Rockland PTB419 Luggage Tote Bag, Black, One Size, 19-Inch

I purchased this as a Christmas gift. Cute bag, however, After only ONE use, the bag start too pull away from the zipped. No worries right because it has a three year warranty right. WRONG! THERE IS A $25 S/H charge. The bag was only $17.

I had originally purchased this bag (except that it is the black and white plaid design one) in late March 2011. I had left a positive review here on Amazon under that particular bag, but now I have run into a problem with the bag, and Amazon will not let me edit my review as they are not selling the design that I purchased at the moment. Therefore, although the design of this one is different, the brand, size, and features (two front pockets, two side pockets) are all the same as the one I have, so I felt compelled to write another review and let fellow Amazon buyers know my issue with Rockland.

As I noted previously, I purchased the duffle bag in late March 2011. I thought the bag was great, as all aspects of the bag seemed to be sturdy. However, no more than 6-8 uses, and less than one year later (on March 13, 2012), I was packing for a trip. I had eight shirts in the bag, went to pick it up to put my curling iron in it, and I heard a tear! Upon further inspection of the bag, I noticed that it had tore at the seam on the left side (a good size tear, I would say about 5-6 inches maybe). I went to the store and bought another bag for my trip, since I was in a hurry, I didn't have time to shop around for one that was comparable to the size of the Rockland duffle bag that had tore, but I thought "I'll suck it up and use the new one now even though its much smaller, and deal with the torn one when I get home, it has a warranty".

When I got home, I decided to try and take care of the problem, no big deal, right? WRONG! I contacted "Fox Luggage" (apparently the makers of Rockland), and they emailed me the warranty claim form. On the form, it noted that I had to send them the bag back so they could "inspect it" and ensure that it would be convered under warranty, along with $25 for handling. Well, I didn't expect them to ship me a new one without seeing what had happened to the one I had, and I didn't expect that they would ship me out another one for free either, but I thought $25 was outrageous seeing as to how the bag costed me $20 here on Amazon last year, and the same exact one that I have is on clearance at Target for $14.44 (as of 4/3/12)! I emailed them again and told them that such a warranty would only benefit someone who purchased one of their more "higher priced" luggage sets, and it would do me, or anyone else that had purchased this duffle bag (or even the one with wheels) no good. It wasn't surprising that I never heard back from them.

Now normally, I am NOT the type of consumer to "complain", (particularly for a $20 product that I can now purchase for $14), but I was very disappointed in the way Fox Luggage handled this. The bag that I have has NEVER seen an airport, bus or train station, it has only seen the trunk of my car (6-8 times as noted previously). It still looks BRAND NEW (except for the tear on the side), and even smells brand new! Had I got a couple of years use out of it, and at least another 6-8 uses, I probably wouldn't be here, but I feel that I totally got ripped off, and their customer service was not very good either. So much for the compliments on my bag, I wonder how many I will get now that I tell everyone that Rockland (Fox Luggage) was so unhelpful.

In closing, I truly wish companies would not boast about their "warranty" unless they are willing to [fairly] follow through with it for each customer who purchased their product. Regardless of whether the bag was $500 or $14, it's only fair that the company ensure that regardless of how much each customer spent on their product, they have a fair opportunity to make use of the warranty that is given should they need to. But, I guess according to Fox Luggage (Rockland), only those who purchase higher priced products are worthy of being able to fairly take advantage of their warranty-what a shame. I will never purchase another Fox Luggage product again, and I will be sure to share my personal experience and opinions about Fox Luggage (Rockland) to anyone who is willing to listen. I went ahead and purchased the same bag again from Target for $14, but I will be returning it tomorrow as I will not knowingly support a company that makes a 3 year warranty one of their major selling points, and instead uses it to disadvantage its consumers a second time.

Just received this bag, and saw this warning for the first time attached to the tag. It would be nice to have this warning on the product page so that we can see it before we purchase the product

I bought this product and used it only TWICE with baby clothes in it and it tore!!!!!!!!!!!! I want a new product!!!! Please help!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

This bag is cute, but when I received it there was a small sticker on it that said the chemicals used to manufacture it have been known to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive issues. They didn't say anything about this on the product page and I am extremely disappointed because I was planning to use it for my flight in 5 days and I have no other options for suitcases. Add the $25 shipping and handling fee to return this, and it turns out it was just a waste of time and money.