voda nofone reception keeps dropping out!
issues 2 months ago with ongoing sending and receiving of multiple text ,most of the time 20 or more at once, was told I was compensated after numerous tries at getting customers service in thailand or where ever they were
non english understanding customer help
waiting online for LARA to transfer calls that hung up on me after waiting 40 min or more
ringing the help line to be told hold the line and hung up on
ringing help line only to be diconnected
numerous messages on facebook voda fone page complaining only being given apologies
my credit haas been wasted on many multiple texts.most of the internet on the phone drops out
voda fone has absolutely no customer help and the stores can't even help they have the same problem with trying to get help there

Voda customer for almost 14 years since Analog, ended my contract, paid early termination fee to move to the Big T. Great coverage, best thing I ever did. No more 'Hi im Lara, did you says Coles?' No I said I cant use my phone! See Ya Vodafail! Never again

I live in Kalgoorlie, WA.

ONLY VODAFONE requires that you have to move about to get useable reception - from around the inside the house to standing in the driveway.

The Vodafone-trained employees at Vodafone Kalgoorlie ARE NOT interested in faults, only in Sales. They also have VERY limited product knowledge, especially phone features.

And, don't you just love the "typewriter" sound effects "Lara" gives you when you call for an account balance - talk about antiquated.

Last, but not least, Phone Bank is phone wank, Vodafone must have taken a leaf out of the Banks when developing this rip-off.

I am a long term VodaFail Customer who lives on a fringe area. Although I live well within VodaFail's specified coverage area I can tell by dropouts that coverage is poor. The thing that is soo strange is that if Vodafail got rid og LARA they would be huge force in Telecommunications in Australia & not just a bit player. Without effective customer service thier growth to this point has been by pure accident.
Why do I stay with VodaFail ??? I don't know?

I had Vodafone mobile internet for about 9 months and got constantly fed up with how slow the service was. Meanwhile trying to complete online study made it worse. When I sighned up for it the sales person assured me that it was as good as adsl broadband...oh how he lied! I was on a 12 month contract and figured i couldn't get out of it but got so wild that I rung up the call centre, was on hold forever, don't get me started on how rubbish Lara the animated service system is. Finally got to speak to someone in Mumbai India and explain my story to 3 different people.After long discussions I managed to end the contract early but have wasted over $500 in a service that I beerly used.

Working in real estate, calls frequently dropping out when talking with clients. Often I have to call back enquiries from a landline because the reception is poor, this is never convenient in the field. I am also told by many clients that incoming calls aren't going through to my phone, as if my phone were switched off.

The speed for data is a joke. This is the only reason my iPad is with Telstra and not Vodafail. Loading webpages with both devices(iPad, iPhone 4) side by side in both the CBD and the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney further emphasises the sub-par coverage issues Voda is experiencing.

If I had known earlier I would have signed with Telstra. (The price premium for their product was the initial deterrent, now it seems it is well justified.) I'm sick and tired of talking to 1555's Lara. I'm beginning to think ill just have to sit this contract out. Vodafone....never again.

Haven't had more than 2 bars of reception since getting my iphone4 in oct .... Couldn't b bothered waiting on hold for hours & speaking to 'lara'!!! My dog could do a better job than these muppets!

I have been with Vodafone for 13 years but enough is enough. I have had my iPhone 3GS for 18 months and the service in the past 9-12 months or more has been shocking. It has got so bad that I have recently become determined to break the contract. But calling the helpline with that damn Lara robot is unworkable.

I wrote a formal complaint to the Vodafone website on 14 December and got an automated reply that someone would contact me within 5 business days. Guess what? Nothing! Nobody has contacted me. It is a disgrace.

The data network just NEVER works. Never! I'm so over it.

I have been a loyal vodafone customer for 10 years, give or take. Previously I would recommend them to friends as they had awesome customer service, despite the fact the network was only good inside metro areas. Over the past year or two, this has changed. Poor network coverage, both phone and broadband, drop-outs, voicemail messages that come through anywhere from 6-48 hours after they are submitted. But the biggest fail of all is the Customer Service (or lack of.) Earlier this year it took me 4 phone calls, a number of emails and around 2 hours of hold-time, just to change my address. Then, the operator that emailed me had the ordasity to tell me "not to get upset" or something similar, after all this. More recently, I don't bother ringing them as each time you do, its another 1-2 hours on hold, then they transfer you to another department, and the call mysteriously drops out and back to sqare one! Just a tip... if I want something done now, I tell "Lara" I want to cancel, somehow that gets me thorugh to very helpful people in Melbourne, who actually jump over themself to help with anything!

Bloody Lara I want to kill her every time I call Vodafone!~ I've been put on hold for hours,,, why can't they answer the f--king phone!! Poor service!! A total disgrace!!

Customer Service throughout the Vodafone network,including its retail store distribution is disturbing. Firstly, Lara... please someone get ride of her.I came off contract October 23rd 2010 on hold for two periods of 1 and a half hours each trying to discontinue with this unprovider, finially got through to somewhere in the world,got onto to pre paid, still recieved email informing me of continued billing, spent another 40 minutes on hold again.Vodafone if your reading this customer service should be your mantra not providing the best possible deal that you can't provide... I wissh you the biggest possible failure

**bad service
**cant stand LARA
**charge you for evrything
**constant problems even now when I try to find out how much time I have used they tell me ther are problems

I've posted a couple of times but still so annoyed that vodafone cant get it's act together. On Christmas eve in Ballarat I had no service whatsoever for around 4hrs. No reception for phone calls or internet - boy I cant wait until May and I will go with a real provider. I'm looking forward to going with telstra to get proper coverage, rather than paying vodafone $70 per month for mobile and then more for the mobile broadband without getting any service at all. I wish I had have known about the issues before signing any contract.

I actually have some good news that may be of some assistance to people who visit this site. On the corner of Howitt and Doveton Streets in Ballarat Victoria - you can actually manage to get a Vodafone signal... Altho I only experienced this today (Friday the 24th of Dec) aty 5:55 pm - so there's no guarrantee that outside these times a signal is possible.... :(

My company has contracted Vodafone...man they must have done this remotely to not see the rubbish coverage Vodafone have. I live outside of Melbourne and require both voice and data access ... what a joke, did Vodafone have a 3 year old colour a melways map and then pass this off as their coverage area?
Apart from the service being extrremely poor and unreliable in Melbourne during business hours, it gets worse as soon as you arrive at Southern Cross station ... drop out and stay out until Ballarat area, and then this is poor and unreliable.
At least with Telstra I had the coverage they claimed and a decent support call centre approach!
Think it would be easier to buys a flock of pidgeons and use them to send and receive messages, more chance of success anyway.

How do you pay a bill with these guys? I've been trying for 2 weeks now to use their phone payment system and the furtherest I've got is to the point of getting a receipt number where it says it fails. Most times that dopey windbag Lara tells me there's a fault only after a protracted time on hold.

Once I got through to a human (granted, one presumably dressed in a clown suit) after waiting on hold while my children grew up only to be thoughtlessly put through to the automated system that then dutifully failed!

Tried to pay them again just now...my daily dose of pain. At least Lara tells me up front they have problems and the whole thing was over (without payment made) in under 5mins.

Seriously. Buy a clue Vodafone.

have bought 2 hand sets both different brands and coverage with vodafone IS TERRIBLE !!! and only live approx 10/12ks from sydney ,(can not make or receive any calls whislt at home ) very painful trying to explain to various people at vodafone that its not a handset fault . they would promise in calling me back when i am at home but unfortunatley still waiting on call .Am sick of calling Lara !!!! please help have only been with voda for 3 mths need to find out how to cancel contract

Purchased a Blackbury Bold, having continual issues with no 3G service, always on EDGE.
Txt & MMS fail, pictures do not arrive at my parners phone, message is there but picture is X in a box. Tech support useless, want to do "master reset" sending "service books" have given up on Lara, useless system.

All the apologies don't help, phone has shut down with "invalid sim" takes hours to speak to someone in a call centre, then poorest line quality cannot understand person. For a Telco, has the lowest quality lines in existance.

Contacted TIO and lodged complaint, waiting for my ten days, cannot eat apology. work for myself and do Airconditioning service, customers cannot reach me.

Pity I didn't find this website before I rang Vodafail at the weekend attempting to buy an iphone. After fighting my way through the system and hanging on for a total of 75 minutes, i managed to tell someone I wanted to buy an iphone4. As I use prepaid I was told I would need to upgrade to a plan before I could order an iphone. I relcutantly agreed to this. I was told to ring back to order the iphone once my new Sim arrived. My new Sim arrived today, guess what, it doesn't work. Tried to ring but Lara has lost the plot and can't finish a sentence. It did eventually go through to somewhere and I get another voice telling me I will have to wait at least 40 mins to speak to someone. There isn't an option on the website for dodgy Sims, I may have to give up work soon as most of my life is taken up hanging on the phone waiting to speak to someone I can't understand from Vodafail. I suspect there is only 1 person working in the call centre as I have spoken to the same person twice!

Got on vodafone plan over a year or so back. Have had problems since get go. Call drop outs, bad coverage, bad call quality, phone internet issues, multiple handset issues etc. Called vodafone multiple times but could not get through to anyone. In fact, after waiting for half hour, the actual vodafone IVR system would drop calls. Before the introduction of 'Lara' you did have a 1 in 80 chance to talk to someone in a call centre in india. But they talk more, listen less and read off a scenario script that meant they would ramble on about what they are NOT able to do and what the problem MAY be, rather than talk about when and how it would be fixed. But they will bar your phone for non-payment regardless of your problem being related.
After complaining to TIO I finally got a response from the Vodafone Resolution Centre, but you could not talk to a more useless person. Issue still not resolved. Bare in mind one thing. The TIO complaint is a formal process, however there is also a response framework and as long as Vodafone responds within that framework, it is safe from any serious penalty. A real resolution is open to interpretation, as does the root problem. The TIO does try its best to help you but the laws and regulation that equip them, appear loose or not up-to-date enough to hold any Telecommunication Company to any reasonable Consumer Standards. But then again why should Vodafone do anything about its service standards. The Industry sector it is a part of, does not have any real regulation to deliver quality. Its not as if any of the other Telecoms are any better. And they have no reason to be. Our national telco is Telstra........ and how many complaints has Telstra had and for how many years........... and how good is it today................ I am glad to see someone ACTUALLY take a stand and others flocking to support, but sorry folks this is Australia. The Telco's and the Banks are bigger than our leaders and the leadership qualities they have. We will always be on the back-foot with them. There will be someone there to pacify you but no real resolution. The NBN will be a grand failure and all these existing Telecoms will be there to fill the gap, in the same way they are doing now.
The ACCC getting involved is a huge positive. There is a lot of public trust in the ACCC and I look forward to their findings. Hopefully they can also look into why Australians are paying one of the highest mobile rates in the world and not just for one of the worst coverage.

And good on you for starting this website and taking a stand.

First of all, if you like Lara, you are not normal and you should seek professional counsel.
VF is trenching itself behind recorded messages which are most of the times unbelievingly useless, stubborn in denying simple one-word requests like 'operator' or 'sales' and definitively time wasting.
I'm now studying Hindi hoping to improve communication with the very kind, but at times unintelligible, call centres' operators.
VF culture is based on the principle of treating customers as members of the Mushrooms Club: kept in the dark and fed bullshit.
In all this, VF shows its total disregard towards its clients, who, usually locked in a 24 month contract, must either withstand the serious deficiencies of the service they are paying for or loosing money just to be free to choose a better and fair alternative.
VF could probably regain some credibility if it would, for once, admit its faults and apologise, drop a few sponsorships and use the money to improve its performance and, finally, sack the 'wise guys' responsible for this chaos.
That for sure would sooth the pain.

'Lara' just needs three little words from you .. 'Transfer to Operator' .. you may have to be persistent but keep on uttering those special words!

What is Lara doing answering phones when she should be making sandwiches?
Vodafone hold music is just crakling and repetitve assurance of quality customer service and optimum products.

What is Lara doing answering phones when she should be making sandwiches?
Vodafone hold music is just crakling and repetitve assurance of quality customer service and optimum products.

If you're interested to get on an endless loop to nowhere, call 1555. Lara doesn't "quite catch that". You say "billing enquiry" and she's like "did you mean iphone problems". Worst customer service ever. You'll wait for over an hour to speak to a real person who is based in india. If they don't know how to answer your call they simply hang up. Very RUBBISH customer service.
If you go into the store on George street, expect serious attitude from the horrible staff that see customers as an inconvenience to their day.
Get it together Vodafone.

Vodafone, aside from running a dodgy network, has partially or completely REMOVED HUMANS from its interactions with customers and COMPLETELY ABANDONNED ANY PRETENSE TO CUSTOMER SERVICE.

If you call Vodafone:
You will be answered by Lara (a computer program). She may or may not ever connect you to a queue where you can wait for a human. However, she sometimes connects you to another automated service that you don't want which will hang up on you. Frustratingly, when the Vodafone website tells you to call 1300 301 030 number, you get regular Lara, who does not know why you have called and does not help you find out who you should speak to.
LARA DOES NOT WORK and Vodafone KNOWS LARA DOES NOT WORK*, but you have to deal with her anyway.

If you email Vodafone:
To email Vodafone, you must complete a webform. The webform will NOT allow you to send the email until you have browsed FAQs - 3 SEPARATE TIMES.
IF you can send the email, you will probably receive an automated reply. This reply will inform you that, EVEN THOUGH you read the FAQs and did NOT find an answer, the answer to your question is in the FAQs. The email will then INFORM you that your question HAS BEEN answered. No human has looked at your question, and no human ever will.... unless you reply. If you are especially lucky, weeks after you send your email - Vodafone will send you another automated reply informing you that because it has taken so long to respond, you have probably fixed the problem yourself. Vodafone will then INFORM you that it considers the problem RESOLVED. The problem has so far been 'resolved' twice without any human reading your email... unless you reply AGAIN. Then, if you are super lucky, a human will read your email. However, due to all the long trail of correspondence required to get a human to read it, the questions in your original email have 'gone missing'. So, the human will invite you to reply AGAIN AGAIN to clarify what the original problem was. Judging by the length of time I have waited, your reply AGAIN AGAIN will probably go to the end of a very ling queue.**

If you take your complaint to the TIO:
Vodafone will eventually call you back. The human you talk to may well ask you if the previous people you spoke to were "from Australia", suggesting that they think this is important. In my case, I eventually managed to fix my original problem myself - by finally logging into the myVodafone website - HOWEVER I think it is very *likely* that Vodafone lied to me originally about the problem. LYING TO CUSTOMERS IS A PROBLEM. The Vodafone complaints department will NOT investigate that, and will NOT release the recordings of calls without a court order. Vodafone will usually charge $20 for a print out of your 'billing records' and it is not clear what this includes. They will also NOT correspond with you by EMAIL. Even the TIO complaints department will NOT provide any CONVENIENT & VERIFIABLE way to communicate with them.

IN SHORT:
Vodafone do not want to provide a human to deal with you. Ever.
Vodafone will not answer your questions.
Vodafone representatives may well tell complete lies, but it is very difficult to find out.
VODAFONE DEMONSTRATE CONTEMPT FOR YOU IF YOU WISH TO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM.



* A representative from Vodafone complaints department called Phil confirmed that Vodafone is aware that Lara is loathed and Vodafone plan to introduce a parallel system, but not until the end of February.
** I suspect this queue is made even longer by all the times you have to reply if you are really determined to get an answer in writing.

not only my iPhone can't send email, browse the net (for business) but also often call dropouts. bought also new micro sim with data service for iPad for going interstate. showing no service since I bought 2 months ago till today. called and put on hold for 1 hour and they didn't solve nothing. no apology. but simply ask to call back within 24 hours. they think we have time and enjoy to listen to the repetitive music and Lara speaking nonsense. Now they even put an automated msg to say they are too busy to handle the call after you waited 45 mins. what's worse the English is hard to understand. Shame on you Vodafone!

Wasted one and a half hours trying to upgrade to an iphone on the Customer Service Line. Started with LARA and moved on to 6 Indians with no result.Have decided to ditch them as I am out of contract.

I am now an ex Vodafail user I only had prepaid Mobile broadband and fone. I did spend 300 per month on both but the Broadband ended up taling over 40 minutes to open a page, fone calls dropped out and LARA is a waste of time send you round and round to tell you this department is not open.After 6 weeks of this pain I sought and received a refund of my USB plus the credit I had purchased and the waiver to get my fone unlocked. The next day I rang again as I was promised a call back and was then told no I had to pay, I argued and won again but they dont even know where there own stores are and told me to look online despite me telling them I couldnt they sent me to 2 agents before I was told that there store was only 2 train stops away and wasted 2 hours of my life. THEY LIE LIE LIE and ther directory assistance advise they have no head office number nor an address and they cannot give out the name of their management. How shameful of people knowing they work for Vodafone.
Now when I have some free time and I am near a vodafine distrubutor I go and waste their time and talk about their lack of service and make sure I do not yell but loud enough for others to hear.

I love LARA!! She is the best teleprompt ever!! Solves all my problem!! Any issues you have go shove it !! I work for Optus and vodafone is THE BEST!! I don't understand people say they have drop outs etc Optus is 10x worse.. THIS IS A MESSAGE TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WANT IPHONES STOP ASKING OPTUS DONT HAVE ANY

No network coverage at home for 2 days. On and off coverage in other areas for the last 4 days. Can't go out as I am on emergency call and can't guarantee that Vodafone will be working. I have to stay near the landline; So much for Christmas shopping food and otherwise. Try ringing Vodafone and Lara says ring monday. Reading other posts tell me that people have been waiting for 4 hours for help from Vodafone. Will Vodafone pay me the $35/hour I will have to lose to contact them? Oh no I can't, my landline has to be kept free in case work needs to contact me. For this the family pays over $200/month for 3 phones. And fee Vodafone to Vodafone, Hah.

I am on the Central Coast of NSW. Over half the time I call out I do not get a connection, just a soft, sad 'beep', and the green call icon turns red, with the message 'call failed'. This despite a 3 bar signal and 3G icon showing. Calls to support, via the totally disfunctional Lara abortion, if they are ever answered, get you a Mumbai caricature Indian reading lies from a script, with no ability to look at your computer record, your account, or anything. We got a data transfer charge of $157 against my wife's account on a day when she was helping her aunt move house, and her phone told her 'no signal' for 23 hours. (This is, by the way, less than 500 metres from the biggest shopping mall on the Central Coast). It took me over six hours of waiting, and inane non-conversations with the useless Mumbai contingent, before I was put on to an actual Australia based person, who was, surprise, surprise, was actually rational and able to think, who reversed the charged, and did a re-calc of our account, from Day 1, whereupon he found we had been overcharged well over $300 in three months.
I am convinced that Vodafone Australia has been deliberately set up to fraudulently rip money out of people in the full knowledge that they can't actually provide an acceptable level of service, and in the expectation that the total opacity, and plain incompetence of their so-called support will deter people sufficiently that they give up complaining.

Lara, Lara, Lara how hopeless you are.

I am on the Central Coast of NSW. Over half the time I call out I do not get a connection, just a soft, sad 'beep', and the green call icon turns red, with the message 'call failed'. This despite a 3 bar signal and 3G icon showing. Calls to support, via the totally disfunctional Lara abortion, if they are ever answered, get you a Mumbai caricature Indian reading lies from a script, with no ability to look at your computer record, your account, or anything. We got a data transfer charge of $157 against my wife's account on a day when she was helping her aunt move house, and her phone told her 'no signal' for 23 hours. (This is, by the way, less than 500 metres from the biggest shopping mall on the Central Coast). It took me over six hours of waiting, and inane non-conversations with the useless Mumbai contingent, before I was put on to an actual Australia based person, who was, surprise, surprise, was actually rational and able to think, who reversed the charged, and did a re-calc of our account, from Day 1, whereupon he found we had been overcharged well over $300 in three months.
I am convinced that Vodafone Australia has been deliberately set up to fraudulently rip money out of people in the full knowledge that they can't actually provide an acceptable level of service, and in the expectation that the total opacity, and plain incompetence of their so-called support will deter people sufficiently that they give up complaining.

We were with three for many years and happy but at renew time I switched to a VF plan (I wanted the HTC Legend) and since then nothing but trouble. Dropped calls, poor reception, no reception, poor customer service and incorrect billing both on my new plan and on the wife's which is still with 3. What a mess. BTW I must say the staff in the shops try their best to help but the phone support (join the kill Lara campaign anyone?) and on line services are bad bad bad.

no 3g reception for 4 months, called "Lara", transferred to India, waited hours, transferred from one operator to another who finally tells me reception is ok, maybe my computer /phone is faulty, tp try a friend's laptop/phone...........I had to keep chraging my phone evry few hours because it went flat searching for network, and staff in vodafone retail shops apparently oblivious that there is any problem at all: "technical problem, call "Lara"..........

drops out all the time No help from LARA

Mr Samuel said affected customers should first try to resolve the problem with Vodafone and then contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).
MR Samuel's ur Dreaming! they never answer Phones. it seems its only LARA in the house

Customer CARE is customer FAIL. That LARA fembot is compltely useless and inufriating. The Indian call centre is next to useless. The data doesn't download at all on my phone making it a total waste of time and money. They make promises and fail to keep them. I am OUT of the contract!!

I've been on Vodafone for about four years now. I have some areas where I know coverage is limited. But I can accept this as it is usually in areas that I am transiting through.

I recently signed up for the pocket wifi. It is working fine for me. I use it for my iPhone when I am not in a normal wifi for data. Speeds are great. Happy with the price.

One thing that does to get me with Voda is the long long long wait times. When I called to make dome prepurchase enquiries about the pocket wifi, wanted to see if I could use bonus dollars for purchase, Lara told me it would approx 40 mins until my call was answered. I thought what a joke.

I think Voda should sort out the call centre and reduce answer times for people. And put a public notice in the paper And their website to advise people who have been having problems that they acknowledge this and that they are working to resolve it. I think a good will gesture may be to credit all contract customers and prepaid some credit to say Sorry.

After 6 years with Vodafone it was time to seek another Telco as I could never get any network coverage nor customer service with Vodafone. I have a baby and for safety reasons needed to know my phone would work, it would often take me 5 tries to get a line out and then drop out after a few minutes. I tried to complain but it takes 40mins on hold to speak with anyone in Mumbai. Last week I went to a Vodafone shop, their network was down so they could not help with questions, I called the service hotline was on hold for 45mins to be told that their network was down and to call back in 3hours. I have been told a Supervisor would ring back, they never do. If you call Vodafone 123 that is a minimum cost of $4.77 - disgusting. And if I ever have to listen to Lara again I will go mad. Well I won't have to listen to Lara again as I have moved to Optus!

Thank goodness. I thought I give Voda a fair go when I switch my wireless broadband over to Voda instead of the BIG 2. My mobile and wireless broadband is definitely up to scratch and akin to 3rd World service.
I share the same frustration of being put on hold and passed around different consultant. Maybe it's a way of stopping you complaining. The 'overseas' support are friendly enough but that's about it. I speak to them more in the last 6 months as I care to. LARA is a joke.
Now I have learned my lesson and may have to conceit to the BIG 2 when my contract expires.
Does VODA management care? I have my doubts.

Latest of a long string of complaints - Vodafone has taken 2 weeks to find out that it will take them at least another 2 weeks to fix my account website login problem - a total of 4 weeks+ just to fix a login problem!!!

It looks like ALL customer support people are Indian who often don't understand English well enough, so that I spend more time making sure they understand the problem. This time is in addition to the time getting past the stupid LARA IVR system.

But the good news is that they do have a new callback service which does seem to be working - no more hanging on for 40 minutes.

I've been on Vodafone for about four years now. I have some areas where I know coverage is limited. But I can accept this as it is usually in areas that I am transiting through.

I recently signed up for the pocket wifi. It is working fine for me. I use it for my iPhone when I am not in a normal wifi for data. Speeds are great. Happy with the price.

One thing that does to get me with Voda is the long long long wait times. When I called to make dome prepurchase enquiries about the pocket wifi, wanted to see if I could use bonus dollars for purchase, Lara told me it would approx 40 mins until my call was answered. I thought what a joke.

I think Voda should sort out the call centre and reduce answer times for people. And put a public notice in the paper And their website to advise people who have been having problems that they acknowledge this and that they are working to resolve it. I think a good will gesture may be to credit all contract customers and prepaid some credit to say Sorry.

words like 'customer service' makes LARA the automated system go into spin

NO RECEPTION..NIL..NONE... IN TOP RYDE SHOPPING CENTER...EVEN IN FRONT OF THEIR SHOP...SHIT SERVICE.....BEEN WITH THEM FOR 6 WEEKS,SHIT SERVICE

I wonder if Lara plays with clarke's dongle

1. No signal or full signal and no response;
2. Variable call quality. Establish call and then have signal strength vary wildly even within a very small suburban (5k out of CBD) area e,g, Randwick Shops
3. Just Hate LARA and the automated voice system that VF uses.

Totally fucked and that lara bitch just makes the pain worse

I left in August after 11 years with them. My phone kept failing and each time I had to take it to the store to have it reset and each time I was told there was nothing wrong with it after the store boy or girl had reset something on their screen. Since I left I get monthly SMS from Vodafone telling me -$40.57 will be deducted from my credit card. It never is (nor is anything added). So yesterday I rang to ask what this was about. I spent 10 minutes getting passed Lara, then was told I'd have to wait 30 minutes to talk to an operator. So I hung up, searched the website for an email address (took a while to find), then sent them an email telling them everything I've just written above. Two minutes later I had an automated reply with instructions on how to detail with Lara. I send a reply back asking how this might be related to my billing problems (remember above, the -$40.57)? Still haven't heard back. I'm wondering, are there any people working at Vodafone or is it the world's first robotic company?

Good approach spin doctors
"Lara sounds hot"
Does your mother know what you do for a living!

Lara sounds hot

Either my text messages stay for 3 hours in "sending" status or they are displayed as "sent" but the receiver actually receives them LATE!!!! I have no reception in the city???? AND "LARA" is a useless piece of crap!

I regularly have call dropouts, incredibly slow down load & am really lucky to have more than one bar...in inner metro melbourne?!!! My phone stopped working suddenly and it took me 3 days to get through to someone in vodafone who could help me, and more than 4 hrs of waiting. I did get thru to humans intermittently - one hung up on me almost immediately before i got to talk, one told me she couldnt help because the "systems were down" and a third "transferred" me to another department that didnt exist...and it disconnected me. I wrote them several emails of complaints, and got appalling auto replies, and then finally a "Lara" response that said nothing . Infuriating!!!!!

i did a search for "lara" on facebook.. it returned 17 of my friends had abusive comments towards Lara.. the computerised female voice who answers the phone.

CALLS - Every time I go to make a call, the phone will hang for 30-60 seconds before it can connect through. Every second call I make will also drop out after 5-10 minutes.
DATA - my contract comes with 2GB of data - my smartphone will consistently tell me that I have connectivity issues. One minute I can get it connected to my work emaail, the next it drops off and constantly displays "error conencting" message, somtimes for hours on end.
VODAFONE CUSTOMER SERVICE - tried yesterday for 3 hours to get through to speak to someone, anyone except GODDAM LARA!!!!! After being on hold for anywhere between 15-45mins, my calls simply drop dead. This happened 4 times yesterday. HOW DO I SPEAK TO SOMEONE???

Thank you to the blessed individual who set up Vodafail. I can't make calls from my bedroom (which is in Newtown - hardly rural) and have to go out onto the street searching for a signal. And I was just charged $30 in data fees over a weekend when I didn't even pick up my phone!!! Then had to spend half a day on hold to Customer Care (oh Lara your voice is like fingernails down a blackboard) to be told they couldn't supply the details of said downloads. They agreed to credit my account when I said it was obviously an error but how am I ever to trust my bill again. AHHHHHGGGGG

Overcharged, sick of calling the Helldesk and Lara putting me through to someone in the Phillipines who doesn't have a clue and then getting disconnected due to coverage issues and network dropouts and having to start all over again. I have several screenshots of full signal to NO SERVICE within the same minute. I live in an inner suburb and cannot sustain a conversation for more than 20 secs without having losses or full dropouts. As soon as I can I will leave and never return - VHA you are a MEGA-FAIL!!

On the weekend of 27/28 November I literally had NO Vodafail service for the entire weekend. At first I thought my new handset was faulty, so I charge up my old handset and put my SIM in. That didn't work so figured it was Vodafail.

Does Vodafail's "Lara" work on the weekend? No! The 24 hotline number was constantly engaged so I ended up ringing up the 24/7 business line - from my landline of course as my mobile didn't work at all. The woman told me she couldn't help, left me on hold for ages and then eventually I got a dead phone line and they'd hung up on me. Lovely.

My sister in WA got an apology text yesterday - I never got one and I'm in Sydney where many of the problems have been. Where is my apology?

VODAFONE GET MORE STAFF AND FIRE LARA!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a pathetic service you offer

I cant even stay on line long enough to get to a real person. By the time "Lara" thanks me for calling vodafone my call drops out!

Vodaf&%^%gfone!! Poor service and reception pretty much all over sydney, from mobile phones to 3g data. The data plans are expensive. The install software for the 3g cards was abismal, one couldn't uninstall it from ones machine.
I found trying to navigate the super crap lara system to complain about being over charged or to cancel my contract was extremely bothersome as most times I couldnt get through and when i did i got cut off for holding on to long because i wasn't speaking to the right person. Have since moved on to another network happily.

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.

I am on my second (and last ever) Vodafone plan. The first plan was back when they still had call centres. I can safely say I'd rather talk to a million Mumbai call center people before having to listen to that f-ing Lara again. I swear if I heard her voice in the street I would slap her. At least the other systems will react if you keep saying "operator".
I was dumb enough to move our work phones on to Vodafone which took seven visits to the Broadway store to get the monumentally stupid staff to open one new SIM card.
I am in the middle of Ultimo and I can't get a 3G signal to last more than 3 seconds. I can't get any signal to last more than a minute.
Nigel Dews should be locked in a room and played a continous loop of Lara's incessant dribble until he turns insane.
I will never be signing on to Vodafone again.

Id like to see who else is excruciatingly annoyed by Lara

I have had a contract with their mobile network for the past 8 months and have repeatedly have series of blank weeks where it just won't connect. I live in Sydney's CBD! And calling their helpline is possibly one of the most frustrating experiences ever - dealing with the excrutiating Lara until you're put onto some well meaning person in a call centre who can't actually help you. Literally, i've heard "im sorry, there is an issue with your suburb at the moment, but we're onto it". And they still charge you the monthly fee for a service that barely works! Truly bafflingly bad service.

Had to wait 67mins for my call to their service centre to be answered. This was after being directed via "Lara" into a particular queue. When my call was answered, the Vodafail consultant said she could help me and transferred me to another area (and another queue), only to wait a further 42mins. I also signed up for mobile broadband internet. BIG MISTAKE! Reception and speed is very poor. They have made3 mistakes on my monthly invoices since I joined. Offered to increase my monthly allowance from 3gig to 4 gig, but have never fulfilled this promise, even after bringing it to their attention. Service sucks. Network sucks.

Vodafone is useless. I am disgusted by Lara the stupid robot that takes my calls. the network is utterly shit and im sick and tired of dropped calls.

waited for an hour to talk to customer service. LARA automatic phone operator is shit....website is shit,takes ages to load and service is shit.

SERVICE IS SHAAITEEE. WTF is this customer care crap. What's with the wait on hold for 2 hours at a time till your call is answered and I'm sick of dealing with Lara, who doesn't understand shittt.
Can we please bring the service back to Australia and have some real people who are efficient working at Voda.
-Charged $190 extra on my first bill 2 months ago and had to call and wait for 3 horus and several attempts till it was sorted
-Crap reception and service
-My phone that i got 2 months ago already ahs issues with the screena nd Vodafone can't help me due to 'problmes experienced at the momnent'
can't wait to get out of my contract.

We live in Brisbane, near the city and we're lucky to get 1 bar of reception. My car broke down one night and I had to walk to a convenience store to use their phone as my Mobile refused to connect my calls. Calls drop out all of the time, missed my dream job as the Boss rang me (my phone didn't even ring) advising me I had gained the job in a Voicemail, which I didn't receive until 3 days letter. They thought I was not interested and thus offered it to somebody else. My husband is self employed as a Driving Instructor and his mobile is his office. IT NEVER WORKS! I dread the day he has an accident and I don't hear about it.
Waiting on hold for 40 mins and finding out "Lara" has put you through to the wrong department and then waiting another 40 minutes while they connect you.
Paying premium dollars for nothing.
I don't get that we have to meet our end of the contract and pay on time yet they can provide absolutely nothing and that's okay.
Not being able to terminate is crazy. We signed another contract so we could upgrade handsets, as they blamed everything poor on the Nokia N97, upgraded thinking everything would be better with the Iphone and it's just as bad.
So over it! We get treated like crap and that's okay.
Don't get me started on the overseas call centre who you can barely understand!!!!
I want out Vodafone!!!

Dropped calls, unable to connect or call others, call fails, and incoming calls go straight to voicemail. Been ongoing for 3 months!!
Spend tens of hours trying to deal with the 1555 team. Everyone you speak to knows nothing. 1555 calls take almost an hour to answer and then you get cut off - intentionally I wonder?
Website also works intermittently, and don't waste your time speaking to them in India especially if they 'promise' to call you back.
Dial 1512 for balance updates and 'Lara' almost always tells you they having technical difficulties.
Unless someone (e.g. ACCC) can impose a hefty financial penalty nothing will change.