Shopping for luggage is never an easy task—you’re bombarded with different styles, colors, and sizes. There’s many kinds of durability, and depending on how often you travel, this may play an important role in which brand of luggage you purchase. One thing you should never have to worry about when standing in a store, is what happens if your luggage is damaged. Many companies offer a lifetime promise, and luckily Briggs & Riley is one of them.
Briggs and Riley promises to repair any major damage to your luggage for the entire lifetime of your bag. Their website doesn’t specify what constitutes damage over normal wear and tear, nor does it specify what the time frame is for the life of the bags. From the context of their statement, it seems that they will cover damage done to your bag due to traveling—and this includes things that are broken or damaged beyond what would normally happen after traveling a lot. As for the timeframe for a lifetime, it can be assumed that they mean the time in which the bag is in working condition. They also explain that they are unable to clean your bags for you. If you come back from a trip and your bags are dirty, it is your responsibility to get them cleaned.
This company also specifies that they are not responsible for baggage that’s been lost, or bags that have stolen, lost, or have damaged contents. In the case that you are in a situation with lost or stolen items or bags, you should contact the airline and find a claim with them. This is an option and is not required, though Briggs and Riley does not take responsibility for anything that is lost or damaged during the course of your flight.
In the case that you’re interested in having your luggage cared for after it was damaged or broken, keep in mind that you are responsible for paying for any shipping costs to have the bag sent over to the company. The company still requires in inspection done on the bag, at which time they reserve the right to deny your claim as normal “wear and tear.” As a curtesy though, they will ship the bag back to you for free.
If you find after a trip that your bag is in fact damaged or broken, and you send it in to the company to be repaired, keep in mind that sometimes the damage is so great that they will be unable to restore the bag to its original condition. If this is the case, the company does not promise a free replacement much like other companies do.
Though their promise carries for the lifetime of the luggage, there are a lot of situations that may cause this promise to fall short. Traveling is dangerous for suitcases and luggage, and often times inspections and transportation can cause damage to the bags themselves. This lifetime guarantee is a great promise, though keep in mind that even though it sounds pretty fantastic, you may find yourself without the coverage you think you have.