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
SimonDancover 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.
DANCOVER A/SI ordered two days ago and yet the order hadn’t even left their warehouse? This didn’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?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.
SimonI 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
DANCOVERBut 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:
I've opened a dispute with PayPal and now require a full refund.
Please provide this ASAP. Everything about this order process has been a struggle,
and does not reflect well on DancoverA 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
DancoverUnsurprisingly 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
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!
UPDATE Paypal’s dispute resolution eventually decided in my favour and I got my refund but not thanks to any intervention by Dancover.
Comments Received
This was originally published on my old website, the new site doesn’t have the ability to add comments but I’ve reproduced the feedback I received from other users from the old site below.
Steve says:
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!!!!!Ray says:
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”!Roger Potts says:
Wish I had read your review before paying €5000 for a gazebo.
Dancover not replaced 2 damaged parts and not responding to my e mailsLJ says:
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?Steve says:
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.GIUSEPPE MANZOLI says:
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, divided
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 ????Chris Bassey says:
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!Joe Cody says:
I ordered a polycarbonate green house in January 2021 and the delivery date
was 1st March they emailed me again to change that to 26 March and then 11 May
and the latest is August,im after canceling the order,poor service be warned.P. says:
Sponsored advert appeared on my socual media timeline and clicked in. Won’t
be buying based on the review and feedback from others here. Thank you.Joanne Verdes says:
My son has just finished erecting a dancover Pro shed. To look at it is great,
and the price was very competitive. But I have never bought such a load of
rubbish in my life. It is worse than a tin can, and even a child can make a
serious dent in any part of it. The roof is deceptively low, and even a short
person will knock their head off the beam. The sliding doors do not slide.
And I reckon they will bend in a matter of days, so flimsy. Please do NOT buy
their products.Eoin McCormack says:
These are the worst shower I have come across. Ordered a “ready to mount”
awning from a .ie website. When it eventually arrived it was flat pack, turns
out they are in Denmark and it would have cost me €190 to return even though
they falsely advertised it.
Customer service never read or understood the complaint and refused to do
anything. The quality was atrocious, the arms on the awning are wonky, the
anchor bolts are not fit for purpose and some of the bolts were showing signs
of rust and it was scratched before it went up on the wall. I too had to raise
a dispute with Paypal, avoid like the plague, absolutely dreadful company.
I also see the awning I paid €492 for us now for sale for €320 and it is not
worth that price.Wayne Cowling says:
I can only agree with everything that has been said.
Never be drawn into the advertising speel. Its b*****cks.
This company is a shower of sh*t.
A big pile.
Just don’t get involved with them. I did and have regretted it ever since.
They are useless the people who I’ve dealt with are useless and the product
is totally useless. They even wanted me to pay for replacement parts that
they wrongly supplied!John Skeggs says:
I ordered 2 sheds,1 was damaged. As always saying its not there fault.
Refusing to replace the damaged panel.