United Breaks Guitars

All images in this post belong to Dave Carroll & were taken from Dave's website

Apparently I'm not the only one tired of being screwed by companies or organizations, and not being able to do anything about it.

I was watching The View (see below) last Thursday - a rare occurrence for me. I wasn't really paying attention because I was doing other things - but then I heard them talking to this guy about a broken guitar, which caught my attention. (Wix, the middle son, is learning to play the guitar.) It turns out the guy was Dave Carroll, of sons of Maxwell. Apparently I've been under my rock again, because I seem to have been the only person who hasn't heard of Dave or his United Airlines experience. To sum up the situation, Sons of Maxwell were on their way to Nebraska for a gig. While at Chicago O'Hare Airport, another passenger said the flight attendants were throwing guitars. Knowing his guitar had been checked, he immediately got a sick feeling in his stomach - and sure enough, his guitar was broken. He tried to settle with United, but was unsuccessful. CBS spoke with Dave, and the interview can be heard here.

You can also read the story in Dave Carroll's own words, by visiting his website.

Dave gave United a deadline in which to settle the issue. Dave had warned United he was going to write 3 songs - and produce 3 videos - about his experience if they did not fix the issue within a six month time frame. However, United ignored the problem - and did nothing to resolve Dave's complaints. True to his word, write a song he did...in fact, he's written two of them to date, with a third in the works. After the popularity of Dave's song became apparent, United offered compensation - but Dave said it was too late. In a feeble attempt to save their image (and based on Dave's request), United contributed funds to some music foundations - but the damage had been done. Dave made his point very succinctly - and humorously. The response to his video, which cost him $150 to make, has been phenomenal. Taylor Guitars, the makers of the guitar broken by United, even got involved.

You can hear more about the story on YouTube, but since his first song is so amazing, I'm posting a link to it here. If you aren't familiar with the song, you've got to check it out. You can do that below. Trust me - you won't be sorry you did. You'll wish you had come up with the idea - and want Dave on your side the next time you get screwed by a large organization, like the travel industry.

Way to go, Dave - thanks for standing up for what's right. I can't think of a better way to get your point across!

 xx,