United Airlines is bracing itself for another wave of bad publicity as the disgruntled passenger who sang about his broken guitar on YouTube is ready to follow the catchy hit with a second lament. Consumer revenge, it seems, is best served with a video camera and three-part harmonies.

Musician Dave Carroll composed United Breaks Guitars and posted it on YouTube after the airline damaged his treasured Taylor acoustic guitar at Chicago’s O’Hare airport last year. After nine months of trying to get the airline to admit responsibility, the singer/songwriter with a little-known Canadian band turned to the internet.

His folksy song with a funny video became a viral internet hit within a couple of days and Mr Carroll is now filming footage for a second song in a series of three. The first video has been viewed more than 3.7 million times and prompted thousands of comments, many recounting similar horror stories with the airline. The bad publicity even helped to send United’s share price into a temporary decline.

It is the latest example of how the internet is rebalancing the relationship between customers and companies. Social media networks such as YouTube and Twitter are giving consumers instant and, occasionally, powerful ways to strike back because of poor customer service.

Big companies such as Ford, Proctor&Gamble, Coca-Cola andComcast, the cable company, have recognised the need to use the internet to counteract bad publicity and interact positively with consumers. They have set up teams to handle complaints and feedback on blogs, chat rooms and social networks.

Matt Cutler, of Visible Measures, the viral video analysis company, said that until recently angry consumers could tell only their friends about their bad experience. “Today, however, social media gives us new, and vastly more powerful, tools to share our displeasure. Unless customer service starts getting better quickly, we can be sure to see more creative responses of this ilk to similar frustrations,” he said.

The United incident began when baggage handlers at O’Hare were spotted throwing guitar cases around as they loaded up the plane. Mr Carroll and his band, Sons of Maxwell, were flying with United from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Omaha, Nebraska, with a change of plane at Chicago.

“We were sitting at the back of the plane with the band and a woman who didn’t know we were musicians yells out, ‘Oh, my God they’re throwing guitars outside’,” Carroll, 41, said.

He later discovered that his $3,500 Taylor acoustic guitar was severely damaged, despite being in a hard case. He then embarked on nearly a year of communicating with United by phone, fax and e-mail. He was transferred by customer services from Chicago to New York to India and back again.

“They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss,” he said.

“The system is designed to frustrate affected customers into giving up their claims and United is very good at it. However I realised then that as a songwriter and travelling musician I wasn’t without options,” he said.

“So I promised the last person to finally say ‘no’ to compensation that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.”

Mr Carroll said humour was key to getting his message across — simply complaining comes across as whining and nobody likes that, he said. The video shows friends dressing up as flight attendants and musicians.

Volunteer firefighters played the baggage handlers who are shown playing catch with the guitar case and tossing it like a hammer throw.

The musician has the biggest hit of his life on his hands — the song is climbing the iTunes charts in Canada and he has appeared on nearly every major news outlet and chat show in America and Canada. Sales of Sons of Maxwell’s eight albums and Carroll’s solo disc have also increased dramatically.

The second song in the trilogy is going to be about Ms Irlweg, the hapless United Airlines employee who finally gave Mr Carroll a straight “no” to compensation. He says he does not want any money now — even though it cost him $1,200 to repair his guitar that still does not play the way it used to. He said he will not be unkind to Ms Irlweg, who has become a hate figure in the 17,00 plus comments on YouTube.

The company is trying to put a brave face on things. On Twitter it admitted its mistake and announced that it was donating $3,000 to a music charity. A spokeswoman tweeted that she liked the video: “It is excellent and that is why we would like to use it for training purposes so everyone receives better service from us.”

And for anyone considering consumer complaint videos on YouTube in the future, Mr Carroll recommends the key of D.

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