OK so after 20+ years of travel my trusty travel companion decided to burst at the seams. Though not a big burst it’s still big enough to worry about it catching something and tearing even more. Call me crazy or sentimental (maybe both?) but I don’t wanna ditch my travel buddy. I had no problems getting rid of other luggage with broken wheels or broken trolley handles, but this bag, I love this bag!
Since this bag is mostly canvas, I sought out a seamstress at a hawker center just down the street from where I’m staying who in turn told me about luggage repair shops. Well, now I feel pretty stupid. I didn’t even think to Google that because I didn’t think there was such a thing, haha. Anyways, I Google’d and found a shop, Chiang Kong Luggage Services, which evidently has 2 locations. Now I regret throwing away the luggage with broken handles and wheels.
I picked the location closest to me, which was still kinda far but hey, Singapore’s an island how far can anything be, right? The shop I went to was the one in Geylang. It’s actually right across the street from Aljunied MRT station, which is on the green line. Once you get off the train and head down the escalators and out the gantry, you want to take the exit on right. Once outside, go left and all the way to the end where you’ll meet the street. Take the stairs (or elevator) up to the overhead bridge and cross it. You should be able to see the signage of the shop (on the right) when you’re half way across.
So after taking a look at my luggage, they advised that they can’t stitch up the bag because on end of the tear was at the bottom “plate” with no fabric and that any fix would be temporary as they would have to use glue and reinforcement tape. I asked how much and a rough estimate on durability. The repair cost was $25 SGD and should last a trip or two but who knows. OK fine. I also had them fix the outer zipper on my North Face backpack/duffel which kept bursting open as well as replace the zipper that fell off the interior pocket. No wonder the bag was on sale, lol. Repairs on that cost $25 SGD as well and payment was collected on the spot, which kind of surprised me but understandable. Roughly 2 weeks later, I get a call to pick up my bags.
Well, the repairs look ok and passed my tug tests but I guess time will tell. I’ll probably reinforce the luggage with some gaff tape just for some added peace of mind. Oh, coincidentally I had my laptop with me when I picked up my luggage. One of the zippers on my laptop’s case wouldn’t zip shut the case anymore so I asked if they could fix it and they said sure let’s see. Five minutes later they gave it back all fixed. I asked how much and they said, “don’t worry about it.” BONUS! I’ll be heading off to Thailand next month so I can test out the repairs but as it stands now I’m pretty happy with the service and thus recommending them to y’all if you ever need their service (I hope you won’t need it though, haha).
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