Zen Broadband Reviews

Sometimes the best way to get a feel for a broadband provider is to read what those who are already customers think of the service they're receiving. Below are all the reviews we've received for Zen.

Recent Customer Ratings for Zen

  • Satisfaction
    3.7 stars
  • Customer Service
    3.7 stars
  • Speed
    3.6 stars
  • Reliability
    3.7 stars

Based on 100 customer ratings since 2023-02-14 (Show all time ratings)

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Ratings are left by users of our speed test as well as by reviewers. Recent star ratings summarise the last 12 months of ratings or the last 100 ratings placed, whichever is largest.

204 Customer Reviews over 6 pages

  • Reviewer
    Location
    London
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      3 stars
    • Customer Service
      3 stars
    • Speed
      3 stars
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    I came to Zen on the advice of a colleague, and for about two years, they were brilliant. Over the past six months, the connection is dropping every two days - sometimes more often. When I ring their support line, I have to listen to their equivalent of 'have you tried switching it off and on again?'.

    Then they go through the big list of 'troubleshooting' that I need to try - most of it designed to kill time so that either the connection comes back up or else the customer gets bored and waits for the connection to come back up.

    And then when you complain, the response is 'broadband isn't a guaranteed service'. Is there any other commercial service where we'd accept this cr*p? How about I say that my payments aren't guaranteed? How quickly do you think the service would be cut off?

    Utter rubbish.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    UK
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    BY far the worst internet provider I have ever used. I had problems from day one and it just continued to impress me. network down every so often, slow connection and this is just few of what I have experienced. I'm extremely surprised that some customers rates them a a good provider and those kind of inaccurate reviews are very misleading. stay away and give yourself some peace of mind. I decided to post this review to make sure others are fully aware and not mislead by those good reviews.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Manchester
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    Comments
    Terrible service the last 6 months, had our account cancelled in error, various faults reducing our 80MB to 1-6MB. All caused our company serious problems and still not resolved!
    Prior to this we had been a happy Zen Business customer for years and used to recommend them to many, now I'd advise you avoid.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    London
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      2 stars
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Zen Fibre is a SCAM. Avoid at all cost. I have been a client of Zen for the last 3 years. I upgraded to fibre and it has been a disaster. Speed is down to 10 Mb/s. I am told by Zen technical advice staff that is a wireless problem but I am using the 2 routers provided by ZEN. total rubbish. Ofcom should take good note and sanction these dishonest companies and protect consumers. WHICH should not recommend ZEN.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Beds
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      5 stars
    • Reliability
      5 stars
    Comments
    Have been with Zen for 10 years+.
    Can't fault them. Excellent customer service, excellent reliability, excellent speeds.

    Also will quite happily cater for the more technical-minded customers who want to be able to adjust things like target SNR margins etc. No hassle, straight through to tech support who had it changed within minutes.

    Keep up the good work.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Todmorden
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    I chose Zen as they appeared to have good reviews on local websites. However, their provision is beyond bad. We have unlimited fibre but it is pointless as the speeds are so slow it makes all but the most basic Internet browsing impossible. The one thing they have given me is a new found ability to live life without TV,or much use of the net. Our contract is up in december and we will be leaving. They have never offered an apology or tried to really 'fix' our problem, but continue to take £48 (yes you heard correct) per month off us for the privilege of zero Internet. BUYER BEWARE!
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Cambridge
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    APPALLING SERVICE! Now 36 hours on a 'BUSINESS' broadband service - no fix date from Zen, their 'support' staff have no idea what is going on, or indeed where the fault is, which is either at my local exchange, or 50 miles away in the middle of Norfolk - AVOID!!!!!!
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Cambridge
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    AVOID! Appalling customer service, support emails go unanswered, support requests not handled correctly. AN APPALLING COMPANY BADLY RUN.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    UK
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Extremely Disappointing - Avoid!

    Zen are very expensive so I wrongly assumed we would get a much better service than we did from Sky. Zen’s service speeds are even slower.

    Since the very beginning we have had problems with Zen Internet.

    We are getting nowhere near the Typical download speed they advertised. They still won’t let us change providers without huge early termination charges despite speeds that are much slower than promised.

    Save yourself loads of hassle and avoid Zen Internet!
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Ash
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      4 stars
    • Customer Service
      3 stars
    • Speed
      5 stars
    • Reliability
      3 stars
    Comments
    I was thrilled with Zen to begin with! We are in a very rural position & always had trouble with poor service from all our suppliers(no high speed or fibre in this vacinity)!
    At first we could guarantee our connection but at Christmas we had breaks in high usage times & thats continued. Not as bad as the other suppliers but wet evenings, bank holiday evenings. Saturday nights & this morning around 8 until now 8.45. No WiFi.it is the most expensive I have had in 15 years no phone with it £35 A month & I was willing to pay while it worked.. but what now??
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Overton, Hampshire
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      3 stars
    • Reliability
      2 stars
    Comments
    We started with Zen Broadband 2 years ago and it was absolutely fantastic. All problems sorted even before we were aware of them. We were advised to use our own router and we were provided with all the necessary settings. Everything was perfect. Until we moved homes. On the move we decided to go with Zen's Unlimited Fibre. 1st we were bombarded with emails with overdue payments. It looks like they quite often forget what Direct Debit is for. Then there was their modem/router - absolute rubbish (and you have to pay for it). And the time you have to wait for a support to pick up your phone increased to something between 15 and 30 minutes! And they advised to keep resetting the router settings to the defaults and wait and it will sort it itself. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. And approx 2 months ago stopped working altogether. I can't v
    even be bothered to call them again. So I cancelled. Now I have another set of emails with overdue payments. And you have to enter the card details twice for your inconvenience. Again - do they have a clue what a DD is for? Avoid - you can get much cheaper deals with much better router bundled and much better customer support from e.g. sky (at least at the time of writing it)
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Barnsley
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      5 stars
    • Reliability
      5 stars
    Comments
    Have been with Zen for well over 10 years now and have never had a problem, their service is faultless.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Woking
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      4 stars
    • Reliability
      4 stars
    Comments
    Ben with Zen for years and I will never leave them as long as they carry on as they are. Great and personal service
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Hampshire
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    I moved house and realised that I could get a faster, cheaper service in my area. I tried to cancel my zen internet. Even though the service hadn't gone live yet, I was told they'd signed me up to a new contract without telling me and now have to wait 12 months to leave. Thoroughly unimpressed with the customer service.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    London
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Comments
    Rubbish services from day one. stay away from them and save yourself the hassle.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Oxford
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    I was with Zen internet for a couple of years after hearing they were really good (and reading many good reviews. Unfortunately their so called great customer service was a real let down. A few years ago some work was badly done where the phone/internet lines come into the house and we started having problems with the internet. No matter how many times I called and explained this to Zen they refused to contact BT to send an engineer. So I changed to Virgin. We also had similar problems so I call then and they sent an engineer and a network team to the street two days later. It got fixed! I highly recommend Virgin, they actually give a damn about their customers. P.S: I pay a lot less now with Virgin too and my wifi now is constantly at 80+mbps
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Freeland
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    Comments
    An engineer went above and beyond to help me get connected. There was a mix up originally as I was moving into a new build and I was told it could be installed remotely so the installation date was prior to my moving date but that didn't matter. The engineer did what he could without visiting the property and talked me through what to do when I actually moved in. He also tried to re-arrange his schedules to ensure I was dealt with as priority. Very pleased with his efforts to help me
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Knaresborough
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      4 stars
    • Reliability
      4 stars
    Comments
    I switched my small business broadband & phone services to Zen IT about 3 months ago. The customer service has been top notch! It is so refreshing to speak to customer service agents who (1) speak in a clear, understandable manner and (2) listen to what you say before riddling off a script. My broadband service dropped this weekend and the service & response time were brilliant. I understand services have issues once in while - the thing that makes the difference is the manner in which a company fixes those issues. Zen IT handled my call with speed, clarity, efficiency and friendliness. The entire service call was stress free. I would recommend Zen IT to anyone.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    North London N1
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Comments
    Zen is a complete disaster disaster. We have been clients for years and have 2 accounts. We are cancelling one and we are trying to get our Fibre contract cancelled by CISAS and the Ombudsman Service for Communications. Our speed after our upgrade to FIBRE is MUCH WORSE than before and averages 15 mb/s. It is totally unacceptable and ZEN should be fined and reimburse our money. I see many other complaints about Zen in here. Zen is saying is a problem with our equipment and we are using their own routers. We have tried 2 different routers sent by Zen. The problem persist.... DO NOT USE ZEN FIBRE!
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Hampshire
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      2 stars
    • Customer Service
      2 stars
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      2 stars
    Comments
    We've had Zen for about 4 years now but recently the quality has really dropped. When you enquire about why the service has become so intermittent they talk to you like you're someone who doesn't know what internet is. We recently had a stretch of 24+ hours without any connection at all and all they could tell us was that there was a problem at the exchange and someone would be sent to fix it soon. They said WE could call THEM for updates! It was a whole working day without any connectivity but they didn't seem to feel the need to apologise or do anything other than insist that they don't guarantee continuous service. It was such a corporate line, so lame and transparent. We asked for a gesture deduction from our next bill towards the data costs we'd incurred having to tether computers to mobiles to get online and they just repeated the same thing. Their customer service reps had no idea that consumer law allows claims for compensation and that their own contract can't exclude consumer law. Very very poor. Most of all it was a horrible experience being spoken down to by people who were providing a rubbish service and not sorry about it. Avoid.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    London
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      2 stars
    • Customer Service
      2 stars
    • Speed
      2 stars
    • Reliability
      3 stars
    Comments
    I have been with Zen for over 10 years. They had a really good quality of service but unfortunately, they have become really lapse lately. I had to spend hours on the phone to resolve a tech issue which never got solved in the end. The various departments are not talking to each other and so I had to go ahead and cancel my account. They tried to charge me for cancelling my contract but in the end the complaints department did agree to my cancellation and resolved my issue. I would look elsewhere for broadband now.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Berkshire
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Zen used to be fantastic. Sure you paid a bit more but you got your moneys worth.

    In the last year though it’s gotten awful. We’ve had a fault on our connection causing high latency for over a month. At first Zen told me the router was faulty so they sent a new one. That didn’t fix it so they said it must be the WiFi and I needed to go through every single device connected to it and do some troubleshooting. I didn’t fancy doing that so I just connected everything to a cheap 4G router to see if the fault remained. It didn’t so it couldn’t be a device on my network causing an issue. When i called in to report that they tell me it’s an issue at the local exchange effecting the whole atea and Openreach will be out to fix it. Whatever fix they did didn’t last long as the fault has reoccurred. I call up zen to tell them this and lo and behold they want to send me a new router or blame the WiFi when literally a week ago the EXACT same problems with the EXACT same symptoms were due to a fault in the exchange. It’s exasperating. They are on very thin ice. I’m one more bad tech support call away from moving to a different provider.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Milton Keynes
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Putting in my postcode on the Zen website showed that I could receive fibre Internet. Waited a week for the installation date then waited in for a day just for the engineer to say that they couldn't provide fibre after all. Very irritating- they need to check their systems so they are not promising service they can't provide. Customer service also couldn't give me any update on the day because the engineer hadn't submitted their notes, so it was only a few days later after I had chased them multiple times that Zen could tell me what the problem was and what they would do. They advised me they would have to cancel my order and give me a refund, but said I would only get my refund once they collected the equipment- fine in principle. But THREE TIMES I have waited in all day for their courier, only for them not to show up. They still refuse to refund me until they have the equipment, despite it being entirely their fault that they didn't have it weeks ago. I have never been so p*ssed off with a service provider in my life. Booked with BT the next day for cheaper and had Internet within a week. Still don't have my refund from Zen a month later. Avoid if possible, just not worth this hassle.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Manchester
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      2 stars
    • Customer Service
      2 stars
    • Speed
      4 stars
    • Reliability
      3 stars
    Comments
    You don’t get what you pay for.l with Zen I don’t believe.

    The old adage that you get what you pay for is just not true any more in my experience.

    Zen used to offer superior customer service. And I can’t even figure out if that is true, or had ever been true.

    Is it case that Zen started out when everyone else was terrible and they appeared good relative to the rubbish competition at the time?

    Whichever it is, they are now so far behind the competition.

    I have had excellent experiences with some of the big providers who provide decent routers, fantastic customer service and want to keep your business through good pricing and a professional customer service.

    Call Zen today and you are met with arrogant technical support. And you are always met with Zen’s favourite one-liner “have you got another router”.

    After 13+ years with them it’s time for me to leave.

    If I were to meet anyone considering Zen I’d tell them to save a shed load of money. Cancel your BT line and move to one of the big providers that have fantastic offers that include line rental.

    Pound for pound the service of other providers is way above Zen and their supposed superior customer service.

    It just isn’t true any more from what have experienced and it’s taken me several years of giving them he benefit of the doubt to final realise it’s them, not me!
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Southend-on-Sea
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Moved address in July, asked to move over fibre optics service. Advisor told me they would need to check if fibre is available after £70 line rental instalation. Begrudgingly agreed, wasn’t aware that once they installed the line and realised they couldn’t run fibre optics, would only offer ADSL which i never wanted. Went with Zen for fibre. Could have gone with Virgin Media who previously cancelled my early termination charges as they was unable to contunue provinding fibre optics service. Zen charge me a total of £250 to cancel early, was totally not negotiable and failed to meet any deadlines of call back and a lot of the time not call back at all. When i finally got through i was repeatedly told “we have systems in place which mean we can’t do anything about the charges”. I’m rating 1 star as paid for a service i was no longer using. Therefore, meets minimum score in all areas.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Newcastle
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    If you want to pay £30 a month + £90 installation whatever, for 3 Mbps download and 0.5 Mbsp Upload in the year of 2021. This is for you!
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Bath
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      5 stars
    • Reliability
      5 stars
    Comments
    After using other ISPs I have now been with Zen for a few years and have no intention of switching. I have always found them reliable, easy to contact, helpful and with very professional customer support. They are now very competitively priced.

    Just as an example, I wanted to introduce a wireless mesh network into my old rambling house. The Fritz!box routers supplied by Zen are already mesh enabled and they offer an "EveryRoom" mesh service for a small extra cost each month with a 2-year contract period. This includes supply of a Fritz! Repeater 3000. At the same time I decided to upgrade to their newer and more capable Fritz!Box 7530 router at a much discounted price. This then allowed me to use the old Fritz!Box 3490 as a further mesh repeater.

    Notwithstanding the Cov19 lockdown, I received both new items the next morning and very quickly had the new mesh network up and running using the Fritz! WLAN App. I have a FTTC landline, and with the new Fritz!Box router and repeaters have a consistent 15% increase in download speed with greatly extended range including a garden studio 25 metres from the house and in a garage 40 metres from the nearest repeater. Nor have I experienced any service interruptions over the month since installation.

    I rate Zen as excellent and by far the best service provider I have used. The new Fritz!Box mesh network is a doddle to set up, very capable and delivers top-notch performance.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Altrincham
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      5 stars
    • Reliability
      5 stars
    Comments
    Don't understand all the negative reviews. Would really like to know (from Zen)why some people have had such a bad experience. I accept thay are not cheap (you get what you pay for)and there are no introductory special offers, but after my previous supplier (firenet)suddenly abandoned all their customers without notice, Zen was like a breath of fresh air. I am using my own router and most of the time am using a wired connection to my pc so don't know if that is one reason I have had no problems. Their customer service is second to none, spending a long time on the phone to help me set up/ solve problems. They even identified an incorrect setting on my own router that had been causing a previously unresolved problem with my previous provider (who even had an engineer out who failed to find the issue. Maybe I have been lucky but am very happy with Zen and prepared to accept the relatively high price for the service and support received.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Bournemouth
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      3 stars
    • Reliability
      2 stars
    Comments
    They are the interface between myself and Openreach. I have had a fault since 13th July 2021 and FIVE Openreach visits have failed to eradicate the fault (let alone isolate the reason). The fault symptoms are starting to appear again. I understand that ZEN rely on Openreach, but equally, I understand that it is their obligation to liaise with Openreach. So. My serice is crap, but I cannot move ISP because the infrastructure will still be the same. I cannot move to FTTH because it isn't available here (wouldn't give VM the time of day !!!). So. I am stuck with an ISP who cannot sort the problem, and are resting on the laurels of the WHICH accolades.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Manchester
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      3 stars
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Not massively pleased with customer care from zen. Been without internet at home for a month, so was excited about my activation date for zen was last Tuesday. Been ringing them everyday since then, been told I’d be called back a few times for updates and only been phoned back once.

    They offered to top up my data so I’m not cut off last week, this week different story and won’t be offering to top up my data as the top up was for me to use for emergencies and will only do £20 a month for customers.

    I lost my job 2 weeks ago due to corona virus and am unable to work from home (I have been offered work but unable to accept due to having no internet at home) I have online gaming subscriptions and streaming services which I am now paying for and unable to use.

    Why do zen not offer dongles or to make sure customers have adequate data to last. Would have been good for zen to offer to pay for a unlimited data top up for the month last week (it’s only £5 on top of the most they said they could stretch to) they have literally no idea when I will be activated as it is with openreach to fix, but they refused. Not a happy customer at the minute, if I had been granted the unlimited top up for my phone I would not be ranting now.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Lancashire
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Have been waiting over 3 weeks to get my Broadband installed and have been messed around by the team at Zen. They tell me BT was the hold up and then someone else in the building gets it installed in 1 week. Then Zen say they can do it re book another appointment and guess what they still can't do it and blame it another problem. Have to say the worse comms company I have work with. If you thought BT were bad, just check these guys out.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Glasgow
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Really don't understand how this provider is recommended - we have had an awful time . Internet doesn't reach ground floor despite using Zen every room. Internet keeps dropping off in the middle of a movie. Have called technical support several times and nothing helps. Even went to the expense of buying an additional Orbi router and still unsatisfactory. Don't use Zen !!!
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Leeds
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Absolute crap. Literally the worst customer service I have ever experienced and I was with Virgin Media for over 6 years. This is not what I expected when I signed up.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Farnham, Bishops Stortford Herts
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      5 stars
    • Reliability
      5 stars
    Comments
    We needed to move our incoming line and the necessary rewiring. From start to finish everything was efficient, friendly and reassuring. Everything on time and to time.

    Great job all round - what I have come to expect from Zen - it’s not surprising the company tops just about every review and comparison. I am totally mystified when I read some of the negative comments.

    Please feel free to use my comments as you wish.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Co Durham
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      5 stars
    • Reliability
      5 stars
    Comments
    I have been with ZEN a number of years now. I cannot fault them for their service or speed. Before I was with them I was frustrated at broadband dropping out etc etc. Zen customer service are great nothing is too much trouble for them.If I have a problem then it is sorted out quickly staff are friendly and knowledgeable.
    Its not the cheapest but I need the reliability of the net for our business.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    London
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Comments
    Zen customer service is appalling.

    After having to wait for 3.5 months after signing up for Zen full fiber, the installation failed. The Openreach engineer and the Zen technicians knew that the line did not work. Nonetheless, we were cut off from our previous supplier on the same day despite being assured prior to installation that the transition would be seamless.

    The Openreach engineer said the router was at fault, but despite our desperate pleas the technical staff refused to send one by next day delivery. It took 6 days to arrive delaying any possible solution, and as no information was sent on the delivery date so we had to stay in case we missed a delivery.

    We have been without internet for over 4 weeks. No one person would take responsibility for progressing the case and monitoring the outcome and not a single member of Zen staff has bothered to attend this site despite their failure to provide a service. Instead, we were advised variously to get help from Customer services, Customer experiences, and Cancellations, but were always referred to the technical department.

    This entailed hours queuing, getting a different technician each time who rarely read the notes, and going over the same failed diagnostic routine again and again. Calls were cut off and technicians failed to ring back. The process of crouching down in a dark corner plugging and unplugging etc. was exhausting and left us with severe back pain.

    Technicians also variously advised us to get ourselves a laptop with an Ethernet connection and do more tests; contact Openreach and Plusnet to ask them to sort it out. We did, but Plusnet cannot act while we have a contract with Zen. Openreach said there was no problem with the line and referred us to their website, which of course we couldn’t access.

    The final straw was when, after much pleading Zen, agreed to send an engineer. We stayed home again all day, no one turned up or contacted us to cancel the appointment. A phone message sent in the evening contained no apology, saying a visit was unnecessary, and to get in touch with technical staff to try the diagnostic process again.

    By then we had lost all trust in Zen and wanted to cancel the contract, but they refused to do so unless we went over the diagnostic process again.

    An email detailing all the shortcomings we have experienced was rejected and eventually went into a long complaints process. We have yet to receive any explanation as to why the installation failed or indeed an apology for the anxiety and inconvenience caused. No one appears to appreciate the severe impact on life and work, and the overall attitude is that we were being unreasonable. They refuse to acknowledge that anything is wrong with their customer service.

    Zen is now holding us hostage by refusing to cancel the contract and send confirmation so that Plusnet can reopen the line with us unless we pay the full cost of the contract. That is almost £700 for a service that we have never received. Even then, they will not release the service until 16th June, a total of 5 weeks since they cut us off from the internet.

    This is extortion of the worse kind. They referred us to the contract that protects Zen from any liability arising from almost any service failure. In short, this is an unreasonable contract: customers have virtually no rights. However, a term of a contract to supply services is not binding on the consumer to the extent that it would exclude the trader's liability arising under section 49 (service to be performed with reasonable care and skill). CPA 2915 sections 49-57.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Huddersfield
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      5 stars
    • Customer Service
      5 stars
    • Speed
      5 stars
    • Reliability
      5 stars
    Comments
    Having just had an email problem sorted I feel that I must commend this company for offering good value and a properly functional service. I have just had a problem with my email solved, although problems rarely occur. The helplines are always manned and if they are busy you get a callback very quickly. Their employees are helpful, knowledgeable, patient and they speak good English which you can understand. Having tried several other broadband providers, I am fairly certain that I shall stay with this one - you do get what you pay for and the ethos seems to be that of giving good service. (And I am pleased to say that no-one to date has asked me how I am or told me to have a nice day!)
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Stirlingshire
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    I had very high hopes for this service based on good reviews, including ' Which'. I ignored my reservations on the high cost plus the expensive router which I was assured would provide better speeds. The service worked okay for 4-6 weeks. Since then I've had consistently slow speeds of 3, 5 and 7 - yes really. The slow speeds usually happen after 8 pm and weekends when the call centre is closed. Even on a 'good'day the speed is mediocre at best. The high monthly cost cannot justify the poor service. Unfortunately I can't cancel my contract without penalty until April 2018. Would not recommend.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    London
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      2 stars
    • Customer Service
      3 stars
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    I joined Zen about a year a half ago, initially, there were no problems. Download speed a steady 10-12Mbps and Upload always at 1Mbps until last July. Then our speeds dropped below 1Mbps (Averaging about 0.48Mbps), for three months I was going back and forth with Zen.

    The only thing I can say is that Zen customer service did keep in regular contact with me (with one major blip when they closed the fault tracker whilst I was abroad for 3 weeks even though my housemate was speaking with them most days!).

    Zen was convinced the issue lay with BT so we arranged 7 BT engineers to come out to the house with no improvement or increase in speeds.

    After 3 months of this, I finally decided to bite the bullet and move to another provider, lo and behold day 1 on the new provider (Download - 11Mbps, Upload 1Mbps).

    I still don't know what the issue was but as both Zen and my new provider run on the BT Wholesale network and all I needed to do to change was to update the username and password on the router, I do think Zen were at fault.
  • Reviewer
    Location
    Towcester
    Reviewing
    Zen
    Date
    Ratings
    • Satisfaction
      1 star
    • Customer Service
      1 star
    • Speed
      1 star
    • Reliability
      1 star
    Comments
    Worst broadband provider doesn't care. don't give you 13 days cooling off period. would never trust them and customer service needs.to improve and the service the rules of zen are not following the rules of the government guidelines and breaking the contract with the department of working pensions. And breaking the code of practice will Never trust them and the sooner I get rid of them the better and get on a cheaper broadband provider who is well known and reliable.

    I asked to cancel, and I was told i was in contract before I had gone active with Zen and by law you can't have two broadband providers at the same house landline. as open openreach will not alow it

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