Originally Posted by
Filmbuff
>>at least 50% of the failures will happen while you are gone
i'd love to know where you pulled that number from, but i can probably guess.
as for your coworker, had the failed bag been a Tumi, she would have had to send it to Germany instead of Switzerland. not much difference, i think.
Tumi used to have a lifetime warranty. now, they only offer an unconditional replacement for only the first year. there must have been a reason why they stopped.
i would not base a purchase on solely whether the bag came with a lifetime warranty, especially if the bag will be used primarily as a carry-on but there's no denying that if all things are equal, the lifetime replacement is a nice little extra.
ps. i have both tumi and B&R bags hence no dog in this fight.
Since you really would love to know where I got my numbers from, here you go. Probably more information than you really want, or need.
Well the company I work for specializes in sporting goods. One of our largest product segments we source, QC, and distribute for over 20 brands in the U.S. Gear and Duffle bags. We are members of the Travel Goods Association.
According to the information presented last spring at the Travel Goods Association we know the following. If you are only on direct flights, and you are talking about luggage used for flying, then half of the failures would happen while away, then other half upon your return. But according the research presented at the last Travel Goods Association, the speaker said that 14% of travel is multi-destinational, and that they believe 68% of failures occur while on the trip, and only 32% happen when arriving back at home. So the numbers I used of over half, are conservative compared to the numbers from the industry.
I had typed up a long explanation on why Tumi probably terminated it's policy, but in short I am sure it has to do with Marketing and their Marketing has been extremely effective, if you want to view their public Annual Report.
I am not saying Tumi is the best bag, I just gave an opinion on what I have for a Tumi experience, and then the reasons not to buy into the Lifetime warranty marketing gimmick. The best thing I can say is buy a bag that you like the look, functionality, and what you think will hold up to the travels you are going to put it through. From our perspective, bags that are defective from either materials or workmanship will show up much sooner than later, as less than 0.1% of warranty claims come after 24 months on bags that we are associated with that have 3, 5, or 7 year warranties.
Briggs makes high quality, but so do others, and if you are counting on a warranty regardless of how long it lasts, 1, 3, 5, 10 or lifetime the odds are it if it fails, it will be while you are away, which then will cost you a lot of time, effort, and money to rectify it with a warranty, so what is that warranty really worth?
For my co-worker/employee, it cost her roughly 60% of the new bags value, to ship it for warranty, and get a temporary bag to use until hers comes back from repair and a date yet to be determined. This could have happened to any bag, at this point and still had the issue with the warranty, so yes shipping to Germany would have been just as bad, if not worse. My statement is only about how counting on the warranty is most likely not the best thing to do.