The Briggs & Riley Warranty

I've been using Briggs & Riley luggage for over 10 years.  They're known for their lifetime guarantee: If the luggage ever breaks for any reason, they will repair it free-of-charge (other than shipping). I had never had occasion to test it until this year.

I decided to buy a new roll-aboard because on smaller planes my old 22" Briggs bag often couldn't fit in wheels-first, making it much harder to find room inside the cabin and forcing me to check it a couple of times. So I bought the U420 20" Carry-On prior to a trip in February, and for the first part of the trip it was great -- easy to use and fitting nicely into the overhead compartment. 

Like all Briggs & Riley bags, it's sturdy yet light, and the handle system is outside of the bag so the interior is flat and roomy. (I use a packing folder which fits neatly into this space, allowing me to travel for a week with just two small carry-on bags.) The pull-up handle has been rounded but retains the button on top making it easy to collapse with a single click. 

They've also added some thoughtful touches such as a small umbrella case on the outside, in the dead space inside of the handle frame:

The best thing about Briggs & Riley bags, though, has always been the way they're easy to steer with just a few fingers and have an agile, smooth-rolling feel. On a subsequent trip my plane was late in arriving and I literally had to run about 30 gates through the airport, reaching my connecting flight just as they closed the doors. With my smaller shoulder bag piggybacked onto my carry-on (which balances the weight of the second bag over the wheels), I was slowed more by the heavy traffic on the concourse than by dragging my bags.

It was on the return leg of that first trip that one of Briggs' new features first started to cause me problems. A noticeable rattle started to come from one of the wheels, though the bag actually continued to move smoothly. At first it was only apparent on carpet, and by the time I'd gotten to my house I'd forgotten it. The problem got worse with each trip and started coming from the other wheel too so I finally began examining the bag.

Briggs & Riley had designed new "quick-changing" wheels, making it easy to replace the wheels by removing the bolt with a hex key in it that holds each wheel in the housing. But though there didn't seem to be any damage or any missing parts, the wheels would rattle in the housings as they spun. There didn't appear to be any way to fix it and I'd always forget when I got home.

It was on my trip to Boston this month that the problem became acute enough for me to take action. On the trip up there, as I walked to my gate a guy in a pilot's uniform walking next to me kept giving me a fishy look.

Finally he asked, "Is that your bag or mine?"

"It's mine," I replied. "I just keep forgetting to get it fixed."

So when I got to my hotel that night I went to the Briggs & Riley web site. I decided to call the retail store where I bought it first, and they offered to send it back to the manufacturer if I paid the shipping. But then I noticed that not only are there service centers in Maryland, but they offer to send new wheels for self-repair.

When I got home I called the toll-free number and clearly this is a common problem because the service rep said they are working on redesigned wheels. I initially declined when she offered to send new wheels, figuring the problem would just recur since it happened so quickly, but she couldn't tell me when the new design would be done so I decided to have them shipped to me. 

The wheels arrived quickly last week and were indeed quick to change. Take out the bolt, push the old wheel out, put the new wheel in, and thread the bolt back through the center. I was done in 5 minutes and the new wheels don't rattle. 

Update (11/7/08): Briggs & Riley called today to say that the redesigned wheels are now ready and they will be shipping them to me next week.

Update (12/15/08): The wheels arrived in mid-November but I didn't get a chance to field-test them until this month. Although the change is very subtle (it seems the hub now has a brass fitting instead of steel) and actually makes a little more noise when spinning in the housing, the new wheels seem to have fixed the problem. At least on my trip to Phoenix I didn't hear any rattles at all so hopefully they'll stay that way.