Name: Timber and Canvas (Closed Company)
Rating: 4.58

“Absolutely abysmal customer service. Timber and canvas (now helsby tents) supplied their tipis for our wedding. On the whole ours wasn’t too bad in comparison to some of the other stories I’ve read, however, after voicing our concerns to the company in regards to the quality of the service provided For our special day we were assured that ‘these issues had never occurred before’ and were offered a partial refund. I’m guessing if you’ve read the other reviews, you’ll see where this is going... broken promises of payment, broken promises of call backs until Eventually they stopped responding to us all together. We’ve since received notification of their liquidation and confirmation of our names amongst the many others that are owed hundreds if not thousands of pounds. Low and behold the company opens its doors again days later under the name ‘helsby tents’ same website, same Instagram, Facebook and you guessed it...same owners (albeit in different directing capacities) If you’re considering booking your wedding with them I seriously wouldn’t. The product they offer is great (if it’s actually delivered as specified) but the customer service (or lack of) is truly shocking. It’s absolutely criminal that companies are allowed to rip people off like this and then reopen under a different guise only to do it all again.”

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Posted 4 years ago

Hi Jo and S, I hope during this time of global Pandemic that you're both keeping well and that your friends and families are both safe. Obviously very sad to read this, especially given the glowing review you initially gave it. Yes Timber and Canvas did go into liquidation, but I want to make very clear that it didn't 'rip' anyone off. T&C was forced to legally wind up the company by HRMC as it was cashflow insolvent. Small companies unfortunately fail all the time, the truth is we weren't some faceless corporation but real people going through an extraordinary stressful and emotional time. I am truly sorry for the customer service that you received. We had been working for months to make it work but the combination of truly horrendous trading circumstances, loss of major contracts, personal circumstances and then the final coffin nail of COVID-19 meant that the business was completely unviable. Timber and Canvas was unviable but with guidance from our business rescue consultants we found a way for us to honour the promises we had made to all the current clients on the books with their future bookings, this way not a SINGLE client lost any money with the closure of T&C. In terms of the name, when we wen't into liquidation we legally weren't allowed to trade under the name Timber and Canvas again otherwise we would have. We also said that we would save as many jobs as we could with our enormously hard working and talented crew, given the current global circumstances I'm very thankful for this otherwise this would have been disastrous for them. The list of creditors you speak of predominantly consisted of friend and family who had put their trust in us, you are very welcome to look at the end of year reports to see that the business never made the director a penny of profit, in fact she was the largest creditor to the business and will be working for the next 15+ years to pay back the money her friends and family loaned her. The industry as a whole has suffered a major blow, friends who run marquee and events businesses have unfortunately also gone under with the current circumstances. All we are trying to do is the best we possibly can but I completely understand why you would be frustrated... I wish you both well and I hope that the amazing day you had is what you remember about your wedding day and not about not receiving a partial refund for festoons and crap customer service from a now closed company.

Posted 4 years ago

“We supplied flooring to Timber and Canvas for an event in May 2019. The flooring hire was paid for just after the event after some chasing, but when our team collected the flooring several of the floorboards had been cut shorter or had corners rounded off or large holes cut into them. These amendments had been made purposefully and no permission was sought by the firm to do so. We have been waiting for payment to cover the repair/replacement of these boards since the beginning of June and for the first three months sent intermittent emails and made intermittent calls. Jude, who I believe is one of the business owners, last answered the phone to me several weeks ago and promised payment of our invoice by the end of that week - that payment never came. They have never queried the validity of the invoice so can only assume they do not have the means or the inclination to pay. I have been phoning Jude's mobile phone and all of the offices, using all of the options for sales/accounts/etc, on an almost daily basis for the last two months and no one is answering - ever. I have tried phoning from different phones in case my mobile was blocked/blacklisted. I can live without what was a relatively small amount of money (less than £400) and I would not normally post on review sites but I have found the lack of communication or compromise from Timber and Canvas unacceptable. I understand cash flow problems, queries of invoices, staff making pressurised decisions to do things that will need paid for later - all of those things are part and parcel of our industry - but even if they offered me £30 a week for the next 12 weeks I would take that. Mark is right in saying that non-communication exacerbates a problem, it doesn't make it go away.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“Ghosted by Timber & Canvas... The problems started the day before my wedding. The tipi we were using for our ceremony was involved in a collision - thankfully no one was injured - but we had to change our plans for the ceremony at the last minute. Timber and Canvas looked to get an alternative tipi to us, but the founder of T&C (who was involved in the collision) advised that he couldn’t guarantee the new tipi would be set up in time, and he worried about his team working on the build overnight. So we decided - mutually - to move the ceremony to another space and for the tipi part of our package to be refunded. That was over five months ago, and we are still owed almost £2000. Whilst half of the refund was eventually received (after two months of chasing), countless emails have since been ignored about the remaining £2k. We were promised a “schedule for the rest of the refund” in September. This never materialised. We were promised they would be “scheduling payments on a weekly basic” in October. These never materialised. It has now been over two months since I have heard anything from Timber & Canvas, and countless emails and voicemails have gone unreturned. I have emailed the owner of Timber and Canvas - who was on site and understood the situation - several times, and he hasn’t even had the courtesy to acknowledge my emails. The final straw was in Decemeber, when I commented on a Timber & Canvas Instagram post in a last-ditch attempt to get them to respond to me. My comment was deleted within 30-minutes, and weeks later I have still heard nothing. It’s nice to see they’re happy to promote themselves a positive light, yet couldn’t care less about the horrendous experience of an existing customer. It isn’t just about the money. If at any point I was given a valid reason for the delay, and was kept up to date, I would be patient and understanding. But instead they have buried their heads in the sand and hoped I would go away. They were quick to take my money, but have ghosted me now I am owed some of it back. We spent many thousands of pounds with T&C, and this how they decided to treat us. Timber & Canvas claim to pride themselves on fantastic customer service. But over the last five months I have seen none. Some advice if they would care to listen - ignoring a customer does not make the problem go away, it exacerbates it. And you have now tarnished the memory of my wedding day. Nice one Timber and Canvas.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“A fantastic company to work with for our wedding reception. Communication was always quick and the site crew worked extremely hard in the very hot weather we had. Highly recommend!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“We would fully recommend this company! The tipis were magical and absolutly made my event. Every single guest commented on what a fabulous tipi we had and what a good night they had. The tipis were large, spacious, really good qaulity and asbi mentioned previously absolutly made my night. The staff constructing the tipi were quick, tidy, fun and super helpfull. The office staff were just as helpfull and had everything down to the last detail correct... i would use this company over and over again!!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Great service from professional people. They were attentive, sorted any issues out promptly, kept me in the loop throughout, the communication was exceptional. Even when we thought we had generator issues (we didn’t) they were there to sort us out! Thanks”

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Posted 5 years ago

“The tipis were fabulous and such a beautiful venue for our wedding. The price was good value for money and clear from the outset and there were lots of extras available to book to help. The site team were brilliant. Really efficient and so professional on the day. Would absolutely recommend a tipi to host your wedding!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Sailcloth marquee for our wedding was truly amazing and the Timber and Canvas were professional throughout. Highly recommended.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“We had a three tepee middle package for our wedding in July. We had originally come to an open day without really any idea of what we wanted but then completely fell in love with the tents and the package had everything we needed (and some things we didn't even know we needed. Their communication from day one was super fast and really helpful. We really had no idea what we were doing so it was lovely to know that you could always ring up and get an answer fast! The crew were a bunch of lovely lads and nothing was too much trouble, they even helped us put up our origami bird chandelier. The tents blew everyone away and we had a really great time. Top-notch, thanks team”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I told my wife that I wanted to renew our vows in a tipi. In a tipi???, yes darling, inside a tipi, with a fire, and hay squares, and all tipi things tip toping everywhere. I carried on explaining my grand-country-yupie-lalaland-plan as the idea of renewing any kind of vows was rapidly evaporating. That was until my wife decided to shut me down with a quick Google search. “Tipi weddings” or something like that she wrote. Mistake, big mistake. She came across Timber and Canvas page, and bung bang bang. Say yes baby. Say it… And she did! ha! The story goes on and on. Yessssssss, I loooove you. For ever, is the real highlight. Now, on a more serious note. We hired Timber and Canvas services. Cracking job, and truly unique experience I can’t recommend enough.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“I booked an 18m sperry tent for my wedding costing nearly £7k. The team put it up, at which point we realised it was absolutely filthy. Marks all over the walls and ceilings. In addition the tables were broken, dirty, uneven and the solid floor we paid £800 extra for was missing supports and uneven. To boot, the company refused to refund my money and take the tent away same day so that I could organise for a clean tent from a more reputable company to be arranged and not ruin my wedding with less than 2 days to go.”

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Posted 5 years ago

We have spoken to you at length over the past couple of days and have tried everything we possibly can to make this work with you. We are leaving a reply as this review is obviously very damaging to our small company. We want to correct any misinformation here to reassure others of how we deal with issues and that every event is of paramount importance to us. The crew had been at your site since 8am but the first time we were informed that you were having issues was after 4pm - you phoned to say that the floor was uneven and that you were unhappy that some of the tables had some marks on them. It was also mentioned that portions of the canvas panel had dirt on them. We instantly sprung into action and came up with a plan to get it sorted straight away. The site manager made an assessment and informed us that the ground that we had to install the floor on was not level and it was causing unevenness in certain areas. The canvas had also picked up some marks, which he identified on the canvas. We decided that the only option we had was to relay the entire floor with additional support and some groundwork, and do a full clean down of any marks noted. The earliest we could get a senior crew over to you to do this was the next morning, which we implemented straight away. Once on site, the crew did a full flooring reinstall and clean down, ensuring that your comments from the night before were all dealt with as quickly as possible with no further delays to your prep. We did offer you a replacement tent option, but you confirmed at 8pm that you wanted this tent and would keep it installed on site. Since you wanted to keep the tent and we had crew en route to complete the installation to your satisfaction, we could not offer you a refund at that time. Obviously your experience on the set up day is far from what we want. It goes a long way from the standards we set for our events. We do feel that we tried everything we could to fix this as quick as we could. We have never received a bad review and it has been one of the hardest and saddest things we ever been through. I only hope that how we dealt with the issues you had showed you how committed we are to making sure that every event goes perfectly. As said to you personally before, we are, of course, truly sorry for any distress this caused. We were very happy to hear that your wedding was beautiful and went very well in the end.

Posted 5 years ago

“Fantastic service, Marty nothing too much trouble”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Excellent company! Friendly, professional and unique!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“A bespoke service, free delivery to Scotland, and super friendly staff both on-site when they came to set up, and over email whenever I had a question in the lead up.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“We liked the fact we could book a package with Timber and Canvas and know exactly what we would be paying unlike many other companies where everything seemed to be an extra add on. From our initial contact the team were very helpful and answered all our queries with helpful suggestions. We had a pre-site visit which put us at ease knowing our chosen layout would work for us. On the day of set up (and take down) the guys were amazing very polite and did everything we asked. The Tipi's looked absolutely amazing and certainly had the wow factor when our guests arrived! We would definitely recommend these guys to everyone. Professional service and really friendly at a competitive price too.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Timber and canvas honestly made our wedding the best day we could have imagined. All the staff when booking with them were so helpful and any ideas we had they made happen. They arrived a few days before the wedding to set up with no problems and after the wedding removed it all which took no time at all. The tipi's just looked amazing and everyone at the wedding couldn't believe how beautiful they are. They stayed warm with the heater provided and the fire was definitely the feature. We had 19 children at the wedding, the fire was safe for them to be around. The kids just loved the open space to run about.Just stunning and cant thank timber and canvas enough for all the help they gave making our wedding day the most spectacular day we had dreamed off. Such a good customer service and would recommend for any special occasion. xxx”

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Posted 6 years ago

“I don't even know where to start with this incredible company. I came across Timber and Canvas when I was searching for unique wedding venues, and well... the tipi's couldn't have encapsulated my vision more if they tried! I then started to get quotes back from different companies - as you do! It began to look like a tipi wedding wasn't going to be possible, until I got my quote back from Timber & Canvas. Not only were they the most professional/personable looking company, but they were the cheapest! The absolute dream for a bride with big dreams and a smaller budget! So, I got in touch with the team, who just took my vision and ran with it. Made it perfect. Gave me ideas and inspiration I didn't even know I wanted, but on the day, I wouldn't have been without, it's such a pleasure to have a team care about your day in such a personalised way. I was probably a nightmare customer and as many brides do, I wanted everything to be perfect - they absolutely delivered, and they did so with smiles, ease and enthusiasm. When you're organising what you want to be the perfect day - it really helps to have suppliers that are on board with your ideas and get just as excited as you do! Not only that, but as a side note - a few months before our wedding, I lost my brother unexpectedly. Now, I wasn't in contact for a while and just sent an apology email explaining the situation... a few days later, I got a delivery of flowers at my door. I know, it's only a small thing - but you tell me how many of your suppliers would do something that meaningful and thoughtful to you as a client? So - to cut a long review short. Timber and Canvas, you are an outstanding company. From enquiry to delivery, set up and take down, table plans and furniture hire, you truly excel yourselves and are totally and utterly wonderful people. It would be an absolute pleasure to hire you for any future events I have, and I will be dishing out recommendations left, right and centre! Massive love & thanks, Erin & Ben”

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Posted 6 years ago

“T&C provided a large tipi complex for our daughter's wedding reception in August 2017 at Newhailes House, Musselburgh. They had not worked at this site before and the site hadn't previously hosted an event of this kind. The location chosen for the tipis was excellent, but presented significant challenges because of the site layout and in particular its proximity to an historic building. The T&C team did an excellent job in assessing and dealing with the challenges the site presented and their liaison with us as clients, with the site owners and with other parties involved (e.g. generator suppliers) was very good throughout. They were also extremely receptive to our wishes for the event (especially regarding decor) and made numerous constructive suggestions to help us get the best out of the tipis and the site. Their work on site setting up and dismantling the tipis was extremely efficient and they were very flexible in working with us and others (such as caterers) who were involved in setting up for the wedding reception. T&C personnel were pleasant and helpful to deal with throughout and my only reservation relates to some difficulties and delay in obtaining plans of the proposed layout from T&C for others to work with. This was not a serious problem and was I suspect indicative of the pressure of work they were facing during the run-up to our event. I would certainly have no hesitation in recommending them. Tipi hire is not cheap, but the end result was exactly what we wanted and fully justified the expenditure involved.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“We used Timber and Canvas for our wedding 2nd Sept 2017. Amazing! Great value and a relaxed team. Would definitely use again for a party!”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Right from the word go, Timber and Canvas were a delight to deal with, putting our minds at rest during what was sometimes a stressful period of wedding planning!! Having what we initially thought may be a somewhat tricky site for our two tipi set up, Marty put our minds at rest and assured us our plans would be good to go so on went the planning. The guys at timber and canvas turned up two days early so as to catch the best of the Scottish weather forecast and what a slick and well drilled operation!! Before we knew it, the Tipis were up in all of their glory and we were able to get stuck in to decorating them – a perfect blank canvas to let your imagination go wild and create the perfect back drop for any occasion. We were all blown away when we first stepped in to the tents, not to mention the reactions and comments when our guests arrived and the tipis fairy lights were twinkling in all of their glory. Until we came across Timber and Canvas on the internet, we never imagined it would be possible to have our wedding ceilidh overlooking the sea and mountains in the remote West highlands of Scotland but boy didn’t the Tipi’s look their part. The guys at Timber and Canvas really did help to make our dreams a reality. We couldn’t recommend Marty and the team highly enough and we hope we can invite the guys up North for another Tipi celebration in years to come!!”

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Posted 6 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email

Timber and Canvas (Closed Company) Reviews