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Hansa Wood summer houses - anyone have experience of buying from them?

11 replies

Clockworklemon · 24/07/2016 20:58

Just that really... About to splash £6k on a summer house and despite searching on Google can't find any independent reviews of them as a company. Slightly nervous - although the website looks nice I know that doesn't mean anything (Dunster house reviews shocking but website looks great).

Has anyone got any stories good or bad to tell me about this company?

Thanks

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Clockworklemon · 24/07/2016 21:00

Ps also known as Summerhouse 24

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GreenBudgie · 24/07/2016 21:15

Hello Clockwork. We spent about 6 months looking at log cabins/summer houses last year. We were tempted by Duster House website as they are always first hit in any web search, and went to there show site to view them. We were really disappointed at the build quality. Have you looked at log cabins? They are much better quality and we settled on a Skinner's Sheds log cabin. They deliver free in South East (don't know where you live). We received excellent service and a good quality cabin at a good price.

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Clockworklemon · 24/07/2016 21:27

Hi Budgie, yes we're in the SE, thanks for the tip, will check them out. Here's the one we're looking at: summerhouse24.co.uk/modern/luxury-summer-house-storage-room-hansa-lounge-xxl-22m²-44mm-8-x-5-m/

Summerhouse 24 are in Devon, bit of a trek for us and probably madness to buy before seeing one?

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GreenBudgie · 24/07/2016 21:35

Looks great Clockwork :-). Log cabins are really sturdy, I would advice you to actually walk round one to get a feel for the build quality before you buy. Cabins are so much better than solid panel she'd type summer houses. Ours is smaller than the model you want, but we practically live in it weekends and summer evenings. I love it, it's the best thing in terms of enjoyment per £ spent I have.

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TheresaMaybutSheMayNot · 25/07/2016 07:22

We bought a log cabin last summer from 'Tuin' - not sure if they have the style you are looking for but can't fault them for quality. It's been up a year now - it's insulated and has electricity and heating. We've used it all through the winter with no problems. We love ours.
Incidentally we looked at Skinners Sheds too - went to the show place, decided against them because of big gaps in the display cabin! Glad yours is ok Greenbudgie, I definitely agree with you, log cabins are much sturdier than summer houses.

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Clockworklemon · 25/07/2016 20:24

The Tuin log cabins look great and similar style to the Summerhouse24 Hansa ones, thanks TheresaMay (surprised you had the time to reply due to your busy job! Wink)

I know the sensible thing is to go and look at the actual cabins, just not sure we can fit in a trip to Devon or wherever and want to order it asap but would probably kick myself if the quality isn't up to standard.

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GreenBudgie · 25/07/2016 20:44

Glad you have a cabin you love Theresa :-).

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TheresaMaybutSheMayNot · 25/07/2016 22:20

LOL! Well I am terribly busy but Brexit is less important than log cabins, obvs. If you want to PM me Clockwork and let me know where you are, if you are near us you are welcome to come and see ours. A friend of a friend did the same for us so I'm happy to pass that favour on Smile.
I did hours and hours of research and really think the Tuin cabins are top notch.

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Ahrli · 16/01/2018 18:51

If you don’t take any other advice this year then heed this – do not buy a shed, garden hut, summerhouse or log cabin from Summerhouse 24 aka Hansa Garden Products Ltd.
Nasty is not a word that normally comes across my radar often but when it comes to Summerhouse 24/Hansa Garden Products it is the most appropriate word in the dictionary.
In our experience their customer service was very nasty, their financial arrangements for paying was very, very nasty and their after sales service was very, very, very nasty.
We purchased a snooker room from the company costing £9500 – a substantial amount of money especially when you have no guarantees that they are a legitimate business. So - and as they were demanding full payment up front - we did a few checks and while there were no favourable comments about the company there were also no adverse ones.
So we decided to go ahead but negotiated paying half on ordering the cabin and half on delivery as we were still a bit nervous about paying so much money upfront. Ten weeks later they said it was ready and they wanted the balance. We paid it and then they called to say that the cabin had been damaged and they would needed to return its to Estonia for the part we were very uneasy. Fortunately THEIR employee had made a mistake taking our second payment and it had not gone through.
No apology and no offer of compensation was given- we went five weeks without any feedback from them at all and in that time they ignored all our calls and emails to them .
Finally they called to say they wanted the balance of the money and they would then send up the shed. By this time we were into a Scottish winter so we asked them to cancel until spring but their manager refused and said the best they could do was £500 compensation. The delay however meant that the shed was on its way without the second payment being completed – not our fault!
This however set the scene for what turned out to be a lesson on what not to do when it comes to customer service! We received the cabin which is advertised as having full instructions and every part numbered - a fact also claimed on their videos and website.
Only twenty eight pieces out of hundreds were numbered, there were no instructions and ten parts were the wrong pieces and our joiner had to re-engineer them on site and this took several extra hours work which cost us. By the time we got to the roof we discovered that the felt was so old that the adhesive on the back had disintegrated and the felt would not stick to the roof unlike the product they show on their video. It was also splitting and breaking when we handled it cracking and ripping like writing paper again because it was so old.
Overall it cost us another £1776 over and above the £9500 to put things right. We complained to Summerhouse 24 and set out the problems on paper. They refused to acknowledge they had any responsibility for the issues we raised and instead used their reply to further insult us by claiming that we had been “high handed”, “righteous” and that we had treated them with “utter contempt” and that we had tried to “brow beat and intimidate them”. We were completely gobsmacked.
By this time we had sent them a further £3000 in an attempt to get some response to the problems we had. Seven days after receiving the cabin we received a letter telling us they were instructing a debt collection agency and then a couple of days later we received a letter from their solicitor. At this time there was only £1000 outstanding and we decided to pay as we could not be bothered by the stress of it all at Christmas time.
We are however, appalled at the aggressive nature of this company and their manager and their complete failure to come up with a solution to the problems that they had created in the first place.
We urge anyone looking for a shed, cabin, summerhouse or garden room to simply shop somewhere else!!!!!....and to not endure the ordeal that we went through with Summerhouse24 aka Hansa Garden Products. If anyone would like photographic or documented evidence of our problems with this company please contact us and we will be delighted to share.

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SummerH24 · 17/01/2018 16:10

This review has been reported to Mumsnet as inappropriate as there are many factual inaccuracies in the review and many pertinent facts missing. Facts that as a company, we were prepared to rely on in a court of law in pursuing the balance payment we were owed. At no point does myself, or any of my team set out to be nasty on any level but especially not customer services or after sales. Why would we? We have a high level of repeat and referral business, so we obviously get it right most of the time. Today, this particular customer wrote to me in response to yet another fairly worded letter "We are always available for measured, fair and non-aggressive conversation with Summerhouse24 but no-one has ever contacted us on those grounds". Not only is that another untrue statement, as we have contacted them, but the above report clearly contradicts that they are always available measured, fair and non-aggressive conversation.

Our payment terms are very clearly set out on our website and are also explained during the purchase process over the phone and any time we are asked. We ask for a 50% deposit on order with the balance due just prior to delivery. Our client did not negotiate any change to these terms and we do not waiver them. What business does? If a client is concerned about paying for a cabin upfront, then we would recommend they pay at least part on a credit card which offers a whole raft of consumer protection rights and insurance. Our clients chose to pay entirely by BACS and at no point said they were uncomfortable about paying in full. We have two emails from this client agreeing to make the balance payment prior to delivery on specific days, but they then failed to make payment.

It was unfortunate that on loading this cabin at our UK warehouse, a forklift damaged one of the components. This caused a two-week delay while a new part was sent from our factory in Estonia. We raised a credit note at the time of £500 to compensate for the delay. We had initially tried to arrange delivery almost four weeks prior to the attempt when the cabin was damaged, but the client requested we store the cabin as they were away on holiday. We did that gladly, free of charge and did not take the balance payment as the cabin was not being delivered. I believe that to be an example of fair payment terms and practices. If we make a mistake, and while we try very hard not to, we like anybody, and any company occasionally do! (I am sure even our reviewer does too!) We will put it right asap. However, in this case, the customer has alleged missing and defective parts that had to be re-engineered. At no point were we notified of these issues before or during the cabins installation. These claims were made some three weeks later when we had received no response to numerous emails and voicemails and had to notify the customer that we were passing this to a debt collection agency. While we received a long list and claim of additional expenditure by this client, to date, we have received NO evidence or photographs of the defective parts.

Due to our computer aided design and CNC machine milled manufacturing processes, as well as our packing and quality control measures, it is highly unlikely that these alleged ten parts were defective. Overarching that, had the customer called us when they apparently made these discoveries, we would have immediately remedied the issue with replacement parts or by sending our install team to assist and make good if possible.

The standard roofing felt supplied with all our cabins is not self-adhesive. The felt sent to this client was the standard felt, as ordered by them and is designed to be secured with felting nails. We advise this covering has a 2 – 3 year life span and offer an upgrade to ICOpal Firesmart which is self-adhesive. This is all very clear on our website. We did not refuse to acknowledge any responsibility for the issues raised but we were not made aware of the issues until presented with unauthorised works and no evidence to support the customer’s claims for these works.

And without wishing to be antagonistic, but listening back to the calls and reading notes on our CRM system, we did find this customer “high handed”, “righteous” and that they had tried to “brow beat and intimidate”. Had they answered very courteous emails and voicemails in a timely fashion, the necessity for us to pass the debt to a collection agency would have been avoided. This situation is regrettable, we are not a faceless organisation and we care about our customers and our business. In this instance, we actually feel we have been treated very unfairly by this customer. It works both ways!

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Ahrli · 18/01/2018 11:27

I do hope, and I am sure they will, that mumsnet will speak to both parties before removing my review of summerhouse24 as we have the required documentation and evidence to fully back up our comments which are true, fair comment and in the public interrest. It is worrying also that summerhouse24 have gone to such lengths to silence me.

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