Hi Graham,
gear returned last Tuesday: safely, untouched (?) but definitely in full working condition.
It was "forgotten" in the hotel locker room and they could not identify the bag by my verbal description while I had them on the phone still at Newark waiting for my plane.
A photo of an identical bag helped them identify it, shipping with FedEx went smoothly and the hotel took the financial impact.
Lesson learned is to always double-ckeck what returns from a hotel locker room and - when in doubt - rather carry the beast even in hot and humid conditions.
The incident has one lucky ending: Already mindsetted to fully replace the content at about 7500€, the "exchange fee" transforming 70-200 4 IS to 2,8 II was very easily digested. This is now my latest toy, and its added value (pardon me: weight) shall remind me to safeguard it at all times ;-))
Thanks for asking and kind regards
Olaf