I’ve long wanted a gazebo/marquee. They are handy for outside broadcasts to protect you and the kit from the elements, but also for parties and events in the garden. They’re very expensive though, and I’ve always held back.
With the nice weather recently I thought I’d google search marquees again and discovered a company called Dancover. They’re based in Denmark even though the site has a .co.uk address.
Browsing their site the prices looked very good and they promised a three day delivery to the UK. I had an event that weekend and as it was only Tuesday morning I thought it a reasonable assumption to assume they can get me a marquee in time for the weekend. I submitted the order, paid via Paypal and the confirmation code came through. I sat back looking forward to my marquee arriving ready for my weekend event.
My suspicions were raised when after a couple of days I didn’t receive any confirmation of delivery or tracking number through – I’d only had the automated confirmation of my order and no further communication. I emailed them.. uk@dancover.com
Hi,
Is there a tracking number I can use to see progress of delivery please? I want to make sure I am around to receive it.
Many thanks,
Simon
Dancover replied within a couple of hours:
Hi Simon,
Your order should leave our warehouse today. When it does, you will receive an automatic email with the tracking details. The estimated delivery time for the UK is 2-3 working days.
Kind regards,
DANCOVER A/S
I ordered two days ago and yet the order hadn’t even left their warehouse? This doesn’t seem right, and doesn’t match their promise of 3 days delivery on the website. Perhaps they didn’t actually have the stock. Knowing this wouldn’t arrive in time, and knowing I was out of the country the following week and unable to take a delivery, I emailed back to request cancellation of the order.
I was lead to believe it was 2-3 days from point of order. I need it for an event on Saturday so can I cancel please if it’s not going to be here by then and if it hasn’t left the warehouse yet?
Thanks,
Simon
But within seconds of pressing send on this reply I got a bounceback:
Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:
Your message wasn’t delivered due to a permission or security issue. It may have been rejected by a moderator, the address may only accept e-mail from certain senders, or another restriction may be preventing delivery.
Rejected? Not accepting emails from certain senders? Another restriction? Perhaps one to deny me my rights of cancellation? I needed to investigate this further. Turns out that when Dancover customer support reply back to you they send from a “no-reply” email address. They are assuming their answer is final and you shouldn’t need to reply further, essentially shouting “The conversation is over, leave us alone”! Undeterred I forwarded my original reply back to the uk@dancover.com email address.
No reply.
I left the country in the hope that when I returned I’d have a marquee or a refund. 13 days after I had placed my order I had neither and no further emails or information from Dancover. I emailed again to uk@dancover.com
Sirs,
Please update me on the status of the above order number? It has now been 13 days since any communication from you and I am no clearer whether the item has been put through or cancelled.
I do not want to have to go through the paypal dispute process so please communicate with me your intentions and timescales with regards to this order.
Simon
I had no reply.
The next day I forwarded the same message again requesting a reply and eventually I got this in answer:
Dear Client,
We have opened an inquiry with the forwarder in order for us to locate your shipment. We thank you for your understanding, and apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.
Best regards
DANCOVER
But wait? What? They were suggesting the order had been shipped, but where was the promised automated email with the tracking number? I chuckled at “Dear Client” too, compared to “Hi Simon” in previous messages their tone had altered considerably.
I’d had enough, there was something not right about this but I couldn’t be bothered to argue any further. I placed an order with another company and I replied to Dancover:
A response came back:
Dear Client,
We apologize but for today it is all we can do since it is a holiday in most parts of Europe today and nothing is open. We will get back to you with more information tomorrow.
Kind regards
Dancover
Unsurprisingly there was no further information provided the next day, nor any subsequent messages. I’m still waiting on a refund!
Dancover’s mission statement is listed on this page
OUR MISSION
Best service and support, attractive prices, wide assortment and skilled employees are important factors in our substantial progress since the beginning in 2003. In order to be able to guarantee accessibility and short wait for delivery we stock and ship all our products from our central warehouse in Denmark.
To me it is clear they are falling short of that mission. I’ll leave you to decide whether to make a purchase via this company or not! I obtained another marquee from a uk supplier in the end, it was more expensive but it arrived the next day! Now that’s how to do business!
Irrespective of the poor service, my experience is that their products are seriously poor quality.
I erected a polytunnel and within days it was ripped at the seams in multiple places due to the thin material used in the cover.
AVOID!!!!!
Dancover webchat is useless – I asked some detailed questions – they referred me to the Dancover website I was already ON for the webchat! I also requested a telephone “callback” – when it finally came (the next day), the guy didn’t even know as much about the product as was already on their website! He became evasive when I asked if their ‘customer support’ service was sub-contracted to an outside company. Also, as with many ‘support’ services based abroad (Dancover is Danish), the personnel’s command of English often is not really adequate for the task in hand. Finally, I think that their delivery charges are excessive (and not apparent until you reach check-out!) – particularly since they seem to be trying to suggest they are either a British company or at least hold stock in the UK, by calling themselves “Dancover Shop UK”. It certainly appears that all orders are shipped from abroad – if this is the case, no wonder there are complaints about delays to promised “2-3 day delivery”!
I too had a number of issues with them and wish I had come across your post first. Terrible customer service. Very rude when asking for some very simple details that should really have been included in the manual.
Contacted them to ask about tools that were required to assemble the tent and was told they didn’t have that information! How can you not know what tools are required to assemble the product you’re selling??
When I queried more, they ignored me and then blocked me from the chat. How odd?
Wish I’d read your review before ordering fro mthis crap company.
Absolute worst customer service you can imagine. I deeply regret ever having set eyes on Dancover and their rude staff, their lies and deceit.
Nobody takes responsibility, they hang up the phone and disconnect a chat.
In all my years I’ve not come accross such abominable service or lack of service.
I now have a tent I cannot use and they just keep hanging up the phone on me. That is beyond horrible.
Simon Hardwick
Thanks for the detailed ac of your Dancover dealings.
We have just today 29/4/19 received a Dancover 3m x 3m gazebo damaged in transit.
Which UK gazebo co did you decide to use?
Kind regards
Dave
I wish to have read this before . My order number is 6074293 and I spoke to NINA at the phone as there was missing 3 boxes from my order . She said that UPS has missing them and they will arrive the next day . well UPS didn’t send me any email or phone call and I didn’t received yet the missed boxes . I can’t uderstand how is possible to buy 2 marquees , devided in 8 boxes all of them named as 1of1 1of2 1of3 and so on and receive only 5 and then , all the others has disappeared into what ????
I have just bought a marquee from Dancover. I have had a questionable experience, although I bought it via Amazon. I did receive good communication and in time I did get the Marquee delivered to my house. But it has taken more than two months to receive all the components to build it. And it has been used before! Only half The bungy straps were with it, major components missing when it arrived. I must say that I did receive a large discount and they have sent all the parts now! I did give up on a few parts and just bought them off eBay as the courier service takes too long to wait for!
I bought it for two family occasions, both of which I had to hold indoors due to the marquee not being able to be used. But the quality is good and the tent is actually very good… I was impressed by the communication and the way the company treated me.. but if you need it quick.. try another company!
Thank god I found this review…. looks like I’ll be buying from canvas and nylon instead.
Thanks for sharing. Almost ordered within them until I read this.