Antler was completely silent about my broken £179 suitcase

Last month I spent £179 on an Antler suitcase that broke on its first trip. It is now unusable, but Antler has not responded to my five email complaints. He has no phone line and also ignored my messages via social media. I am now encumbered with a large broken object that I have no place to keep in my small apartment. But, if I throw it away, I will not be able to claim a refund or replacement. I naively believed that Antler was a trustworthy British brand that makes quality products, but looking at reviews online it seems many others are in the same position.EB, London

Reviews The Trustpilot website tells a similar story, with customers reporting faulty purchases and unresponsive customer services. An email and web form are the only way to contact the company. My email to customer service got the same response as yours. That is to say, silence.

The 108-year-old brand is built on a reputation for old-school British quality, while s happened? Since 2010 it has been in the hands of private equity firms and in 2018 it had a pre-tax loss of £3.9 million. In 2020 it was acquired by ATR Holdings, the company of fashion entrepreneur Michael Lewis. Within three months it had gone into administration, blaming the effect of travel restrictions during the pandemic. Its 18 stores were closed and more than 160 of 199 employees lost their jobs. Two months later, in July 2020, it was acquired by ATR Brands, created by Lewis four weeks after Antler's disappearance. have not increased at the rate of demand. The company finally agreed to replace your suitcase when, after 18 days of unsuccessful emails, you informed them that you were going to contact the Observer. And I finally unearthed a contact at head office who admitted shortcomings in customer service. "We are aware that we are not currently tracking the volume of customer inquiries since travel returned, and we sincerely apologize to anyone who has been impacted," it says. "We are strengthening our team to provide the level of service that customers have come to expect, and we will ensure that no customer is penalized for delays on our part."

As if he'll reinstate a customer service number, he says he's considering "a full suite of options".

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