clhough's comments

Avoiding Long Check-In Lines - Blog Entry

27 Jun 2007 08:29 AM

I used luggagefree.com in October of 2006 for a cruise out of Los Angeles. The bags were traveling from Atlanta to my hotel in San Pedro, two days earlier than my arrival at the hotel, and three days prior to the cruise departure. I took out extra insurance on all three bags.

When I arrived at the hotel, the bags were not there, and I was assured by Aly at LuggageFree.com that they would be there before the cruise started. This never happened. They gave me verbal authorization to spend $1000 (for two people) to replace what I could, but nothing in writing, no email, nada. I had 40 minutes at Target before they closed at 10pm to gather anything I could for the cruise that departed the next morning, with it being winter they had very few items. Shorts, tshirts, socks, underwear, and a bag were top priority, which I was able to get.

When I arrived home the following week, I was told that the bags were lost, and they would file a claim with their insurance company. It turned out that they shipped the bags DHL and the insurance company was the shipping company itself. They deducted the $1000 from my claim (despite that being an extra expense) and when I disputed this, my bags magically appeared at my door nine weeks after returning home. The bags were shredded, but my lugggage protected my belongings well.

The bags had been cut open, and my belongings pilfered through. All I asked from LuggageFree at this point was for a replacement of my bags that could no longer be used because of the cuts in them, and I was denied.

My advice is to skip the middleman and save valuable money and frustration by taking your bags directly to a shipping carrier of your choice such as FedEx, UPS, or otherwise.