Customer Reviews L.L.Bean Kids Kids Deluxe Backpack

We purchased this for our son to use as a school bag. The bag itself held up well, but the zippers would jam regularly. After 8 months of use the main zipper broke, rendering the bag useless. Customer service would not exchange it because the bag was purchased 14 months prior, (but only actually used for about 8 months). They would not even offer me a replacement at the same price we originally paid. I can understand if it was a couple years old or the rest of the bag had significant wear. LL Bean used to stand by their products better, Very disappointing.

I have bought LL Bean backpacks for both of my kids for years. I bought this one last August for my oldest. Because of COVID, he only used the backpack 7 months. He's been in school for three weeks and went to put his bottle in the holder and it tore a huge hole in the netting, right from the seam. This was not from overuse or abuse. It was normal use, if not less than because of the months of quarantine. I contacted customer service and was told that it is now only a year guarantee and I could pay to send it in but they couldn't promise that anything would be done. It's clearly a manufacturing issue but they won't back it up? I've always justified paying the extra money because they are "good quality" and will last longer. Perhaps not anymore. Incredibly disappointed.

The original version of this backpack ( 2 years ago) is FAR superior to this one. This one has no mesh padding on the straps and back. It feels like cheap plastic. Stiff and uncomfortable. My next child has been so disappointed as she wanted one just like her sister's. We would have returned it if it had not been monogrammed.

The description of this bag says that it is basically indestructible. The water bottle pocket tore on the second day of school. I'm so disappointed. I really thought that this bag would be more durable. I also chose monogrammed option and found that the monogram was on the small side.

I have always loved our LL Bean bags but this hasn't lived up to what I have always loved about these bags. My kids take a water bottle to school everyday and the water bottle holders in the side have big holes in them. We will never make it till the end of the school year without them not ripping completely. Very disappointed in the material on the side.

While the backpack itself so far seems fine, the mesh water bottle holder has a huge hole on one pocket and a small hole on the other after just one week of use in high school. Our last backpack lasted over three years before zipper failure.

Before purchasing this backpack I read many reviews and was under the impression the issues with the zipper had been corrected. Overall the quality is great but too often the zipper overlaps the covering and gets jammed. My kindergartener is unable to correct it on his own so it's a little irritating. I would suggest making the covering a little thicker in order to prevent it from so easily sliding in with the zipper.

Beautiful but didn't last three days. One zipper toggle came unraveled. Mesh drink holder ripped. Very disappointed.

While this backpack looks nice, and was a good size, unfortunately the quality is not great. The strap has almost completely fallen off by the end of February (and my son only started using it in August).

We purchased this backpack from LL Bean and after years of use it has finally fallen apart. When we purchased this backpack, it had a lifetime warranty. However, since then, the policy has changed. The customer service representative we contacted told us we needed proof of purchase, although they notified us we purchased it in 2016.... It is sad to see a company that used to be so well regarded fall into the current state it is in.

I bought this for my fourth grader and just one week into school the zipper kept on getting stuck on the fabric that's covering it and it got ripped! Cheapest quality I've ever seen

I grew up with these backpacks they were pretty indestructible. In the past few years they even ran an Advertisement about a young lady who couldn't get a new backpack because hers was still in great shape throughout her school career. My son who doesn't fill his backpack at all (basically a chromebook and 1 book) and gets a ride to school everyday couldn't get two full years out of it. LL beans warranty is now 1 year and you need a receipt. Absolutely ridiculous I am very disappointed. Why pay a premium for the backpack if it's the same quality as a discount department store.

I son used this bag for less than a month and the top handle tore off. I called to have it replaced, and I was told they'd change me for a new bag, and it's backordered for two months. Very disappointing quality and service from LL Bean.

Handle on top of bag started to tear within a couple of weeks and now less than a month of using it has torn off completely.

It looks cheap, for the price. The color of choice, not the best for my teen.

The quality of this backpack is excellent and just as I remember from 30 years ago. The issue, however, is with the personalization. I ordered three backpacks, and all three arrived with very poorly done embroidery. I wondered if I was being too picky, so I asked my social media followers, and the overwhelming response was that the stitching was not up to the standard you would expect for the price. L.L.Bean sent me three replacements, and while two of them were significantly better, the third still looks poorly done.

As always...awesome quality, easy returns if needed, fair prices & again as always great customer service. ( coming from a former employee at the once Waterville call center )

My daughter previous LL Bean backpack was used for school over 6 years and many vacations including an international trip then traveling through Italy and Greece. It was still fully functional BUT looked very beat up. We both agreed that an exact replacement would be best for college. She used it for 6 days when the should strap came completely loose from the waist. We are both shocked. I can't believe this bag is even close to the same quality as her original one. I will not be purchasing a second one.

Unfortunately the zipper gets stuck. It is very frustrated for my grandchild. The zipper gets stuck all the time. The other day he was carrying the books because the zipper didnt close. I am sending it back!

My 5th grader used this backpack for less than 3 weeks and the loop on the top is already ripped. Going to return and reorder it and hopefully the next one is higher quality. We have had all different brands of backpacks over the years between our family of 4 and this has been the fastest any backpack has shown quality issues. Pretty disappointed. And the customer service "help" has been disappointing as well. This may be my last LL Bean purchase.

Super disappointed at the quality of the top handle. It came off during the first week of school. It was brand new. I expected better from L. L. Bean and the price.

Broken zippers and torn seams from very normal to and from school use. Applying quality. Maybe it used to be better before they adjusted the warranty.

Bought this for beginning of school year. Quality has DRASTICALLY gone down. Cheap materials, not worth the money. Ended up ordering online, a cheaper backpack and when received was far superior quality. Look other places, these backpacks are not worth the money anymore.

My daughter is moving up to high school and was very excited to choose her L.L. Bean backpack for these years (per tradition started with my siblings and myself). We flipped through the color choices and she immediately chose this as it appears to be her favorite color. We were extremely disappointed when it arrived as it is purple and not at all the color that is displayed on the screen. We didn't notice until it arrived that it was listed as lavender. It looks nothing like the advertised color which I'm sure others will bar their purchase on. I know have a $65 purchase that will likely go unused since she doesn't like the actual color. Hope you can fix the website photo before someone else makes the same mistake!

Bought this bag for the '24-'25 school year. Around January the zipper started getting stuck. I would fiddle with it and finally getting it working again. This started happening every week. Finally, while my son was at school, he had an accident. The teachers couldn't open his backpack to get his extra clothes so they ended up trying to cut the part of the fabric under the zipper. They accidentally clipped the zipper with it and now the bag is useless. I expected much better quality from the brand.