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Be careful trusting the strap on your Ona Berlin bag!


fotofool

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http://image.dhgate.com/albu_327130428_00/1.0x0.jpg

 

An example of a better fixing, it's clear that the design was ill thought through, it has torn across the stitching, either the strap leather was too thin, the stitching spacing was too close to weaken the leather between the stitches or the creasing at the point of strap mount weakened the leather along the line of fixing. Whatever it's simply bad design

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I am not getting into a protracted argument ...

 

No argument on my side, Andy. All I did was summarize possible issues, and clearly ONA management is at the heart of it in any case. The same company that chooses how to make profits, chooses how to design and make goods.

 

Jeff

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The cost of labour is irrelevant .If a production line is engineered well with the correct equipment and supervised correctly the finished goods will be to the designed specification.Even from the incomplete picture of the defective bag a lot of the stitching had been produced on machines with inconsistent stitch length and poorly set stitch balance.I know you would not find this poor quality on a Billingham bag.A decent Production Engineer could sort out the Ona production line in less than a week pos without spending big money.

BrianP

ps I feel I must add that I have had no contact with the Billingham company for over 20 years but do use their bags which I pay normal retail for.

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I am not getting into a protracted argument about whether sourcing bags from the Dominican Republic and selling them for a premium price in California is a good or bad thing or not, but the people off-shore could have made a decent life-time attachment for the carrying handle, if that's what ONA had wanted, and made it for the same (cheap) price, in labour terms.

 

It's ONA that have decided that the handle attachment will fail and it would have failed if the person making it had been paid $20 in the US or $2 in the DR.

 

Just to clarify - the bag with the carrying handle fault that was referenced (Ona Union Street) is not the same bag that the OP was using. The Union Street has a small grab handle on top of the flap cover (like the Billingham Hadley Pro). Apparently that handle failed and the response was it's not for sustained carrying of the bag.

 

The Ona Berlin that the OP posted had a failure of the Shoulder strap attachment point. I can't imagine Ona ever suggesting that the shoulder strap wasn't suitable for carrying a bag.

 

I do agree that the failure seems to be a design and/or quality assurance one. Looking at the picture it seems crazy that the flap buckles have rivets, but the strap attachment relies on a single line of stitching. Strap attachments are one of the things that imho make the difference between a camera bag and a bag that could fit a camera. One of the reasons I like Billingham bags and the Hadley Pro in particular is that I trust the straps on those bags more than I trust my own shoulders ;)

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Just to clarify - the bag with the carrying handle fault that was referenced (Ona Union Street) is not the same bag that the OP was using.

 

Indeed, and I knowingly posted the quote about the Union Street bag in part to show that more than one ONA bag has had problems with straps.

 

Jeff

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Update-

 

I have received a very apologetic e-mail from ONA. They have offered to have it shipped to them at their cost to be repaired or to reimburse my expenses were I to have it repaired locally. I will do the latter as I know and trust a local leather shop that has done work for me in the past and can have them ensure that both strap mounts are rock solid.

 

Because the size, configuration and appearance of the bag are perfect for me I am pleased with this solution.

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Update-

 

I have received a very apologetic e-mail from ONA. They have offered to have it shipped to them at their cost to be repaired or to reimburse my expenses were I to have it repaired locally. I will do the latter as I know and trust a local leather shop that has done work for me in the past and can have them ensure that both strap mounts are rock solid.

 

Because the size, configuration and appearance of the bag are perfect for me I am pleased with this solution.

 

Sounds a good solution.The really nice thing about a leather bag is the older it gets,the better it looks.

BrianP

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Update-

 

I have received a very apologetic e-mail from ONA. They have offered to have it shipped to them at their cost to be repaired or to reimburse my expenses were I to have it repaired locally. I will do the latter as I know and trust a local leather shop that has done work for me in the past and can have them ensure that both strap mounts are rock solid.

 

Because the size, configuration and appearance of the bag are perfect for me I am pleased with this solution.

 

That's nice, but one would expect a company that stands behind its product and craftsmanship would either: (1) send a new bag immediately for replacement; or, (2) expedite repair at their own facility, with strong future guarantee against any other issues, and not want another shop to repair. At a minimum, this would allow them to inspect the damaged goods in order to research cause and to ensure integrity of future inventory.

 

But glad that you're satisfied.

 

Jeff

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One might expect that. But I prefer that they stand behind their customer, rather than just their product. The Berlin was a limited edition bag which is no longer in production. So option one is probably not possible. Option two was offered and declined in favor of the other option... Which is the one that has them paying to get the bag repaired where I want, the way I want, by someone I know and gets it back in my hands as early as the same day. Why wouldn't a reasonable customer be satisfied by that?

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One might expect that. But I prefer that they stand behind their customer, rather than just their product.

 

So they weren't interested in examining the bag to see how and why it failed and learn if their designs can be improved in some way?

 

Steve

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So they weren't interested in examining the bag to see how and why it failed and learn if their designs can be improved in some way?

 

Steve

 

 

Maybe they already know their bags fail and don't need to learn anymore? ;)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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One might expect that. But I prefer that they stand behind their customer, rather than just their product. The Berlin was a limited edition bag which is no longer in production. So option one is probably not possible.

 

Here's a novel thought…how about both?

 

They have a Berlin II coming out in the Fall (a replacement special edition? :rolleyes: ), and they could have immediately fixed yours AND offered to send a new one when it's available.

 

That's only one possibility. There are lots of ways…for good companies…to satisfy customers and improve their processes…simultaneously.

 

Will you buy another ONA bag, without hesitation?

 

Jeff

Edited by Jeff S
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Will you buy another ONA bag, without hesitation?

 

Don't misunderstand. I am not satisfied with the design of the strap mount. I would not buy another Berlin with this strap mount design nor suggest that anyone else do so. I am, however, satisfied with the response I received as a customer when I made a complaint. It was prompt, courteous and fully resolved my issue.

 

I think, given the picture I have posted and sent to the manufacturer that the issue of recalling the bag to do a root cause analysis on the failure mechanism is a red herring. You don't have to have an investigation, or even be a textile engineer, to see what went wrong. The leather is paper thin at the stitched joint where the sewing process perforated it and therefore ripped! Instead of investigating the obvious they should simply fix it.

 

If you have one of these bags I would strongly suggest inspecting that joint and then asking yourself if you are really comfortable hanging your camera gear from it.

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