A few years ago, I had what has, luckily, been my only largely negative experience with an airline. I swore off the company and wrote a complaint letter, but when I received a free trip voucher along with an apology note, the airline quickly regained my business. I got what I was ultimately looking for—acknowledgement of the mistake and some decent customer service.

Unfortunately for United Airlines, a single unaddressed customer complaint turned into a full-blown social media crisis. When Dave Carroll’s numerous phone calls and e-mails to the company yielded no response, he took his grievance to a different outlet where he knew he would be heard—YouTube.

Carroll, who claims the airline broke his $3,500 guitar on a flight last year, joined forces with his band, Sons of Maxwell, and created a music video chronicling his complaint and the lack of customer service. The video grabbed the attention of not only United Airlines, but 2.5 million others, with 20,000 ratings and over 13,000 comments.

With platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, it is now more imperative than ever that companies listen to their customers. As United Airlines has undoubtedly learned, if you won’t listen, customers can find a much bigger audience who will.