RichardInSF

When a plastic part broke, I was surprised to read it's only for 5 years. I recalled a stronger; i.e., lifetime commitment -- how recent is this?

Also, after the first year, you have to pay shipping to Tumi and possibly return shipping as well if they decide it's not covered under the warranty. If you lost the box it came in, you have to get one on your own. Or you can pay a dealer $15 (non-roller) or $25 (roller) for them to ship it to Tumi.

Lots weaker warranty than I would expect from a quality brand.

oldpenny16

The most recent time I sent a Tumi product in for repair it was returned with a warning: basically we are doing you a favor this time.....etc.

Haven't bought anything Tumi since.

cordelli

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-warranty.html

Their reason, which I think is just silly

We have never seen a product problem due to a manufacturing defect show up after five years of use

RichardInSF

They had me read the serial number which told them that my piece was manufactured in 2005, so it would probably still be covered under the old warranty or within the 5 year period.

Of course, as we all realize, if they have never seen a warranty problem after five years, then it would cost them nothing to make it unlimited! I guess Tumi hired some airline FF program "enhancement" specialists.

Given that Tumi has cut out all discount outlets from carrying their brand, presumably to protect retail markups, this warranty reduction sends a really bad message to me. In addition, they used to have local places I could go to for repairs, now it appears most everything requires sending back to base -- paying $25 for shipping after a year.

So no more Tumi for me, I guess only their prices are upscale.

aktchi

Switch to Briggs & Riley.

michelleclark

+1 for B&R. Check their lifetime warranty page @ http://www.briggs-riley.com/simple-a...time-warranty/. I believe they are pretty clear when they mention – “Just call your nearest Authorized Repair Center, no repair number is needed. You can find an Authorized Repair Center here on our website. Please note that you are responsible for any freight charges incurred when shipping your bag to a repair center.”

RichardInSF

dup, sorry

RichardInSF

My #1 rule is that a suitcase will always break down when I am on a trip, at least 5,000 miles from home, and far from any warranty repair center. I've needed urgent repairs in at least Stockholm, Tokyo, and Manila.

So I pick a case that is easy and quick to repair locally, even if not under warranty. One big way to get this is to buy a case held together with bolts rather than brads, so it can be mostly disassembled and assembled with only a screwdriver. Until recently, B&R didn't do this but now they do on some lines. Hartmann and (the late) Andiamo do too. Forget TravelPro, Swiss Army, and cheaper brands like Samsonite, Delsey, etc. Quality of construction is way more important than a label, especially one like Vuitton that yells out "steal me."

Shipping to the B&R repair center isn't a big deal for me since luckily I live about a 40 minute drive from Half Moon Bay airport, the obscure location where it is located.

wolf539

I just returned from a trip to SE Asia during which Thai Airways managed to snap off the retractable handle on my checked Tumi. Imagine my surprise when I saw it coming down the baggage carousel in BKK with the handle taped to the bag, and the retractable rod extended! With some fiddling I was able to get the rod to collapse back into the bag (where it remains to this day). I filed a claim with Thai and they claim they will pay for repairs, or "fair replacement value". Should be interesting to see how it plays out...

Needless to say I spent the rest of my trip pushing luggage carts through airports throughout the region!

Global_Hi_Flyer

Since when? I bought Tumi Tech roller bag at Costco in December. Didn't look last time I was there, but any change must be very recent.

I agree. I wasn't going to buy Tumi this time around - didn't see the value relative to pricing on Costco's Kirkland brand - but the pricing at Costco ended up to be a relatively small premium and the Costco/Kirkland was out of stock.

tfar

Easy repairability is very important. I don't know for the other Travelpro lines but my TP Plat5 is put together with screws entirely. You only need an Allen screwdriver to dismantle the thing, especially wheels and handles.

Till

azepine00

Not at all. Every single Tumi I bought (and we have quite a few of both Tumi and TTech) came from a discounter for at least 40% off retail.
Costco was the best given the return policy but I also got them from Nordstrom Rack, TJMaxx, Tumi outlet and probably a few others...

I probably don't care that much about warranty beyond 5 yrs as by then I'll want a newer design anyways.

Jaimito Cartero

Costco has been carrying Tumi in a number of branches. I would certainly put them in the discount category.

I saw a lot of Tumi products in Shenzhen when I was luggage shopping for a cheap big bags in January. All knockoffs, of course, but at least you won't pay top dollar and get excuses when stuff breaks later on.

I really like Costco bags, and have returned them many years after I bought them. I know there have been some problems with the latest bags being a little too big for the overheads, but I own 4 different bags and really like them.

RichardInSF

When I say Tumi has cut off discounters, I mean recently -- starting in the last 12 months or so. Before then Tumi was readily available everywhere at discount. The Tumi outlets still exist (although I can't find them listed on the Tumi website) but the only ones west of the Mississippi are in the SoCal desert, Houston, and Honolulu. It seems like a deliberate unstated change, clearly to preserve retail prices and hence image -- directly contradictory to the service degradation.

It's great to hear that TP Plat 5 also has screws rather than brads, another one to add to the list.

jbcarioca

I have had several Tumi products. All of them had defects within the first two years, and all were bought before they reduced coverage. They never, ever repaired anything I sent under warranty, five items, but told me the product had been discontinued so I could have 50% off my choice of a new Tumi, because they no longer had parts for the old one. One of them, a 20" carryon, was in stock at my local luggage store, same model. The wheels had broken on the original. I bought the "new" one, and the wheels promptly broke on that one also. I no longer advocate Tumi. They're dishonest!