The Frenchie Co. AirTag Speed Wallet Failure and Warranty Coverage

November 21st, 2022, I purchased an AirTag Ready Speed Wallet in red (Rouge) for $109 shipped. Four years later, the bit that holds the AirTag in (the only reason I chose this wallet) has failed.

The failure is completely logical. Leather stretches over time and eventually that spot would stretch enough to allow the AirTag to poke through and fall out. This is not a surprising defect but I’m not a leather expert so I didn’t think it would be a problem when I bought the wallet.

The Frenchie Co. has a few poignant statements on their site that give a buyer confidence that such a defect will be mitigated:

We don’t settle. Every product must surpass expectations. No shortcuts, no half-measures—just relentless attention to detail. Every stitch, every cut, every material is chosen with purpose.

and

We build trust, not just products. 100% satisfaction, no excuses. No gimmicks, no compromises—just the finest.

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I emailed them some photos and a statement on what my issue was with their wallet that I thought carried a 5-year warranty (at least that’s what their site says). Here’s what I said:

I have a Speed Wallet but the exposed AirTag holder has stretched and is falling out. I see you revised the design. Could I mail it into you for a fix? I just want the new design where that doesn’t happen. It’s a red leather and I’m pretty attached to it.

They replied:

Thank you for reaching out. We can confirm what you’re describing is a natural aging process of the leather, which tends to stretch a bit over time. Unfortunately, previous designs can’t be changed or modified to the current design.

I replied:

I just want to verify your recommendation. 

1. This is an expected issue and not a defect
2. It is not a warranty / repair
3. I can purchase a new wallet at full price

I’m not mad but I won’t be paying full price for a replacement on what was clearly a defect mitigation of the earlier design. I just wanted to make sure that was clear before I go elsewhere.

Their final response:

This is a natural process of the leather: over time it tends to stretch a bit, and this happens with any type of leather after a certain amount of use, generally after more than 3 years.

Since this is normal wear, it isn’t covered under warranty.

If you’d like to purchase a new wallet with the updated design, you’re certainly welcome to — that would be entirely up to you.

Okay so with that settled, here are the photos:

They have since redesigned the speed wallet to not have an exposed AirTag hole which in my opinion is recognition that they repaired a defect with the design. I couldn’t find any goodwill offers from them to replace it for existing owners and their email solidifies that they won’t be doing that. They did email me on 7/31/2024 with this:

Looks like they wanted to move the rest of their units on the defective model instead of killing it altogether which further tells me that they’re a bad-company with no intention of supporting their customers. That email appears to be knowingly selling something defective or at least that’s how I read it.

Here’s the new wallet design which you can see is an improvement and unless a seam is ripped will not suffer the same issues. The wallet itself is mostly unchanged except the price tag which is now $156

I’m going to buy another AirTag compatible wallet from another company but I wanted to at least inform people that their warranty doesn’t cover many things even known defects behind a “leather just does that” get out of jail free card. That is correct. I’m acknowledging leather does that but their design team failed and the company isn’t willing to stand behind the product.

…and let’s be honest here, I was actually willing to accept a 10% off coupon and buy a new wallet. A $16 discount would have worked for me but here I am blogging about it instead. The price of bad PR was $16. Oh well.