3-Pc Melbourne Hardside Expandable Luggage

FINAL UPDATE!!! This is my final update! I just limped my way back from a wonderful Alaskan Cruise praying the entire return leg flying from Anchorage to Seattle to home in Albuquerque and hoping my belongings wouldn’t be strewn all over the airplane or baggage loading! I gave this second “replacement” Rockland hardside a chance after having to have the original purchased item replaced twice. Once for an extremely offensive odor from a bad batch of plastic and then again for cracks that appeared when the case had not been used, but had just been stored in my closet. I trusted Rockland and now regret that decision. It was not pleasant to have to worry if the duct tape provided by Princess Cruises would hold, but it did thank goodness! I should give the duct tape a good review! We limped our way back and the duct tape held! The large suitcase of the set of three is going to the recycle bin and I will not be seeking a replacement at a cost to me of $40 more dollars!!!!! Buyer beware! I thought I had sufficiently researched before I spent my fixed income dollars on luggage! Apparently I made the wrong decision! I hope you don’t have the same bad experience i did!! ORIGINAL REVIEWS! I will say the Rockland Customer Service Department is helpful! My thanks to “Rep 1” for assisting me with the returns. As I stated earlier, I purchased the original three piece set from Amazon’s Warehouse. The rating was good and I had previously purchased items from the Warehouse and saved quite a bit of money. Unfortunately this purchase was a big mistake! The odor of the luggage was irritating and never went away! I see now that this was an indication of a bad batch of plastic which becomes hard and brittle with time! But, like I said, I had thrown away the packaging! The 28” cracked from the weight of the two smaller cases just being stored inside. For $40, Rockland replaced the large case. I should have returned all three! A year later, I find that the 20” has cracked just from being stored! And the 24” showed signs of cracking. For another $40, Rockland Customer Service has now replaced the remaining two cases. So I did not really save any money. Probably in the end, after paying an additional $40 twice for “warranty” replacements, I paid more than I would have paid by just paying full price. I am disappointed in myself for not immediately returning the smelly luggage, disappointed in Rockland for selling a bad batch of luggage to begin with, and disappointed in Amazon Warehouse workers for rating the smelly suitcases as “like new!” I have a cruise with family coming up in July, which will be the first major test of this replacement luggage. Please cross your fingers for me that these replacement cases hold up and I don’t end up kicking myself for giving Rockland another chance! I am more than disappointed with this luggage. I actually got rid of a perfectly good set of luggage to “upgrade” to this hard side set. It has been stored since purchase a year ago and when I pulled it out to pack for a trip to my daughter’s, I saw a small piece of plastic on the floor. Upon further inspection I found that simply storing them with small inside the larger case, apparently it was too much stress and the plastic on the larger case had actually split! I have contacted the manufacturer since it is supposed to have a five year warranty and it was purchased just a year ago but never really used util now. I will update this review if I receive a positive response from the manufacturer! ORIGINAL REVIEW: I purchased this set a few weeks ago and unfortunately I discarded the damaged packaging as soon as it arrived; otherwise I probably would have returned the suitcases. I have been trying to neutralize the odor from the lining ever since they arrived. The chemical smell was overwhelming. I had to leave them outside on my balcony because the chemical smell was so strong. I have aired them out, sprayed the linings with Febreeze, aired them out some more, sprayed them again, repeat, repeat. The odor has finally gotten fainter and I now have charcoal packets in each in the hopes that the chemical smell goes away. I can’t believe the set I received is the only one with the strong overpowering smell. Please read all of the reviews before you purchase this set of luggage. If you do not have the time to devote to trying to eliminate the chemical smell, I would recommend purchasing another brand. At any rate, don’t be so hasty to throw the packaging away! You may need it to return these smelly suitcases!