DFDS: most-reported complaints
- Complaints in recent reviews
- 42% of 108 recent reviews analysed
- Most-reported issue
- Poor core service 39% of complaints
- Company replies
- 72% of negative reviews, typically within a day
- TrustScore
- 4.1 from 20,695 total reviews
- Review window analysed
- 2024-02-22 to 2026-11-05 666 reviews
- Sector
- Other sectors
Automated analysis of 666 public Trustpilot reviews published 2024-02-22 to 2026-11-05. TrustScore 4.1 from 20,695 total reviews — see the Trustpilot page. Quick answer: is DFDS legit? Issues below reflect what reviewers reported, not findings of wrongdoing.
Reviewers most often report issues with poor core service, citing 218 instances out of 554 total complaints. Other frequent concerns include general other issues with 112 reports and overcharging with 74 reports. Additionally, 60 complaints stated that the service was not as described. All identified trends for these issues are reported as flat.
What are the most common complaints about DFDS?
| Issue | Share | Count | Trend | By month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poor core service | 39% | 218 | steady | |
| Other | 20% | 112 | steady | |
| Overcharging | 13% | 74 | steady | |
| Not as described | 11% | 60 | steady | |
| Support unhelpful | 9% | 51 | rising since 2026-01 | |
| Support unreachable | 7% | 38 | rising since 2026-01 |
Poor core service
218 reports · 39% of complaints“Having paid for priority boarding for the original ferry, we did not receive the benefit of this on the ferry we ended up on!”
The company replied on 2025-09-03: “Good afternoon Emma Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re truly sorry to hear about the inconvenience you and your family faced during your recent journey. The weekend you…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“nobody was at the port on our return to give us information”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“The cabins are beyond tired the shower/toilet smells of drains”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Other
112 reports · 20% of complaints“accused my 13 year old friends of stealing”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“missing the 4.30pm ferry despite having arrived at 2.30pm”
The company replied on 2025-09-02: “Good afternoon Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re truly sorry to hear about the inconvenience you faced during your recent journey. The weekend you travelled was one of the…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“the customer services representative Paul, was unhelpful to say the least, could not or would not offer alternatives unless we paid an additional £100 fee”
The company replied on 2025-05-26: “Good morning Kelly We understand your disappointment regarding the Amsterdam trip cancellation and the difficulties you faced rebooking for your friend's birthday. We regret that the alternative…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Overcharging
74 reports · 13% of complaints“they were incredibly rude, uncooperative, and flat-out refused to issue a full refund”
3 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They refused to properly refund my friend at first and literally slid a £1 coin across the desk”
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Cancelled our ferry twice and just moved us to another service without asking us. We lost hundreds in unused accommodation”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Not as described
60 reports · 11% of complaints“Having paid for priority boarding for the original ferry, we did not receive the benefit of this on the ferry we ended up on!”
The company replied on 2025-09-03: “Good afternoon Emma Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re truly sorry to hear about the inconvenience you and your family faced during your recent journey. The weekend you…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I payed for priority boarding so we could get on the boat first by it they loaded 3 rows of cars and all the lorries before us”
The company replied on 2025-09-02: “Good afternoon Vidler Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We’re truly sorry to hear about the inconvenience you and your family faced during your recent journey. The weekend you…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“online it was advertised that these come with a range of hot meals and free drinks - including alcohol”
The company replied on 2025-07-20: “Hello Charlotte, Dear, We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. We're sorry to hear that your trip didn't meet your expectations. We strive to provide a comfortable and enjoyable…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Support unhelpful
51 reports · 9% of complaints“they were incredibly rude, uncooperative, and flat-out refused to issue a full refund”
3 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They refused to properly refund my friend at first and literally slid a £1 coin across the desk”
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They cancel the ferry on the Monday due to bad weather and left us stranded in poole for the night.”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Support unreachable
38 reports · 7% of complaints“they completely ignore my emails (no reply in about 3 months now)”
The company replied on 2025-04-27: “Good afternoon Mirko We understand your frustration and disappointment with your recent travel experience. It's clear that the situation caused you significant inconvenience and stress, and we…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
2 readers marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Cancelled our ferry twice and just moved us to another service without asking us. We lost hundreds in unused accommodation”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They then give you a contract number with no mention of changes, which is a premium number.”
The company replied on 2026-04-04: “Good afternoon We appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We're very sorry you had trouble redeeming the ticket offer and experienced high phone charges. We'll investigate the voucher code…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
How to reach DFDS
These are the contact details DFDS publishes on its Trustpilot profile, as of our last check on 2026-11-11 — it publishes no phone number there, address DFDS House, Marmorvej 18, Copenhagen, DK-2100, DK.
The company claimed its Trustpilot profile on 2014-06-04 and last replied to a negative review on 2026-06-04. Trustpilot ranks it 2 of 4 in Ferry Service. We last checked this profile on 2026-11-11 and found 1 new review. These are facts Trustpilot publishes about the profile, as of our last harvest.
Elsewhere: 4.4★ on Google (8,205 reviews, as of November 2026)
TrustScore over time
4.1 → 4.1 across 10 census measurements since 2026-10-06. Our own record, independent of Trustpilot’s display.
Reply behaviour over time
Solid: % of negative reviews replied to. Dashed: typical days to reply. Both as reported on this company’s Trustpilot profile, recorded whenever our census re-checked it and a figure had changed — the gaps between points are not equal:
Show all 10 dated readings
2026-10-06 (76%, 1.0d) · 2026-10-09 (75%, 1.0d) · 2026-10-12 (75%, 1.0d) · 2026-10-15 (75%, 1.0d) · 2026-10-24 (75%, 1.0d) · 2026-10-27 (74%, 1.0d) · 2026-11-02 (72%, 1.0d) · 2026-11-05 (72%, 1.0d) · 2026-11-08 (72%, 1.0d) · 2026-11-11 (72%, 1.0d).
Severity: 18% of this company’s 554 graded complaints were classified as severe (money lost, an essential service cut off, or a problem unresolved for months). See the harm index.
1★ share of negative reviews over time
Share of 1–3★ Trustpilot reviews that were 1★
In May 2025, 21% of 24 one-to-three-star reviews were 1★; in August 2026, 86% of 14.
Counted from May 2025 onward — the period for which our capture of 1★, 2★ and 3★ reviews is complete for all three. Months with fewer than 10 such reviews are omitted.
Reviewers here waited a median of 0.9 days between the experience and publishing their negative review (607 reviews record both dates).
Two readings of the same reviews
Trustpilot’s own automated summary of this company’s reviews reads as predominantly positive. Our classifier, reading the review text in our recent window, judged 42% of those reviews to be complaints — most often poor core service. Both are automated readings of the same public reviews; they weigh them differently.
Independent findings
The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint about this company’s advertising:
- 2023-03-22 (Website (own site)) — The website for a ferry operator misleadingly claimed that trips were available from £39 when the offer was only available on certain days of the week.
These are the findings of the named independent body, reported here with attribution — they are not our conclusions and are separate from the review analysis above.
Measured reply time: across 557 negative reviews that received a public reply, the median wait was 0.8 days — the company profile reports an average of under a day.
Reply quality: of 557 company replies to negative reviews analysed, 25% engaged with the specific problem and 63% were generic templates.
Review provenance: 49 company-invited reviews in the recent window average 4.53★, while 61 organic (uninvited) reviews average 2.21★.
Sector benchmark: poor core service makes up 39% of this company’s complaints vs a 16% median across 105 ranked companies in its sector.
Review velocity: 1,343 of this company’s 20,695 Trustpilot reviews (6%) were written in the last 12 months.
Other UK companies with evidenced “Poor core service” complaints
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- DSSL Group - Basildon
- E2E Networks
- EC English Language Centres
- EDF UK
- EE
- Elevators
- Emedgroup
See all companies by issue: Poor core service · Overcharging · Not as described · Support unhelpful · Support unreachable · Sector table: Other sectors in the UK
Method: reviews are classified into a fixed complaint taxonomy by an automated reader; every category shown is backed by at least two verbatim quotes from distinct reviews. Trends are computed from dated review counts only. Negative reviews are deliberately over-sampled for evidence depth; headline percentages use an unbiased recent sample only. Report updated 2026-11-05.