I have two phones on the vodafone network for the past 8 weeks. During this time I have had next to no internet access in Belconnen, Civic and Kambah. Phone calls drop out all the time. Delayed SMS. In addition to that the credits that should have been applied to both accounts ($100 on one and 1 month free plus $50 on the other) have not been honored despite 4 phone calls to customer service.

I am now trying very hard to exit these contracts. Worst phone experience ever.

I've been with Vodafone for about 2.5 years. I saw one contract out (a corporate one), then a few months ago my partner and I bought retail iPhone plans. While the signal has generally been ok for us, we do live in the middle of Sydney and don't travel to outlying or regional areas very often. That said, in the last month, things have changed.

Recently, we've had many problems with undelivered and delayed SMSs and extensive delays with voicemail notification. Worse still, we've been unable to call out countless times over the last couple of weeks due to apparent network congestion. This is entirely unacceptable. Excuses of huge influx of customers and the takeover of 3 are invalid - Vodafone should have made provision for this from the outset. It only serves to prove how incompetent the management are at all levels.

Customer service at Vodafone is a complete joke, to say the least. I've made countless calls that have proved fruitless, often because I simply don't have the time to wait for hours for Mr/Ms Patel in Mumbai to answer my call, and when they do, I get no satisfaction other than insincere and rehearsed responses. Emails are seemingly not read by a human, as the automated responses (if you get one), do not address the original message.

I've also had reason to contact Vodafone on behalf of a friend who is on the same corporate contract I had until recently. Although the Vodafone website stated (at the time) specifically that calls to the corporate number 135888 will go to an English-speaking person located in Australia, they did not. They went to Mumbai, or somewhere in that part of the world. Despite that, I was thankfully able to avoid that stupid, time-consuming and frustrating Lara, which/who should be shot and buried, along with those in this company who have driven it into the ground in recent times. Nevertheless, the problems were not resolved, and that was two months ago. We keep trying.

Vodafone needs a shake-up. While all telco's suffer the same cost and customer service cutting drives, this is by far the worst in my experience. They are not providing the service that they purport to offer, which is tiresome, frustrating and costly.

28 December 2010. Received an SMS which is delayed by around 4 hours.

No coverage, late sms, missed calls with no messages.

I have been with vodafone for many years and have experienced many of the problems others have mentioned (Call drop outs, late txt messages and in some cases no service). I work as a Traffic Controller and thus i recieve my jobs on a daily basis and thanks to Vodafone i sometimes miss vital calls which means no work etc. The latest thing to happen to me really got me mad thanks to Vodafone Customer Service, I was travelling home late one night on the m1 on queenslands roads when my car broke down and miles from a service station so i called Vodafail Customer Service for a number of a 24 hour towing service so i could get the car home when the smart ass lady on the phone told me to look in the yellow pages and then hung up on me ( I'm stranded on the highway, this is why i called).This lady did not care about me which is why i hope she ends up stranded on the highway, hopefully near belangalo state forest and why i will be changing telco service providers.

poor or no reception, late sms messages or non arrival very frustrating, lack of customer service also!

I live on the Northern Beaches in Sydney and have experienced many problems such as no coverage, phone calls drop out and even more frustrating is that i receive sms messages days later!!!

I thought it was just me... wow... In Hobart we get the same issues, call dropouts, network disappearing when I try to make a call and consistently late sms & voicemail. I transferred to Vodafone over 2 years ago because the staff provided excellent service, and transferred my two daughter's phones soon after. But i worry sometimes if they try to call and have no reception. I thought it was just a Hobart (or Tasmanian) issue with reception. I am astounded it is in the other capital cities as well!

Docklands area: reception issues, drop outs, late sms and voicemail messages up to 8 hrs late. poor customer service and ongoing billing issues. If a payment fails on a credit card - there is no notice - they just cut mobile data service and it takes 3 days to restore on their system. Will move to another provider at the end of contract.

Late txt messages and late voice mail messages. Regular call drop outs. I own my own business and getting a voice mail from a customer 3 days late is totally unacceptable! Vodafone used to be so customer orientated but after 12 years of being a customer, i think it's time to move on!!!

This is the worst quality of service.
flakey network.
delayed SMS.
droped calls.
lost voicemails.

Vodafone set new standards for the telcos worldwide.

I have been with Vodafone for many years, holding several accounts. Drop outs with high signal strength is common as well as no 3G, late sms and phone calls that go straight to voicemail.

Poor reception, lost or late txt, I just received a txt today 28th that was sent on xmas day, my daughter in another state so important for communication. Have alot of trouble contacting customer service. Phone cuts out on important buisness calls, txts being sent thru about 3 times at our cost.

14 months into my contract with vodafone, I started having the usual problems with my Iphone (call dropouts, delayed sms and voicemail, no reception). I was hand balled to every department imaginable whenever I was able to get through (minimum wait 1 hour). This went on for over 8 months and after going through so much pain and visiting voda stores to apple stores to waiting on the phone, they asked me to turn my 3G off (what a joke). After calling them almost twice a week to complain, they finally gave in and terminated my contract. Vodafone, never again.

I have a problem with delayed SMS's - sometimes up to 24 hours late and worse still some never arrive. How can this happen Vodafone??????

I had a Vodafone mobile contract for over a year and had no problems apart from an occasional drop out. I even signed up for mobile broadband with them I was so impressed!

That all changed 2 weeks ago! i live in Waterloo - 5 mins from the CBD and my mobile broadband DOES NOT connect! Then this week, my phone also went! Delayed sms incoming and outgoing, voicemail coming through 6 hours later!

I called last week and they told me a tower in the area had an upgrade and it wasnt compatible. My flatmate as told to turn his 3G off so he could receive calls. We have to drive 3 streets up to get reception.

I WANT OUT OF MY CONTRACT AS THEY ARE NOT HOLDING UP THEIR END OF THE AGREEMENT.
(on the plus side... having no problems at my folks in St Marys!!)

My girlfriend is with Vodafone and often when I try to call her I get voicemail. She also complains about multiple and delayed SMS messages. Telstra gets a bit of flack every now and again but their network and service is the best by far. Sure you have to pay a little extra but it's worth every cent, in fact I think Telstra could charge double what Optus/Vodafone charge. There is nothing more frustrating that bad mobile service and my experience and reading through this thread Vodafone have a lot of answering to do.

I live in the CBD (melbourne) and have half strength signal most of the time, with daily drop-outs, and voice delays...having alot of missed txt messages or receiving a sms up to 3 hours later, I decided to test the service.. sitting in the same room with another vodafone user, we txted to see how long the sms would take to arrive... it took on average 7 minutes with one turning up the following day...what the F ?????? their service has only got worse since merging with 3... I have a 3 mobile broadband service, which is the biggest rip-off, never reaches the speeds its advertised to be able to do...more like dial up speeds most of the time, also they have a trick where they tell you that your data allowance has been used up, and to purchase more, I log in my user account to view how much data I have left (as I do often) but mysteriously that service doesn't show up, so believing im out off data, I buy more, once bought, my user account updates showing me that I have more data than I just bought,(sometime up to 750MB extra) meaning I was never out of data in the first place... tricking me into buy more. I even had this happen a few hours after buying 2Gb of data, I hadn't even used the internet within that time, customer service keeps telling me that there is no problems with their service, and that I can always view how much data I have left via my user account online ... who are they kidding. vodafone and 3 (both being the same network) will never have my business again. off to Telstra I go !!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Contractual obligations not met by Vodafone themselves, poor reception in some areas where Vodafone claims good coverage after two service checks/requests - blamed my phone which should have out performed similar models at the time.

Late SMS's.

VERY DIFFICULT to stop or make changes to your contract, but it's OK for Vodafone to double-charge, make accounting and billing errors and threaten you with legal action when you protest their incompetence. Sales staff are lying assholes, they promise you various things/services/rebates but they do not materialise after a contract has begun.

Very expensive calls for the quality of service you get.

Had the same rubbish in the UK and in Holland too, never again. Vodafone is yet another (globally) shit company to deal with.

I live in Brisbane and I have an iPhone 3GS on a 24 month contract. I was told by the sales person at the Vodafone shop how good the phone would be and that I would be more than satisfied with the service they provided. Yes i was until i walked out of the shop and tried to use it.

I have had the phone for approx 7 months now and all through that time i have experienced poorer than average service. Phone calls dropping out. Slow loading web pages or not loading at all, Delayed SMS.

I was told by the sales rep when i bought the phone that it was not locked to the Vodafone network. Wrong. When i tried to test a Telstra prepaid simm in the phone i found out the truth. Once i managed to unlock the phone by paying the ripoff fee i found out for sure how bad Vodafone service was. Web pages loaded at waht i would call standard broadband speeds on the NextG network.

I have had occasion to call Vodafone customer care and waited for 1 hour 20 mins before i hung up.

Show me how to join this class action. I am in for sure.

i have been with vodafone for 15 years. i have an iphone at the mo on a business plan. i thought that my problems in the last year was an out dates iphone. but after reading these stories i have come to realize that this is not the case. for the LAST YEAR or more i have constant drop outs, most about 15 seconds into the call, business phone remember, also bad coverage in my own home and i have lived here for 7 years and untill this time i have never had issues. aswell as having insurance with my contract for my iphone that i pay every month. i have approched the vodafone store several times to hand my phone in to be fixed, but upon requesting a replacement phone for the time mine is getting fixed i was told that it is not policy to give out loan phones. well i expect on a business plane that pays insurence every month that i would not go with out a mobile phone. i need it to run my business. Dont you think i should be offered one since it is a nessecity for any business to be contactable. with all that said, being charged to get my voice mail messages when my phone fails to ring because of their f up and getting charged for a full minute when it drops out almost as soon as i connect to someone is offencive in the least. especially in these financial times. fix it vodafone. and do it soon. time is money and i dont have much of either to dish out to a company that doesnt fix their problems straight away and instead waits till it becomes a media issue. where is current affair when you need them.

Vodafail management ignored all my calls for help. They said that my call dropout problem, poor reception and my delayed SMS's (some up to 4 hours late) were just my imagination and I should stop winging. Because of them my pet puppy "Frisky" died yesterday when she was injured and it took me 2 hours to call our vet. That's heartless and vodaarrogant!

I have a problem with delayed SMS's - sometimes up to 24 hours late and worse still some never arrive. How can this happen Vodafone??????

Very late SMS (days), dropped calls, super slow data, handset goes off line too often.

Vodafone customer for 10 year......never on contract.

It's simple, I'm off.

Very late SMS (days), dropped calls, super slow data, handset goes off line too often.

Vodafone customer for 10 year......never on contract.

It's simple, I'm off.

Very late SMS (days), dropped calls, super slow data, handset goes off line too often.

Vodafone customer for 10 year......never on contract.

It's simple, I'm off.

Very late SMS (days), dropped calls, super slow data, handset goes off line too often.

Vodafone customer for 10 year......never on contract.

It's simple, I'm off.

i was a 3 customer and NEVER had trouble with them! i didn't ask to switch to vodafone so why should i be stuck with their crap service. i live 40 mins from brisbane cbd and i work in the city yet i had NO coverage for 4 days in either area from the 17th to the 21st!!!! i did however have dozens and dozens of missed txts and calls from friends, work colleagues and my boss! some of them thought i was bullshitting and i was almost as popular as vodafone! since vodafone took over my bill has gone through the roof and when i went in store for some advice i got told to go to allphones...it took 2 days for the more than helpful allphone staff to help me as the vodaphone network was down and they couldn't access it! its quite fitting really that vodafone sponsers the aussie cricket team they're just as shit!!!

Tired of delayed txt messages, no service, internet dropouts, and call drop outs. Vodaphone customer service full of reassurance but offer no solutions.

My wife and I entered into a 2 year contract with Vodafone some 15 months ago. We bought 2 Blackberry mobiles on a $69.00 p/m plan @ = $138.00 p/m. We checked the coverage maps for the area we were about to move to. Once moved, the only reception we got was "edge" or "SOS". Real helpful Vodafone!
Countless calls made to customer support took no less then 20 minutes to get through. Promises to get back to you - but no - you chase them!!!!!
I am not a racist but for God's sake, can I speak to someone in Australia instead of India??? We have issues with dropped calls (repeatedly), unable to use our internet browsing, delayed sms, unable to send push email. What are we paying for? Vodafone is nothing less than a disgrace. Customer Support state they can't guarantee the accuracy of the coverage maps. What a cop out. This is misleading. If the map says there is coverage that is exactly what you should get.

I have several of the issues mentioned re drop outs and late sms but I have also, up until recently had my phone turning on then off. I was told to send it to the manufacturer for repair however, strangly, this only happened at my house and to my wifes phone also. Anyone would know two phones side by side doing this similtanously was not going to be an individual phone failure issue. After all, they both worked fine every where else. Also when I purchased these phones I was told by 3 (Vodaphone)that outside the capital cities they roamed onto and shared the Telstra network. However whilst travelling in Aust. recently I was unable to get coverage in some towns and when I rang to enquire they told me they had no coverage in this towns. Begs the question, whose network do they use in the country and it is Telsrta, is it selective?

I could not get coverage at my home in Nudgee.
The phone get dropping out. Full signal on the phone then nothing and vice versa.
I complained direct to Vodafone who blamed the handset.
After three times being "repaired" and then replaced by a new set it was pretty obvious it was not the handset.
My house mates are connected with Optus and Telstra and they have no problems.
In fact they can attempt to call me sitting across the room and they will get "phone is turned off message" even though I am sitting across the room with it on.
Vodafone eventually did a "drive by" and in their words "an assessment" of the signal in the area.
When I called back to find out their findings they refused to talk to me.
I asked for a discount or compensation due the missed calls, the delayed sms messages, the delayed mms, and of course the frustrating drop outs which forced me to use my home phone.
They refused - without any explanation.

Other frequent areas of drop outs in this region are on the north side of the Gateway Bridge - both sides.
Around the Pimpama exit on the M3.

The list goes on!
I am please to know that I am not "an idiot" or a "complaining customer" as I have been made out to be by Vodafone.
With these testimonials that I have read it seems that more people have been disadvantaged than advantaged by this poor provider.

I went to Vodafone in August of 08, thinking nothing bad of Vodafone after what the Vodafone representitive told me once i signed on the dotted line. After no more than a week into the contract i was already facing repeption issues. Delayed txt messages, incoming and outgoing calls failing, and a whole bunch of "we don't want to hear your problems" from Vodafone customer service.

It think something needs to be done about Vodafone. I was told a whole bunch of misleading information when i was in the Vodafone store, all that just so they could get another customer. Vodafone was the biggest waste of time EVER.

Cons:
One to no bar reception 15km from city centre. (been like this for at least 5yrs)
Delayed SMS's, sometimes many hours.
Bloody spam SMS's rom Vodafone as early as 6:18am Perth time, several around 7:00am, no human response to complaint on their website after a week.
Pro's:
Cheap, have 365 day prepaid expiry and rollover free vodafone to vodafone talk time (have about 1500 minutes currently.)

Besides all the issues everyone else is suffering (dropouts,slow data,delayed SMS,pathetic customer service, etc, etc, etc) the manufacturer of my so called "smart phone" released a software upgrade for the phone addressing a few of its many shortcomings several months ago but Vodafail is not releasing it for download. The only reason I can think of is: why make a customer more satisfied with his handset (with manufactures' faults) if you might be frustrated enough with it to prematurely buy another plan/phone from them?
I would be glad to join a class action.

Besides all the issues everyone else is suffering (dropouts,slow data,delayed SMS,pathetic customer service, etc, etc, etc) the manufacturer of my so called "smart phone" released a software upgrade for the phone addressing a few of its many shortcomings several months ago but Vodafail is not releasing it for download. The only reason I can think of is: why make a customer more satisfied with his handset (with manufactures' faults) if you might be frustrated enough with it to prematurely buy another plan/phone from them?
I would be glad to join a class action.

I've got all the usual probs, slow data, late SMS's, not receiving MMS's for hours... but what really annoys me about Vodafone/Vodafail is when you call up you have to wait on hold for almost an hour!

What an absolute joke!!!! Why, when they know how badly they are doing, do they keep people on hold for a whole hour? Vodafone is embarassingly bad, my contract ends in Feb and I'll be going to Optus or Telstra (who aren't looking so bad these days!)

Stupidly switched to Vodafone from Optus when I got my iPhone 3GS - worst mistake of my life! Intermitettent reception, callers not able to get through despite full signal on my end, delayed SMS, dropped phone calls (coincidentally manynof these when on hold to Vodafone for help). Currently waiting on resolution of 2 month ongoing issue - my parents are overseas and when I SMS them they receive the message multiple times, and are charged for each one they recieve, Vodafone have said they know what the problem is (their server) but have not yet fixed it. I am counting the minutes until my contract is over to switch to Telstra - pricey but reliable (never thought I'd say that about Telstra).

I don't understand why I have to pay my bill for services that are not provided to me - surely that constitutes a breach of contract?? I'm paying for them to provide a service that they consistently fail to provide. Count me in on any class action!!

After months of bad reception, dropped calls, slow data, delayed SMS & MMS messages I rang Vodafone with one question..."How much to get out of my contract?" After only 10 minutes on hold (I thought that was pretty good), the customer service person who took the call couldn't provide me with an answer (this took another 10 minutes to deduce). She said someone would call me back and quess what...they did! However, this person couldn't answer my question either. They were Tech support. They blamed my phone, my sim, my area (Sydney CBD???) and then said someone would call me back in 72 hours. I insisted that I just wanted to know how much to get out of my contract. Finally they agreed to put me through to someone who might be able to answer my question...another 10 minutes on hold...someone answered...and the call dropped out! This was last Friday and no-one has called me back.
I have been with Vodafone for 10 years and I am sad to be leaving them but enough is enough.

Early November I raised an issue with Vodafone.
Missed calls - straight to voicemail with no TXT alert.
Delayed TXTs for hours sometime up to a day.
Unable to call out.
They got me to try several 'things' like changing my phone, using someone elses SIM in my phone etc.etc. and then concluded it was my SIM that needed replacing.
Because they 'get old'.
I have another phone and SIM with exactly the same issue - oh that must be getting old too.
They keep giving me the run around.
8 weeks on, I still have the same problems and now they are starting the whole 'diagnostic' process again. "take your SIM out, give it a clean..." What the?

I have to take out my sim and put it back in to receive txts.
Txts I send have been known to get to the recipient 4 hours later.
Every few days I am uncontactible, apparently my "Phone is in use or disconnected" yet I can still make phone calls fine.
Seriously VF, WHAT THE HELL? I just bought credit last week. When it expires in 2 months I'm changing, probably to Telstra or something reliable.

My partner has been getting the slow/delayed SMS messages to the point that SMS'ing her is essentially useless. Most of the messages turn up 12-24 hours late and come through in a flurry... this is with the phone in a location with full reception all day.

The visual voicemail is always unreliable on iPhone's as well, I often get the notification that I have a message and when I go to fetch it, it isn't there. If I wait half an hour the message will eventually turn up and I can access it properly.

Everytime I have called Vodafone to complain they have blamed the handset or my location (CBD), I am glad someone has put a website together to provide Vodafone feedback, I thought we were the only ones suffering!

Our business recently signed up to Vodaphone. What a disaster!! We have 10 mobiles on this plan and everyone is complaining of late SMS messages, no reception and at times an inability to call out or receive calls even when signal strength appears ok. Just about everyone in the organisation has tried ringing the so called service department to get answers. After sitting on hold for half the day they run you through a std script which will only frustrate the hell out of the caller. One of their operators recently blamed the phones that we were using. Fortunately the phones were bundled with the plan, so Vodaphone sent out new phones at no cost. Guess what? Same Problems!!! Do not use Vodaphony... Especially for your business!

On your alternatives page, you cross off Thinkmobile as being Voda wholesale. This is only half true - Half their plans are Voda (what they call the "Swift" network plans) and the other half are on Telstra 2G (the "classic" network plans).

I was on Voda pre-paid in 2008 (awful - dropped calls, delayed smss, atrocious customer service) before switching to Thinkmobile Classic (Telstra 2G network). Thinkmobile's network was great for domestic usage but I had some issues sending international smss (their international SMS provider didn't have a service to Taiwan). For the price, Think were great and their call centre is in Australia.

I have been experiencing problems with Vodafone's sms / mms service for the past few months. My msgs were received up to a day late. During this time I had to turn my phone off and on or even resort to making a call, and once I hung up, my msgs would then start coming in.

I complained to Vodafone about this, and my first complaint, Vodafone told me they had been experiencing a network issue in the last few days. However, my delayed sms has been happening for a few months now. They then proceeded to tell me that it was my phone. I told them that I also have another service, on the Vodafone network (my work mobile), and that is also experiencing the same problems. That excuse didn't work, so they told me it was my location. My retort was that I was experiencing this issue at all times of the day at all locations - from my work in Sydney CBD, to home in Sydney's west, and when I am out in metro Sydney. Vodafone still refused to admit they had an issue with their service, but wanted to fix the issue so they did a "master reset" of my account.

This seemed to fix the issue - for a day. After that, my sms / mms were getting delayed again and I had to go back to turning my phone off and on and making calls just to receive my msgs.

I once again called Vodafone, who now decided to say that there was nothing wrong with their network and that it was an issue with the person sending the sms. I told them, so everyone has an issue with their service except for me?!? if that is the case, why do my msgs only start coming in when I turn my phone off and on or make a call? Vodafone then attempted to do some "troubleshooting" and asked me to do all these things which I had previously done everytime I called. When I told them I had already done that earlier, they said i had to do it again, or I wouldn't be "co-operating" with their trouble shooting.

I once again co-operated and fed up with still getting delayed msgs, I called back the next day, only to have them say there was an issue with my SIM card. By this time, I was already frustrated with all the excuses they were using. It was already the last straw so I asked the floor manager to cancel my contract. They would not oblige because they believed there is nothing wrong with the service.

So I took my complaint to the TIO and Vodafone finally agreed to release me from my contract - yet I am still waiting for them to admit they have an issue with their network.

I am now a happy Telstra customer. I have to pay for all my calls and msgs now, because nothing is free on Telstra's plans. But I dont mind one bit, because I'd rather do that than put up with Vodafone's crappy service... not to mention having to deal with the incompetent Lara.

Vodafone sux in the city. I constantly cant send SMS, or get delayed SMS, continuous dropped calls and waiting on hold to Vodafone for at least an hour before being hung up on. I have been with most of the carriers and Vodafone has got soo bad over the last 2-3months that the service is almost non existant.. 3rd world service Vodafone!