Dave Carrol, a musician traveled in United Airlines and finds his Guitar being broke due to poor cargo handling. The case tells about the events that followed and how United Airlines responded back and the customer service that was given to Dave and how he responded back.

1. United Breaks Guitar
Casestudy
Ajay Agarwal
Amit Kumar Kalia
Angad Sidhu
Apoorva Dogra
Dekkala Arun Kumar
Dinesh Pakki
Gangadhara Rao
Harshit Mishra
MARKETING OF SERVICES PRESENTATION

2. KEY CASE FACTS
 Case is about how a poorly handled customer complaint and power of social media can
cost a company dearly
UNITED AIRLINES DAVE CARROLL
One of the largest international airlines based in US
Professional guitarist, member of the band Sons of
Maxwell
Close to 50,000 employees and more than 3300 flights
per day
Undergoes a very bad experience with United Airlines
Rough handling of Dave’s guitar caused damages
Makes a song “United Breaks Guitar” which talks about
his bad experience and frustration.
Customer complaint was not handled properly
United Breaks Guitar- effect
Reaches 100 million people, popularity increases
United Breaks Guitar- effect
Stocks plunged by 10%, creating a loss of $180 million
to the shareholders

3. United Breaks Guitars- YouTube’s no.1 rated music videos of all time and no. 3 in
any category of video
The video reached to a total of 4.6 million, number of visitors to 20000 per week
Song sales on iTunes increased from 1 or 2 to hundreds per day
The song becomes a Top 20 iTunes download in Canada and number one in
United Kingdom for July 2009
United Airlines realizes its mistake and offers Dave $1200 in cash and $1200 in
flight vouchers to correct its mistake
KEY CASE FACTS

4. Case Analysis
What United airlines did wrong?
 Did not address Dave’s Complaint
 No Immediate response for the 1st video post
 Responded after it went to mainstream media
 United made no official apology, no statement
released regarding the incident
 Spokesperson only gave limited media interviews
and announced that they use video for training
purpose
 They only responded directly through tweets, not in
any other online channels
 United is one of the Largest International Airlines
having almost 14% of market share in 2009 and
have Strategic Alliances
 Pre existing Bad Reputation and less social
media presence
 Maintenance Services are outsourced
 Heavy Industry Competition
 Employees are dissatisfied-Pay cuts due to
recession
 High cost of Resources

5. Case Analysis
 The United Breaks Guitars video is an excellent
example of how grassroots campaigns can go ‘viral’
across a spectrum of media, and how different
media can influence one another.
 The primary influencers at the beginning of the
campaign seem to have been bloggers
 Twitter Influence-Large number of references
linking to YouTube, blogs, and news sites
 Poor Public Relations of united-costed
shareholders an estimated $180 million due to
stock price drop by 10%
 User generated content has affected the Brand
Customers
Employees
Shareholders
Commercial
Airline
companies
Taylor Guitar
Public
 Airlines is an Intangible dominant industry
 Service Quality is mainly dependent on Customer
Satisfaction
 Customer participate in and affect in “real time”

6. Critical Moment of Truth
First Critical Moment
of Truth- When Dave’s
Band members noticed
that Dave’s Guitar is
mishandled by United’s
baggage handlers.
Second Critical
Moment of Truth- Dave
Carroll shared his
concerns with a flight
attendant, but it went
unheard by the crew
Third Critical Moment
of Truth- His plea was
heard after 7 months,
but was refused stating
that claims should be
made within 24hours of
damage

7. Tolerance level
The zone of tolerance shrunk to zero for him as the airlines
damaged his guitar which was very precious to him and they
also denied him any kind of compensation

8. 7P Model
Product Transportation
Price Tickets,cargo,Dynamic Pricing
Place Airports Globally
Promotion Social media, Hoardings, Advertisements
People Employees
Process Purchase of tickets via online and offline mode
Physical Evidence Flights

9. United Service Quality
Reliability United don’t maintain their services as promised
Responsivene
ss
Carroll made many calls but they didn’t respond and it took 7 months when a
representative made direct email contact
Assurance
Low Assurance- when Carroll asked flight attendant about mishandling, his response
was “Don’t talk to me. Talk to the lead agent outside”
Empathy
when Carroll was directed to United’s Baggage offices in Chicago, he was told to
bring guitar to Chicago for inspection. This shows United customer service agents
doesn’t have empathy
Tangibles Poor- Even complementary pretzels and biscuits are no longer served

10. 4 Gaps Model
 1) Listening Gap – Difference between customer expectations of service and company understanding of
those services
a) Rob Bradford called just once and did not make a second attempt
 2) Service Performance Gap – Discrepancy between development of customer-driven service
standards and actual service performance by company employees
a)Customer service executive did not respond to complaint quickly
b)Handling of cargo was not professional
c) Claim to be made within 24 hours is like to escape the situation rather than solve the problem
 3) Communication Gap – difference between service delivery and service provider’s external
communications
a) “Fly the friendly skies” – Slogan of United Airlines, but really not friendly

11. Airline Industry Analysis
 Flight Delays
 Mishandled Baggage
 Consumer Complaints delays
 Airline Reports of the Loss, Injury, or Death of Animals During Air Transportation
• File a report at service desk
• 'My baggage' (an online corner) to check the
status of your claim by entering the file
reference number that was provided on time
of complaint.
• Baggage and claims department processes
the claim if baggage has not repatriated
within 21 days
• Property Irregularity Report (PIR).
• Report period-7 days of arrival

12. Recommendations
Create a full crisis communication plan with an immediate response in case of such a crisis
Follow an Online Reputation Management system to monitor, address and mitigate SERPs
Create customer engagement and feedback platforms
An easy to navigate online portal for baggage issues, with clear terms and conditions
Airline baggage specific contingency planning

13. United Brakes Guitar Video

14. United Breaks Guitars Video

15. Thank you