Damaged Suitcases

72clg

My wife and I went on holiday in May and our new suitcases were damaged on the return flight to Bristol. I obtained a PIR report before leaving the Airport and the suitcases were picked up to go to a company called Antler for repair. They confirmed they could not be repaired and offered us a replacement. The replacements offered aren't like what we had as ours had 4 wheels instead of 2. I refused these and got told to contact Thomsons who have come back and said they aren't trying to pass the buck but I need to claim off my travel insurance. Claiming off my travel insurance has a £50 excess and considering I got both cases in the sale reduced from £100 to £50 and buy 1 get 1 free, this isn't worth my while.

What can I do about this as I shouldn't be the one out of pocket because someone somewhere tried to get into my cases?

maninthestreet

72clg wrote: »

My wife and I went on holiday in May and our new suitcases were damaged on the return flight to Bristol. I obtained a PIR report before leaving the Airport and the suitcases were picked up to go to a company called Antler for repair. They confirmed they could not be repaired and offered us a replacement. The replacements offered aren't like what we had as ours had 4 wheels instead of 2. I refused these and got told to contact Thomsons who have come back and said they aren't trying to pass the buck but I need to claim off my travel insurance. Claiming off my travel insurance has a £50 excess and considering I got both cases in the sale reduced from £100 to £50 and buy 1 get 1 free, this isn't worth my while.

What can I do about this as I shouldn't be the one out of pocket because someone somewhere tried to get into my cases?

Would Antler be the manufacturer of the suitcases?
If the suitcases were subject to a break-in attempt, why should the manufacturer be held responsible in any way?

72clg

No, the suitcases we had are by Domo brought from Bags etc.

I would be willing to accept Antler cases as long as they had 4 wheels, am I within my rights to ask for them? The one's they offered they don’t sell as they say they are a special for the airlines?

As for the break-in attempt its a case of proving it as both the front pockets were ripped off the same on both cases, they could well have been caught on something, but its very odd that the cases were damaged in identical ways and both padlocks ripped off. Either way no contents from the cases were missing.