Zen Internet www.zen.co.uk Reviews
Latest Reviews
★★☆☆☆
“Zen - Let down big time by accounts department”
Written on: 01/05/2013 by CADMAN1959
I have been with Zen for 10 years, generally their technical service was excellent, however we have always experienced difficulties with the billing department, consistently failing to effectively collect direct debits, not a major problem, but an irritation. This year we wished to close down one of our domain names registered through them, the accounts dept. called to say that they had not been able to collect the funds on this DD (taken against a credit card, we informed them that we... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“AVOID - Paying customer threatened with debt recovery!”
Written on: 22/03/2013
I took out an account with Zen and set up direct debit. They failed to collect one payment and sent me an email asking me to pay by credit card. I had some emails back and forth since I expected that (like every other company on earth) they would use the direct debit to try and take the payment again and I didn't want to double pay. They said I had to pay by card. I said that's dumb but ok and I paid. 2 months later the same thing happened, again I wanted to confirm with them before I... (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“Poor customer service and billing”
Written on: 12/02/2013 by Throttlejockey
We had no end of issues with billing and were cut off on numerous occasions with no warning. Final straw after leaving Zen was to receive a letter from a debt collection agency to recover less than £30 on a bill we never received. Zero communication for a company in the communication business !! (read more)
★★★☆☆
“Excellent home broadband, rubbish business support”
Written on: 13/10/2012
I use Zen for my home broadband - I cannot fault them with excellent quality of service and good customer service. I represent a large organisation and we wanted to register a number of domains. Sales said no problem and efficiently set up account etc. We, however, can only pay by purchase order (as stated from the outset) - they said no problem. However it now appears that Zen don't seem to know how to deal with this and kept send credit application forms and providing details to pay... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Zen voice service (beware!)”
Written on: 01/06/2012 by westcoaster (1 review written)
I have been with ZEN for more than 4 years and found tech support first class. However, between June 2011 and May 2012 all my phone calls were made through BT at a total cost to me of £559.13 after line rental costs. During this time ZEN were billing me for their Voice service which of course I thought was still functioning as a "voice service". I pay BT by DD and unfortunately I failed to keep track of the relevant a/c. When I finally discovered that BT were billing me for calls I... (read more)
★★★★★
“Cannot fault Zen”
Written on: 29/04/2012
Been with Zen for years and years, I cannot praise their technical support enough. We moved premises along with telephone lines and Zen moved the service across at no charge. They sorted out all the problems that we had (that were all to do with the BT line). I then upgraded to their Fibre service even though BT would not install it because we are too far from the exchange. However Zen stayed on the line whilst it was installed and made sure that the engineer had everything working... (read more)
★★★★★
“Reliable and brilliant customer service”
Written on: 18/04/2012 by ggrimer (6 reviews written)
If you are running a business from home or working from home and those conference calls and other things are mission critical then Zen are an excellent choice. Not the cheapest, but they have been VERY reliable over the last 8 years. I am not interested in saving less than £100 per year if it means that every year I lose a day of work or miss a critical conference call or e-mail response. For home based businesses and home offices DO NOT be pennywise and pound foolish. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Unethical and unprofessional”
Written on: 21/02/2012
I'm speechless. I've been bombarded with calls from Zen saying I'm in arrears with payment for domains. I wasn't, but they like to take payment 2 or 3 months early! After chasing me I decided to pay them online but to my horror I found they'd taken away ALL my domains (even the ones that weren't due for payment), taken them off the DNS and therefore rendered me website-less! I have a business to run! When I called they were basically holding me to ransom. My domains had been taken... (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“Disorganised billing lets Zen down”
Written on: 29/11/2011
The broadband service itself was good, I found the technical side excellent, but the back office billing was a bit of a shambles, and I decided to leave because I couldnt trust them any more. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Extremely poor customer service”
Written on: 26/10/2011
We have been with Zen for over a year now and I always thought they were quite good. Last week, I was proved wrong. Our internet went down due to problems at Zen. It lost us income and caused great stress to the entire team as we are web based. I had to pay an IT engineer to come out immediately who charged on a Friday afternoon. When I phoned Zen, they explained they had problems that day but did not warn us in advance. I became very angry as they were unwilling to offer any decent... (read more)
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Showing 1 - 10 of 102 Reviews
★☆☆☆☆
“They have AWFUL customer services at times. They can...”
Written on: 06/05/2011
They have AWFUL customer services at times. They can be very condescending towards small businesses and refuse to accept blame for something that is clearly their fault.
Our internet connnection was on/off/on/off for weeks and I followed all of their instructions for days and days to no avail. They then told me I needed to BUY a new router...even though they supplied the original 1 with the possible problem.
To make things worse - they don't even know if this is the problem! It could be...
(read more)
Ed_On_A_Bike's Comment
Written on: 04/08/2011
Your experience is the exact opposite of mine and I couldn't recommend them highly enough.
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★☆☆☆☆
“Transition to Zen has been horrible. Sales agent sold...”
Written on: 18/03/2011
Transition to Zen has been horrible. Sales agent sold me the wrong product, credit card charged, order cancelled, credit card charge not reversed, I was not notified of the cancellation. Only by checking on web site did I discover the problem. Efforts to recover included changing me over to Zen before making sure I had the required router in hand. Indeed, today is the day and the router is 'in the mail' but not here. Friday - no Internet nor broadband no phone service for the coming... (read more)
★★★★★
“Best isp ever. Fast and reliable. Customer services...”
Written on: 23/02/2011
Best isp ever. Fast and reliable. Customer services and technical support on uk landlines with people who understand what they're doing, can communicate normally, and sort your problem in seconds. On a scale from 0-100 I'd give Zen 99; and my previous supplier Orange a mighty 1. It might cost a little bit more but we're talking about sanity here. Thank goodness someone in the isp market cares about their customers and reputation because all the major players clearly don't, with Orange in my... (read more)
★★☆☆☆
“I have had an issue with my router from day one. Keep...”
Written on: 18/11/2010
I have had an issue with my router from day one. Keep getting different responses from the tech desk.
I made the mistake of purchasing the router from them. After a few weeks of the router crashing and trying to sort it out with helpdesk, the techie informs me it's a known issue. All they can do is send me a replacement of the same router.
When I asked for a refund they said it was past the 28 days in their t&c. Can't find that there at all.
BEST ADVICE?
Take your business elsewhere and...
(read more)
★★★★★
“I work in the software and telecomms business, and am...”
Written on: 13/11/2010 by sausagecreature (2 reviews written)
I work in the software and telecomms business, and am sorry to say Ive set up some of the broadband systems that get slated. My technical friends, colleagues and familly almost all use Zen and have since 2003 (i think). It got recommended by two freinds, and just snowballed amomngst the people I know.
Amongst ALL of us, we probably have the equivalent of 50 years of contract time with Zen, and we can only come up with less than 10 minutes between us all when the connection wasnt available....
(read more)
★★★★★
“I've used Zen internet for almost 8 years at home...”
Written on: 09/09/2010
I've used Zen internet for almost 8 years at home without problem or complaint. Speeds have always been consistent (it's not usually your line, but the ISP network which varies. I haven't needed to use tech support, so can;t comment on that, but emails during set-up and updates during installation were excellent.
We recently added a new line to our office as our existing ISP was managing less than 1m downstream and chose Zen as our ISP. After 3 months it's still 2 times as fast (We're over...
(read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“I thought Zen internet was supposed to be quite good...”
Written on: 03/08/2010
I thought Zen internet was supposed to be quite good but in fact turned out to be quite average. Slow connections, poor customer service (being in a que for 43 minutes is not my idea of fun and after all that told to re-boot my equipment). Cpanel which was slow and unreliable, kept submitting information only for it not to take. One good thing about Zen cpanel was the option to cancel my service. Good call and funny old thing it worked. Now with BT, half the price and a much better... (read more)
★★★★★
“Moved to Zen in August 2009 following the Zetnet /...”
Written on: 01/08/2010
Moved to Zen in August 2009 following the Zetnet / Breathe debacle.
Zen have proved to be very reliable. On the rare occasions that I have needed to contact their technical help, the phone has been answered quickly and the help given patient, knowledgeable and accurate. On one occasion (temporary problem with the BT line), the Zen chap bent over backwards to solve the problem.
I don't feel that their charge is too excessive - it's worth it for the peace of mind. The connection, as they...
(read more)
★★☆☆☆
“How can I describe Zen? In all honesty, "really poor"...”
Written on: 21/06/2010
How can I describe Zen? In all honesty, "really poor" sums it up for me. We installed 2 new business lines in July 2009. For redundancy, we put ADSL on one line through Zen and one through IDNet.
The IDNet line has been fine ever since; the Zen line has been very, very poor. Bear in mind that the BT lines were put in at the same time (there's a 1 digit difference in the line numbers).
Latency and up/down stream speeds are not good in comparison to IDNet. Disconnections occur daily; once we...
(read more)
★★★★☆
“Great ISP - In one word RELIABLE - if you pay too...”
Written on: 08/06/2010
Great ISP - In one word RELIABLE - if you pay too little for something you can can loose all. If you pay too much for something - all you loose is a little money. That is my opinion of Zen.
They deserve all the credits they get. Not the cheapest but the service is excellent.
They have just increased their monthly download from 5 Gig to 10 Gig. I guess when the time is right and their Punters start voting with their feet, then they will up this free download to something more reasonable...
(read more)
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Showing 11 - 20 of 102 Reviews
★★★★★
“Zen internet ”
Written on: 04/06/2010
Zen internet
Excellent solid Business grade ISP
VOIP service is AMAZING and rock solid compared to other providers
We have used ZEN for years as our office ADSL provider, with zero issues!
Recently added the Voice Over IP (VOIP) service and I can tell you that it knocks socks off the other providers I tested giving consistant 2 figure ping responses!
(read more)
Bigmc's Comment
Written on: 04/04/2011
I found this review very helpful because I have been a ZEN user for years both at home and running our businesses. ZEN support have always been very helpful.
<br/>
<br/>I am now running a business from home and I have looked into various VOIP options for a second phone number, so I am glad someone has comment on their VOIP experience and even happier it was a good experience.
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Bigmc's Comment
Written on: 05/04/2011
I looked at ZEN for providing VOIP service as I had ZEN broadband. However after calling them (they did answer the phone quickly) they do not provide an incoming number for a home/ small business which is why I wanted a VOIP phone. That is a shame. I went to Draytel instead.
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★★★★★
“Zen.co.uk - **ISPs don't come any better than this** ”
Written on: 28/03/2010
Zen.co.uk - **ISPs don't come any better than this**
I work at home quite a lot and depend on a reliable connection: I've been with Zen for 5 or 6 years, during which time the service has been 'down' only twice, and then for only an hour or so.
I'm getting a consistent 6-7 Mb download speed in a rural area, miles from the exchange.
I've contacted their tech people twice, due to my own stupidity, and have found them to have a 'can do' attitude - "I'll sort that out for you now". Helpful,...
(read more)
★★★☆☆
“The other services provided in the lite package, such...”
Written on: 21/03/2010
The other services provided in the lite package, such as web space, are not something a home user requires and would prefer having a decent download limit instead. Having to pay extra on top of the 17.99/month just to catch the end of my program or video is annoying. (read more)
★★★★★
“Service is superb. They even monitor our lousy...”
Written on: 16/03/2010
Service is superb. They even monitor our lousy exchange for us so they know whethe the source of any fault lies. A bit pricey but you ger what you pay for. I have never had better service than this from ANY company.Would reccommend them to anyone without hesitation (read more)
★★★★★
“All in all I have nothing but praise for the people at...”
Written on: 01/03/2010 by prudent buyer (7 reviews written)
All in all I have nothing but praise for the people at ZEN.
From the outset they were helpful, were not rushed and spent as much time with me on the phone as I needed considering I was probably less knowledgeable than most at setting up my own service and E-mail etc.
Everyone that answered the phone was polite, knowledgeable and gald to help. They answered the phone quickly and even made suggestions about what else I could do to personalise my account with it socting me any extra.
They...
(read more)
★★★★★
“You get what you pay for, I've been with Zen for a...”
Written on: 12/02/2010
You get what you pay for, I've been with Zen for a good 5 years, no problems whatsoever and utterly reliable, even to the point where I changed to a wireless router, gave up with the hopeless Netgear overseas call centre and was quickly and efficiently talked through the set up by Zen customer service, brilliant. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Disgusting service - the first sign of an unusual...”
Written on: 06/02/2010
Disgusting service - the first sign of an unusual problem and their technical support talks nonsense and then does nothing - they don't even respond to e-mails and I have now had to threaten legal action.
The sign of truly good customer service is being able to deal with the unexpected and difficult problems and Zen have demonstrated a total inability to do that.
(read more)
Emjayvee's Comment
Written on: 06/05/2010
I found this review not helpful because... Review too shallow. What were the unusual problems the reviewer experienced? What, precisely, was Zen's response? A bad review should be accompanied by detail evidence
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★★★★★
★★★☆☆
“Zen used to be great, and the actual BB provision...”
Written on: 03/02/2010
Zen used to be great, and the actual BB provision still is.
Unfortunately their previously good customer service and billing team seem to have been replaced in the last year or two with some of the most unhelpful and dimwitted people I have ever spoken to.
It's a pity to see a once useful company spoilt like this, and I hope they'll get their act together again sometime.
(read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Zen Internet is over-hyped listen if you like your...”
Written on: 02/02/2010 by joepeters2001 (1 review written)
Zen Internet is over-hyped listen if you like your being line dropped time and time again then zen internet is for you! overpriced and overrated and all these magazine that praise this ISP up should be ashamed of themselves I have had 2.4 years as a customer and I can't take anymore there c panel is so bad it drops every evening.
Hey then you get a simply question to ask the support team, oh sorry we can't help with that? duh!! I been with BT Hub since and no-more problems, less cost...
(read more)
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Showing 21 - 30 of 102 Reviews
★☆☆☆☆
“I have been a Zen internet customer for two years now,...”
Written on: 02/02/2010
I have been a Zen internet customer for two years now, and the expensive service isn't all what it is cracked upto be, when you use your monthly allowance don't depend on the buy more GB Usage, as there wizard start up program is as bad as zen gets, as its never worked for me, its useless and zen has left me in a right mess this month, when I couldn't buy more usuage time, I had to buy expensive BT Openzone pass to get on wireless at home.
There support service is rubbish, the lines keep...
(read more)
★★★★★
“Been with Zen for around 5 years and can't remember...”
Written on: 02/02/2010
Been with Zen for around 5 years and can't remember when I last had a problem. Support is very good and they advise you by email as soon as you approach 50% etc of your monthly allowance so you can top-up if neccessary. I can throughly recommend Zen Lite for home use. (read more)
★★★★★
“Have been with Zen about 5 years now and their tech...”
Written on: 15/01/2010
Have been with Zen about 5 years now and their tech support is absolutely the best. English speakers who KNOW what they are talking about are extremely patient and understanding. Just bought a blackberry and spoke with tech support they had more knowledge than the company I purchased the blackberry from. I would certainly recommend Zen and they are definately worth the extra few pounds (read more)
★★★★★
“ ”
Written on: 17/12/2009 by ianmccully1 (4 reviews written)
I have only joined zen internet this month the 8th of december 2009 my internet went live, i am so happy with their service , you do have too pay more, but no more indian call centres and being passed from person to person, and english speaking technical help who can understand you easily makes a hell of a difference, but the only draw back i have is i am on the zen 8000 lite which i have found out by using the internet every night is not enough for me, so will have to pay more than 17.21...
(read more)
★★★★★
“Very good customer service, extremely helpful when I...”
Written on: 11/11/2009
Very good customer service, extremely helpful when I needed it and never tried to overcharge me when I left due to moving home. Unlike those a*******s at pipex.
(read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“ My thoughts on Zen 8000 Lite.I joined Zen after...”
Written on: 06/11/2009
My thoughts on Zen 8000 Lite.I joined Zen after experiencing Tiscali's Superslow broadband (1Mb-0.06Mb,generally about 0.2Mb).My estimated maximum speed was 1Mb,and according to Zen I would always get the maximum speed my line would support.I started on 0.5Mb,which then fell to 0.13.Rang the 'Helpline',they offered no useful help.Sometime later rang again,no joy,He did say 0.13 was"A bit slow",by my line data I ought to get 1 to 1.5 Mb.I said Tiscali could adjust the speed when pushed.He... (read more)
★★★★★
“I've been with Zen Broadband for around 4 years now...”
Written on: 04/11/2009
I've been with Zen Broadband for around 4 years now and after suffering the living hell of Orange Broadband, these people are ISP gods. Their Tech Support is marvelous and I have never suffered any downtime ever. I pay for 8Mb Broadband and get 7.4mb, so again, I'm really happy with them.
I have a sneaking suspicion that those reviewers who give Zen 0 orn 1 out of 5 stars are written by rival ISP staff, so take my advice, ignore them completely and go with Zen.
They are worth every penny...
(read more)
★★★★★
“I've been with Zen for nearly 4 years now and every...”
Written on: 27/10/2009
I've been with Zen for nearly 4 years now and every year I look to see if I can buy broadband cheaper than the £24 per month I currently pay. It seems I can get it for £15 per month... but when I read the reviews I stick with Zen.
In the 4 years, I have had only half a day of downtime [ well 4 hours].
I never reboot the router, and it's always pretty fast.
I pay for an up to 8Mb service and get around 6-7Mb, so I'm well pleased.
The only negative is it costs a bit more than average.
Never...
(read more)
★★★★★
“Zen's telephone support service is fantastic. I...”
Written on: 03/09/2009
Zen's telephone support service is fantastic. I recently bought some new equipment and have had to call the support line a few times. They are efficient and knowledgeable, as one would hope, but in addition there is a a real sense that they are prepared to take the time to get things right for each customer. Highly recommended. (read more)
★★★★★
“As far as I'm concerned, there's no need to look any...”
Written on: 20/08/2009
As far as I'm concerned, there's no need to look any further. I am entirely happy with Zen broadband and have been for years. I have a monthly contract which is pretty much unique; they email bills on time for my records; they always email if I'm going over the monthly cap; their customer service is wonderfully friendly and knowledgeable, but I've only had to call them twice in all this time. Best of all, they're MAC FRIENDLY!!! (read more)
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Showing 31 - 40 of 102 Reviews
★★★★☆
“Great customer service, easy web interface which makes...”
Written on: 19/06/2009 by sleepytom (1 review written)
Great customer service, easy web interface which makes managing my adsl lines very simple
I can do everything from my zen portal I don't even have to call them.
I have used Zen for many years and will continue to use them for many years to come.
(read more)
☆☆☆☆☆
“Zen Internet are appalling . In the space of one...”
Written on: 03/06/2009 by adrian arbib
Zen Internet are appalling . In the space of one week their service has stopped twice for the entire day. ie cant send or collect emails. I'm paying a fortune for the service around £500 /year and it would appear that the notion of compensation, sorry or a possible fix time is not even a consideration =- they've been relatively good 'til now - i've been with them 3 years but it would appear they are now unable to cope. (read more)
★★★★★
“Been with Zen Internet for 3 years for my home isp,...”
Written on: 16/05/2009 by 15121990 (1 review written)
Been with Zen Internet for 3 years for my home isp, only problem in this time was down to the BT adsl service. Zen identified this very quickly but it took 48 hours for BT to admit the problem was at the exchange. (read more)
★★★★★
“I've been with Zen Internet since 2002. In 7 years...”
Written on: 22/03/2009 by gnozu (1 review written)
I've been with Zen Internet since 2002. In 7 years with them I've only had one major problem, and that turned out to be because BT had wrecked my ADSL line. Their support were really helpful in working out what the problem was and contacting BT for me (BT were hopeless in their support, by the way). Excellent support from ie the people you call actually seem to know what they're talking about
Excellent service availability. The only problems I've ever had have been BT's fault.
As for speed,...
(read more)
★★☆☆☆
“Zen Internet is great when it works. C panel goes...”
Written on: 09/03/2009 by purlfrost (2 reviews written)
Zen Internet is great when it works. C panel goes down too often for my liking. My site is then off line and so is my business. it seems to happen every 3 to 4 months. As a business, I can't afford this type of service. Just not good enough. (read more)
★★★★★
“I've been with Zen Internet just over a year and not...”
Written on: 20/02/2009 by GrahamStoneman (1 review written)
I've been with Zen Internet just over a year and not once have I lost my internet connection because of faults. Customer service has always replied within a few hours. They've never messed up the billing. Website (especially the customer portal) is excellent. Includes webspace ideal for photos and backups.
An excellent service, but you have to pay a bit more for it.
(read more)
★★★★★
“Zen Internet were reliable with great backup and good...”
Written on: 26/01/2009 by r j oates
Zen Internet were reliable with great backup and good communications . I have been with Zen for years and have hardly ever had a problem, when I did it tended to be down to to an old modem, since getting the latest type from them I have never had another. The guys cannot be more helpful and problems are always quickly resolved. It may cost a little more than most but the saving in hassle is certainly worth it, I am sometimes tempted to search elsewhere but hear of so many problems, if it... (read more)
☆☆☆☆☆
“Poor quality of hardware. Poor knowledge levels at...”
Written on: 05/01/2009 by chrismj (1 review written)
Poor quality of hardware. Poor knowledge levels at technical support. Lack of English speaking tech support (only speak computerease, which I dont and they seem un willing to translate to plain English). So far over 4 hours on phone and no further on. Dreadfull for an award winner! (read more)
★★★★★
“Have been with Zen for almost 18 months... absolutely...”
Written on: 20/11/2008 by Jan42 (1 review written)
Have been with Zen for almost 18 months... absolutely excellent, reliable broadband provider ... you get what you pay for. They email to advise how much of our monthly allowance we have used which is helpful. Customer service is something other providers could learn from. They help even when the problem is not down to them.
I never normally recommend to friends for fear they will find fault but have no hesitation in recommending Zen to anyone. My brother in law changed from BT to Zen on our...
(read more)
★★★★★
“I would recommend Zen Internet to everyone who wants a...”
Written on: 30/10/2008 by u02i045 (1 review written)
I would recommend Zen Internet to everyone who wants a no hassle connection that is always up when you want it, and having never had to call them regarding connections issues since joining its made my life that much easier compared to friends who have wasted monies on premium rate Support lines on other providers, pay a little extra and save yourself so much hassle... its a no-brainer. (read more)
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Showing 41 - 50 of 102 Reviews
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Ggrimer's Comment
Written on: 16/10/2012
I was with Zen for 10 years as a home broadband customer, I found their customer service was the best of any corporation I dealt with. Not sure about the business customer service because I've never dealt with them. Find it difficult to understand how they could be so excellent at home CS and so poor at business.