I must admit, I couldn't fault Rimowa when I took my case in. The handle had come away from the bag (as clearly it had landed on the handle!) and a small crack had appeared. They were going to fix it (easy job, they said), but they just replaced the entire suitcase instead - I'd been using it for over a year, too.

It might be cheaper to buy a lesser brand, but in the case of my July case, when that broke, it was a case of 'mail it to Australia for repair' which was so cost-ineffective, I had to write off the case, despite them making a big deal about their 'Lifetime Warranty' Luggage - Limited Lifetime Warranty (july.com)

At least with Rimowa you can walk into one of their stores and get it repaired in person!