An Urbanic Perspective – The Manic Urbanic Blog

For a recent trip, I decided to purchase a new camera shoulder bag for my digital SLR. The shoulder bags which I had been using felt a little clunky and I just did not like the mechanics to take the camera in and out of the bag. After looking at plenty of bags, I found the Case Logic SLRC202 to be just what I had been looking for. It was definitely more compact and had just enough room for the accessories I would need, i.e., extra lenses, sd cards, lens cleaner. I especially liked how the top cover actually opens away from you which for me makes it less cumbersome when pulling the camera in and out of its compartment. In addition, this bag employs a Case Logic Hammock Suspension System which allows you to place the camera with the lens facing down so the camera is suspended with the lens not actually touching the bottom of the bag. This not only keeps the lens from bouncing against anything when setting the bag down, but also makes it easier to pull the camera out in a ready to shoot position (as opposed to some bags where the camera sits inside the bag with the lens in a horizontal position).

Although everything about the bag was as I had expected, I unfortunately began to have trouble with the bag after just two-three days of actual use. One of the most important features of any camera shoulder bag was beginning to fail. The nylon fabric loop that is stitched to the actual bag which the shoulder strap attaches to was coming undone! On this bag, each loop on either side is attached at two points to create the loop and one side of one of the loops was already about halfway undone. This was unsettling to me since I was already on my trip and still had another week to go; I needed this bag to survive the duration. I managed to pull a MacGyver on my bag by using a metal clip to attach to the strap and one of the holes on the zipper for the side compartment and fortunately this provided enough reinforcement so that the bag survived the rest of my trip.

When I returned home, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to exchange or get a refund from the place of purchase (because of their 30-day return policy). So my only recourse would be to contact the manufacturer and hope that they would not give me a hard time with the warranty process (the item does have a 25 year warranty BTW). To my surprise, when I contacted Case Logic I was immediately put through to an actual live human being who I explained the situation to. The person I spoke with explained to me that they would issue a replacement with absolutely no cost to me and that he would email me a warranty claim form right away. All I had to do was take a couple of photos of the bag’s defective areas with a brief description and it email it back to their claims department. That’s it. The very next morning, there was an email from Case Logic informing me that they had processed my claim and that the replacement item was being prepared for shipment and that I should have it within 5-7 business days. When I replied asking if they could provide me with a tracking number, I received a prompt response which was forwarded to their fulfillment department and just a couple of hours later I received the tracking information. The bag arrived when they promised and now I hope I don’t have any more issues with the replacement (hopefully the original bag was just defective in the way it was stitched). I generally wouldn’t write about such an experience, but I think that a business that stands behind their product and offers such excellent customer service should be commended. Good customer service is unfortunately becoming a thing of the past and despite my initial problems with the product, the way this company handled the situation was a welcomed breath of fresh air.