Dreadful service from Zen - what to do?

Been a Zen customer for nigh-on 10 years - never expereinced anything like this.

Short version - delayed fibre installation, which doesn't work, left with no internet connection and no prognosis of when we'll get a fix

- 13 May, order fibre regrade and phone; quoted 21 May for fibre, 31 May for phone
- 20 May - call Zen to check fibre isntallation - order not procesed by system. After to-oing and fro-ing, new date of 30 May
- Email confirming fibre installation quotes AM time - 0800-1300
- 30 May, 12:00 - call from installer "had problems on a call, be there 13:30-14:30"
- 30 May 14:00 - call from installation company "his vehicle's broken down, installer wil be with you later"
- 30 May 17:30 - call from (different) installer "I'll be there by 18:30"
- 30 May 19:30 - installer shows up.
- 30 May 2000 - installtion completed, no internet connection
- 31 May no internet connection - many conervsations with Zen Tech support; fault raised with BT; no time to fix estimate
- 31 May - call Zen customer servcie to register comlaint "Someone will call you back within an hour" - no call back
- 1 June - no internet connection

Zen accept no responsibility for the installation delays, nor apparently for the fault. Not sure what I'm paying them for if I have no service and they have no responsibility

Like I said, been with Zen for many years - never experienced anything like this - is this typical now? Any suggestions as to what else to do get service back and some form of redress?

Sounds like BT Openreach/their contractor have let you down rather than Zen although as ofcom let BT hide behind the ISP you can only deal with the ISP unfortunately and that's the case no matter what ISP you are with.

Have you got no synch with the exchange (no DSL light on the Openreach modem) or are you just not able to authenticate with Zen to get Internet access?

Have you spoken to technical support today?

Thats the point though If BT openreach or one of its sub contractors lets the customer down they have let down the ISP as they are Openreaches customer , And therefore as far as the customer is concerned the ISP are in some way responsible, And if ISP's started claiming compensation against openreach for bungled installs or no shows , then things may improve, But as it is they don't seem bothered by being let down by OR or BTW

Edited by tommy45 (Sat 01-Jun-13 16:12:07)

There's sync with the exchange, but Zen can't see the router attempting to connect.

BT Openreach haven't given Zen an update since yesterday, and Zen tech support don't expect anything before Monday. Apparently the investigation is with the BT AOC team.

I know that Zen are dependent on BT, but I'm Zen's customer.

I doubt very much its a case of Zen not caring though as in any organisation there may be a few that don't.

I'd expect BT's contracts with the ISPs have lots of get out clauses so there's probably not a lot of scope for claiming compensation from them for cases like this.

In reply to a post by ImThatGuy:

There's sync with the exchange, but Zen can't see the router attempting to connect.

BT Openreach haven't given Zen an update since yesterday, and Zen tech support don't expect anything before Monday. Apparently the investigation is with the BT AOC team.

I know that Zen are dependent on BT, but I'm Zen's customer.

Sounds like someone somewhere has made a configuration snafu so the traffic isn't being routed to Zen correctly.

I take it the userID and password are in the router correctly?

Yes you are Zen's customer but as you say they are dependent on the old dinosaur that is BT.

Not with fibre and not with Zen but have been in a no connection situation which had to be escalated to BT and it took them a week to fix.

Edited by techguy (Sat 01-Jun-13 16:53:36)

In reply to a post by techguy:

In reply to a post by ImThatGuy:

There's sync with the exchange, but Zen can't see the router attempting to connect.

BT Openreach haven't given Zen an update since yesterday, and Zen tech support don't expect anything before Monday. Apparently the investigation is with the BT AOC team.

I know that Zen are dependent on BT, but I'm Zen's customer.

Sounds like someone somewhere has made a configuration snafu so the traffic isn't being routed to Zen correctly.

I take it the userID and password are in the router correctly?

Yes you are Zen's customer but as you say they are dependent on the old dinosaur that is BT.

Not with fibre and not with Zen but have been in a no connection situation which had to be escalated to BT and it took them a week to fix.

Yes, password etc checked and rechecked. Tried 2 different routers just in case.

I'm not suggesting that Zen doesn't care - I'm sure they do. But that doesn't matter if they can't deliver the service - which is what I need.

> what to do?

switch to A&A - http://aa.net.uk/broadband-trial.html

I can't imagine using anyone else. I have been a Zen customer too, they were fine for me.

if ISP's started claiming compensation against openreach for bungled installs or no shows

They do.

G'Day Mate,

Can you shoot me your details please.I used to be in support and as such I'll see if there is anything further we can do to help resolve the issue.

Kindest Regards,

Thanks - all help much appreciated

User zen29603
Fault no: 149874

Only fair to report that the fault is now fixed, and we're back online.

Thanks to Zen tech support and Leo for their help.

Still have to resolve some redress for loss of service for 4 days

What was the fault in the end? Reading through it then none of it had anything to do with Zen at all

2 faults:

- Incomplete provisioning at the Zen end
- Unspecified issue with the BT network

Can't realistically say "it had nothing to do with Zen" - they're the people to whom I pay the money - I'm their customer. No-one else I can go to - BT won't talk to me.

You might believe that's unfair, but that's how it works.

Not to mention:

- The original order screw-up which led to the delay is Zen's
- I've paid for several days of service that I haven't received

I'm not slagging Zen - them's the facts. I've been with them for years and this is the first time they've let me down - but it was a bad one.

In reply to a post by CecilWard:

switch to A&A - http://aa.net.uk/broadband-trial.html

I can't imagine using anyone else. I have been a Zen customer too, they were fine for me.

Sure, if you have money to burn you may well be attracted to their "quaint" pricing structure.

home ::1 is cheaper than zen imo.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

home ::1 is cheaper than zen imo.

I didn't start this thread to generate a "who's better than Zen' debate.

I started it to publicise a specific set of issues and to solicit suggestions to get them resolved. I got some suggestions; they got resolved, as I've posted previously.

Please don't drag us off into a completely different subject.

then why not reply to the guy above me who posted about aaisp which I replied to?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

then why not reply to the guy above me who posted about aaisp which I replied to?

2 reasons:

- The problem hadn't been resolved when he posted
- He made what could have been a helpful suggestion, had Zen not come through

You mean Home::1 FTTC 80/20 150GB/month for £50?

check the other conditions.

aaisp includes vat zen excludes.
extra traffic on top is 10x the price at zen vs aaisp. - so if eg. use 160 gig at zen either have to start new contract, which starts new 12 months AND pay off the old contract as its considered terminated early. Or buy the extra 10gig as a one off which are at zens prices horrific.
aaisp £1 migration
aaisp will argue with openreach to dispute any engineer fees, zens t&c's seem to state they just automatically passed on.

on top of this aaisp also has only 6 month min term vs 12 months.