Rimowa

From Istanbul to Santorini to Podgorica and Tulum, my well traveled Rimowa has been a worthwhile investment.

When I was a younger traveler, I absolutely idealized Tumi. As I got older, I gradually purchased an Away set of luggage. Now, I have nothing against Away. However, certain things started getting on my nerves. The fact that the telescopic handle felt flimsy; the challenge with rolling over carpet and other minor annoyances kept piling up in my head.

I knew that I wanted something different – and I was open to seeing if Tumi. Until Food Bestie told me about the Rimowa suitcase he’d been interested in and researched.

The most important part to me was having an external access point for my computer. I didn’t like how much space it took up in my soft personal item carry on. Or, its additional weight. Plus, I wanted something a bit wider than the Away small suitcase. My focus was on a piece that comfortably fit in 99% of overhead storage space – with a gate check being the last option.

Curious, I looked at the specs online and called around to a few luggage stores to see what they had in stock. Within a few calls, I was able to get into contact with a delightful sales agent at the Rimowa store in South Coast Plaza – and was sold.

Later, the frame in my compression panel broke while I was packing up my things up in Costa Rica. Once I returned to the States, I visited the Beverly Hills store to see if they could fix my problem.

What I encountered at Beverly Hills was night and day different from South Coast Plaza.

Exceptional service.

I was also able to get a replacement luggage tag, get it hot stamped with my initials and a complimentary replacement compression panel in under 20 minutes.

-The Following is a Rant –

Now, the ONLY reason I went to the South Coast Plaza location was because they’d JUST THAT DAY received a shipment of two Continentals. Plus, the male sales associate I spoke to on the phone was so incredibly helpful and humorous.

However, when I got there – I’ll just say the customer service was less than desirable. The individual that helped me – due to the sales associate I’d spoken with earlier that day having finished their shift – outright lied to me about product availability regarding a packing cube.

First, it was confirmed that the San Francisco store had it and that it was confirmed that it would be shipped to me the next day. The next day came and I received a call that they didn’t have it. I was assured that she’d checked availability of all Rimowas in North America – and everyone was out. However, since I’d prepaid for the medium packing cube, she could send me another small cube and refund me the difference.

One thing about me – I don’t like mismatched sets. It would annoy me to no end to have a large, small and a small. When I asked what happened between the oral confirmation with San Francisco that evening vs the morning it was to be shipped to me – she didn’t have an answer.

Okay – but, something nagged at me that this wasn’t an 100% honest response.

I called other stores myself to check availability. This eventually (within two phone calls, mind you) led me to one of the Las Vegas locations. Yes, they had the item in stock. Of course, they would ship it to me after confirming with South Coast Plaza that I’d pre-purchased it. So, following procedure, Las Vegas called South Coast Plaza to confirm that I’d paid for it. Which led to the same sales associate I’d been dealing with, calling me back and saying “Congratulations, we found a cube.”

You didn’t find the cube. You said all of North America was out. I found it and they called you to confirm I’d prepaid for it before shipping it to me.

I was so annoyed at the lie the sales agent had told me that I looked up her regional manger on Linked In and came close to emailing them a strongly worded email about the customer service I received.

But then – I decided to be happy instead of right.

Would not, unless under dire circumstances, recommend going to the Irvine location. Beverly Hills is MUCH more of a bright, open, airy and personable experience.

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