Antler Luggage - more than a pretty suitcase?

Dear Team Antler,

Last year I had to update my luggage on account of my daughter reclaiming her Ripcurl holdall when she departed for Rome.

Somewhat disconsolately, I set about looking for my own baggage, and I duly selected a chocolate brown medium-sized suitcase from your range costing $245.00 AUD. Paid for by credit card on October 4, 2012, the transaction was processed on October 8, 2012.

And off I trundled to Canada and France in January 2013 as is my wont this time each year (a work thing).

Imagine my disappointment when I discovered somewhere between 'pancakes' and 'croissants' that I could no longer manoeuvre the retractable (ha! ha! ha!) handle to either go up or down on my brand new suitcase.

Completely inconvenienced by this product failure, I resolved to return the bag when I had a spare day that did not entail rain to the Sydney Luggage Centre in Mascot where I had bought it from and request either a replacement bag or repairs to fix the faulty feature.

Thus this afternoon, single-handely dodging rain clouds and semi-trailers, I set off from Newtown to Mascot with the offending suitcase strapped to my bike.

Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that Antler's customer service had finished for me when I walked out of the shop last October and was not going to be returning any time soon.

The very minute I explained my mission, I was regaled with the shop assistant's opinion that the fault was highly likely to have happened as a result of the airline's negligence and therefore was nothing to do with Antler and the Sydney Luggage Centre.

I remonstrated that irrefutable evidence pointing to such a conclusion was scant, and that it was disappointing it couldn't be repaired without me incurring the quoted repair fee of $88 AUD. As our conversation progressed, it started to dawn on me that my suitcase had probably never been fit for purpose...

"Had it been in the hold?"
"Did it travel on the carousel for any time?"

It's a suitcase, of course it went in the hold and on the carousel...after all isn't that what suitcases do? Personally I'm always anxious when they're not in the hold or on the carousel! And anyway, aren't they supposed to be capable of a long-haul trip or two without malfunctioning prematurely.

At no point did I ever entertain the notion the suitcase was intended to be a decorative feature in my home or anywhere else for that matter - the intention at purchase was always that my suitcase would travel on planes and carousels in a robust manner, in fact in a manner fit for purpose.

So dear Team Antler, just to recap, I would like my suitcase repaired without incurring the $88 fee and if that turns out not to be possible then I would like a replacement.

Thank you in anticipation of a response.

Kind regards,
Sue Abbott
Freedom Cyclist
@freedomcycliste