Shane and I were so excited when we landed in Rome to start our honeymoon. However, we were not excited when we pulled our small carry-on luggage, one of three pieces from my new Pulse Lite three-piece set from Heys, out of the overhead and discovered a broken wheel on the back right, which deemed it unusable.
We were even further upset when we arrived at baggage claim to start our three-week-long trek across Italy to find the largest piece in the Pulse Lite set also had a broken wheel. This was the second time these pieces had traveled with me, and the small one had never been checked.
This isn’t our first rodeo
My husband and I are avid travelers. A year ago, we spent 18 months traveling the world, seeing the sites and vacationing at amazing destinations. After 18 months on the road, I wanted to update my luggage set with a brand that I knew would be both long-lasting and stylish. Since we travel so much, it’s imperative to have luggage that can keep up with the travel and the stress placed on it by airlines.
You call that design?
I chose the Heys brand for my new luggage set based on good reviews of the pieces that stated their sturdiness and what seemed to be their ease of travel. The spinners are a must-have, as longer trips need more clothes that result in heavier suitcases. So the spinner gives travelers the ability to push their suitcases through the airports with ease instead of dragging them.
Unfortunately we were not able to utilize that aspect of the suitcases since the back right wheel of both suitcases were broken. Honestly, it wasn’t even that easy to use the spinner aspect without the broken wheel because the suitcase didn’t seem to roll fast enough for us even casually walking through the airport, much less having to run to connecting flights in some cases.
Since both of these suitcases had only traveled once, I find it ironic that both pieces had the same wheel broken. I have had a wheel break off my suitcase (another brand) before. Thankfully it was on my very last leg of our 18-months of travel and happened as we were returning home after the trip. So I understand that flying can put stress and cause damage to baggage at the travelers expense. However, it’s inexcusable that for a piece that’s only flown once, and for a piece that’s never been checked before, that both wheels were broken.
Bad suitcases = bad vacations
The fact that we were carrying two broken suit cases that had to be pulled on their sides through airports, train stations and the streets of Rome, Florence, the Italian Riviera and the French Riviera was almost bad enough to ruin the honeymoon as my poor husband had to drag the pieces himself.
And to top matters off, the wheel on the large upright was so damaged, that we ended up having to ship the large piece home at the end of the honeymoon, which cost us about €350. I understand that the brand is not liable for damage placed on the luggage, but this set was faulty to begin with. I’m disgusted that a piece of luggage as expensive as the Heys brand would only be good for one trip.
Where’s the beef?
Now that I am stuck with using this brand given that the product is used and is nonreturnable because it was purchased more than 14 days ago (as stated in the return policy), I would like some sort of reimbursement for having to travel with two suitcases that proved to be broken to begin with, and on our honeymoon at that.
The two suitcases are boxed and ready to be shipped back to Heys. If they choose not to give us some sort of reimbursement for their bad design decisions, they can keep them for all we care as long as we don’t have to look at them and be reminded of the terrible travel experience we endured on our honeymoon thanks to the faulty design.
Bottom line travelers: Do your research on what luggage to buy, get recommendations from fellow travelers and don’t buy Heys. The brand has proven thus far to be a waste of money and could end in a waste of a good vacation.
