Lifetime backpack warranty

Michael As often mentioned in our newsletter, unlike German customers, American buyers do not let retailers make a fool of them. Stores are open when the customer has time to shop, not when it suits the noble sales staff to start working. If you don't like a product, you exchange it--no silly questions are asked, no drama with vouchers is performed; instead, you get your money back, and that's that.

But that's not all. Recently, after a full five years of heavy use, my backpack broke. Every weekday, I stuffed it full with a laptop and books and dragged it back and forth between Mountain View and San Francisco by bike and train. It was with me on all my travels, from Hawaii to Japan, from Washington to San Diego. And eventually, the zipper burst open. But I remembered that the manufacturer of the backpack, Briggs & Riley, at that time had offered a life long warranty on the backpack.

Now, this backpack was no longer available in their program, but I simply called the toll-free 1-800 number listed on the saved warranty card. And, lo and behold, customer service was happily willing to repair the item for free--I just had to send the backpack by mail to the repair service in Half Moon Bay. Shipping it cost about 4 dollars, and a few days later, the backpack came back perfectly repaired and with a new zipper at no cost. A really good store, this Briggs & Riley!