Zen Internet www.zen.co.uk

Used to have great customer service now they block you from their formal complaints procedure and will not involve Openreach so you can be stuck with a poor internet connection/ phone.

Joined Zen 2013, service now diabolical. Tech support guys, read flow charts & blame YOUR equipment/router/Ethernet cable/micro filter/computer=never their fault & despite buying new router, micro filters & Ethernet cables, 1st guy I spoke to failed to diagnose trunk outage in area affecting many residents. 2nd failed to walk me though setting up new router I was told to buy by 1st guy blamed them for fault, I was asked,(despite telling the 2nd guy that I had had a stroke & heart attack & was struggling physically, to kneel on floor) to unscrew phone socket on wall to get at test socket + he had advised me to unscrew wrong one, so had to trace wiring to feed socket in garage-other side of house, he asked me to unscrew that, try phone in it, so had to go back to other side of house for phone then I was asked to go & get router from other side of house. Struggled to plug phone/router into a live test socket hanging off garage wall, 2nd tech guy decided it’s outage in area as both phone lines & internet by this time down he books BT, saying if I don't pay £120 to get private Broadband specialist out-check internal wiring I might be asked to pay BT £140-£178 for call out. Called Broadband specialist = £120, this + having to pay

computer shop £75.91 on router, Ethernet cable & micro filters. Broadband specialist after he’d tested internal wiring asked neighbours if they’d any connectivity, they didn't. Called PC repair guy out=was suggested by 1st Tech guy it may be my computer =cost me £50, I’m losing income from booked in clients on busiest night of working week. PC repair guy migrated away from Zen Internet as found them rip off & incompetent-same problems. Phone to lodge complaint, 3rd tech guy=smarmy, condescending, rude & disrespectful, so lost my cool, he tried to justify actions of 1st & 2nd tech’s, as if I was at fault. I demanded manager called me Monday 11 am- 12 noon as started work at 12 noon. At 12.54 pm Monday Nick called claiming to be a Zen manager-he was only supervisor, he was equally obnoxious + unhelpful so asked for complaint to be escalated above him, he refused to reimburse for costs incurred from Broadband specialist PC repair man, only offered to pay for router claiming no tech guys recommended calling out Broadband specialist, fact is I never knew they existed until 2nd tech guy said to do so, so they endlessly back staff, have zero respect for customers. Support=diabolical amateur, useless, no 24/7 tech support. I pay £67.67 per month for 1 phone line + broadband & 1 without, no more than 5.85 mbps download speed & 0.84 mbps upload, diabolical customer service ,they know I‘m self-employed & if I'm late paying bill, billing Rottweiler spams me with nasty threatening emails. Threaten to leave Zen & in smarmy voice they rudely tell you, you’ll never find as good a deal. I am done with Zen Internet they’re a disgrace, my advice steer clear utter rip off utter rubbish, rude unpleasant.

Disappointingly slow speeds. Customer service hasn't been very good either - when I've had a problem resulting in no broadband, it's been down for 4-5 days each time. I took out a phone contract with them too, unfortunately, and if there's a problem with the line Zen don't seem to push too hard to get it fixed. I'm disabled and rely heavily on my phone and broadband service, but this doesn't seem to galvanise Zen either. I had high hopes for them following their scoring in Which? surveys etc, but my expectations haven't been met.

I have been using Zen Internet services for many years now and every time there is an issue - of which there are many - their technical team provide a wishy washy reason as to why the issue could not be resolved; this includes years of business data having been completely lost due to their incompetency and inability/unwillingness to solve the problem. Here are my reasons for leaving them:

1) Unreliable servers

2) Incompetent technical support team

3) Taking no responsibility for their shortfalls

4) Overpriced

5) Never being given the reason as to why the issue had been created in the first place and what to do in order to avoid it in the future

Zen provided all information for the switch very quickly. The switch happened quickly and with no problems at all. I changed routers when I had an email from them (via my mobile) and within minutes all was up and running. Broadband speed was the same as BT. I like the simple charges (lower than BT), and there are no teaser rates and do you don`t have to `beg` every year to get a new contract. When Zen contract is up (1month anyway) the charge is still the same. They are not on comparison sites and found them by trawling computer magazines on line. I like it the customer service id UK based. I purchased a suggested router from Zen because it was

programmed by them. The router was good value.

May 2014 - a letter was sent to me saying I owed £57.46 and threatening me with Hornets Debt Recovery Agency if i didn't pay up in 14 days. I have no account with these people - I paid twice for a web space rental on behalf of a voluntary organisation more than 2 years ago. I am very disappointed - they were good when I used them and I let them know it was going to be paid by another person. I am very unhappy to be threatened nn a letter.

I am disabled and rely on a BT line with extension cable from the master socket into my bedroom. The line often disconnects, and ofcourse, there is a possibility that it's due to the telephone, a cable, or a splitter. So I've replaced everything, several times. Today, after a disconnection, I rang up but the engineer was unfriendly, let me hang on for five minutes while he read the reports on the recuurent faults, (I asked him to ring back when he was finished but he wouldn't), and then he blamed me for not having tested the phone when plugged directly into the master socket for a week or two. The problem is that I don't have the strength in my legs to keep walking from my bedroom to the office or anywhere else and struggle around the house. It wasn't build for a disabled person and while I wait for a sheltered home, this has to do. I've done the best I could but I was treated like a stupid airhead for not testing long enough and frequently enough.

Zen used to be great. Some people don't understand us and are unkind. I should be used to the 'why don't you do as an able-bodied person' suggestions but even after 50 plus years, I'm not. Like many friends can attest, some people make you feel like a waste of space. they can't accept you cant' keep walking to and from rooms.

The broadband isn't great either.

Terrible service. Essential the same as BT, but more expensive and with a similar 'couldn't care less' service.

Got passed from pillar to post repeatedly. Call centre tried to blind me with science despite what they were saying being total nonsense and having nothing to do with my actual service.

Also overheard one of the staff refer to me using a homophobic slur, I assume he thought I was on hold. I gather this sort of nastiness is not uncommon. My complaint, of course, has been given lip service.

Terrible service, avoid.

daniel293829382's Comments

Summary: DONT USE IF YOU WANT GOOD CUSTOMER CARE

November 16th, 2013 (Last Edited: November 16th, 2013)

You pay a premium to these people and yet you get rubbish customer care. I dare say its one of the worst in the business. Primus give me better customer care and that's saying something.

They even addressed me by my middle name in one email. The whole company is a joke.

I regret joining them. The reviews on half of the review sites do not reflect the terrible time you will have been a zen customer.

If this review saves 1 person from the torture of bad service and one of the worst customer services known to man I will be very happy.

NPOWER & primus should be given the gold medal in customer services if you compare them to zen. That is saying something really.

BAD BAD BAD INTERNET COMPANY AVOID.

P.S The way these people talk about money they sound like they would be happy if there customers don't eat or heat there homes as long as they get there cash. Greedy and bad company. Micky Mouse could provide better customer services.

Been with Zen for many years and consequently they are with many of my customers also through my recommendation. I have used a variety of their broadband services and some of their hosting services. Not tried their VoIP services though.

When talking to them whether in technical support, billing or sales I talk to real people who are really from the UK that have no trouble understanding what I am saying, and I have no trouble understanding what they say either. What a delight.

I have found their technical support excellent, even solving issues that turned out to be nothing to do with them like one problem we had that was related to to MTU and nothing to do with Zen. So top marks there.

If I have had a problem, it is that they are pedantic to an extreme where account security is concerned. They needed faxed letterheaded note to allow me to get on the account that I setup for a customer. I supposed they could have made it more secure by requiring a named director from the company to present themselves and their passport in Rochdale before the allowed me on it. So I suppose I should be grateful.

Also I have had to phone technical support to get help navigating a messy and difficult to understand web interface to change DNS settings for MX records or setup SPF records, maintain and manage websites and such like. I always have to "gird my loins" before doing further changes. Which reminds me that a domain I transferred into Zen I need to make sure is pointing to their hosting package. That will not be a trivial task.

Overall happy with their service. A bit behind the times with their portal for managing things, especially if you have multiple services for multiple customers. But their customer support makes up for that big time. 4/5. Nice.