Has anyone had experience with Briggs & Riley’s warranty? Do they really repair the bag if the airline damages it? I'm looking for a new piece of luggage, and I want to make sure I buy one that can be repaired if it's damaged while traveling.
Programs: United, American, Southwest, USAirways, Delta
Posts: 153
Warranty Looks Good, but...
Like any warranty, you have to be willing to be without your bag for a while (several weeks?).
Imagine you leave for a trip, and on the first leg your bag is damaged and will no longer close (zipper torn open). Sure, once you get home you can send your bag in for repair, but what do you do while you are on your trip? You will have to buy a replacement bag anyway, in order to get home. So now you're out the cost of the replacement bag, plus the shipping costs to return the bag to B&R. And now you are without your bag for the next few days/weeks until B&R returns it.
Of course, once the bag is returned, I'm sure it will be in great shape. In addition to the main repair, they will probably fix other minor problems they find, and would probably even clean and recondition the bag.
Only you can decide just how valuable a warranty like this is for you and your travel patterns.
Thanks for your feedback! I never thought about the time lag to get the bag back, but it's worth it to me if the piece comes back perfectly. The shipping charge is worth it to me because it's so small compared to what it would cost to buy a completely new piece. I do have a back-up suitcase that I can use in case I need to bring an extra piece of luggage or loan one to a family member, so at least I will have that while the B&R would be getting fixed.
Imagine you leave for a trip, and on the first leg your bag is damaged and will no longer close (zipper torn open). Sure, once you get home you can send your bag in for repair, but what do you do while you are on your trip? You will have to buy a replacement bag anyway, in order to get home. So now you're out the cost of the replacement bag
You buy a crappy sidewalk bag for $20 or whatever, just big enough to fit your B&R bag into. You use that till you get home, sort of a "shell" to protect it. As there is an authorized repair center four blocks from where I'm sitting at my desk, i'd bring the broken bag in when I got home, and pick it up there when it's fixed.
From all I've heard, the BR warranty is worth gold, so to say. Your profile doesn't say where you are located. In many cases this is helpful on FT, so you might want to change it. You can check out repair centers on the BR website, I think. They should have a dealer and or repair center in every major city. There you can bring the bag in and pick it up, like Mike said. Turn-around is usually less than several weeks for these repair centers.
Also a good tip of putting the BR in a cheap shell or even securing it with duct tape or cellophane if it breaks during a trip.
That said, these things are built so well that I see not much risk of one breaking if it is used normally. It is important to not overpack (hard anyway with the 50lb limit) and to not drag a wheeled bag up or down stairs or curbs holding it on the extension handle. A lot of people do that and that's how the wheels and handles break. it would be possible to engineer a bag that can withstand such stupidity but it would weigh probably 4lbs more. Thus the BR warranty is extremely generous because it includes airline damage and people stupidity. Boyt and Eagle Creek (on some bags) have a similar warranty.
From all I've heard, the BR warranty is worth gold...Thus the BR warranty is extremely generous because it includes airline damage and people stupidity. Boyt and Eagle Creek (on some bags) have a similar warranty.
+1 . I have many BR products, never needed to invoke their warranty so far, but have heard many positive reports.
Someone I know got their 25 year old Boyt suitcase replaced by a new one not so long ago. I value such commitment. Another company that appears to stand behind its products "no questions asked" is Red Oxx.
Right on about Redoxx. Excellent stuff. Most likely you won't ever need the warranty. I just didn't mention them because they don't make wheeled bags and Emma wanted a wheelie.
It's a bit of a struggle because some don't like the system or the bag selection but it's an interesting read nonetheless.
One of the criteria of course is the warranty. I gave BR 100 points and Redoxx "only" 98 points.
Why? Because BR is the bigger company and has been around for longer. One aspect of life-time warranties is that if the company goes under, the warranty goes with it; just take the Andiamo example. Great warranty but unfortunately they went under. I sure hope that doesn't happen to Redoxx. The other reason is that with Redoxx you need to send the bag to them. BR has repair centers in a lot of major cities. That makes things more convenient.
Programs: United, American, Southwest, USAirways, Delta
Posts: 153
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfar
RBR has repair centers in a lot of major cities. That makes things more convenient.
I checked on the B&R website, and I guess I live/have lived in problematic areas for B&R return centers:
- None in or near Philadelphia!
- Only one in all of Chicago - none in the city (the only service center was Mount Prospect, a 30-45 minute drive each way from Chicago)
- none in MS or AL (no surprise) but none in New Orleans either (closest "deep south" facility isin Lafayette, LA, probably 200 miles from NOLA)
Not complaining (they can't have a service center everywhere), but suggest you check for local service centers if you are planning to avoid the shipping fees.
I checked on the B&R website, and I guess I live/have lived in problematic areas for B&R return centers:
- None in or near Philadelphia!
- Only one in all of Chicago - none in the city (the only service center was Mount Prospect, a 30-45 minute drive each way from Chicago)
- none in MS or AL (no surprise) but none in New Orleans either (closest "deep south" facility isin Lafayette, LA, probably 200 miles from NOLA)
Not complaining (they can't have a service center everywhere), but suggest you check for local service centers if you are planning to avoid the shipping fees.
Indeed. Of course, one should check for local service centers. But there is also the chance that you can bring the bag in to a local DEALER who will then send it to BR free of charge. It won't be repaired in-situ but you still might not need to pay. Of course, it helps if you actually bought the bag there.
You will have zero problems with the B&R warranty. If the local repair places cannot handle your repair, you can call B&R and get a return order number. You will pay for the shipping the one way to the factory. I received my suitcases back with the repairs I asked for and the entire bags had been upgraded with new hardware. For example the B&R 22" used to have expansion locks that were activated by applying outward pressure. This was sometimes inconvenient because your shoes would activate the expansion release. They switched out hardware to an updated release which I did not even know of that required vertical pressure which cannot be opened by my clothes.
You will have zero problems with the B&R warranty. If the local repair places cannot handle your repair, you can call B&R and get a return order number. You will pay for the shipping the one way to the factory. I received my suitcases back with the repairs I asked for and the entire bags had been upgraded with new hardware. For example the B&R 22" used to have expansion locks that were activated by applying outward pressure. This was sometimes inconvenient because your shoes would activate the expansion release. They switched out hardware to an updated release which I did not even know of that required vertical pressure which cannot be opened by my clothes.
+1
And I'll add that in addition to repairing things I didn't even ask for, they did it very quickly by mail. I sent the bag out on a Monday, with a trip coming up that Saturday. I was expecting to be without my bag for the trip (and another week or two beyond). My bag arrived back on Friday. So outbound, repair, and return took 4 days. That's probably atypical, and I was sending the bag from PHL to their east coast center; nevertheless, I was impressed.
Programs: AC*E, UA Milage Plus, Delta Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 401
I used to go through luggage so quickly that I decided to just spend the money and buy a couple briggs bags and they have been amazing! I don't think ill buy anything else.
. I have many BR products, never needed to invoke their warranty so far, but have heard many positive reports.
