B737 captain was informed by a mechanic at gate arrival that he was present to repair an overhead bi...

Narrative:

Upon arrival; we were met by a company mechanic. He said he was there to fix a broken overhead bin. I knew nothing about the forward bin. The mechanic informed me that a passenger took photos of the bin and was appalled about the appearance of our aircraft; and sent the photos to a social media website. The complaint went right to the top of maintenance and the mechanic was there immediately to try to repair the bin. I did not preflight the bin (not in my job description); the flight attendant never said a word to me about the issue; and I never had a chance to talk to the passenger. Apparently there was some rubber sealant that had come loose from the underside of the bin. It functioned safely and was not broken; it was merely a cosmetic rubber strand dangling from the most forward underside of the bin. It was promptly deferred by the mechanic. Flight attendant should've told me what was going on. He bolted before I could ask him anything since they were involved in a swap.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain was informed by a Mechanic at gate arrival that he was present to repair an overhead bin which the Captain was completely unaware of. A previous passenger had photographed a piece of hanging rubber trim and published it on a social media website.

Narrative: Upon arrival; we were met by a Company Mechanic. He said he was there to fix a broken overhead bin. I knew nothing about the forward bin. The Mechanic informed me that a Passenger took photos of the bin and was appalled about the appearance of our aircraft; and sent the photos to a social media website. The complaint went right to the top of Maintenance and the Mechanic was there immediately to try to repair the bin. I did not preflight the bin (not in my job description); the Flight Attendant never said a word to me about the issue; and I never had a chance to talk to the Passenger. Apparently there was some rubber sealant that had come loose from the underside of the bin. It functioned safely and was not broken; it was merely a cosmetic rubber strand dangling from the most forward underside of the bin. It was promptly deferred by the Mechanic. Flight Attendant should've told me what was going on. He bolted before I could ask him anything since they were involved in a swap.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1344614
Time
Date	201604
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Overhead Bins Latches
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 138
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

B737 captain was informed by a mechanic at gate arrival that he was present to repair an overhead bin which the captain was completely unaware of. A previous passenger had photographed a piece of hanging rubber trim and published it on a social media website.