Over the years I’ve had luggage get ruined, as you do. Mostly fabric bags which would be ripped by heaven-knows-what. I truly think some baggage handlers must carry ice picks to slash and pull luggage out of planes.
I bought my first hard-shell suitcase about 5 years ago in Kuala Lumpur with a TSA lock for secure travel around the world lest someone ‘Schappelle Corby’ me. This one had a key lock and lo, MAF here in New Zealand was inspecting my bag in my absence (a lost luggage story you don’t want to know about!) and they snapped the key in the lock. My only key. Fortunately for me they took full responsibility and replaced the bag. It was deemed that an Antler suitcase was the closest fit and that is now my bag of choice.
So here’s why I love Antler:
It has 4 swivel wheels for easy peasy gliding through airports and hotel lobbies and weighs only 3kg (medium size) so less chance of paying for overweight luggage. It has a combination TSA lock so there’s no risk of snapping or losing keys. The shell is a high-tech ABS material which is practically crack-proof, but is somehow remarkably malleable for when I over shop and need to stuff all manner of purchases into it! It opens in two halves, so I use this for dividing my lighter weather gear and warmer gear, and a zipped in mesh bag secures one side of luggage. Love love.
And here’s the best part: I’m now selling Antler and Voyager luggage in New Zealand and you’ll have it on your doorstep in 3 working days (or faster actually).
Jump here to shop at my new online store!! >>
Brad
Monday 3rd of October 2022
I ordered 2 pieces of luggage from eu.antler.com on September 20th. It's a fully legitimate site but with the absolute worst customer service.
The site very specifically says, "Fully tracked Standard Delivery via DPD within 3 – 5 working days. We pay all duties & taxes." However, it took them 3 days to even contact us asking for a tax number, "because of Brexit". I was confused, because if you are operating in the EU, there's no need for a tax number.
It turns out that despite the fact the website says "Antler EU", with the eu.domain, and the prices in Euros, the retailer is actually selling and shipping from the UK. This is completely deceptive and there's no way any luggage they ship is going to arrive in 3 - 5 days to Europe as it all has to go through customs. Furthermore, I was told it would be 3-5 business days from that point before I even got shipping confirmation as they were operating short-handed. That would then be up to 10 days, taking the weeked into account, before the luggage even shipped, let alone arrived.
As I was travelling on the 1st of October from Spain to Canada it became very clear this luggage was never going to arrive on time for my trip so I sent the customer support lady, Pearl, that had asked for the tax number an email requesting a cancellation and a refund on the order. I then ordered different luggage, from Level 8 through Amazonm, that did arrive in time.
Three additional emails have gone unanswered and we have not received a refund, shipping confirmation, or anything from this retailer, which is a real shame because their luggage looks nice and gets reasonably good reviews.
As such, they have left me no option but to initiate a chargeback.