(CNN) -- Remember the time United Airlines broke a guitar? Dave Carroll does. He's the musician who three years ago turned his misfortune into an Internet sensation. His video, "United Breaks Guitars," got a million views in just four days and prompted the airline to offer him compensation. But despite struggling with the airline for months, Carroll turned down the money because he wanted something bigger: he wanted to reform the system. Carroll is not the first angry customer to take his complaints online. Rants abound on video sharing sites; many feature nothing more than the offended party on a webcam spinning a tale of woe. That's what made Carroll's video stand out. The Canadian crooner spent seven months putting together a song and video. His real time and real talent combined to make something that people could really enjoy.
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Meredith and Ken Williams made a video in exasperation after home loan delays
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Dave Carroll's song about an airline breaking his guitar became a Web sensation
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Carroll advises that complaint videos be light on vitriol, heavy on facts
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HLN's Clark Howard says the videos should be funny and infuriating at the same time
After months of struggling with United, that's what @placeholder had -- a cause.