"Since when blackmailing is a legit business practice?"

I was about to write a review, when I saw that another user already summed up my experience with zoolz:

I'm adding what the user TC wrote in their review at the bottom of mine. I totally agree with that. I can only add that there was no warning that I need to retrieve my data before the suspension of the account - I just got an email basically saying 'Your account is suspended and you need to pay in order to access your data'. If that sounds to you like blackmailing, that's probably because it IS blackmailing. Also, and I got just canned responses every time I tried to contact support.

So, please, STAY AWAY FROM ZOOLZ.

'Lifetime' plan .....
I have used my 'Lifetime' plan for a few years and I was very happy with it, however I can now conform that as other have claimed Zoolz seems to be a complete scam. Recently they suspended my account until I purchased a maintenance plan. I told them I did not want a maintenance plan and asked them to open my account to enable me to retrieve my data, they refused until I pay, I have never heard of a company doing this.

"'Lifetime' plan ....."

I have used my 'Lifetime' plan for a few years and I was very happy with it, however I can now conform that as other have claimed Zoolz seems to be a complete scam. Recently they suspended my account until I purchased a maintenance plan. I told them I did not want a maintenance plan and asked them to open my account to enable me to retrieve my data, they refused until I pay, I have never heard of a company doing this.

Stay clear of this company if you value your data.

"Stay away from this scam company!"

Stay away from this scam company!
The lifetime plan turns into nothing since 2020, and they have no intention to give any refund or compensation.
They are just scamming people without consequences.

"Zoolz is a scam"

I too have been scammed with a "lifetime" plan. They took my money, and now they have suspended my account with no warning. No refund. 30 days until deletion. I'd like to sue them in a class action lawsuit.

"Masterful Scam of Evicting Their Lifetime Plan Customers to Subscriptions"

I don't usually write about an unpleasant encounter with businesses and this is my first post in Trustpilot. However, there is fundamentally something wrong about how Zoolz.com manages their customers. Please hear me out below.

Apparently, there are backup platforms run under different brand names by the same owner, Muayyad (Mo) Fahed Shehadeh, based in London. The brands Zoolz, BigMIND and PolarBackup are the most popular brands.

According to online sources, the notorious company has a history of offering cheap "lifetime" backups only to renege on them later. Instead of offering to transfer to another platform, even one that sells the same backup service, they send emails that apologize and then encourage the customer to now purchase another premium plan that will be billed monthly. They will only provide a complete refund if you purchased a "lifetime" backup plan within the last 30 days. It is understood that many will feel forced to do this because they already have all their information backed up on the platform. For years, customers of Zoolz, BigMIND, PolarBackup , Genie Backup Manager have been trying to warn others about this company and their practices. Many consider this a bait and switch. Others describe this as "fraud" and a "scam." Visit Garrido Diaz's website (you could try search for "The Lifetime Backup Scam, Zoolz, Polar Backup") for more evidences, even within the source codes of these platforms containing Zoolz's codes.

Ok, onto my personal experience:

In Nov 2018 I purchased a lifetime account during one of their offer. Lifetime means 1-off payment and no more payments after that, right? Apparently, No, nope and no!

In Feb 2020, Zoolz's email communicated this to me titled "Important Information About Your Zoolz Account" and inside the email body, it read, "How will this affect you? We’re ***not changing anything*** about your plan Your storage capacity will remainas is, and you will ***always have access to your account***. As a ***lifetime account holder*** you will not be asked to pay any additional costs, however, there are multiple advantages to upgrading your plan."

In Nov 2022, the email tone has changed to the following: "Today, we’re writing to you to let you know that your ***maintenance plan (note the removable of the word lifetime plan?)*** is expired, and in order to activate your account, you will need to renew your subscription. If you don’t wish to renew your subscription, please retrieve your data from the cloud in the next 30-Days, to prevent your data from being deleted." It means Zoolz is evicting all the existing lifetime members, and has forcefully migrated us to the subscription plan!

In Dec 2022, just a few days ago, they sent me an email titled "Did You Get Our Last Email?" communicating:

"Following the email that we sent 1-week ago, which outlined in details why your account is set for a very regrettable decision, to close your Zoolz account."

In essence, my "maintenance plan" (note the use of "maintenance plan" and no longer the factually correct "lifetime plan") is suspended and data will be deleted and my account will be closed. To activate my account again, I will need to renew my subscription. (wow!)

Looking at the communications, there you have it, a masterful move by Zoolz to kill my lifetime plan and force customers like myself unto a paid subscription plan.

How can you trust this company called Zoolz? Avoid like plague because they are not transparent, lack integrity in their communications and basically just killing off their earlier supporters and customers.

Make no mistake, and in case they change their business/service name, this is their formal business address according to their email communications: Level 1, 184 Shepherds Bush Rd, Hammersmith, London W6 7NL United Kingdom. However, I read in GlassDoor, that the London address (formerly was in Helsinki) is just a front for investors' confidence. The actual operating address is in Jordan, and ex-employees left the company due to concerns with the "unreasonable way" the company manages customer data.

So, please do yourself a favour:
Avoid Zoolz. Avoid BigMIND. Avoid PolarBackup. Avoid Genie Backup Manager. They will come back to haunt you. Enough spoken.

"Lifetime Subscription - change to terms and conditons"

Logged complaint and had several conversations with them about now wanting a yearly maintenance fee when none was paid before. The response is the same - I need to pay the yearly fee. This is a change from my original terms and conditions - no additional fees - life time subscription.
I'm still awaiting a response for why now this change after using the service for several years with no yearly fee.

Post Script - When I requested this complaint be escalated and linked this site, I got a response that my account was again active and an apology for the inconvenience !!

"Unacceptable quality of service. A lot of stress."

After many years of trust, I regret to have to finally warn everyone that this is very unreliable service. From the comments on here it looks like many others users are experiencing the same issue as me. Out of the blue the company announced that my account is suspended and I need to pay a fee, otherwise my data will be deleted in 30 days. I immediately logged in to copy my data, but my account was already suspended. With no warning. I contacted support to request access to my data. So far, no response from support a week later. It looks like they don't care about the stress users are experiencing. I will never pay this company a penny.

"Stay away. It's a scam."

Stay away. Like these others, bought a lifetime plan, which stated "no additional costs" - as obviously that's what a lifetime plan means - and now they are requesting an annual payment. Total scam.

"Very unprofessional company"

Very unprofessional company, stay away from it. I bought a lifetime plan couple of years ago, and now they informed me that my account is suspended and I cannot access my data unless I pay a yearly maintenance fee of 22.31 Euros. They even insist on paying a yearly maintenance fee (not monthly) so that they can scam as much money as possible although my account is a lifetime account.

"Lifetime subscription is a scam!"

I bought a liftetime subscription, but 2-3 years later my account got disabled, and my data deleted as they force lifetime subscribers to pay a yearly subscription. Endless exchanges for their support don't change anything, good luck to get your money back.
I see everyone is in the same situation than me, make sure you don't fall in the same trap!