A couple of years ago, I reviewed a new laptop bag product by the Finnish company Normincies.  Normincies produces high-end laptop bags, and I was delighted to get one to try out, as they looked so durn beautiful, and my last bag had been a bit of a disappointment.

The only thing that I hadn’t liked about the bag (other than the fact that space in it was a bit tight) was that the strange, football-shaped pill things that held on the strap were made out of rubber.  They got caught on the metal bag handle quite frequently, and I was concerned that they would wear out and tear.

Well, they did.  Within a few months, while yanking my bag around, one of the rubber handle pills did indeed tear.  I super-glued it back together, but didn’t have much hope that it would last.  And indeed, it didn’t; within a few days, I was strap-less.  (As it were.)

Well, the Normincies guys had been quite wonderful about providing us with a sample bag; I thought that I would drop them a line and ask if they had replacement components, or a suggestion as to what I could do to repair the strap.

Within a day, Normincies had written me back, apologizing for the problem, and telling me they were sending a replacement.  And within a few days I not only received a replacement strap–which had a redesigned “pill” component made out of unrippable hard plastic rather than rubber–but the package containing the new strap also had an iPad sleeve as a bonus for my “patience”, and a personal letter from the Normancies representative apologizing for the problem.

We live in a world where, with a few notable exceptions, we pretty much expect bad and/or grumpy service.  After over a year of use, there was no reason to believe Normancies would replace my part; my hope was that they had a replacement I could buy.  And I certainly didn’t  expect them to send me a whole new strap, gratis, with extra swag to boot.  Yes, this is a high-end company; I was still surprised.

So folks, if you buy one of their excellent high-end bags–and mine still looks new after a year and a half and I get compliments on it all the time (the fact that it stands up always causes notice in this world of “bags that flop over when you put them down”)–know that your faithful gear diary reporter has had nothing but positive, quick, and polite interactions with the company.  They did me right, and I wanted to give them credit.  This is what you get when you shell out $400-$500 for a bag.  I think it’s worth it.