When promises of an "icon" fail...

Not quite the experience I planned to have with my RIMOWA

I guess everyone in the aviation & travel industry knows the “iconic” RIMOWA suitcases. I saw them from early on in my career working for commercial airlines, until now being loaded onto our private jets or carried by our crew.

So am I the only one to have had such a disappointing first experience?

On LinkedIn RIMOWA promises:

“At RIMOWA we believe that great ambitions demand resilient companions. It’s why our tools are created with longevity in mind. Because the most meaningful journeys last more than a trip, they last a lifetime.”

More than a trip? A lifetime? No, not really! My brand-new Rimowa suitcase didn't even last one trip, in fact, it lasted little over 15 minutes, from taking it out of the car, carrying it as hand-luggage to the lounge, where the first signs appeared that something was not right with the telescope handle (Pic 1). By the time I was at the gate, the entire handle bar broke into pieces (Pic 2), and only with the help of the airline staff were we able to at least retract what was left of the telescope handlebar, so the bag could be checked-in. Long story short, I wanted to travel with hand-luggage because of my connecting flights in the US, but now had to check-in the bag instead, and then carry it everywhere because the handle bar was no longer usable.

I understand that things can break, and sometimes you are just unlucky, shit just happens. But what really disappointed me, was the customer service I received from RIMOWA when back in Milan. I expected that a RIMOWA store-manager understands the exceptional circumstances, when a brand-new suitcase that is supposed to last a lifetime, breaks apart on the first trip. So in my world, the most adequate service recovery solution would be to apologize for the inconvenience, exchange the suitcase with a new one, and the client probably walks-off satisfied with the solution.

But not at RIMOWA, here the service idea seems to be to first offer as little as possible to see if the client accepts it, and only offer better solutions if the client continues to complain. When my wife brought the suitcase back, they first just offered to repair the handle. When I wrote to them that this is unacceptable, that we want it exchanged and that all the scratches and dents have only been caused because I was unable to travel with hand-luggage only because their product failed, the store manager said that this is not possible and that scratches are “...in any case are our distinctive feature and are unavoidable consequences because the particular material”. Insisting again, they then offered to “change all the scratched corners for free so that it can be almost new, it is an exceptional thing”.

So, they prefer to send the suitcase to RIMOWA HQ to remove the scratches from the corners, which takes 3 weeks, and give me a loan suitcase in the meantime, rather than just exchange the suitcase and be done with it.

Maybe I was just unlucky, or maybe I missed the memo when RIMOWA announced to be moving strategy from quality suitcases for frequent travellers, to "never mind quality, as long as our product looks good on Insta posts of some Influencers".

When I get the repaired suitcase back, I will love travelling with it, but only because it is a birthday gift from my wife, surely not because it is a RIMOWA.