First: to counter the broken heart of the long one star review here. He should learn to read before he buys. To wit: He bought a 'cable bag' from Dave's deals, which clearly states, basically, 'as is' (but can be returned.) Second: The site description clearly states that the 'cable' may not match the bag color. Agreed, it sounds simple to fix, but there must be a reason for the policy, or they would not have stated it in their product description. Their product descriptions are very accurate, and customer support is second to none.......OK, now the Front Pocket Backpack. I bought the, new model, large. The only difference is it is 17" tall, as apposed to 14" on the medium. The bag is OUTSTANDING in quality, craftsmanship, and utility. I'm 65yrs, 6', 200lbs, and have walked to town, 14 mile round trip, with the pack fully loaded, three times (the first two times the bag weighed 30lbs.) The bag is fitting like a glove the more it breaks in. On the third trip to town, loaded fully as though camping, I threw in an extra 15lbs of lead shot bags from my diving weight belt. The bag, at 53lbs (ridiculous I know, but I wanted to really test myself and the bag,) felt comfortable, riding well on my back. I have to say the bag did better than I the last three miles or so. OK, OK, been a long winter at 8,300ft and I'm just getting into shape. One thing to note, it did get hot between my back and the bag.......I wish I had this bag decades ago. It's an investment, sure, but it will pay dividends in the years to come. The bag is a bit heavy, but was easy for me to get used to. I've been using Jandd, Ultimate Directions, and a Gregory, of similar capacity, for thirty years. I doubt if I will ever use them again. Not only will you have a lifetime of use with this bag, you'll be the classiest person out there. It gets folks talking to you, as they recognize the quality from a distance. The fear of the price will quickly be overcome by the smell, quality, looks, and the creaking of the leather, of this functional piece of art.
Then recently I came across this new Saddleback Front Pocket Backpack on Amazon and I fell in love with Saddleback Leather all over again. I forgave SL for neglecting me in the past and bought the FP Backpack in DK Coffee Brown here on Amazon. It is absolutely gorgeous! I love it so much that I decided to buy another one at full price in Tobacco directly at Saddleback Website to match my other SL Tobacco bags. Being a shopaholic, I ended up spending around $2000 on SL products in the last two months bringing my total investment to around $3000 for a total of 17 SL products. Yes, 17! Why? Being torn between DK Coffee Brown & Tobacco, I decided to get basically two of everything-DK Coffee for work & Tobacco for travel.
Being so in love with SL. I gladly accepted whatever they sent me. Some items I purchased through SL Dave's Deals were "imperfect" with blemishes, scars, etc. But I didn't mind since I myself put inevitable marks on them through daily usage. Then came the Cable Bag... The bag that broke my heart. I had already acquired the Cable Bag in Tobacco and I was so looking forward to the DK Coffee Brown Cable Bag with Tobacco tie wrap, visualizing how awesome my white Nikon 1 J1 camera would look in it.
Unfortunately, my DK Coffee Cable Bag did NOT come with the Tobacco tie wrap as depicted in the photo on their website. Instead it came with matching DK Coffee Brown tie wrap. It didn't look bad but it didn't look cool... So I emailed SL customer support requesting if they would kindly throw in a Tobacco tie wrap along with the Bible Cover that I had ordered that morning. I didn't want to go through the trouble of shipping the bag back just because of the color of the wrap. I really thought it was a simple request, no big deal. I didn't care if they wanted to charge me for it.
Guess what? The guy responded that I could ship the item back free of shipping charge and reorder the same item, It'd be "a roll of the dice" and HOPEFULLY I'll get the color scheme that I want. Say what? Give you more of my hard-earned money & HOPEFULLY I'll get the color I desire? REALLY? It's like ordering a dog with blond hair & end up getting a brunette. But don't worry, keep on ordering until the blond shows up. REALLY? It's shocking that they can't control what goes out to their customers. I understand Dave's Deals have imperfections. But there's a big difference between "IMPERFECTIONS" VS "MISREPRESENTATION". Every photo everywhere shows the DK Coffee Brown Cable Bag comes with a free Tobacco tie wrap. He said they don't have extra wraps. He can't guarantee I'll get one with Tobacco wrap. He can't take a Tobacco wrap from another bag... Blah Blah Blah...REALLY?
If they can't simple send me a tie wrap cable, it makes you wonder what's the value of their 100-year warranty? They are so PETTY, INFLEXIBLE, & STINGY. They're not willing and/or able to switch out a tie wrap that's advertised as "FREE" for a valued customer, then how can you trust them to possibly honor their 100-year warranty on any of their products for anybody???
The whole "Cable Bag" incident is absurd & ridiculous beyond comprehension. I don't think I was asking too much from them. So in all fairness, most of their products overall deserve 5 stars for looks & workmanship, 3 stars for practicality, but they get 1 star for customer support. Like any relationship, no matter how much you're in love, you should leave if you're not being treated right.
"Remember, if you are headed in the wrong direction, God does allow U-turns!"
I wish SL had made a U-turn when they had the chance to right the situation, instead they made a DETOUR by sending in another customer support rep to contact me.... Again, blah blah blah... a lot of sweet nothings that get you nowhere. Apparently common sense is not so common.
I'm making my U-Turn now. I may be a shopaholic but I know better than to stay in an abusive relationship. This is SADLY the absolute end of my love affair with Saddleback Leather. Thank goodness they showed their true colors before I started to load up on their luggage line. Some big companies think they're too large to fail and some small companies think they're too little to care...
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