Lewis N. Clark Tsa Lockdown Triple Security Cable Lock

I was rather disappointed, as I'm in the middle of a trip overseas and was hoping to be able to contact the vendor without writing a review, to see if the problem can be corrected. Unfortunately, it does not appear that Amazon offers this service, so I am reduced to writing this review.

I have been traveling for about 5 weeks and the three locks that I purchased were working perfectly until today, on a trip where I had just taken two of them along. I was flying from Munich to Barcelona and was asked by security to open my carry on case, which was locked. I was able to unlock it, and lock one of the loops, but the other loop would not lock. When I arrived in Barcelona, got my luggage and went to the Tourist Office at the airport, I had to open my carry on as my hotel information was locked inside. Though I had the correct combination, the lock would not open. The Tourist Office then sent me to Customs, which directed me to another Terminal, where no one could help, and I finally returned to the original terminal and went to the Air Berlin Information Desk for help. He informed me that if I had known the lock was defective BEFORE I came through the arrivals gate, one of the personnel there could have opened it; but once through the arrivals gate, you can not go back. I explained my desperate need, as I had been running around for over an hour and did not even have the address of my guest house, as it was locked inside the case. The man was good enough to offer to cut the lock which he did, surprisingly with an ordinary pair of scissors.

Now I am torn about using the remaining two locks, wondering if they will fail and again leave me running around strange airports for hours. . I left one lock behind in the Munich apartment where I am staying and am left with only one working lock and the fear that the combination will fail again. I will have to buy another lock on the market here.

This is extremely disappointing and has colored my view of these locks ordinary travel and after 5 weeks one suddenly doesn't work? I had read a review of someone who had this same experience, but not in the middle of a trip.

I am both disappointed in the failure of the lock and then concerned that an ordinary pair of scissors can cut through the wire loop.

I would appreciate hearing from the vendor about this.

UPDATE: 16 days later and on a Sunday, I'm getting ready to fly again on Monday. The second of the three locks has now failed. It won't lock on one side, and following the lead of the first failed lock, it will completely fail. So here I am on a Sunday and flying out in the morning and another failed locked. 67% failure rate and it looks like I'll have to replace all three before this trip is done.

I'm a pilot for an airline that forces us to put our bags in the overhead bin with passenger bags, resulting in frequent stolen/mistakenly-taken bags. After the company refused to pay for my stolen laptop (taken when my bag was removed from the plane by a passenger), I bought several of these for myself and friends and have had no such theft since. The double loop configuration is perfect for our situation, and keeps the bag safe from all but the most determined thieves (determined enough to have gotten cable cutters through security, for instance). I'll post a pic to show how it works on the Embraer overhead bin.

One of the locks failed, by the way, and we had to have a TSA agent come to the plane with his key (007), which also failed to open the lock. We cut the lock off with a giant bolt cutter, and advised Amazon. The lock was replaced before we could even send the failed one back, and we've had no problem since. Kudos, Amazon.

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I did not order this through Amazon but the lock is the same as the one I bought. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone. I purchased this about 2 months before my vacation. Tried it once, worked great. Went to try it out again, was frozen would not work at all! Contacted the company twice and they finally sent me another one. Worked fine. But like before, it froze the night before my trip. So I had no choice but to cut the lock off. What a waste of money this thing is. I didn't find it as flexible as I thought it would be either. The concept is good, but it sure needs some improvement. Not a happy camper!

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Just a thought here... I love these locks and was surprised to see negative reviews. Then I remembered my FIRST use and want to share this experience.

Here is what happened to me the very first time I was putting the lock onto my suitcase. I did not realize that I slid the RESET side of the slider instead of the opposite side... That resets the combo to whatever I happened to have had in the dial. This only happens when the lock has been opened with the correct combo in the first place. Having opened one side as noted above, if you had happened to move the numbers, then hit the reset side -you would have changed the combination without realizing it! Now I am just very aware of what numbers are in the combo when I close it and stay away from that red RESET button!

One more thing... I believe that you must lock the "short loop" side through the zipper slider holes (what TSA might need to get at) and the longer loop to something permanant on your suitcase. That way, when TSA opens the lock and forgets to relock it, you still have your lock. If you use the "long loop" to lock the zippers sliders, I'm not sure TSA can unlock that side. (And even if they can, you don't want them to lest THEY hit that RESET slide!)

If someone is going to break in, they will find a way. (I've had several regular TSA locks totally smashed upon arrival.) I'm just glad to still have my lock attached to the bag with this one -I've lost several other TSA locks in the past with either not putting it back at all or forgetting to close and lock it! And I know it was TSA because in both missing lock cases, the TSA white sheet was in the bag!

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This lock is very good. IT is very easy to set the combination number ( Just make sure u remember it) I have a huge luggage with long zippers. I was able to lock my zippers with just this one lock. It is very flexible.

I recommend it .