I recently sent in a Tumi T-Tech backpack I used for work. Over time the bag material began to fray which made it look “not-so-professional”. I could live with that but when a zipper broke on one of the main compartments I had to send it in for repair. I took it to Portland Luggage and for $15 they sent it in for me. Portland Luggage didn’t guarantee me Tumi would do anything though and tried to sell me a Briggs and Riley.

I have owned a Briggs and Riley before and liked it, but decided to wait and see what Tumi would do for me. The bag that I sent in costs ~$300. Tumi said that bag was warranted for only 3 years and that time was up. Needless to say I wasn’t happy (but was happy I didn’t pay retail for the bag initially). They didn’t end up doing much – they told me they couldn’t repair the bag (a zipper?! come on!) and offered me a 30% discount on a new bag. I told them I didn’t feel like spending money on a new bag every three years so asked them to simply ship the bag back to me/Portland Luggage. Buyer beware – make sure you know your warranty duration (Briggs and Riley’s is lifetime). Based on Tumi’s and their response to my repair request I will never be buying a piece of their luggage again and will recommend Briggs and Riley instead (that bag worked very well when I owned it).

FYI: Tumi # I called –> 800-322-8864, for repair press 3

I haven’t ever really been a fan of Apple, especially since they limit expandability (e.g. support for memory cards in the iPhone).  Granted, Apple “stuff” (e.g. software) works well and that’s a major reason for people loving what Apple produces.  That being said, as I watched the phenomenal mega biggy uber long crazy tennis Wimbledon match this morning I saw an Apple commercial highlighting the new iPhone’s ability to cut, copy, and paste.  I laughed.  Are you kidding me?  This is a feature worthy of a commercial?  My Blackberry has had the copy and paste feature for over 2 years.  Here’s the commercial showing “incredible things”:

Overview of new shuffle: Apple – iPod shuffle – The first mp3 player that talks to you

Perhaps it is just me, but a mandatory mating of a device to use a specific set of headphones?  It would seem that many people would want to periodically use another set of headphones for a variety of reasons.  Is “Voice Over” innovative?  Not so much – the technology has been around for a long time and I’d question the value of it telling the user the song name.  Do most people not know the songs on their iPod?  C’mon Steve, is this along the lines of the sub-par iPods (e.g. no bluetooth in iPods?!) that are produced?  …or perhaps the inability to upgrade memory in all Apple iPod-like devices.  Then again, Apple has done well in the recent-past, and perhaps behavioral economics will prove me wrong – i.e. being cool, fasionable, and simple rules the consumer market.