Back in 2019 I bought my first RIMOWA bag, a medium-sized check-in Original which is part of their aluminum series. Since then I’ve fallen more in love with the brand and ended up purchasing two more, a cabin version of the bag and a large check-in.
I bought the large bag recently, back in October when I was in Europe. I ended up shopping a lot more than I expected and so couldn’t fit all my stuff in my medium-sized bag and so decided to buy the large one to match my other two. I used the bag once on that trip to fly back to Kuwait, and then I used it again when I went to Istanbul last month.
When I got to Istanbul I removed the sticky luggage tag from the handle and noticed the paint peeled off the handle. I don’t mind my bag getting dented and scratched up, it’s part of the reason I got a metal suitcase to begin with, but paint peeling off the plastic handle just looked bad. It was also weird because it didn’t happen with my other two bags which I’ve owned for longer and traveled with a lot more. I figured it must be a production issue so once I got back to Kuwait I shot off an email to customer support on the main RIMOWA website to get the problem sorted under warranty.
In less than 24 hours I got a response back from RIMOWA asking for my bag’s serial number as well as asking me some questions and if I could share a photo. Then the next day I got a phone call from the RIMOWA dealer in Kuwait who were super nice and asked me to drop off the bag whenever I was free to their store in Avenues. When I did drop the bag off they even offered to fix the dents on my bag which I told them to not to. A day or two later I got a call back telling me the bag was ready to pick up, they had replaced the handle with a new one.
It was super easy, probably the easiest warranty fix experience I’ve ever had with any brand which is why I wanted to write about it. After living with the RIMOWA bags for a few years now, and after having dealt with the local dealer, I can’t recommend the brand enough. No competition, they’re the best travel luggage you can get.
18 replies on “RIMOWA After-Sales Service Review”
What did you shop from Europe? *curious cat*
Mostly clothes and ceramics
After living with $150 luggage for years, I can say there indeed is competition for 1/5th of the price.
Yeah but how does it look and feel? It’s not just about not breaking.
Why does it matter, it’s not like I’ll be taking it in bed with me. 😀
lol well depends if you’re into objectophilia or not
Are they into customizing the bags with monograms and all ?
https://www.dior.com/en_gb/products/couture-1DRTR002YWZ_H31E-DIOR-and-RIMOWA-Cabin-Suitcase-
Best comment !
Someone please give her a cookie…
you can take me though 😛
Does Goyard retail in Koweit ?
Nope
I prioritize practicality/value for money more than look and feel. I also travel only once a year. To each his own I guess.
well well well, you know its Marky Boy,
Mans got some Big Bucks to Blow 😉
Can you do a quick compare and contrast between Tumi & Rimowa ?
I kinda did in my post “Goodbye Tumi, Hello Rimowa” https://248am.com/mark/travel/goodby-tumi-hello-rimowa/ but i’ll go into more detail here.
Basically, I had my Tumi for around 10 years and it was bulletproof. I took it everywhere and it ate up so much abuse. The only thing really that went bad were the wheels, the rubber around the tires started falling apart but wheels are the weakest part of any bag and so it’s common for them to fail, no matter the brand, even Rimowa. I don’t know if my Tumi wheels could have been swapped out or not but the model I had was discontinued and newer Tumi bags use different wheels so figured probably not (but I didn’t check).
So you can’t go wrong with Tumi. I just think the Rimowa bags look much nicer (new Tumi models are too busy) and they’re also super accessible for repairs. If my wheels on the Rimowa break, I know I can just drop it off at any Rimowa store around the world and they’d get it repaired for me. If you go into Rimowa stores in Europe, you sometimes find suitcases from the 70s and 80s that are in for repairs. They don’t want you to keep having to buy new bags, they want you to own your bag for as long as possible so the after-sales service is great. I like that.
I just travelled with 2 rimowa bags for the first time. They definitely look amazing, however they’re not practical at all for travel. You can barely fit anything inside and if you do manage that, good luck locking the case.
I’d only recommend this if you’re a super light packer or going on short trips.
Like every bag manufacturer their bags come in different sizes and looks like you just got the wrong size. The medium is perfect for me for short trips and the large for week longer trips. For a multiple-week stays, I’d take both the medium and large. If the large isn’t large enough for you then they have the trunk size, if the trunk still isn’t enough for you then you have the trunk plus which is 101L, and the trunk XL thats 130L!