I've got a Samsonite hard shell which has started falling apart after six years of travel, to the point that it's completely unusable. Cracked shell, disintegrated zipper, big chunks of the wheels missing... took it to a Samsonite store in Medellin, Colombia. A week later they called back asking for around 270,000 pesos (roughly $95) to fix everything. Same usual line about airline damage, and then they just went through line-by-line on each thing that was broken and how much it would cost to fix. I gave them tfar's very good line that this baggage should have been built to withstand the rigors of air travel, demanded a written analysis of each problem with an explanation of each specific thing was airline damage and not a manufacturing defect, and told them I would be filing a complaint with the Grupo de Defensa del Consumidor (Colombian consumer protection agency).

One week later, they called back again offering to fix everything for 60,000 pesos (a bit over $20). I agreed, got the bag back a month later good as new! They did such a good job with the repairs that I can't find where the original problems were. (Makes me wonder if they just gave me a different bag...)

So, moral of the story: Don't take no for an answer, push back hard, you'll get what you want.