Terrible customer serivce, reception, internet, lots of lying and deception. Almost as bad as Telstra, but not quite. Rude rude customer serivce, shocking. Hate the FEMBOT LARA.

I have had enough of Lara!!!! Why cant I speak to a real person and get the quick answer I need rather than Lara appearing at every turn

I don't have call drop-out problems, but do have some late delivery text messages. My complaint is almost every time I try to pay my bill online, there is a website 'problem' that results in a frustrating call to the insufferable Robot Lara and a long wait on hold. Eventually I get excuses about the website being down/upgrading/temporarily unavailable etc etc. If I want a paper bill instead, that will cost me extra, but every month when I try to pay online I need to set aside about half an hour, just to give this stupid, useless and uncaring company money it doesn't deserve. The customer service is non-existent and the excuses pathetic. It is impossible to complain effectively. Every time I have a problem paying online because of their crap website, I ask for it to be reported but nothing ever changes. They promise anything to get you off the phone. I stay with this appalling company because I'm on a discontinued "no plan" service that costs them more money than it costs me. That's the only comfort I have in using Vodafone - actually "using" them. I recommend everyone I can against this company and tell Vodafone so when I complain, which is frequent. They don't care. But Optus for my home phone and internet is no better, so why bother going to the effort of switching suppliers? I bet they treat their staff like dirt, which is why they have these problems in the first place: no one who works there cares about the customer.

P.S. The bogus pro-Vodafone online comments on SMH story are surely embarrassing?! Try harder, Vodafone.

Trying to get some basic information about plans.
Rang the infamous Lara - Voice command system. All I want to do is speak to a person and I'm still on hold after 45 minutes, after hearing Lara tell me how close I am to having my call taken, and the next minute how flat out they are and they will be with me shortly!
About to give up, and about to move my plans to Optus! Well done Vodafone, another customer who you have pissed off with your pathetic customer service, pathetic automated systems that simply don't work, and pathetic phone network.

I have been with vodafone for about 10 years. In the early day was not mnay probs but in the last couple of years i have has problems with calls not connectng even wehn I have ful service and sometime for no reason when on a call it was get diconnected.

As my plan was up and I wanted a new plan with and i-phone I resigned for a 24 month 49 cap contract.I was happy with the service I rec'd form the customer service agent but the wait time was ridiculous and having to use the "LARA" voice menuin annoying!.

Im am happy with the iphone but not the coverage, continious call drops out and snail pace when using internet !!

I have a USB internet plan with Vodafone. When I first got it, the speed was amazing - faster than some of my friends using ADSL2+ broadband. About 2 months ago the internet would drop out at 8pm on the dot every day for a week and no matter what I did I couldn't get it back. Then for a week or so I couldn't connect at all. I tried to call Vodafone customer service and got circled around with everyone telling me I had come through to the wrong section (because apparently post paid mobile broadband doesn't even have a section) so I eventually hung up to try again and 'Lara' glitched up and I couldn't get through at all. I eventually gave up and just tethered the internet from my iPhone. THEN about a month ago my connection speed dropped to less than dial up - especially if I was using something like SKYPE that doesn't use much bandwith at all. I would have full reception in that little satilite tracker but it appeared as if I had no connection at all some of the time. I didn't want to have to deal with the customer service people again so I went into the store to ask about it. The kind lady appologised for the service as she'd obviously had quite a few people coming in and complaining. She explained to be that if I call up customer service then they can guide me through some steps to change a few settings on my computer and if that doesn't work they will cancel my plan with no financial penalty. I think I am going to take my laptop into the Vodafone store and they can pay for the phone call, however long it may be, to a 1300 number because luckily for me, my phone is not with Vodafone.

Ive been (Just recently changed telco's) a Vodafone customer for around 7-8 years.

The last 12 months or so have been incredibly frustrating with them- numerous handset fails, poor service, replacement handsets that were reconditioned ones instead of new ones, customer care staff with exceptionally poor english skills, excessive amounts of time on hold (one call had me on hold for almost two hours before I gave up and hung up), and unwanted handest upgrade that was damn near impossible to return.

In the end I had a gutful and went to pay out my contract and cancel my service, it took TIO involvement to get it happening as every time I tried to do it myself, their system was down, or I was transferred back and forth between departments all telling me I had come through to the wrong place, or the person I spoke to me couldnt understand english properly or spoke so fast it was like a foreign language and got angry at me when I asked them to slow down.

That was two months ago. My contract has since been cancelled and I'm a very happy customer of another telco. BUT... they wont take my final payment! they said the final amount would direct debit as per usual on the usual due date - it didnt. There was plenty of money in my account to cover it, yet it didnt come out. The following month I get a bill with the amount now listed as overdue and that I need to call collections to explain why I hadnt paid. So after another epic lifetime on hold and Lara getting sarcastic with me, they assured me I wouldnt be charged any late fees and it will automatically come out on the next payment cycle. Well, the next payment cycle passed a week ago and surprise surprise, no payment came out.

If they default my credit history Im gonna be very unimpressed. But if they dont want their money either, then im cool with that...

I will be joining the class action law suit against Vodafone.
They are the worst company iv ever had dealings with. Lara is the most ludicris ploy for customer service i have ever encountered. I have no reception through out Melbourne and Sydney when i travel for business.
Vodafone should sack its board for dereliction of duty. How many months has this been going on for. Surely a good CEO would have gotten this under control as a serious priority as opposed to taking everyone's money and delivering this useless service. Where is the accountability ?

I have been a longterm customer of Vodafone - by longterm I mean 10yrs + .... and in that 10 plus years where do I begin?!
I cannot describe the frustration - the difficulties in communicating with a communications company!
I have had lost calls, dropped calls, sms messages that time out and don't go through ... or finally come through at 3.11 am (for some weird reason)... I've had no, limited or non-existent data or broadband - 3G is dodgy at the best of times, incorrect billing ... and the icing on the cake was when they refused to sell me a new fone (for my partner when he changed jobs) because I've paid my bills late (occassionally ... as a protest) because I was a "risky" customer ... they are fortunate enough to still have me as a customer only through my pig-headedness!
When you try to speak to a person ... you get the infuriating Lara .. (I hate Lara) ... and the cycle of "we're really busy at the moment ..."
It is not unusual to have wait times to customer service in excess of 45 minutes ... whereupon you get a call centre who has no idea of the problems, denies there is a problem, blames the customer/client, insists that you go through a stupid procedure to re-set your phone, and still have dropped calls, bad reception and overcharges on your bills at the end of it.
Trying to contact them with a complaint is a nightmare - trying to email them is even worse - I have a list of replies stating that my complaint has been dealt with ... it never was, and probably never will be!
Contrast this with a well known car insurance company that I had to deal with on New Years' Day .... less than 3 minutes ... TALKING TO A REAL PERSON ... had my claim sorted.
Vodafone is just good enough and apart from the class action - I think they should be investigated under the Trade Practices Act for false and misleading conduct ... and maybe we should get the ACCC involved too...
Constant misleading rubbish is all we get fed from Vodafone.

dropped calls, delayed sms, poor reception, mysterious voicemails days later with no explanation. it's like using a mobile phone in 1995. Oh, and I HATE Lara.

Yesterday afternoon, I made 4 calls to Vodafone customer care (1555) to raise my concern over my mobile phone reception coverage.
1st call - I used the key pad prompts but failed to find one that satisfied my complaint and so chose my account. I was then advised I would have to call back later as Lara had experienced a problem....
2nd call - I was on hold for over 30 minutes when my call was answered however my reception cut out and the call ended. I have really bad coverage in inner Sydney...
3rd call - I went through the options again and when I was placed on hold, the reception cut out again and my call ended.... steaming mad...
4th call - I am now home. I began calling Vodafone when I left work, One hour ago exactly. I have hung up the call at 18 minutes on hold.
I tried to go to thewebsite to ask someone to call ME and had sooo much trouble trying to find a way to contact vodafone directly! It seems they have put everything in place so that we solve our own problems instead of bothering THEM!
Their service levels have dropped, phone coverage has dropped, but my call charges haven't... I think it's a breach of contract.. LET ME OUT!!!

Over the last 3 days i have been into a store 3 times to upgrade a plan but due to glitches couldn't. I then tried 4 times to upgrade online only to wait 20 odd minutes every time to hear good old Lara tell me that there has been technical difficulties and i would have to call back. Must not want my business

I just called 1555 and after being transferred by "Lara" about 20 times, she tells me that "Looks like there's been a problem and you'll have to call back later. Sorry for any inconvenience." WTF??? It is so hard to get to speak to anyone there! Does their contact centre actually exist?? Or is it just Lara sitting in a switch room disconnecting people?

It's a good thing we live in a civilised country other most of the people here would be locked up.

Time for some balance to the discussion.

I have been on Vodafone pretty much since they started in Australia, using both voice and data, travelled overseas, and used vodafone in my business, as well for my family - (corporate and private).

Overall - i find them good - but not great - but honestly are the others any better??

So - first -The good.

1. 99% of the time i can make a call or use data when i need to.

2. Vodafone Business Support (and we only have six handsets - so we are not corporate by any stretch) - has never let me down. 'Consumer' assistance - 'Lara' is useful, but the rest is - in a word - a frustration.

I will also assume for the best part that Vodafone in Australia - unlike Telstra - have been able to optimally locate their Cell tower locations, unlike Telstra who needed to make use of their analog locations - which where sub-optimal for GSM.


But the not so Good.

1. i don't think i have ever - in more than 15 years - had good reception in any of the homes i have lived in - and others have shared similar stories - conclusion: Vodafone need to increase their output power somewhat.

2. Cell handover issues - as a regular - hands free whilst driving - user I can say that Vodafone have issues (and other may also) when a cell handover occurrs from 2G to 3G - with the result - dropped call.

3. Data on my phone - in some situations has been - just like the Telstra advert describes for 'other' networks.... hopeless.

Of late:

4. i have experienced the - delayed time to start call issues - that other have described.

5. Bitsy data - with my phone switching from HSDPA to 3G and back constantly - for some reason, and in most cases no traffic on 3G, only on the HSDPA - ??? Why did it need to change!


So in balance, i am not entirely happy with Vodafone, but choosing to stay with them out of loyalty, and better the devil you know that the one you don't. The comments of other Vodafail respondents having ill considered rants - are not helping - unless they are fact based, and constructive (having said that, i understand and relate to the frustration - but then changing providers is probably what you need to do.)

So, this has only made me less loyal, but not enough to change - yet! Who knows once everyone leaves vodafone, and they fix the network - they'll be the best network in Australia with very few using it.... food for thought.

stuck in a contract with no service despite paying my bills, they provide none or occasionally little service. constant data spinning....searching...Lara is NO help..3+ hours waiting for the Indians to answer then told 'we'll get back to you'..never happens, meanwhile the bill continues to arrive..or the service drops out before they answer...back to the beginning.
who knows how much business ive lost because of this. the facebook page for vodaphone is just some guy with placating answers too...useless.

i dont think they care.

utterly frustrated.

joined the class action..Dec '10.

i want out! lets just call it quits.

vodaphone = vodafail.

My family live on a farm in Diamond Beach which is in the Forster/Tuncurry area of NSW.

They have no landline, and they are out and about most of the day. When I visit the farm, I have no coverage what so ever.

As I spent Xmas Day there, I was unable to contact family and friends for Xmas wishes.

More worrying, if I was on the farm on my own, any should any emergencies occur, I would not be able to call for help with using my Vodafone mobile, as it has never had reception out there.

The combination of these two, and the complaints on this site mirror the absolute scam that is the Vodafone telco.

Everything from there customer service Lara, to the Indian customer service makes the whole experience a disgrace to the way Customer Service is being conducted in Australia.

i am generally not unhappy with my 17 year experience with vodafone apart from the appalling lack of customer service by phone. lara is the most annoying and unhelpful voice on the planet. the voice recognition software does not work and getting to speak to a person is impossible. i currently have a query re my account and can't even contemplate ringing. my appeal is that vodafone ditch lara and replace her with people who can direct you to the right section to a person who can deal with the inquiry. for my landlines and internet i use westnet (iinet) and not only can you speak to someone but if they are too busy you leave a message and they ring back. amazing but obviously it is something that can be done.

My far better half is very unwell in hospital, this morning I have tried to contact the good lady several times, only to be told by Lara 'The mobile service you have called is currently unavailable'on a constant loop.

I have contacted the ward and spoken to their staff who have assured me my ladies phone is on and fully charged.

Disgraceful and shame on you Vodafone, your inefficiency is now preventing communication to the sick.........and reading through these entries I am not alone!!

Have received 10+ voicemails and even more SMS all in one go... Problem is.... Messages were left 2-10 days earlier.....

Service was disconnected twice due to vodafone dropping my direct debit info.

Have spent many hours over the last 15 months inshore, many more hours on the service/help (sic) line with operators disconnecting me when unable to assist or answer questions, so they 'transfer' me to no-one.

And to top it off, I even have 2 text messages from vodafone asking me to call them because....wait for it.... 'we can't get hold of you on your mobile'!!!!!

If they can't call me, how in the heck am I supposed to call them?!?!?!? My other phone (tin cans and string) don't reach Mumbai.....

And on more than a number of occasions I was told it is apples fault.... ..... And this was after 7 months of dramas and vodafone told me it would take up to 3 weeks to fix/swap the phone, so I waited for new software (which made no difference to the crap network service), finally got fed up enough to travel half a day to the Apple store and they swapped it over in less than 10 minutes... And guess what PROBLEM IS STILL HAPPENING ON THE NEW PHONE

VODAFONE YOU SUCK, you have cost me hundreds in lost business revenue, countless hours on hold (or 'try this try that' reset, reboot, oh and don't forget NAP TIME), and more than a couple of nights lost sleep due to stress and frustration!!!!

And yes vodafone, all this is logged in your crm system.

Oh, and get rid of Lara - she is as useless as udders on a frog.

I was an avid user of Vodafone in the UK for approximately 10 years with not a single problem. I moved to Australia 5years ago and continued with the Vodafone network thinking that it was one i could trust.
Whilst in the city for the first 3 years it was great.
As soon as i left the city it was shocking and through the last 2 years has gradually worsened - to the point now where:

- My calls cut out
- Some dont even connect
- Outside Melbourne is pretty much a no go zone
- Sometimes even in the city i dont have signal now
- some texts dont even make their way to me
- voicemails are sometimes received up to a week later
- And 'Lara' never puts me through to the right department without me having to try 4/5 times or more...

I know Australia is far bigger than the UK but seriously, did they not realise that when they tried to take on the beast!!?? Who is operating their strategic management of network coverage/issue resolution/customer care...
These people need to be either sacked for being incompetent or given the right amount of resource to be able to do their jobs effectively!

I'm sorry Vodafone, this loyal customer is unfortunately slipping away to one of your competitors, those who shalt not be named 'Telstra'.

I sit here typing this post thinking about the good & the bad experiences I've had with Vodafone. So 1st the positive. I live in the Sydney Metro area.I've been with Voda & Nokia since 1992. In that time I've always had a reliable mobile phone service with them. I've paid my bills & the reception was mostly ok with only a few grey areas of poor signal strength. Went to Cobar a few times (far west about 7 hours drive)& absolutely zero signal. Part of the 6% & 132,000 people that don't get Voda service (that's left to Telstra).In 2008 I bought a new PC & went with Vodafone with a broadband modem. On occassions I have had the need to converse with customer service. Enter the much dreaded Indian call centres.The waits on hold have often been beyond belief? That recorded voice LARA soothingly saying "won't be much longer we're flat out at the moment"? Somewhat hard to take after being in the Queue for 65 minutes. Sometimes I would do Basil Fawlty pround, swearing at LARA in frustration. Eventually my problems were sorted. Then came BLACK Tuesday 7/12/2010. Internet OUTAGE?(although my mobile ph. service was fine?) Oh no, I've got to deal with that LARA again. In total I consumed over 7 hours of time = Tu/Wed/Th/Fr. Occasionally I got through only to be told just a small technical problem & all should be ok SOON? I later found out, via IT media, that Vodafone was changing over to another main network provider & had struck major technical difficulties. The SMALL problem only affected the Eastern Seaboard States of Australia. I.E. Qld.,NSW, Vict.& Tas. ONLY? Well by Friday I'd had enough & went to Allphones & signed up with Virgin Broadband (Optus network)for 12 mths. Same 8GB deal & same price $39pm = $468 pa. One vital difference is with excess usage charges. Vodafail charge (sneekily) 10c a KB. Only 10 cents one thinks, big deal. Not so if you go a GB or two over in any month, which I did in Oct. & Nov. 2010. Also keep in mind that on the 8GB plan = about $5pm/GB return to Vodafail. Well I remember gasping on the total bills for Oct.& Nov. of $484 incl.GST. This was more than my total normal 12 mth broadband bill. Difficult to accept but as it was in the contract I was obligated to pay it. In contrast Virgin charge $15GB for excess useage abt 1/7th of vodafails. Then fear crept into my mind as I had to try & contact Vodafail & LARA in India again. This was to cancel the Broadband service(the contract period had expired) Well, another hour of my life was consumed & their on hold music is crap, distorted & repetitious. With LARA constantly assuring me once more "won't be long ....etc". If I ever meet any Laras in real life I'm not sure how I'll react? No doubt the real live laras would all be nice girls? Anyway I get through to someone,hooray at last. After getting grilled about the problem (5 minutes)it's sorry wrong section. Next section same thing another grilling & on to another department.Then Jackpot someone authorised to make decisions. Their attitude changed on the fact that I was cancelling one account & could also flick the off contract ph. a/c too. Maybe a lot of cancels were happening that week? In the wash up I was sweetened up with the full waiving of the Oct./Nov broadband bill & I was put on a 12 month $29 cap plan. The waiving of the fees,I feel, compensates me for all the pain & suffering I went through with LARA etc. The Virgin/Optus broadband works better = stronger signal & my VODA phone is good now too. Other things I note. Vodafail have increased their call charges. For me the old was $1min. now $1.35min. On my old service the bill showed 1,000 minutes of voda2voda calls. I was ineligible as was not on qualifying plan? Vodafail forget about loyal long term customers? As market forces see better plans evolve = more GB I found I was on the lower shelf. 2 years ago I was on 5GB for $39 internet. Then they were offering new deals of 6GB for $39. It was only when I asked (via THAT LARA AGAIN) that they gave me an exta FREE GB/mth. They sent me back slapping emails about how generous they were. It was the same deal when they upped it to 8GB. What I'd like to see is some sought of credit system on the monthly allowance that factors in well below cap usage. Like last year in total I used around 45GB out of a total allowance of 96GB. Acually that underusage is a bonus to them as they can resell my unused, 51GB, space again & therefore get a double dip? Australians pay through the nose for mobile services? I'll certainly be looking at better deals in 12 months or so. As with a lot of things you don't know the true value of service until something goes wrong. 2 cases here,1 is recalls with cars & their CEOs refusing to admit there is a problem? 2. Vodafail Aust. CEO playing down problems. Like I saw no announcement from Vodafail about their broadband network had failed in December? CEO speak always tries to play down gross operating problems. I think Vodafails quest for extra profit (cheaper operating networks & 3rd rate 3rd world call centres) is the root cause of most the problems users are discussing here. More oversight & regulation is needed.

I will write back with a more detailed account of my experiences with VF, but can I just say:

I HATE THAT FRIGGING IDIOT "LARA"!!!!

I am a singer and have a very clear speaking voice, with great diction, but somehow VF's automated nightmare of a system cannot understand a word I say.

GET RID OF IT!!!!!!!!!!

extremly bad reception an awfull internet coverage.
im on a 100 doller a month ''unlimited'' plan!
my bills has been over this 100 mark every month, altough its IMPOSSIBLE TO CALL because the only customer service rep i speak to is Lara.
if i do end up waiting 2 hours for a ''real'' person i get a stupid indian who cant help me.

I get dropped calls, data rates that my old 56k modem could beat, incredibly poor coverage, call ghosting and have spent over 15 hours on hold to customer care. I've changed phones at my own expense and tried friends phones. I'm at my wits end with this. And so sick of hearing Lara tell me Rio hang in there. I know for a fact you won't be with me really soon. Release me from this contract so i can get a Telstra Sim.

I am on a 2 year contract with vodafail and have 6 months left for completion. At first I did not know that it was vodaphone that was responsible for the issues I was having, I thought that it was my iphone. I went into a vodaphone store and was treated very poorly. At first they changed my sim and said that was the problem. I left the store, went to make a phone call and it did exactly the same thing as before, disconnected me after about 5 seconds. I went back in and told them it hasn't worked. They suggested I see Apple as it's my phone. After more discussions (mostly me asking to talk to the Manager), they put me on the phone to Lara, in which I waited 45 minutes without getting through. I had to pick my son up so I handed the phone over to one of the staff members who said that she would wait on for me and that she would give them my sons no to call me on, as no one could get through to my no. That happened 6 weeks ago and I am still waiting for a call from Vodaphone. As I do not have a home phone my mobile is the only way I can be contacted. The main issues I have is constant dropping out, my phone constantly tells others trying to call me that my no is disconnected. I quite often cannot get through and if I am lucky enough to do so, I only get to talk to them for 2 seconds and they are gone. I have had to buy a prepaid phone (even though I am in a contract for my iphone with vodafail), just to make sure that I am covered as I am a single mother.

reception is usually minimal or non existant. Phone drop outs all the time. long waits to talk to customer service. lose lara its too impersonal. Been with vodafone for 8 years , never used to have these problems. Have had enough switching to Optus, as one of my sons seems to have no problems on it.
Definately VODAFAIL

PLEASE KILL LARA FOR ME

Okay.. where do i start. Been with Vodafail for just under one year. Got myself $110 + Insurance unlimited cap on a Blackberry Bold 9000 for business use. Being a Mortgage Broker, my phone is is critical to my livelihood. Now i had cut outs during calls to clients, receiving important emails/messages days late and to top that the blackberry went crazy after a month and the shut down and never turned on...GREAT !!!

Sent the phone to vodafone repair.3 MONTHS later,Blackberry is back... two months later...Phone goes Faulty. Found out from Vodafone that they never repaired the phone and gave me a new Blackberry. 3 Months for a new phone and it's FAULTY too.

Then Moved to Nokia N97 Mini...Same deal. Same Excuse "We acquired 3 and undergoing tower upgrades to better our services" BULLSHIT !!!
2 Months later...Oh Great.... Another Faulty Phone.
Spoke to the head KINGPIN(So they say)Robert from loyalty team. Let's just say i kept him up that night.. CRYING.

One month later got my third phone Nokia X6 seemed like this was the one, was i wrong. I was barely able to make calls from the CBD. Shortly after i dropped my phone and cracked the screen. Got in touch with the Vodafail Insurance.

I was told in the store where i brought my phone that if i made a claim i could upgrade to the phone of my choice. Insurance said i was covered for $1,200.00 but they can't give me the iphone 4.
Why is the iphone worth more the that?
NO... but we can only give you the same phone (Nokia X6)... Plus it's going to cost you $150.00 excess.

SO YOU ARE COVERING ME UP TO $1,200.00 BUT WON'T GIVE ME IPHONE WHICH IS WORTH 600-800 AND YOU WANT ME TO PAY $150 EXCESS... WHAT THE FUCK FOR I SMASHED MY PHONE NOT MY CAR.

How many fights have I had with that "woman"?! AAArrrrrggghhhhhh

The reception in my area wasn't good, but the real killer was the utter incompetence of the so called "help" system. Something that should have been a simple online task taking less than a minute took an entire month to achieve. The appalling LARA was the the most frustrating, insulting and inefficient piece of rubbish ever devised, and nothing that I was told, either by the call centre or by email ever happened within the promised time, if at all. I'm still waiting (you get a lot of practice at waiting with Vodafone...) for confirmation that they have finally cancelled what they laughingly call a "service". It's now a week since they told me it would take "between 45 minutes and 5 hours". NOTHING ever worked reliably with Vodafone - neither their reception, the website, the email help nor the call centre. A truly abysmal company all round, made worse by crass PR attempts to insist that customers aren't now being subjected to long waits.

The Launceston VodaFone sales person ASSURED me I would get 3G reception in my suburb on an iPhone 3GS. From my house I can SEE the tower, direct line of sight, no obstructions, NO 3G. All I get is 1 or 2 bars on the EDGE network if I am lucky to get ANY reception at all! I get NO reception EVER at my work which is a mere 3km away from the tower, also line of sight. My SMS messages arrive hours, sometimes even days after they were sent to me. Every time I try to log into my VodaFone account on the website to pay or check my bill the incompetent idiots have changed my password WITHOUT notifying me, this happens on a daily basis and every time it occurs I have to put up with a 1990's University experiment known as Lara for 2 or 3 minutes before speaking to someone who doesn't understand that I want my website login password reset and NOT the handset pin.

Unfortunately you can not speak to anyone higher than a call centre operator so attempting to complain about being stuck in a 24 month contract that was promised to deliver only to fail is very frustrating.

I had a 3 mobile broadband internet service - if you could call it that - for around 12 months. It often failed to connect at all and when it did it was never at a speed that was useable at any time of the day you'd normally want to use the internet. I dealt with continuous advice from 3 that no-one else was experiencing problems in my area, that they were investigating my complaint, etc. I complained that even if I did stay on the net 24 hours a day, for the whole month, that at the speeds I was achieving I'd never even be able to use 50% of the data I was paying for. I even had a staff member admit that they'd oversubscribed the service and that once Vodafone took over that the service would improve. I begrudgingly took the usual and regular offers for discounts off my bill, all the time stating that they were useless when I was actually able to use the service anyway! I finally contacted the TIO. The solution that 3 came up with was to transfer me over to Vodafone, sign me up to another 12 month contract with the promise that I would definitely never have these issues with Vodafone. That would have been about 6 months ago, the first month was fine, since then I've struggled to connect, when I can I have difficulty opening even Gmail or Facebook, I'd be dreaming if I ever thought I would be able to open something as futuristic as skype! 3 was difficult to deal with, Vodafone is impossible. When I can get actually through without being hung up on I get redirected to the wrong department. Every time I ask every time that they make a formal request that the very frustrating 'Lara' be retired forever. What a joke. She's there for one purpose - to make us all hang up and give up. Well I am, I'm on hold to Telstra right now, to see what they can offer!

Coverage is crap once you get outside sydney, when the charlestown tower lost power it took out a large number of vodafone customers, I am so over the crapy vodafone telephone support, Lara is just so useless, I get better response from my dog, can't wait to move to Telstra when my contract finishes.

I got into a contract just over 2 years ago with a new Nokia, insurance, data, the whole bit. They then suckered me in with a change of phone number that I couldn't change, which was important as it was the number I had had for about 10 years. The phone coverage up here in Queensland is very hit and miss and the data speed is pretty pathetic. I then tried making an insurance claim on my phone, which was damaged accidentally at work, but I couldn't get the online form to accept my claim and I couldn't get anyone on the phone to speak to about it - let alone the ridiculous excess they expect you to pay. I still can't get good phone reception in my new house (its in the middle of town on a hill). Lara is a joke... I now refuse to speak to it if I have to call Vodafone. But I'm stuck as the other two major networks are just as bad - if not worse.

I am so sick a tired of trying to deal with this company!!! After being with a different service provider for over 10 years I approached DUDphone & was informed by the sales attendants at Crazy John's in Ballarat that the coverage was excellent in this area, and they further stated that coverage would be even better in the up coming months as a new tower was going up in Daylesford. In my profession I rely HEAVILY on my mobile phone & this was a crucial factor when changing service providers. (Wasn't I an idiot). It clearly states in my contract, "I have discussed and understand Network Coverage provided in the areas I require usage."

Service and coverage have provided a headache since day 1 although I persisted for quite some time. However, of late, the persistant dropping out of phone calls, colleagues telling me they have been trying to ring me and getting a recorded message that the phone is not in a service area. People ringing my wife's mobile (optus!!!) while she is working beside me because they wish to speak to me but can't get through to my phone, receiving text messages 24hours after they have been sent. To send a message from my home, which is 1.5km from the vodaphone shop, I have to walk around the house trying to find reception like it was way back in the early 1990's!!!

I made a complaint in October 2010 and was told I haven't complained enough and that they would send me a new sim card! Guess what?? No improvement at all!!

I rang again of on friday the 17th of December at my wits end and after hearing through the media that vodaphone was having to release customers from their contracts due to poor service and coverage. Whilst on the phone to customer service they had to ring me back three times due to the call dropping out. They finally put me through to accounts who were in the process of trying to tell me that I would have to pay for the termination of my contract when the phone call dropped out again. Within minutes it became clear that they had disconnected me, No phone call to tell me what was going on. At that point I rang back and after a 40 minute wait was told that my account was terminated and inactive, no discussion of fees.

I have since connected gone back to my old service provider but they have locked my iphone.

I also want an explanation as to a text I received in the last few days stating that I owe vodaphone an early contract payout sum

I would not have asked to get out of the contract a couple of months early if they had have met their part of the contract. Vodaphones service and coverage has been absolutely appalling and Vodaphone have failed miserably at fulfilling their part of the contract. I was a loyal customer to Vodaphone up till this point but given the poor service and failure on the part of Vodaphone, I fail to see how in good conscience they would seek monetary renumeration for the early termination of my contract.

Still on the phone to inda i mean vodafail....for another 1.30hrs cause the stores cant do anything to help with my enquries......"lara" keeps telling me about the great deals, how to save paper and how there are so many ppl calling yet my call is important please stay on the line.....i think ill save my life and go else where!!!!!!!!!

Been on hold for an hour now as I write this. Lara keeps assuring me they will be with me soon. All I want it for them to send my damn number to virgin so I can finally receive calls. Arrggggggggg this is actually a soap opera.

My brother arrives from overseas on Tuesday, so we make the mistake of buying a pre-paid sim card for his phone. Call Vodafone to activate (with Lara) to be advised at the beginning of the call that the activation process could take up to 2 hours to get onto the network. At the end of the call the message says it could take up to 12 hours.

32 hours later, still no network coverage. Call "Lara" from the phone with the "to be activated" sim card, to be told by a recorded message "We have your details, and activation should occur shortly.

Call "Lara" from another phone, and get to talk with a real person in Mumbai, who activates the phone wile we are on hold. Why has it taken so long ? We're told there was a system outage, and "only a few numbers" had been effected.

I wonder how many Vodafail classify as "only a few".

How do I find a copy of my full contract without having to listen to "Hi, this is Lara..." (bitch)?!

All year I have been having problems with voice messages. Visual voicemail works on and off on my iphone 3gs, but mostly off! Any voice messages can take several days to arrive.
Also, Vodafones website says they have full coverage in Bywong NSW (just outside ACT) but there is little to no reception at all.
There customer support via the phone is extremely slow. They repeatedly ask for the same details during the one call, and transfer me (slowly) a lot, and no body seems to be able to help.
LARA is nothing but infuriating!!!!
James

my insurance claim on phone was lodged then to ring up a month to find out where it is apprently wasent processed had to do that 4 times. on the 5th time it was sent. then the replacment was nla.. another month passed new phone arrived. not knowing my little cousin watchen youtube $700 later... how do you justify charging so much! over so little? tring to resulve with LARA the anoying computer on phone has reppidly hung up on me for 3 weeks. and the bad reception i have. its a bluddy joke... wish i never signed up. the new phone they sent is about as useful as a brick in a ocean. battery doesnt last anymore than a day.. rather be ripped off with telstra then be with vodaphone

OMG, im still on hold! 1 hour and 20 mins...i did get someone answer BUT she had to redirect me to another department as LARA THE GOOSE directed my call to the wrong place because her options SUCK!
so yeah im on hold again! or is it still?
Update u in the next hour!!!!

I've had a Vodafone mobile for a while now and I have no HUGE problems with it except when I try to contact customer service using LARA. BUT I HAVE HUGE problems with their internet and accessing good customer service from Mumbai in India.

Besides my mobile, I subscribe to mobile internet. It can take me 1 hour to connect only to get constantly booted - it's worse during bad weather - wind, cloud, rain. I have been trying to post a customer request via the internet for the past 3 hours - I keep getting booted. I am also trying to contact Vodafone via my mobile and have been on hold for over 1 hour with LARA telling me to hang in there.

I am quitting both my mobile and internet with Vodafone and I will be joining the class action.

on a recent trip from Ballarat to Mildura there was no coverage even after passing under those huge phone towers. wouldn't want to break down cause i couldn't ring any one.

on a recent trip from Ballarat to Mildura there was no coverage even after assing under those huge phone towers. wouldn't want to break down cause i couldn't ring any one.

Lara, girlfriend, you are too good for Voda!

Lara's a slut! I hate her!

Ok I have to say that up until about a month ago I thought this provider was not so bad. I have been with telstra and vodafone and was fairly happy. I was able to tolerate "just" the issues but now im just OVER IT! I am sick of ringing customer service, pressing a million buttons to get to where I want to be and listening to Lara for up to an HOUR! Then as if that isnt bad enough the person on the other line I cant understand and when I ask for them to please repeat what they are saying they get all shitty at ME! Not to mention the very good dodging of questions I ask. The service the past month has been crap. I will have full bars then when I go to make a call or connect to internet it dies saying "no service". I have just over a year left on my contract which I without a doubt will be going to another provider the second it runs out!

1. Customer service is horrifically slow, and gets worse. Just got off the phone to 'Lara' who can never solve my queries, after waiting a bit for a customer service rep they said they will call me back in 30 minutes plus! Pathetic. When I was with Optus even as a lowly prepaid customer I never waited more than 5 minutes and was greeted with excellent customer service from a real person.

2. Network issues. People have complained about calling me and going straight to voicemail, but I had my phone with me at the time and didn't receive the call at all. 3G data speed for even the most basic apps, both in my hometown of Perth and on a recent trip to Sydney is very slow about 40% of the time. Unacceptable!!
Also, a few times a week, a new SMS I'm sending will refuse to send. Unacceptable!!!

Thanks for setting the site up, there were times I thought I was the only one!

Before we signed up they showed us their coverage maps which indicated they had coverage over most of regional Victoria, so we signed up.
But soon after leaving Ballarat heading north/west reception is almost totally lost with only emergency calls available.
Also vety limited reception in Hamilton & Horsham townships!
We will be reverting to Telstra as soon as our contracts expire.

Lara should get the sack. Doesn't understand a word I say. I call to speak to a real person not a machine.

I am in Sydney CBD, and yet can not make or receive phone calls or messages. All tests on phone have been complete (excessively long and unforgivable wait on hold) and the failure is the service, not the phone (big surprise there VF). An investigation is to be launched with results in 3 business days. It's very handy to have a phone that does not make/receive calls and due to the public holiday, and won't have the ability for a week.

Vodafone reception: FAIL
Vodafone service: FAIL

Lara, the most annoying automated voice: FAIL

Vodafone overall --> FAIL

I have always stood by Vodafone but service is hard to get and I cannot use the internet. I do not live in a remote area, I live in Western Sydney! My friends and family have tried to contact me and have left a message which on many occasions I have not received the voicemail until days later or 3am in the morning. I am currently on a $79 cap which I never go over and I pay all my bills on time. On Christmas Eve I received a message saying I was $160 over my cap, fair enough. Two days later I got another message saying my phone bill is $300 and the funny thing is that I have not used my phone over Christmas... I have tried calling Vodafone and the LARA Voice Machine keeps pushing me around and around in circles. If I do not get through today I will be changing my service provider and taking legal action...
This is ridiculous!!!!!!

I received and email saying that the invoice/bills is ready to be viewed online. infact I can't even login for the past 2 months.. .ridiculous. They should put a notice on my vodafone.com.au page saying that the online service is currently unavailable until further notice (like 2012.... ).
I live on George street in sydney.. and calls will drop every 5 mins. friends would ask me why I didn't pickup or at least listen to the messages.. I checked and theres 0 messages... so.. where are my messages? Lara too busy to distribute those messages?
I am so dissapointed. I can't even be bothered to call now.. .i can never reach a reach person...

Anyone want to start a KILL LARA movement?

Vodafone's Internet is so slooow. Everyday, often, Download speed 0bps and after midnight, well you are lucky if any speed, coz most of the time no speed at all and I live in the centre of Adelaide. Customer Service and "Lara" laughable ! Waited 60 minutes with constant "your call is important to us, we'll be with you shortly...and music...and again....and again...and again". Shame Vodafone, shame.

Very Slooow Speeds on the web on my mobile and i get sluged for it. PS LARA gives me the Poos to put it in a manner.

For 2 months now my bills have been totally wrong. I have been over charged, when being on a cap plan..I was on a $29 cap for over 2 and a half yrs and never had a problem, but these past 2 months I have been over charged once for over usage of data (which was painfully proven to be there fault ) and the second month over charged when I was on a cap of $49.00 and was given an extra 500 free mins and megs for the mistake from previous bill IF I AGREED TO CHANGED TO A $49 CAP. I told them I felt like I was being bullied into this, but agreed as they were reimbursing me.. Now I was watching my usage like a hawk but apparently I still went over my usage?? come on? I call them up on the phone, sat there waiting and waiting as Lara is always flat out and low and behold I get cut off soon as an operator picks up?? I since have chatted to someone on vodafone help via twitter, my bills have been sorted out. ..for now...Im dreading the next bill, oh yeah and they still send me paper bills when I have given my email address and its been verified...I am so over it...I am scared of using my phone...Vodafone used to be good, but lately their performance has dramatically gone poor...

We had the Manager for Customer Service come and speak to us at uni 2 years ago. Someone put up their hand and asked a question about how the customer agents were so terrible on the phone and how lara was even worse. He just laughed and asked for the next question!

I recently went overseas and had to make 3 phone calls to try to get my cap put on hold for 2 months. I then get back and receive a bill charging me for overseas phone calls i had apparently made and received. Now, I have an iphone so it shows me EVERY call I make... and there had been none since I left the country.
Sat on hold for two lots of 2 hours listening to lovely Lara and then gave up.
I don't care how much I pay for my next plan - it will NOT be with Vodafone.

apart from only being able to talk to "Lara" when I call customer care,(unless I have time to hold for 2 hours... I now have a brand new iphone on a contract that I am tied into for 24 months, and can't ever access the 3G network, use the credit I get to make any calls as I live in the South Brisbane area and can never get any network. Calls drop out, my internet times out or I wait so long for anything to load that I give up. People try to call me and my phone is "off" as the reception is so aweful. I was previously with Virgin mobile who I never had any issue with in this area, and switched to vodafone because they had a good iphone plan. BIG MISTAKE. When I sent through a complaint about the rubbish customer service, I had email back to ask for "further information" which I didnt receive until a few days after the "cut off" for the reply to their email, and in their words "this issue is assumed resolved and we have closed this case" or something along those lines. Most frustrating service provider I have ever experienced

14:55 today requested a call back - as "Lara" states you dont loose your place in the queue.

**WAITED 95 MINUTES NO CALL BACK**

17:00 Called and waited on hold. 45 Minutes later, THEY ANSWER!!!
So where is my so called "call back" you promise that i dont loose my place in the queue? Its absolute rubbish!

This customer service rep,doesnt help in any way.. Puts me through to iphone support only to explain my problem all over again to find out im speaking with BILLING!

Billing then put me through to iphone tech support which they say will answer my call in under 6 minutes.. Only to wait another 90 minutes and then they answer. They reset my net work settings and it doesnt help then proceed to want to put me through to another department. After discussions about not wanting to be put on hold he assures me his "going to wait until they answer and explain my situation so i dont repeat myself AGAIN".. And that it wont take longer then 5 minutes as its an "internal" call... well 2HOURS and 20 minutes of being on HOLD again to this department, i had to repeat everything, only to be told to visit the vodafone store. Its now 21:27 and ive only just got off the phone.

I will be walking into vodafone tomorrow and cancelling out of this contract!!!

TO THE CEO of VODA, your apology was meaningless rubbish your P.A put together for you. Have you switched to telstra yet??? You can queue up behing me tomorrow! :)

Thanks Vodafail for letting me vent!!

My vodafone contract was an absolute debacle. The phone kept breaking down (not their fault I guess), I had insurance on the phone so after about the 6th breakdown, i thought I would claim on the insurance to get a new phone. So I call to get the details, and was told that the excess on my insurance was going to cost me more than the cost to me to walk into a Vodafone shop and buy the phone outright that they were offering. I told them that it made no sense, to no avail, bad luck they say.

So after this, I realise it isn't worth paying the insurance ($10) per month. So I call the ever helpful Lara to say take off the insurance charge please. They say "no problem, done". The next couple of months my $49 plan starting charging me excess, so my bills started coming through @ $350 per month. I call Vodafone to say this is not right, I want my money back. They say no. I argue, and ask to be transferred to a manager, this billing is not correct. I finally am assured a refund as they say they accidently took off my data plan instead of my insurance. So with no data plan, my bills sky rocket. They say they will pay me back in installments, I say no, this is your fault, pay the money back. After 2.5 hours on the phone, they agree to repay me. Weeks pass, and no money comes back. I call again to ask where is my refund. The response "Finance has said no, your bank details are not correct". But wait, the bank details are the same as the ones you charge me every month for my plan. What is going on? "The refund has been rejected" they say. Why is that? So 2.5 hours later, I am explaining the problem over and over. They say again there will be no refund. But you said weeks ago they will be a refund. Arghhhhhhh !

So I go to a retail outlet. They look at the problem, and say they will contact head office on my behalf to rectify the problem. I was so happy finally for some customer service. The outlet calls a couple of days later, saying, no, they can't help. I must call Lara. I nearly cry.

I call Lara again and go through the process of being on the phone 2.5 hours. I talk explain from the start the issue, what the problem is. Then I talk to the manager and finally they agree to repay this over charging back. They offer to pay in installments, I say NOOOOOOOOOO, this is your mistake, pay me back the money please !!!!! And finally 2 months later, the over charging is repaid.

Next step, to get the insurance charge that they kept charging back. I call Lara, and get..... Vodafone Egypt, assisting Vodafone Australia. I explain the problem, and they say, OK, we understand, we will investigate and call you back............

AND I'M STILL WAITING......... MONTHS LATER. I can't go through the hardship of calling them again...............

I have no problems with Vodafone's call and text functions, having never had either of them fail. That is one thing i'm grateful for. However for work I often rely on receiving emails from staff and this is where the problem becomes most apparent. The data network has only ever performed as expected perhaps once or twice over the two years i've been with Vodafone. Usually it works well enough to retrieve email summaries or some basic details. Most of the time it just simply doesn't work at all, even in 5-bar coverage GPRS and 3G areas. Vodafone have been fine otherwise, not counting the automated phone system "Lara", but the data network and its share of problems somewhat dampen the experience for me.

I am currently on Tasmanias East Coast - there is absolutely no coverage and when I call Vodafone from Skype via my Telstra Broadband modem, which works perfectly I am left holding on for an extraordinary time trying to sort out the issue of retrieving voicemails from another phone. What worked last night does not work this evening with Vodafone.

I am usually in Sydney and experience drop outs all the time, bad spots in populated areas where other providers have perfect reception and of course I cant use my Vodafone phone at home without going to a certain corner in the house.

As for Lara - she is a disgrace.

I have nothing positive to say about Vodafone - poor system backed up by poor service

The dumb Lara often can't understand a thing you say, waiting for one and a half hour or more is pretty much regular (speaker phone) and, for only once,I got lucky that the drunk Lara woke up and asked for my mobile number to call me back!:-)

The web self service is useless when it's often not showing what you're clicking on. "Sorry" is not a service amd is not good enough; once in, it's only showing you a rough usage, especially for data, you'll be charged extra near the end of the monthly period if you belive what you see there!

It takes forever to get anything done! Ring ring, Lara, ring ring, Lara, ring ring, Lara, Lara, Lara, Lara, Lara, last months crappy top five tunes, Lara, ring ring, Lara OMG!!!!

I am about to bet my head into the wall!!!

Why is no one talking to me yet? 45 mins and I just wanted to update my banking details!!!
Longest wait time ever!
Unfortunately, I've looked around and if I changed, my bills would be double if not triple when you take away the free calls to 3 and vodafone customers

Damned if you do, damn I'd u don't I say...

I've been with Vodafail for a few years now and it has been gradually getting worse!. It often takes ages to connect when I try and make a call if it manages to at all!. I also have a prepaid internet stick and at times it will take over 10 minutes to load even the google search engine page!. It's supposed to be using 3G network and my phone that's sitting next to the computer loads the page in 5 secs. I rang the customer service and they explained that between the hours of 8 - 11pm there is an increased traffic on the net and so it might be slower. Why was I not told this when I purchased the internet stick?. Funnily though, as soon as I've run out of internet credit the top up page comes up faster than lightning. Boo on you Vodafone!! Way to lose your customers...OH and don't even get me started on the incredibly frustrating LARA customer service voice system!

On Christmas morning, I opened a present addressed to me from my mother in law. Clearly she hadn't been concentrating when wrapping them, as my parcel contained earrings and a necklace- undoubtedly intended for my wife. As a joke, my wife got me to put them both on, and she snapped a photo of my on her phone to send to her Mum in Perth. Of course, the picture wouldn't send due to the 'unforeseen' high network traffic of that random calendar event known as Christmas Day. Two days later on the 27th, my mother-in-law received the picture of me wearing earrings and a necklace on her phone no less than 30 times! She said (understandably) that it was starting to get downright creepy. To get any reception whatsoever in our house in central Sydney, my wife and I have to walk around waving our phones in the air looking like we're either attempting some form of bizarre mime, or adjusting the coat hanger aerial on a TV built in the 1950's. Currently I'm on a 24-month, $79, 1 gig a month data plan for my i-Phone 3G; the functionality of which roughly resembles a tub of yoghurt. Half the functions such as YouTube and so on refuse to work, so now I don't even bother. I went into the Vodafone shop today and felt sorry for the polite girl who shook her head, told me I was one of many and to try the Vodafone website or speak to Lara. Elaborating on her tale of woe, she told me that the Vodafone management tell them nothing and that like me, she only knows what she reads in the paper. I explained that I'd already spent an hour of my life on the phone to Lara and finally was emailed a form telling me how to 're-set my i-phone,' when it clearly has nothing to do with the phone. I told the girl in the Vodafone shop that I'd give it a couple of weeks out of good faith (yes, I'm a softie) then go to the Ombudsman to try to break the contract. Basically, I have no choice but to move to Optus, as the phone hardly works. Perhaps Vodafone is right to concentrate on trying to recruit new customers via their cricket sponsorship. Because the current ones are leaving in droves.

I can't make or receive calls most of the time and my mobile is my business phone and this lack of availability is costing me a lot of money. Oops! Sorry! Vodafone have offered me $50 off my next bill. Big deal! They have cost me thousands. They also tell me that if I cancel my plan there will be a cancellation fee. Fat chance!! Cancellation fee for paying for no service? Also I am tired of talking to either "irritating Lara" or "uncomprehensible India". Someone please help.We are all paying for NOTHING.

very poor reception,continual dropout of calls,frustrating after waiting on hold for various sections then be dissconnected, terrible internet connection
when reaching customer service very hard to understand the bombay english spoken,impossible to find their name unless it is spelt to you,and the Lara chick need i say more.Kaye Brighton Le Sands Sydney

I have only just had this website brought to my attention and I am pleased to know I am not alone in my battle with Vodafone.

I have been a Vodafone customer for more than 6 years however only recently moved from pre-paid to a plan. For more than 3 months now I have had no service or so little network coverage on my phone that i cannot even send text messages, receive phone calls etc. Everyday when I arrive at work I am inundated with texts and voicemails from missed phone calls. I have to be more than 3 kilometres from my house to make a phone call and even then it still rings and then cuts out. My frustration is that the service was working but is only now failing. Something has to give... I would be happy with a cleared contract so i could choose a new provider... and preferably one with no Lara.

When ever I have a problem with Vodafone, you have to go through Lara Bingle and she is no help what so ever. It also useless if you have a slight accent and all the recorded message is "im Sorry I couldnt understand. Pls try again"

Vodafone needs real customer service if they want to keep me and my family's business

I am with vodafone since a year and half. Reception in last couple of months is a nightmare. I work in highpoint shopping centre, i am hardly getting 2 bars with my phone. Dropping calls everytime. out side of shopping centre no coverage. i have been outer suburb of melbourne (great ocean road and ballarat regiion) was getting better coverage than city. Was getting 3G coverage. As i spend lot of time at work I have to have coverage in shopping centre. WHAT VODAFONE CAN DO FOR US???????? THIS IS NOT WHAT WE SIGNED UP FOR.....

Lara LAra BLOODY LARA we dont want to hear you on a MESSAGE machine we WANT to HEAR YOU IN REAL LIFE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WE ARE NOT UNDERSTANDING YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM FROM BOMBAY MUBAI OR WHERE EVER THE HELL THEY ALL ARE HELLO LANGUAGE BARRIER ALERT WHOS WITH ME?

I live in Brisbane city and do not receive network coverage in my home. This is a joke as I am not living in the bush. I have to try and move around the house to get a signal. Max bars I receive are 1. Because the coverage is so bad I have also had to for the first time in approx 5yrs have a landline connected. Also as part of the service I pay for I am actually unable to get inet access and the little wheel just spins around & around.. am fed up with watching this and being unable to use the service I pay for. Sometimes I will try to make a call and it just won't connect until after 5 attempts. Text messages are also a big problem! Sometimes it will take 2hrs to receive a text from friends. One weekend my phone just kept texting the same message to my friend over 20 times during the day.

The customer service is appalling from the shops to that stupid voice recorded "Lara" and I am sick of trying to explain to someone in Egypt my problems and where I live

Mobile Broadband: I was with crazy John for mobile broadband.. had no problem till they joined with Vodafone and convinced me to go on a plan with Vodafail! since then i been having constant connection and billing problem.I once got a bill of over $ 400 for some huge figure of data usage on my laptop!! even the employees at Crazy John's (who by now have become friends due to the repeated visits to have my unending problems fixed) were surprised that a regular user who never exceeded 3GB/month for months could have used that amount in 3 days.. and that was when i didn't even have my laptop and was in the Pilbara!! This bill was finally waived after a lot of haggling.
THEN, i bought an AppleMac and got no connection. They sent me to Apple Store 3 times and every time the Genius Bar told me the problem was not my laptop but their modem. I finally proved to them that their modem was incompatible with my Mac and they waived the cancellation fees and canceled my contract. BUT i was NOT REFUNDED for all the payments i made over 6 months and did not get any service or internet access!! Not only that! After the cancellation i got a bill for $78! after several over 1-hour long arguments on the phone I was told not to pay the bill and that they will cancel it!!
I am now with Virgin Broadband with a $49 usb modem and $19/month and NO PLAN.

MOBILE PHONE: I keep having bad connection, getting wrong bill and over-billed and getting them cancelled after having to put up with LARA and her boring and dull messages and spending hard earned dollars to wait while they tell me i have moved up the line. I must have spent 24 hours or more in total being put on hold or talking and trying to explain my problem to operators.
Another example of typical Vodafail: I had suspended my service for 8 weeks last October and got monthly bills for over $140 for the same period! After the long "please hold" etc i proved by giving the time and name of the person who suspended the service, then they said i don't have to pay the bill! Another bill was for a horrendous amount because i was "supposedly" using live something which i didn't even know what it was let alone use it!! Again after long hours (and dollars) of haggling they waived the sum!!
It used to be one of the best service providers. I have been having similar problems with my line and broadband in Egypt as well. I will definitely cancel all my Vodafone connections phone and broadband both in Egypt and in Australia and will pass the word around to my friends who seem to also be having problems.
Let's do it! let's get a class action against them and ask for compensation for all the time we wasted on the phone instead of being productive and earning some good money and all the stress and frustration they have caused us.

Mobile Broadband: I was with crazy John for mobile broadband.. had no problem till they joined with Vodafone and convinced me to go on a plan with Vodafail! since then i been having constant connection and billing problem.I once got a bill of over $ 400 for some huge figure of data usage on my laptop!! even the employees at Crazy John's (who by now have become friends due to the repeated visits to have my unending problems fixed) were surprised that a regular user who never exceeded 3GB/month for months could have used that amount in 3 days.. and that was when i didn't even have my laptop and was in the Pilbara!! This bill was finally waived after a lot of haggling.
THEN, i bought an AppleMac and got no connection. They sent me to Apple Store 3 times and every time the Genius Bar told me the problem was not my laptop but their modem. I finally proved to them that their modem was incompatible with my Mac and they waived the cancellation fees and canceled my contract. BUT i was NOT REFUNDED for all the payments i made over 6 months and did not get any service or internet access!! Not only that! After the cancellation i got a bill for $78! after several over 1-hour long arguments on the phone I was told not to pay the bill and that they will cancel it!!
I am now with Virgin Broadband with a $49 usb modem and $19/month and NO PLAN.

MOBILE PHONE: I keep having bad connection, getting wrong bill and over-billed and getting them cancelled after having to put up with LARA and her boring and dull messages and spending hard earned dollars to wait while they tell me i have moved up the line. I must have spent 24 hours or more in total being put on hold or talking and trying to explain my problem to operators.
Another example of typical Vodafail: I had suspended my service for 8 weeks last October and got monthly bills for over $140 for the same period! After the long "please hold" etc i proved by giving the time and name of the person who suspended the service, then they said i don't have to pay the bill! Another bill was for a horrendous amount because i was "supposedly" using live something which i didn't even know what it was let alone use it!! Again after long hours (and dollars) of haggling they waived the sum!!
It used to be one of the best service providers. I have been having similar problems with my line and broadband in Egypt as well. I will definitely cancel all my Vodafone connections phone and broadband both in Egypt and in Australia and will pass the word around to my friends who seem to also be having problems.
Let's do it! let's get a class action against them and ask for compensation for all the time we wasted on the phone instead of being productive and earning some good money and all the stress and frustration they have caused us.

I live in the Sydney area and have been with Vodafone for many years. Since I upgraded 6 months ago to my new smart phone, I've had problems with poor internet service, barely any 3G coverage. I've also had sms problems but fortunately these have been limited. I rang Vodafone on an unrelated matter recently and was placed on hold on 2 occasions for nearly 20 minutes each time with no answer. I hung up both times with no answer. I will say when I was finally able to speak with a real person rather than Lara, the staff were very helpful. Its a shame that the staff are let down by poor service in the management of the company.

Mobile Broadband: I was with crazy John for mobile broadband.. had no problem till they joined with Vodafone and convinced me to go on a plan with Vodafail! since then i been having constant connection and billing problem.I once got a bill of over $ 400 for some huge figure of data usage on my laptop!! even the employees at Crazy John's (who by now have become friends due to the repeated visits to have my unending problems fixed) were surprised that a regular user who never exceeded 3GB/month for months could have used that amount in 3 days.. and that was when i didn't even have my laptop and was in the Pilbara!! This bill was finally waived after a lot of haggling.
THEN, i bought an AppleMac and got no connection. They sent me to Apple Store 3 times and every time the Genius Bar told me the problem was not my laptop but their modem. I finally proved to them that their modem was incompatible with my Mac and they waived the cancellation fees and canceled my contract. BUT i was NOT REFUNDED for all the payments i made over 6 months and did not get any service or internet access!! Not only that! After the cancellation i got a bill for $78! after several over 1-hour long arguments on the phone I was told not to pay the bill and that they will cancel it!!
I am now with Virgin Broadband with a $49 usb modem and $19/month and NO PLAN.

MOBILE PHONE: I keep having bad connection, getting wrong bill and over-billed and getting them cancelled after having to put up with LARA and her boring and dull messages and spending hard earned dollars to wait while they tell me i have moved up the line. I must have spent 24 hours or more in total being put on hold or talking and trying to explain my problem to operators.
Another example of typical Vodafail: I had suspended my service for 8 weeks last October and got monthly bills for over $140 for the same period! After the long "please hold" etc i proved by giving the time and name of the person who suspended the service, then they said i don't have to pay the bill! Another bill was for a horrendous amount because i was "supposedly" using live something which i didn't even know what it was let alone use it!! Again after long hours (and dollars) of haggling they waived the sum!!
It used to be one of the best service providers. I have been having similar problems with my line and broadband in Egypt as well. I will definitely cancel all my Vodafone connections phone and broadband both in Egypt and in Australia and will pass the word around to my friends who seem to also be having problems.
Let's do it! let's get a class action against them and ask for compensation for all the time we wasted on the phone instead of being productive and earning some good money and all the stress and frustration they have caused us.

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.

I sent an email to Vodafone and got the below response... I followed the instructions and called the provided 1300 number but it was NOT the disconnections department but the general contact line. The woman who answered the phone was very polite but but had no idea of Who 'Lara' was. She put me on hold to find the right area for me.. when she returned SHE SAID SHE TALKED TO SOMEONE IN THE RIGHT AREA AND EXPLAINED THE SITUATION AND SHE IS PUTTING ME RIGHT THROUGH TO THIS PERSON.... I WAS THEN ON HOLD FOR 20 MINUTES AND GAVE UP.

The handling of my complaint is totally unacceptable!!

My email to Vodafone:

Hi,

I have been very frustrated over the past months with poor service from my Sydney Elizabeth Bay address. However it wasn't too much worse than the Optus service I swapped over from.

I have now moved to 6-8 Oxley Ave in Redcliffe QLD and the service level is way below acceptable. I have a problem with 90% of calls. Either the call won't connect at all or the reception is so poor I can't understand a think or the call drops out half way through. About 40% of the time people try and call me it goes straight to voice mail.

I rely on my Mobile for business and this is not acceptable service by any standard.

I want Vodafone to let me out of the contract and take the phone back at no penalty.

I am very frustrated by now and need to let you know I will pursue this relentlessly in public and legal if necessary.

Please reply within 14 days.

Kind Regards
Pierre


Vodafone's response to me:

Dear

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately we are unable to assist with disconnections or contract rescinds via this medium.

Please phone our disconnections team to arrange by phoning 1300 650 410. When you are connected to Lara, please quote "cancel my service".

Our disconnections team are available 8:00 am to 8:00 pm Monday to Friday and 9.00 - 5.30 Weekends and public holidays.

I look forward to hearing from you should you require further assistance.

Kind regards,

Poor reception - situated under the harbour bridge - still can't get reception.
Somebody shoot Lara! Waited for hours on the phone to contact customer support (and I do mean hours) to be told that my issue about being unable to log in to MyVodaphone issue was temporary and would be resolved straight away. Now a month later still can't connect!
They should lose their licence as these issues are not accidents - poor service is one thing, Lara is deliberate and crap and their lying non customer service is a disgrace.
Lets take them on - apparently all calls to the onbudsman cost them $60!

I have two phones with Vodaphone. one iphone the other a nokia on a business plan. both drop out for the pass year and when I ring my lovely friends in India via Lara I get no help from them. I can't wait to go back to Telstra

I live in Cairns City and there are pockets that it does work across town but when I am work One street off the Esplanade I get no coverage at all and at home Cairns North i have to stand at the back of the house........On top of that Lara should be sacked.... i am so pee'd off that i have already been on the phone for 20 mins with Lara then have to explain myself to customer service agent who does little to understand or help... Out of Contract in Feb moving over to Telstra who i know have good coverage

I had an iPhone 3GS on Contract, my Email was going into the outbox, then sent items but for over a month, it was not actually making it to my clients. I had thought all my messages were being received & there was no declaration on Vodafone web site as far as any outage or service issues. When I spoke to Vodafone they confirmed there to be a problem & they were 'working on it'. Vodafone refuse to put such outage in the public arena! I have ported out from Vodafone to Telstra due to the problems. I cancelled the contract with Vodafone & threatened to taken them to Supreme Court after they threatened to put an adverse CRAA on my record. They quickly dropped this. They did not after this contest my porting out & dropped the remainder of my contact. I have had to enter a new contract with Telstra for a further 2 yrs, but I now have great coverage, no drop outs & mail actually gets sent! This was not the only issue, but it certainly cost me a lot of money due to email failures.

i used to be with Vodafone, had the worst experience with their customer service, and was given Miss information, and promisses werent kept, even from the Senior level of complaints when i made a TIO Complaint, i used to call their 123 (Ask Anything) number just so i wouldn't have to speak to "Larah". and their 123 reps were often extremely rude, and would refuse to take credit card payments. hello this is a premium number where you can ask anything...!!!!

My iP4 is ALWAYS 'Searching...' mode when I need the phone most. I'm in Glenfield and Villawood most of times because of Home and Work.

I've rung up Voda and their excuse is their doing maintenance work on the antenna's. That was 4 weeks ago... they're still doing maintenance work even today? Load of crap I say.

Trying to get a hold of a "real" person takes ages, although Lara is real polite but sometimes doesn't listen.

Anyways.... AAAARRRGH!

had vodafone 3 g internet ...reception all over country was bad drop ots no service and vodafone adivse they are well aware we will not chrge you this month sir (when u finally get past Lara) and it will be fixed soon just hold on ...new iphone 4 through vodafone next to no reception in my work office after great reception on my nokia ...vodafone advise me that thats standard ..call drop outs on a regular daily basis ...covergae normally ok where i travel just a bit over having to ring some one 3-4 time to finish a conversation

LMAO!

Who is this auto-bot?

I signed up for a 2 year contract with Vodafail around August / September. Come October I receive my bill by email with a banner at the bottom claiming that if I add a 2nd mobile to my account I will get 2 months free access.

As my partner was in need of a new phone I signed up for the 2 months free access deal.

The November bill arrived - containing charges for BOTH plans. I figured paying for the 1st months access then getting the next 2 free was reasonable. So I paid that one.

Then the December bill arrives..... ANOTHER charge for the "free" access mobile.

It was time to call "customer support" (which I usually try to avoid doing as the whole LARA process makes me angry... But that's another complaint all together.) After leaving my number and receiving a call back about an hour later (so much for their 16 to 25 minutes) I explained to the lady on the other end about the deal and the bills. She put me on hold for another 20 minutes only to come back and tell me that the deal does not exist.

I brought her attention to the emailed bill I have received direct from Vodafail offering this deal and offered to forward it to her. I was put on hold for another 35 minutes...

When she came back she told me that yes, it does exist and that (apparently) my next 2 bills will be credited - but I still have to pay the access for this month's bill.

Let's see when / if this credit will appear. If it doesn't appear on my next bill I will be contacting the TIO.

I signed up for a 2 year contract with Vodafail around August / September. Come October I receive my bill by email with a banner at the bottom claiming that if I add a 2nd mobile to my account I will get 2 months free access.

As my partner was in need of a new phone I signed up for the 2 months free access deal.

The November bill arrived - containing charges for BOTH plans. I figured paying for the 1st months access then getting the next 2 free was reasonable. So I paid that one.

Then the December bill arrives..... ANOTHER charge for the "free" access mobile.

It was time to call "customer support" (which I usually try to avoid doing as the whole LARA process makes me angry... But that's another complaint all together.) After leaving my number and receiving a call back about an hour later (so much for their 16 to 25 minutes) I explained to the lady on the other end about the deal and the bills. She put me on hold for another 20 minutes only to come back and tell me that the deal does not exist.

I brought her attention to the emailed bill I have received direct from Vodafail offering this deal and offered to forward it to her. I was put on hold for another 35 minutes...

When she came back she told me that yes, it does exist and that (apparently) my next 2 bills will be credited - but I still have to pay the access for this month's bill.

Let's see when / if this credit will appear. If it doesn't appear on my next bill I will be contacting the TIO.

Ihave been with vodaphone for about 15 years i was living in melbourne we have just moved 2 just near ballarat now i get no coverage in the house and not much out side i went 2 see vodaphone 2 drop my plan down and it was going 2 cost me 500 bucks vodaphone u do not look after the ones that look after you i am piss right off

I have been with Vodafone for 15 years and this is the worst service ever. I am over speaking to Lara the voice activated chick who doesn't listen and puts you through to the wrong area, then keeps you on hold for over 40 minutes. I have one of the first blackberry storms which is not a phone just a piece of technology that does nothing, can't txt, no reception, no internet and consistantly has no service. No one in store will help as they refuse to sell this phone, great customer service.

I live in M....r, i sa... mal..bar, MALA..... BAR, forg.. it i'll use... home phone, but pay $ 80 a month for a useless mobile. HEY ITS GOT GOOD GAMES...

I am so sick of Lara. She us my biggest problem anytime I ring. Once I get past her I have a new problem that 99% of the operators are unable to speak english. I ask to speak to their supervisor and they can't speak english either. Sometimes it takes me 5 minutes to get past her and often she cuts me off cause she says we seem to be having technical difficulties. What a surprise!