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ouch - I feel your pain. I've had some Zed wheels, and went through the same valuation process as you: great reviews, UK wheel-builder, affordable....
But as you, when they came: although they were true, the spokes didn't feel tight enough. Put this down to me not knowing anything about wheel-building. Rode them about 300 miles and found the brake tracks to rub on the pads (rim brakes) front and rear on efforts. Then a hand full of spoke totally unwound in the rear wheel and one in the front snapped.
To be fair - Zed got back to me quickly and even offered to send me some loaner wheels, However by that time, I'd lost all confidence (in Zed) and bought a spoke tension gauge, followed a youtube tutorial and trued and tensioned the wheels myself. 5000 miles later, they're still bang on, no flex, no unwinding/snapped spokes.
Looks like the same problem to me... massively under-tensioned and no QA department. When I asked what tension they should be... he wouldn't disclose, saying it was better that I sent them back.
Elbenjino-
Yes that does sound familiar.
Mine were very slack and rubbed the brakes really badly front and rear even when putting down normal power in pedals in bike shop car park. They were also clearly untrue, especially the rear.
The spokes were really loose but Lee said this was all normal characteristics of string spoke wheels and why they give such a compliant ride!! He blamed both on the brake pads being too close to the rim - They weren't especially close at all.
The wheels were sent back but no issue was found. Lee claimed they were "perfect" and blamed my local bike shop for trying to find issue where there was none. I took them back assuming that maybe lee had actually realised what was wrong and just fixed it at his shop. Either way I would have good working wheels now.
When they came back had exactly the same problems and bike shop said they were unsafe.
Lee then sent them the spoke keys needed for string spoke tensioning to see if, like you, the bike shop could just sort it out. My bike shop said that after trying they were still unhappy with the general build quality and just didn't feel happy with the wheels. The rear wheel appeared to have a kink in it that was not a result of tension.
Zed flat out refused to admit the issues. When video footage was provided to zed they then said that the issues must have been caused by the bike shop. Thankfully the bike shop was already suspicious of zed and had recorded their work.
My bike shop thinks (not confirmed) that Zed perhaps don't even build all of their wheels themselves as claimed but that they take the orders and then they are built by a third party in Asia then sent on to customers. Indeed the rims are confirmed as coming from Taiwan in bulk already.
This hasn't been confirmed but it would make sense as to why wheels come as they do without Zed really knowing what they are like and doing any quality control.
Either way has been a total nightmare!!
user150909
Decided to try Zed Wheels after reading some online reviews and liking the idea of trying something new. Went for the top spec 50m versions with Berd Spokes.
Unfortunately they were not true at all when arrived and had way too much flex in them.
Zed Bike wheels then went from being the friendliest outfit to deal with to being really difficult. Hard to get a hold of and refusing to hear of any fault despite confirmation being provided by very reputable bike shop.
Wheels were sent back. Zed denied any fault and sent them back. Bike shop again confirmed that same faults were there and said they were unsafe to ride.
Almost a 8 months later and nothing has been resolved. All kinds of silliness and still £1,500 out of pocket. Currently taking legal action.
I was excited to try a boutique UK wheel firm but in hind sight wish I had just stuck to one of the big brands with better customer service and more accountable approach. Lesson learned.