I purchased the bag a few years ago. Used it a few times on my business trips. Overpriced, but I was happy. At the time of pandemic, when I was not traveling any more, I packed the back carefully inside the original packaging and stored inside my closet. Opened it up in about 1.5 years. Noticed the handlebars melted and some of it glued to the package! I had other leather goods in the same closet and everything else remained intact, except the LV bag, the bag that cost 10x than my any other bags. Tried to contact the customer service. Clearly, it's a product defect. But, LV asked me to pay $400 in repair cost.
It's not about the money, but I am appalled first to realize how poor the quality of their overpriced goods is and second, by the fact that they don't stand behind their product. I understand the warranty period is over, but this issue is not wear-and-tear. I live in Northeastern USA, which is warm only for a few months in a year, and the winter is harsh. So, I cannot relate the issue with any excessive heat. I was not prepared for such a bad experience with LV.
Desired outcome: I expected LV will at least apologize for the poor quality, and ideally fix the issue free of cost. Their engineering team should also evaluate so that they improve on the quality.