These last two weeks since the flood have been incredibly stressful. My initial instinct was to cancel the holiday so we could deal with the aftermath but our Travel Insurance would only cover this type of event within 14 days of departure and our flood was 16 so no option. We have been at loggerheads with the salvage company over their poor service and failed promises and even tonight, on the eve of the holiday, we still have a filthy storage area and garage and rubbish on the drive awaiting collection.
However our Insurers have, so far, been extremely helpful authorising the purchase of new suitcases but getting them has been a saga itself.
When I originally checked John Lewis's website (we bought the original ones from them in 2012) the price for blue (purple sadly no longer available) was £319.20 and although out of stock more was expected soon. Insurers agreed the price and offered to make a special payment. Two days later stock came in and the price went up to £399 but by searching around and signing up to Samsonite's newsletter I was able to get a 10% discount so despite the price hike Insurers were still happy. Cases duly arrived on Monday all the way from Dusseldorf - but oops we've ordered the wrong sizes and they're too small. So with just two days to go Samsonite were brilliant, UPS picked up the wrong ones that same afternoon and then delivered the correct ones on the Wednesday morning. Of course the latter size ones are even more expensive but I couldn't care less if Insurers argue - we can finally pack now!