Reflection on Social Media Case 12: United Breaks Guitars

Customer service should always be a businesses main focus! United definitely learned this the hard way! It's sad to think of how much money they could have saved and all the bad press that could have been avoided if they had simply done their job the right way the first time! Before the days of social media incidents like this probably wouldn't of had nearly as massive of an effect. Social media allows information to be shared instantly. I'm always surprised and frankly a little annoyed with how many negative complaints I see on social media, but they have an impact on the way I view companies. I'm seen people complain about customer service at different clothing boutiques or restaurants and it really does diminish my outlook on those companies. In the case of United Dave Corroll seemed to be providing true beneficial information, however I think a lot of people will bash companies when they really don't deserve it! I work at a clothing boutique and I know we've gotten complaints for sticking to our return policy. The way the customers frame the incident makes it seem like we were cruel and ripping them off, however in reality the customers wanted to return items that were clearly worn or way over our return deadline. However that customers comment most likely has an impact on the way other potential customers view our store. I think the era of social media bashing really is a negative thing. It's sad that we feel the need to publicly shame companies instead of trying to solve the problem internally. This article and this article talk a bit about how to respond to social media bashing. I think the way United tried to handle the problem was positive however it seemed that the damage was done. I do think if they'd acted in a more negative way or tried to turn the tables it could have been a lot worse, so while they didn't lessen the negativity the prevented it from worsening.