We’re on the road every single day and so is our travel luggage. Since 2010 that luggage has been a Briggs & Riley Travelware BRX 22″ Explore upright rolling bag. Over the past 1,300+ days of full-time travel through every country in Central America, plus Colombia and Ecuador in South America, our bag has been packed, unpacked, and overpacked, tossed in the truck, dragged out of the truck, wheeled through gravel and mud, banged up and down stairs, left alone in dingy hostels, nestled into five-star hotel rooms, dumped into water taxis, and left out in the rain and the blazing sun.
Our beloved Briggs & Riley luggage on a boat on its way to visit the Kuna people and Yandup Island Lodge in Panama.
One of the things that attracted us to Briggs & Riley in the first place (besides the fact that the company claims to have invented the concept of rolling luggage) is their lifetime guarantee which states that “If your Briggs & Riley bag is ever broken or damaged we will repair it free of charge, no proof of purchase necessary, no questions asked.”
Putting the Briggs & Riley Lifetime Warranty to the test
After faithfully hauling our stuff through 11 countries, the handle on our Briggs & Riley no longer collapsed all the way, a zipper was getting stubborn, and the casing that covers the extendable handle on the bottom of the bag was cracked. So, during a recent brief visit back to the US, we put the Briggs & Riley Lifetime Warranty to the test.
There goes our Briggs & Riley bag, on its way to adventure at Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch in Belize.
You can send your Briggs & Riley bag to any one of the authorized repair centers listed in the directory on the Briggs & Riley website (there are centers across the US, Asia/Pacific region, Europe, and Canada). However, the company suggests that if major work is needed the bag should be returned to the factory, which is what we did.
First, we got a repair code off the Briggs & Riley website after filling out a short and easy form. Then we put our luggage and our repair code information into a box and sent it to the repair center. Shipping, which the owner pays, was about US$20. Less than two weeks later our bag was shipped back to us with a totally brand new handle system and cooperative zippers plus a note from Kevin, the repairman who worked on our bag.
And they’ll keep repairing our Briggs & Riley bag like that for life. In other words, there should be no reason to ever need to buy another piece of luggage ever again unless, of course, someone steals your awesome Briggs & Riley bag.
Interested? Buy this Trans-Americas Journey tested and approved luggage on Amazon.
In 2010 Briggs & Riley supplied a 22″ BRX Explore upright rolling bag for us to use and review out here on the road. Here’s our full review of that luggage, updated after a year of full-time use on the road.
Wow, that’s pretty amazing. And, I just checked out the Amazon link, and they’re not really any more expensive than most other similar bags. The one I currently own I paid about $120 for and, if it ever breaks, that’s pretty much it.
Will have to look into buying one of these when I need a new bag this summer. Thanks for the tip — and the test :)
That’s a compelling case for paying more for quality. Yeah, you paid more upfront, but you’ll make your money back over time!
yes but the guarantee is worthless because you must send the bag back for “inspection” and it will costs big bucks to ship the bag back. this is how they deter people from claiming the warrantee. The warrantee is worthless.
I just got off the line with Briggs & Riley. I have an 18 year old bag that has been repaired by them successfully twice in the past. They are now telling me that the bag is not repairable and are giving me two options: Buy a new bag for 50% off or get a “demo” bag that may have scratches. etc. Unfortunately, there is not a demo bag equivalent to mine available and they tell me it could be a week or months until one can be shipped. To make matters worse, my original bag cannot even be returned to me – I paid FedEx to ship it to Long Island so they could throw it in a dumpster. I have been faithfully telling everyone I know about the great quality and service on these bags for almost two decades, but I was dead wrong. Their Lifetime Guarantee is not.
Wow. You’re right. Even though your B&R bag was, admittedly, old and had been repeatedly repaired your experience, as described, is not a “lifetime” guarantee. We hope some amenable resolution can be worked out with the company directly.
well, well, well. I am faced with the same BS from them right now and I smell a big dead rat…
A “Lifetime Warranty” from just about every company, as I have learned, is for the “lifetime” of the _product_, which is at the discretion of the manufacturer to determine – not the lifetime of the _purchaser_. So it would be a mistake to think that “there should be no reason to ever need to buy another piece of luggage ever again.”
As you have unfortunately learned, the company decided that an 18 year old bag that they no longer make any more has reached the end of its “lifetime.” They were nice enough to offer you a discount, which they did not actually have to do, but it was kind of crummy that they didn’t tell you they couldn’t repair your bag before you paid FedEx to ship it to them.
I travel for business extensively. I own several B&R bags and have been using them for over 15 years. I bought their bags for the great guarantee, quality, etc. I used their repair service a few years ago and it was fine. In early April, I returned 2 bags for repair. I received a response that neither bag could be repaired and was offered new bags at 50% off or demo bags of similar value. What kind of a lifetime guarantee is that? It is now 2.5 months later and I still do not have replacement bags. On top of that, their customer service is awful. They take days or longer to respond. If you are considering buying their bags, beware. The guarantee is worthless. I suggest buying Tumi or another premium brand. B&R has lost my business forever.
20 years ago, when I started traveling a lot on business, I was excited to purchase a Briggs & Riley suitcase, primarily because of their lifetime warranty. After 5 or 6 years, one of the zippers on that $450 suitcase started pulling apart. At my cost, I sent the bag in for repair – hoping for a new zipper. What came back was a repaired zipper that failed again with the year. I sent the bag back a second time – with a note asking for a new zipper to be replaced, but it was returned that second time with the zipper merely repaired. And this repair lasted less than the first one. I threw that suitcase out and now rely on Samsonite suitcases – which I typically get 6-8 years out of.
Lifetime warranty – not.