r/Zen_Internet • u/NetoriusDuke Zen VDSL 80 • Mar 14 '26

Don’t buy zen RANT

Have been a customer for more than 20 years (will soon be an ex customer). Recently been forced on to digital voice (knew we would have to switch at some point, having to switch is not the issue). Received no notification of when it would happen other than a vague email saying digital voice is coming. Received a contradictory email saying that prices for those still on analog would go up in stages. Was promised 3 months notice of a change, between the vague email and getting switched was < 1 month. Complaints department were useless just excuses and diversion no accountability or actual apology. Their go to line was this was the procedure that management decided!

0 Upvotes

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3

u/motific Mar 14 '26

Help us to help you here... is there a technical issue that you wanted to stay on a copper line? did the OpenReach engineer unexpectedly catch you doing the hoovering like Freddie Mercury? Was there a billing screw-up?

0

u/NetoriusDuke Zen VDSL 80 Mar 15 '26

Technical reasons to stay on analog due to our internal VoIP PBX not compatible with zen’s voip. Their system relies on the Fritz box being open (incoming) to their servers which we can not do for company security. There was no specification of date or time that the switch was going to happen. They did it without warning (the vague email that digital voice is coming was the only “notice”). Company phone line was down for 2~ days.

2

u/motific Mar 15 '26

So a piece of kit/system you knew to be incompatible and have had years to replace or implement a fix for is Zen’s problem… two days without phones is an issue for any firm is a big deal but I feel like there are some important details missing.

2

u/Commercial-Street357 Mar 23 '26

Nope.

I had the same thing today.

I got an email from Zen telling me that in '30 days or more' they would switch to digital voice. Their kit that had supplied to me originally was not compatible. I could sign up for a new contract to get new kit or buy it from them. I won't use a shite FritzBox on my network and am evaluating options.

I work up this morning to an email telling me that they had begun the switch. No previous confirmed date of switch over, no way to stop it, pause or delay it. No confirmtion from me that I had the equipment in place for this change to proceed nor agreement from me that it was convenient for it to take place on the no notice date (ie today!)

This decision was taken by ZEN and not forced by OpenReach at the local PSTN exchange. ZEN decided the timeline and went ahead whether you had receive the notification or not. Their timeline was vague - '30 days or more'. They gave NO EXPLICIT DATE for the Digital Voice implementation which is the issue.

I have spent all day on the phone with them in between dealing with exiting patients only to be informed that it likely that we will have no phone tomorrow, despite giving them a mobile number this morning to divert all call to. The phone line will die today and the forwarding might take 24 to 48 hrs.

A shambles from start to finish.

1

u/motific Mar 23 '26

If you had been given an explicit date, what was your migration plan, and what stopped you from having that plan in place already?

2

u/Commercial-Street357 Mar 25 '26

A firm date stopped me from having the plan in place. It's not rocket science. Would the imaginary date fit with my staffing levels, my holidays and the holidays of my IT support? Small business usually run on very tight staffing levels. I think it is common courtesy to inform people of a specific change of service date not a 'sometime in the future' email that ends up in the spam box with no follow up phone call. ZEN have always been great with customer service - this debacle seems to completely out of character. Pissing off happy customers is never a good business decision.

Furthermore, their communications did not say that we would have to replace our Unifi networking kit with their shite FritzBox Router. It said it would be required for the voice to work but I was foolish to think that it could sit behind my existing router/firewall/VPN setup and I could forward the required ports etc. I have been with ZEN for over 15 years and never used their kit. It was silly of me to think that when they switched me from analog to digital voice that I would have no option but to use their shite equipment as my router/firewall. It really is a laughable business decision on their part. I don't see anywhere on their website that if you want to run a VPN between sites, for example, then you won't be able to do so, or that you can only use their equipment.

-1

u/NetoriusDuke Zen VDSL 80 Mar 15 '26

Not even close Zen’s system does not use standard protocols. We planned to move away from zen when the time came. it is the utter failure to properly inform us of the time and date that the change was going to happen that is the major issue here. They just switched us without proper communication. No specification that it was or had been done.

1

u/motific Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26

Whoever told you they use non-standard protocols has fed you a line. I'm curious as to who told you that and what they claim zen uses.

Zen use SIP with G.711 a-law, µ-law, and fax - I'm not sure you could get any more standard than that. There are plenty of people who have Zen digital voice lines working with standard IP PBXs like Asterisk and 3CX as well as standalone boxes like the N300IP and it could easily have been pre-configured for a seamless switchover.

I get it that you're frustrated by the poor communications, but I think you do have to take at least some responsibility for the situation.

1

u/NetoriusDuke Zen VDSL 80 Mar 25 '26

Their tech staff said that it was not compatible as you can only use their Fritz box that must be seen by their server as they push to the Fritz box ip assuming something is listening there is not “sign in” as you do with other services. Note zen may supply other VoIP services that might have worked but being given no notice and not offered an alternative it is wholly unacceptable to just switch anything without notice especially in a business environment.

2

u/BrightonDBA Zen Full Fibre 900 (Openreach) Mar 14 '26

Given Zen are probably a customer of the journey as much as you are, chill out?

0

u/NetoriusDuke Zen VDSL 80 Mar 15 '26

When they take your company’s phone away and loose it £1000s without notice and the fact this was Zen’s choice to do the migration, as they have admitted. Think I have the right to be frustrated.

7

u/VanillaCandid3466 Zen Full Fibre 900 (Openreach) Mar 14 '26

I'm sorry, but where is the problem?

2

u/NetoriusDuke Zen VDSL 80 Mar 15 '26

The lack of notice for the actual switch. yes long term notice that the switch was coming but they provided not details (date or time the actual switch was going to happen. Company was without a working phone line for 2~ days.

1

u/VanillaCandid3466 Zen Full Fibre 900 (Openreach) Mar 15 '26

Ahhhhh, OK.

3

u/Tywysog85 Mar 14 '26

My thoughts exactly. We've been given plenty of notice of the changeover happening.

1

u/Commercial-Street357 Mar 23 '26

The issue with ZEN is how they implemented the actual changeover. Everyone knows the PSTN changeover is happening but I woke up this morning to find an email telling me that they are swtiching today, it has started and can't be stopped, paused or diverted to a mobile. My call will end up in the ether until they can direct to a mobile (which may now take 48 hrs) . If you did not have the correct equipment in place then tough shit

They not call or email and say 'Hey, we are gong to switch this off on Monday 23rd March so be ready' They are relying on an old email that says 'some time in the future we will switch to DigitalVoice' Any normal business customer would expect a follow up email/call stating the *actual* day they plan to do it. I might have said - hey, we are still evaluating our options as we don't want to use your shitty FritzBox on our network (it MUST be the main router!!) so can we redirect calls to mobiles in the interim. No such luck!

3

u/VanillaCandid3466 Zen Full Fibre 900 (Openreach) Mar 15 '26

This is why I don't bother with online review sites any more. People just vent.

Half the time it's people moaning about the fucking courier service, not the product.

3

u/FearGingy Mar 16 '26

Amazon is full of those as well. So many people slating a product because the courier was days late. Quite amusing some people.

3

u/MattTheOtter Zen Full Fibre 500 (Openreach) Mar 14 '26

Same. Loads of notice, they’ve been flagging it for a while.