Travel Products - Travelpro warranty - Is this a defect or wear?

I have a travelpro crew 3 that has developed a problem with the retractable handle mechanism. It takes just the right press at the correct spot on the button to open the handle. To close it it takes the same finesse on the button along with banging the bag a couple times. Suffice it to say that this is a bit awkward on the jetway or in the aisle.

I took it in to an authorized repair shop (not that far out of my way), and the shop keeper said basically:
1) if it works at all, it isn't covered by warranty.
2) anyway, in a bag this old there can't be a defect. Since normal life for a bag like this might be 5 or 7 years, by now there is no life left in the lifetime warranty.

He then offered to repair it for $45, assuming he could find a part that fits.

Is that reasonable characterization of what the warranty is supposed to cover?

I purchased the Travelpro Crew 7 to replace a Travelpro Crew 6. By moving the suit holder to the upper expandable shell, you get more space in the lower cavity. The 22" is the perfect size whether you carry on or check your bag. The handle is solid, pulls and retracts easily and completely disappears. Rolls smoothly. Zippers are improved for better grip. I'm very satisfied with this case.

Is that reasonable characterization of what the warranty is supposed to cover?

Here is the Travelpro warranty info:
http://travelpro.com/pdf/Warranty_Info.pdf
http://travelpro.com/warranty.cfm

I have a travelpro crew 3 that has developed a problem with the retractable handle mechanism. It takes just the right press at the correct spot on the button to open the handle. To close it it takes the same finesse on the button along with banging the bag a couple times. Suffice it to say that this is a bit awkward on the jetway or in the aisle.

I took it in to an authorized repair shop (not that far out of my way), and the shop keeper said basically:
1) if it works at all, it isn't covered by warranty.
2) anyway, in a bag this old there can't be a defect. Since normal life for a bag like this might be 5 or 7 years, by now there is no life left in the lifetime warranty.

He then offered to repair it for $45, assuming he could find a part that fits.

Is that reasonable characterization of what the warranty is supposed to cover?

Did you call Travelpro Customer Service? Let them know you are from Flyertalk.

(800) 741-7471 M-F 8:30 AM-5:00 PM

Did you call Travelpro Customer Service? Let them know you are from Flyertalk.

(800) 741-7471 M-F 8:30 AM-5:00 PM

(I sent this as a PM, but without response. I'm happy to communicate off the forum if Travelpro Luggage prefers.)

I did not call, but I did email, prior to the posting by Travelpro Luggage, though without any mention that I post on flyertalk.

Here's the response I received:


I am sorry you are having a problem with your bag. I believe what the repair shop was trying to say, is that your handle is likely just suffering from wear. Typically a defect in workmanship will show itself within the first year of use. That is especially true with moving parts.

These moving parts require maintenance repairs after so many years of use.


Best regards,

Jackie Peterman
Authorized Repair Center Manager
Travelpro International, Inc.
700 Banyan Trail
Boca Raton, FL 33431
T 561-998-2824 EXT:637
F
JPeterman@Travelpro.com
www.travelpro.com

Here's the response I received:

[quote]
I am sorry you are having a problem with your bag. I believe what the repair shop was trying to say, is that your handle is likely just suffering from wear. Typically a defect in workmanship will show itself within the first year of use. That is especially true with moving parts.

These moving parts require maintenance repairs after so many years of use.


Best regards,

Jackie Peterman


In other words, they're not gonna fix this under their "lifetime" warranty... I guess in their eyes, "lifetime" means "the expected lifetime of the bag, not the lifetime of the bag's owner."

These moving parts require maintenance repairs after so many years of use.

The funny thing about "so many years of use" is that the bag has been hardly used the last few years (partly because of the handle issue). Probably about one round trip a year for the last 3.

Either way, I'd like to see the recommended "maintenance" schedule. And this didn't seem like maintenance: The repair gent said that the whole assembly would need to be replaced and that the correct replacement parts are no longer available, so that he'd have to find a part that fit from a more recent product.

One more point of evidence of TravelPros continued downhill slide. So much for standing behind their products.

I had two B&R bags that needed repair a few months ago. One was purchased in the mid to late 90s I believe, maybe 94-98 or so. Most probably around 96. The other was about 2000. The older bag had had the zipper pulls cut off by the TSA near as I could tell. It also had a place on the corner of the top piece (the thin piece that lifts up when it is opened) where the fabric had pulled away from the frame. The newer one had one half of the two pieces of the expandable handle break. When I talked to them to enter the repair order I told them the color and the rep started laughing. She said that was "really old" and it had been discontinued.

They fixed both bags like new for no charge.

(I sent this as a PM, but without response. I'm happy to communicate off the forum if Travelpro Luggage prefers.)

I did not call, but I did email, prior to the posting by Travelpro Luggage, though without any mention that I post on flyertalk.

Here's the response I received:

If you would email me your phone number at travelproblog@gmail.com, I will have someone from Customer Service contact you regarding this.

Paul Lawrence
Travelpro Luggage

One more point of evidence of TravelPros continued downhill slide. So much for standing behind their products.

CApreppie:

For obvious reasons, I can not really provide you the hard data on your claim. What I can tell you is that we vigorously track warranty claims for quality assurance. Over the past 4 years, our internal numbers show the opposite is occurring. Quality is up with fewer warranty claims on significantly higher sales volume.

If there is an industry source to support your claims, we are very much open to hearing about it. You can email me directly at travelproblog@gmail.com with the information.

Paul Lawrence
Travelpro Luggage

I have a TravelPro Platinum duffel back I purchased back in the mid-90's
that has been tossed about a good bit regularly.

That bag still looks new, has never broken and was a great purchase.

I attribute much of that to the fact that there are no mechanical
moving parts on the bag such as wheels / handle mechanisms that
are naturally more prone to failure than a bag without.

Just want to say that it's great that a TravelPro rep is actively helping FT'ers with their warranty issues. ^

Just want to say that it's great that a TravelPro rep is actively helping FT'ers with their warranty issues. ^

I agree!

I heard back from travelpro customer service, who intends to contact the service center I brought it to. I'll continue to post updates but reserve any comments about the general service until I see what happens here.

Has the OP heard anything back from Travelpro?

I had the handle pull out of the frame on my original Platinum Rollaboard this week, and customer service (2 calls) gave me different information between the reps - and the info also differed from what's on the website. Bottom line is that they use a cheap plastic clip to hold the handle sections together and that split - not something I'd consider a wear item.

I contacted Paul Lawrence (travelproblog@gmail.com) last Tues, but haven't heard anything back? Has anyone else had success with the TP warranty on an older bag?

I did hear back, relatively quickly. Sorry for not updating.

From customer service:

I spoke to (Authorized Service Center) and unfortunately they do not remember. They typically are very good about remembering, but a few weeks have passed.

You are welcome to take it back to them, and if they can retrofit a handle we will pick up half the cost as a courtesy.

If you are interested, please let know so I can contact them to advise them.


I suppose it's a nice offer for customer service (or social networking) sake, though isn't particularly comforting. Because the service center didn't remember (and I have no reason to think they would), travelpro isn't changing the general opinion that this sort of failure isn't covered under the warranty.

Now I have to decide if fixing this is worth ~$25 plus a couple trips to the repair center. Repair would leave me a decade old bag in decent, but not perfect, shape. But is that money better put towards a new bag (lighter? but possibly less sturdy? other newfangled features?)?

I did hear back, relatively quickly. Sorry for not updating.

From customer service:


I suppose it's a nice offer for customer service (or social networking) sake, though isn't particularly comforting. Because the service center didn't remember (and I have no reason to think they would), travelpro isn't changing the general opinion that this sort of failure isn't covered under the warranty.

I don't see what's so "nice" about the offer. As you said, Travelpro isn't honoring the warranty, and is begrudgingly offering to cover half the fee, in the hopes you will be quiet and go away.

My experience says that if I was to accept their offer, even if the bag worked well I would be upset and pissed off every time I looked at the bag. Using the bag would remind me of being taken advantage of. Just for that reason I would tell them to pound sand.

I feel the same way... While my Platinum has been a pretty good bag, I'm reluctant to spend any more money on it when, forget the warranty, I can't even get a timely or accurate response from customer service.

I've been looking at the Briggs and Riley for the next one, but I' d certainly miss the leather.

I suppose it isn't that nice of the offer. But it is better than nothing. For the most prat, I interpret it as a way to make this thread sound better, rather than any sort of direct customer service - this is from the repeated suggestion to say that "I'm from Flyertalk". Which is to say, I'm guessing travel pro would rather people saying thing in public (like flyertalk) say nice things about them.

I won't have a problem using the bag after this episode. I just see it as a way to get a sort of refurbished, but not perfect travelpro crew for about $25. On the one hand that's not bad. On the other, the bag even in it's annoying handle condition is functional for an occasionally used bag. The question comes down to:
Would I rather use a repaired bag instead of my samonsite? (I appreciate the very large wheels on my samsonite, but also the suiter and otherwise robustness of the travelpro.)
Am I going to purchase a better carry-on bag in the near future and relegate both of those to occasional/family use?
How long until something else significant fails on the travel pro? (If a new $200ish bag will last me 10 years, and a repaired bag will last 1 year it's close to a wash financially, and I might as well get a new bag. If the new bag will last 5, or if the repaired bag will last 3, then it seems like a decent deal.)

Answering my own questions:
1) Probably. I've been tending to take the travelpro lately anytime I need formal clothes, despite the handle annoyance. Lately, I've been using it about 50% of my trips, so repaired it could easily be more.
2) This is the iffy one. On the one hand, I've been thinking of moving towards more of a wheel-less bag, especially for the 2-3 day trips. On the other, projecting forward, I'm not sure what my travel will be like in a 2 or 3 years, so this probably isn't the time to "invest" in a replacement roller board.
3) This one I don't know, but from the general sound of it on the board, the lifespan of a rollerboard isn't a long time, especially some of the newer ones. The question is more about how well the warranty will replace it.

Or put another way. What's the value of a used but good condition crew 3? $25? $50? $75?

You're way overthinking it for the $25 offered!

An used bag is worth whatever the market is willing to pay for it. Realistically, $25 is not a bad offer given Crew 9 is the current iteration.

Nevertheless, this really crystallizes the warranty tiers in my mind:

No matter what equivalent:
Briggs Riley
Red Oxx
Victorinox Tourbach line

Relatively generous vendor warranties
Costco Kirkland Signature luggage
Nordstrom Tumi
Ebags
Travelpro Platinum line

You're way overthinking it for the $25 offered!

An used bag is worth whatever the market is willing to pay for it. Realistically, $25 is not a bad offer given Crew 9 is the current iteration.


Oh totally. But isn't that half the fun of flyertalk? ;)

I know some people particularly like the older crew models (I think crew 5 is the last of these) for their solid, if not particularly light build. I.e. in the crew 3, the bottom with the wheels and feet is plywood. More modern materials are lighter, but don't have the same durability.

Found this thread as I was searching for warranty information for my Crew3 bag. I have just had the same experience with Travelpro's warranty service. Apparently, the "limited lifetime" warranty is more LIMITED than Lifetime.

I'm now SOL on my bag because of a broken handle that just snapped in the middle of a trip. Travelpro did not want to replace it under warranty - plus they discontinued all the parts anyways.

Before this, I would have bought another Travelpro bag without question. Now, I'll shop around a bit more and maybe get a bag with better warranty coverage.

Found this thread as I was searching for warranty information for my Crew3 bag. I have just had the same experience with Travelpro's warranty service. Apparently, the "limited lifetime" warranty is more LIMITED than Lifetime.

I'm now SOL on my bag because of a broken handle that just snapped in the middle of a trip. Travelpro did not want to replace it under warranty - plus they discontinued all the parts anyways.

Before this, I would have bought another Travelpro bag without question. Now, I'll shop around a bit more and maybe get a bag with better warranty coverage.


Welcome to Flyertalk, and see post #9 on this thread. ;)

I love the Costco Kirkland 22" bags. Usually quite sturdy, but after being stuffed with 32k on most trips, they eventually have problems.

Had one just last month that was sticking when collapsing the handle. No problem. Took it back, and got a new one. I just wish they'd have colors again. Tired of black.

I don't need fancy luggage, just something sturdy. I'd never pay an arm and a leg for luggage that the manufacturer just tries to weasel out of fixing.