A5Globetrotter

I know there are several posts talking about this and yes I have read them. However, sometimes tough to consolidate and get a definitive answer from those with experience.

For those that have dealt with the Tumi warranty given the non-lifetime policy, what have been your experiences? I know several individuals have spoken about B&R for rolling carryons, but not quite as keen on the style.

For context, I'm looking to purchase the Alpha International 20" and fly DL and AA (+ other carriers for int'l).

TravlnD

I had a bad Tumi warranty experience (wouldn't cover some damage on a bag that was clearly purchased when they had a lifetime warranty) but I've since purchased many Tumi items because I like the materials, look and functionality.

For check in, though, the no matter what type warranties on B&R, some Eagle Creek, etc. are valuable (and the style less important) so I don't think I would ever buy a Tumi check in item. I treat my carry on stuff well -- I don't think it is likely I will need repair, but I have no control over how items that are checked in get treated.

alphaod

I've never had a bag break, except for a Samsonite with a wheel that was deformed (I fixed this one with a hammer; a bit wobbly, but it rolls now).

I don't buy based on warranty; I buy based on design, materials, how easy it is to pack.

mspreh

I have never had a carryon Tumi product fail on me, and they have held up on the wear and tear much better than anything I owned previously. They pretty much all look brand new even though my primary bag is 7 years old with at least 150 round trip flights (plus another 50 or so roundtrip connections).

I was actually logging on, to post this story. We just hired a new person on our Marketing team, so she accompanied me on a trip to Milan, we just got back last night. She had a brand new Briggs Torq (2nd trip with the bag), it was the medium size. Upon landing in Milan, she got her checked bag, and we were off. When we met our drive, he asked to take her bag, she pushed it over to him, and a little fumble occurred on the hand-off. Her Torq tipped over, and two of the four wheel casings fell out (re-enforced corner areas with black hard plastic). The driver carried her bag to the car then, as it would no longer roll.

She then looked up the information on repair, and no repair centers in Milan, she contacted Briggs, and the best they could do was tell her to send it in, and they would send it back to her home. Needless to say, she was out the shipping on the bag from Milan to Zurich (122 Euros). She might get her bag back in the US sometime in January they told her. She also had to purchase a new bag to get her belongings safely back home.

So what does her lifetime warranty get her?

Another reason why a lifetime warranty doesn't really help, when if you fly 100% direct flights, at least 50% of the failures will happen while you are gone, and you need luggage to get you back home.

AATrout

I started a short discussion on Tumi warranty/customer service a few months ago. For an out-of-warranty bag that needed to be fixed. In the end, although it was a pain to get the parts they were not terribly expensive - for $25 I got new wheel assemblies, corner guards, the skid plate and wear strips for an Alpha carry-on suiter. I did the repairs myself. It was probably faster then sending it in, under warranty or otherwise. But as you'll read it was a convoluted process to get the parts. Once I got to the right person it went pretty well.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...countdown.html

Wheeled bags are the only Tumi products I've had that needed service - and never the fabric or zippers. Just the parts described above.

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.

mspreh

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.

Filmbuff

well, that's one way that she choose to handle it though i would have done it differently.

since the bag was structurally still sound, albeit non-mobile, it sounds like it might have been still usable for the return leg. even if it was not, bring the damaged bag home via paying the [2nd] checked luggage fee and sending it in repair domestically. then it would have a merely a matter of finding the cheapest replacement suitcase/laundry bag/duffel to tide her over for the trip. a large no-name duffel bag is relatively cheap in most any place...<30 euros would probably have covered it.

there are some advantages to having a lifetime warranty and it's not entirely a marketing gimmick if you have a reputable brand standing behind it and you are willing to deal with damaged luggage emergencies appropriately.

mspreh

She did look at that, but after getting the Bag Home, Briggs was going to make her pay for the shipping of her bag to New York, plus she needs a bag until her bag would be shipped back. I think the biggest hurdle was her thinking about lugging 40lbs of her belongings around, plus a empty broken bag when she only weighs (in my estimate) 110-115lbs. I would have helped, but still it wouldn't have been a fun experience, and would have required extra tips for the bellman, driver, and trying to find a cart at the Milan airport, then a cart at JFK (if they have them in the customs area, I don't remember). So the extra bag fee $50, shipping the broken bag from MN to NY, at least $35. No bag for her trip this week, nor the next few weeks???

I think she made the best decision based on her situation.

In the end, she spent a lot of money, and she put in a lot of effort to rectify the situation. Your method would have taken much more effort, and still had $85 in costs or more, plus then needing the bellman in Milan (5 euro tip, driver would need a bigger tip 5 more euros, and finding smart carts in Milan, JFK, and MSP, another $5). Since she still would need the luggage she bought to get around for then next month or so until she gets her bag back.

You might be an exception, but the statistics are that almost all of the warranty claims will come in the first year or two, then they become almost statistically irrelevant. So having a lifetime warranty, might make you feel good when you buy it, but it doesn't do much for you.

Have you ever had a warranty claim after the 1st or 2nd year on a piece of luggage?

tcollins33

I agree with this analysis.

This is similar to the scene in "Tommy Boy" where Tommy essentially tells the guy that he can put excrement in a box and put a guarantee on it. It'll make you feel like the guarantee fairy is protecting you, but really all you bought was excrement with a guarantee.

I had a situation this past Spring where half way through a two week European trip my "lifetime guarantee" luggage became damaged. I was able to deal with it and get it home, but it was toast by the time I landed back in PIT. The piece is 12 years old and it's not worth going through the hassle to get it fixed. Hopefully the piece I bought to replace it will last as long.

/FYI...I bought a Tumi T-Tech Cargo Medium Trip bag

Filmbuff

FYI: running it thru the USPS calculator, shipping from MN to BR's repair center in NY would be $25.

i've had damaged/broken luggage happen twice - both times were after the the limited warranty (1-2 yrs) expired and both were on the return leg of the trips. a third bag (24" american tourister duffel) made out of lighter weight cordura nylon showed stress and frayed fabric around the circumference of the bag after just one trip - i would probably think twice about using it again as a checked bag if i really needed to depend on it.

i've never had a piece of luggage fail during the 1st or 2nd year of ownership but i tend to look at purchases for the long-term when it makes sense.

for example, i wouldn't look for a lifetime replacement warranty for a carry-on bag, ie. it's not going to get handled roughly and [potential] on-board size restriction & weight changes and continued innovation (the materials used & construction) could mean that i might only want to keep that carry-on bag for 5-8 years before getting a new one, whereas checked bags are more likely to be kept for longer terms.

nowadays, i try to travel as light as possible using a 20"-22" carry-on generally and the only guaranteed times that i'll take a checked bag with me would be on ski trips or an extended cruise. i bought a lightly used BR medium duffel (MSRP $420, i paid $120) about 6 months ago which will be my main checked bag going forward and i expect to get many years out of it and will hold BR on their lifetime repair/replacement should the bag ever get damaged or through long term wear-n-tear.

i would be reluctant to spend upwards of $250+ or more on a piece of checked luggage if it's going to get frequent use without a *substantial* warranty behind it. i certainly wouldn't count Tumi's limited warranty as substantial by any means.

it's true that a lifetime warranty may not help if you have a luggage 'emergency' mid-trip and far from home, but imo, it's an acceptably smaller risk. YMMV.

mspreh

I think we need to renegotiate our shipping rates if you can do it for $25, as a distributor we ship about 2500 small parcel items per day, and we have negotiated rates with USPS, and UPS. I can't ship anything that large for $25 to NY no matter how I try to do it, and we are more than 30% off of list rates with UPS, and 18% off public USPS rates. I went to the public site, and an item that size can only ship standard post and would cost $91.83 to ship via USPS. Even with our company discount it would be more than triple your $25, sorry but you are full of it, or you don't know how to use a shipping calculator (box dimensions, and the weight of the cardboard, tape, and packing material to fit the suitcase).

You are a statistical oddity, the odds of you defying everything that we know to be true for the industry, every time you stated, would put your odds of winning Powerball at a greater percentage than having everything happen the way you are claiming it to be.

.32 on a return trip 0.8% defect rate after 24 months = 0.008 Divided by the average life of bag 1, and then divided by the average life of bag 2 (gives the ability for it to happen on a per trip basis), which is what we need to compare to buying a lottery ticket.

0.32 x 0.32 x 0.008 x 0.008 / 44 trips(bag1) /44(bag2) (average number of trips a checked bag will take in it's lifetime industry standards) = 3.3851239e-09 or that would be about 1 in 300 Billion. So if you bought 1 Powerball ticket each time you flew, your odds of winning the Jackpot would be just short of two times that of what happened to you, in your story.

Sorry I now, no longer find your words or story credible. I do believe the warranty makes you feel better, and I take my hat off to the marketing people for giving you a positive feeling.

Best of luck to you.

pittpanther

In regards to the person who's bag broke in Milan...

It seems that the wheels fell off, but the bag was still functional. Instead of buying a replacement bag in Milan(!) and now having to carry two bags home, why not use the non-rolling bag to get home? It still functions as a suitcase, but might require some additional handling when leaving the hotel and at the airport.

Shipping in the USA, plus the cost of the "additional handling" (bellhops and such) would certainly not added up to 2/3 the cost of the original bag. Plus she wouldn't have been under pressure to buy a replacement bag immediately in an expensive place like Milan.

But as you guys are saying back and forth, when a bag fails during a trip you are going to have some kind of a hassle, no matter what kind of bag, no matter how much you spent, no matter what kind of warranty. That hassle will be either trying to get to TJ Maxx to replace your $40 bag, or trying to convince the airline to pay for your cracked $600 Rimowa, or taking the time to ship your B&R somewhere and having to buy a replacement bag in the meantime.

N1120A

The whole "a great warranty is just marketing hooey" argument doesn't go anywhere with me. If a company is going to take the financial risk of a "no matter what" warranty, they will focus on quality, so they don't have to fix/replace bags constantly. Therefore, you would think such bags would be less likely to fall apart when away from home.

That said, you have a problem no matter what when a bag breaks away from home. Whether that's a bag with a limited warranty, like Tumi, or an unlimited warranty, like B&R or Red Oxx, doesn't change things. The difference is that the Tumi will cost a fortune to fix/replace, and the B&R or Red Oxx won't.

Filmbuff

they say a picture is worth a thousand words...not sure why photobucket isn't giving me the IMG code but below is the screenshot of the USPS calculator when i input the zip codes, weight, and size dimensions, but as you can see the quote is $24.92
[i took the libery of using Minneapolis as the shipping origin since the only info that you supplied was that she lived in MN and that city readily came to mind.]

http://s80.photobucket.com/user/gt55...tml?sort=3&o=0

i'm no genius at math but i think something is seriously wrong with your analysis if you're asserting that the two times that i've had damaged luggage somehow is statistically less probable then winning the Powerball. if only i were so lucky and could win Powerball so easily!

nowhere in that equation do you account for the number of times i've used the bag that got damaged, how many times per year the bag was used, how long i've used the bag, or other factors that i would think you would need to arrive at a proper analysis, yes?!

lastly, i don't appreciate that you're insinuating that i'm lying or fabricating information. i think that i've got better thing to do with my time than making up facts to participate on a thread like this one, on a travel forum of all places.

take a deep breath and relax, man.

ps. then after you''ve calmed down, run those numbers by someone who knows statistics because you're way off, somewhere.