The zipper dilemma

[Michelle]

Hi Len, Thanks for your clarification. I purchase a lot of nicer luggage bags that offer me the security of a lifetime guarantee. As long as snipping the metal tabs doesn't void that guarantee, I'm as happy as can be!

Lani, I appreciate your investigative work. A lot of your forum posts are inspiring. I've read all your posts regarding the zipper pulls and I have one thing to say: You go girl!

Ultimately, on a asthetically pleasing utilitarian bag, I would like to consider having the metal pull tabs removed. On my purses, leave them alone! Ha ha

[Lani]

Michelle -- instead of snipping the metal tab OFF, you can thread the zipper pull through the hole in the tab. That's what I do whenever I put the TB zipper pulls on zippers from TB bags, per the ones you see in the photos from the thread you linked to. They work great for me!

[Len]

If I understand Tom's post correctly, removing the pulls doesn't mean no more lifetime guarantee, it just means no refund (though there are no refunds on used bags or any bags after 60 days anyway). I imagine that the lifetime guarantee for repairs of defects remains.

Remember that removing the metal pulls voids the warranty in so far as you can no longer return the bag to us for a refund (we can't re-apply the pulls once they've been removed).

Interesting idea re: replaceable pulls though!

[Michelle]

Hi Tom Bihn friends and fans. I’ve been reading a lot in the forums, online reviews, and am close to making my first Tom Bihn purchase shortly (holding out hope for a color combination that suits my fancy).

In particular, I’ve read many posts regarding the notorious zipper pulls that are $3. Tom himself has mentioned this on forum posts—that if you choose to clip off the metal pulls in order to have a true metal-free zipper pull, no more “lifetime guarantee”.

The tragic dilemma with the end user I see is this. Many folks enjoy the option of being able to replace metal pulls for cord pulls. Additionally, folks appreciate the consideration of less noise on their bags however do not want to void the lifetime guarantee that Tom Bihn offers. Many have creatively come up with smart-alecky solutions on dampening the noise of the zipper pulls by threading the metal pulls with cord, etc. so that the lifetime guarantee wouldn’t be voided. However, the aforementioned being a compromise, this is not a true cord zipper pull.

I notice that Tom Bihn is thoughtfully selective with material, design, and construction. I believe that’s one of the reasons why people choose these bags. Just an open question here, but has Tom Bihn considered using zipper pulls like these so that the end user can be selective with zipper pulls without jeopardizing the lifetime guarantee?

Thanks!