Support and Customer Services emails ignored

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a new router from Zen. I received the dispatch confirmation but no tracking reference for the courier. Three emails to customer services were ignored. Eventually I got a response on Live Chat, though I had to try that several times before I actually got to chat with someone.

I am using a trial of Zen Vault Express which works well. I want to upgrade to the paid for version. I have tried doing this several times in the portal and get an error message after selecting the service and accepting the T&C. I have emailed tech support and customer services with no response. i have not managed to get a human on the end of Live Chat (to either tech support or customer services) all day.

In the past the standard of support from Zen was superb - quick, efficient and spot on with the help and resolutions. Now it seems to be impossible to get a response from anyone by any means other than phoning.

What has gone wrong? I am seriously considering moving my ADSL away and not bothering with Zen Vault Express because of the poor customer services. I have been with you for over 5 years and am paying a premium price for what should be a premium service.

As someone who works in a support role (not for Zen or any other ISP) I can tell you that if staff are short the order is usually given by the department Manager to concentrate on the phones and pick up e-mail when possible because in the situation customers may have been on hold a while and will be none too happy.

However we are also told to stay with each customer until we fix the problem or collect enough info to be able to escalate the issue to someone to fix it (such as in the case of a piece of software conflicting with a certain brand of AV).

In Zen's case that might be fixing a server issue or escalating a fault to BT.

How long were you waiting for a response before you decided to desist each time?

The Live Chat thing drops you down to emailing instead of chatting if there is no response from Zen's end within about a minute. I'd have been happy to leave that sitting open in the corner of the screen until someone was available.

I emailed support and customer services about the portal issue this morning and have had no reply yet.

I emailed customer services about the delivery tracking code for my new router when I ordered it a fortnight ago and never got a reply (though obviously it's irrelevant now).

I can understand prioritising callers over emails.

If there is a major service issue it should be on the status page. I checked that when I had the portal issue before making contact, and have checked again this evening, and it's not mentioned.

It looks like I will need to phone them to get it sorted, but it's something that should be working in the portal.

Morning Paul,

I can only apologise for the lack of response you have had from us. The issue with the portal and ordering vault if you email me a screenshot of the error I will have this chased for you - email: [email protected] Subject: Attn Leo - Vault error via Portal Ordering.

~Edit~ I have found the emails with the error screenshots. I'll email you once I know the issue has been sorted.

On the subject of the poor customer service experience, could you PM me the order number and I will chase this for you now and make sure you have a response back. I will also pass this thread to the relevant department head for them to look over the Live support chat reports.

Kindest Regards,

Edited by deleted (Wed 31-Oct-12 08:22:25)

Hi Leo,

Thank you for picking up on this.

I have received your email noting that you have found the error. I'll wait to hear from you on that.

The router order messages are irrelevant now as it has been delivered, however I will PM you the order number anyway so you can look into why Customer Services didn't respond.

Paul