, we believed that if customers received bad service, they would pass the word along to 20 or so people. Conversely, if they were on the receiving end of great service, they might tell a few folks, but not in numbers anywhere near the bad-news story.
Enter the Internet. Bad reports can span the globe instantly. Good reports can too, but they are not shared as frequently.
One company that learned this lesson the hard way is United Airlines. In March 2008, Dave Carroll and his band, Sons of Maxwell, were flying on United Airlines from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Omaha with a stopover in Chicago. At that first stop, a woman seated near the band looked out the window and exclaimed, "They're throwing guitars out there!"
Band members witnessed their expensive instruments being handled roughly. Carroll's guitar alone was a $3,500 Taylor model. Concerned, he approached the flight attendant and was sent to another agent outside the plane. But that person claimed to have no authority and walked away. A third employee at the gate dismissed his complaint, explaining "that's why we make you sign the waiver." Problem: Carroll and the band members had neither been offered nor signed such a waiver.
When he finally got to check out his guitar in Omaha, he discovered the base of the guitar had been smashed. Even a $1,200 repair didn't restore it to its original condition. And Carroll's experience with United as he sought restitution is a horror story that spanned nine months of phone calls, e-mails, faxes, buck-passing, and a final "Sorry, but we're not paying."
Most of us would have given up at that point, but then most of us aren't as creative as Dave Carroll. He turned it into a career opportunity.
"At that moment it occurred to me that I had been fighting a losing battle ...," Carroll wrote. "The system is designed to frustrate affected customers into giving up their claims, and United is very good at it. But I realized then that as a songwriter and traveling musician I wasn't without options.
"In my final reply to [the United rep] I told her that I would be writing three songs about United and my experience in the whole matter. I would then make videos for these songs and offer them for free download on YouTube .... My goal: to get one million hits in one year."