Multiple issues.

First of all: I couldn't log in to my account on the internet for > 10 days. I called technical support after waiting for hours on hold. Then after talking to a customer service representative, he said he couldn't help me and to wait for a password to be sent again. Password was sent and still couldn't log in. Had to call again.

Secondly, I had an extreme amount of difficulty just getting another account setup and had to go to the store to get this done.

My voice message abnk notifications aren't going to SMS and I asked this and still have not had a reply.

I applied to get my phone unlocked, have inquired about it and paid and still no response.

I tried to setup another account and the tech support, after 26 hours of discussion with 5 different representatives told me to go to the store to solve the problem. Took the store person an hour to figure out the problem because they could think outside the box unlike the phone technical support staff.

Poor reception and incorrect billing.

Vodafone don't care I'm stiched up in contract and get billed for calls not made and services not used but vodafone can't be contacted and the Bathurst office says little and helps even less, Bathurst office told me that the new phones would work at my home but it does not unless I get lucky afer climbing a tree, all very curious that in 2010 that 20 kms from Bathurst Vodafone can't give me a service that works although they said they could not.

I cancelled one billed by month service after being wrongly billed had to pay changed to prepaid and get same poor coverage.

I'm fed up having to climb trees to make calls in the rain or drive 1.5 km to make a call that mostly drops out visitors come and they phone out from my home on other services, the Bathurst Telstra shop told me that the vodafone I have all 3 of them are not suitable for the local coverage that they are city phones.

so to move to another serive I need another phone why how can the government allow the poor service.

on another note: curious the government is now more worried about broadband but were the ones who did away with the CDMA service that worked here at my home/ the service now for me is virtually none and Vodafone does not care nor does the Government.

Hi
I have been a vodafone customer for 5-6 weeks now.
I have been overcharged right at the second bill.
Simply because I was led to believe there is still a $100 credit remaining on my plan and I went ahead and used it but in reality,there was no credit left,Vodafone does not update your 'spend and entitlements' on its myvodafone.com.au website nor does its sms/vodafone a/c balance service give you any real time updates on what $ amount is left of your monthly allowed credit.
If you billing period ends on ,say the 25th of a month, from the 22nd itself, there seems to be no update on the balance amount.
Agreed,that every provider takes 24/48 hrs to update this amount on their balance check services ,but I was led to believe for 3-4 days that I still have $100 credit remaining and went ahead and used it.
Such a rip off and extremely frustrating.
Be careful when you are checking your a/c balance because it's never the right amount in reality.
Plus ,insurance amount was included by default in the first bill (2 months) without even asking me.
The complaints don't end....

Vodafone don't care I'm stiched up in contract and get billed for calls not made and services not used but vodafone can't be contacted and the Bathurst office says little and helps even less, Bathurst office told me that the new phones would work at my home but it does not unless I get lucky afer climbing a tree, all very curious that in 2010 that 20 kms from Bathurst Vodafone can't give me a service that works although they said they could not.

I'm fed up having to climb trees to make calls in the rain or drive 1.5 km to make a call that mostly drops out visitors come and they phone out from my home on other services, the Bathurst Telstra shop told me that the vodafone I have all 3 of them are not suitable for the local coverage that they are city phones.

so to move to another serive I need another phone why how can the government allow the poor service.

on another note: curious the government is now more worried about broadband but were the ones who did away with the CDMA service that worked here at my home/ the service now for me is virtually none and Vodafone does not care nor does the Government.

Call dropouts on average every 20min, every time I drive over the Gladesville bridge when on the phone the call drops out, and very very very poor reception at Drummoyne. I'm on pre-paid and will move to Telstra soon. From all accounts the other telco's are just the same - with less friends reporting issues with Telstra.

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

was called to an elderly customers premises 2 weeks ago to set up a wireless broadband stick he had delivered from vodafone. It was a prepaid unit delivered by VF them self.

I arrived to set the device up, needed to activate it, hes only other connection was a dial up service and the VF activate site takes along time to load on a dial up service. Any way, got to the page,tried to activate it, Put in the sim number and the service number (which i had to find by sms'ing from the computer to my phone) and it came up with a cant activate, having problems, call customer service. Rang them, turns out, the sim card they sent with the modem can not be activated for mobile broadband use , its a voice sim. (yet sms from the service says 12mth 12gb) anyway, they said they would arrange a proper sim, Called back over a week later, the new sim arrived, tried again, wouldn't activate, Took the modem to the shop to try on another pc, no go, called vf. Wrong sim again.

Right, wasn't putting up with this anymore, drove to the closest VF store, "sorry we can't help you, there is a pin on the account, without that no good. (i had everything that came with the modem) Can you have (customer) come in, No he is old and this is a VF problem.

Got back to the shop told the customer VF wont help and it is the wrong sim card (twice). Bugger it, the VF unit can go back, I'll organise an optus pre-paid.

Went to Big-W bought a $49 optus modem, popped the card in it, went to optus.com.au/activate, typed in the sim number and a few other details. 5 minutes later, The modem was up and running.

some idiot at Vodafone setup 2 accounts to the one number, which resulted with when i was paying the bill I was crediting one account while another account was going into debit. Vodafone suspended my service, so between that and the constant drop outs I complained to the TIO and broke my contract after 6 months. I was also able to buy my Iphone from them for $200. Highly recommend complaining to TIO, braking the contract then buy the phone for next to nothing.

On several occasions, spent more than 5 hrs on hold to customer service (I was trying to change plan) I should have realised such a thing was beyond the degenerates they employ. Most of them had trouble understanding my extremely complex request, and the one that did screwed up all of my account information. Rather than simply changing my plan on my current sim they sent me a new one with a different number. I almost cried. So I rang them to activate the new sim card, they said it would take 24 hrs tops. 25 hrs later neither sim card was working, I cried some more. I then decided to ring the tolled line, and surprise surprise no 5 hr wait, I almost got straight through. But they still couldn't help me because they had lost all of my billing information, and at present I am still waiting for my new plan to activate (they turned the old one off so I have nothing at all currently)

Their network performance is terrible, also. The internet on my phone seldom works, and yet they still charge me for every failed attempt to get to a website. Bastards.

I have corporate data and phone. Plan
I have complained to my account rep several times only to be told t will get fixed.
Calls constantly drop out when driving
Data unable to connect just as often
General poor service (signal) level
Last week I was driving from Olympic park to naremburn and I was not able to get any signal until I reached st leonards.
I have been with vocative since they first came to Australia, however their poor grade of service is affecting my business.
I have been doing some testing with TELSTRA and am finding the service generally superior in both reach and speed.
I think I want out

Haven't touched them for a few years since they blacklisted me for refusing to pay their obscene account. I was overseas, very sure of the details of global roaming charges, only made and received phone calls within the promotional time and duration specified, and got home to find my calls that should have cost less than $100 according to their promotional blurb, actually cost over $1,000 because they forgot to mention that the overseas roaming mobile pays for all incoming calls regardless of the local promotion at home and despie the fact they offered the deal for when you're overseas. They never got the money and will never get my business again.

I have been trying to resolve an issue for over 12 months and its as simple as registering my credit card for online top ups. I apparently can't register it as it's registered to another account (its not!) and when I try a different number I get told I have exceeded the number of cards registered and get a massive FAIL. I am told there is no way of resolving this issue (i.e. they can't fix their own software).

I have been dealing with them through their email system and the last response was to call their specialist Technical Support. Already spoken with them and they were as much use as tits on a bull. I'm taking it to the TIO as I am sick of the inconvenience.


Oh yes - I have bad coverage too. I know a number of Vodafone people in my suburb who have the same issue (compared to other telcos) and getting their mobile broadband was a laugh.

About to port to telstra after 5 years...you guys know why. Now they have stuffed my billing...so guys watch out for that....and make sure they don't charge you for the free calls they promised a few weeks back I.e WA users only.

Vodafone down yet again. Not able to make or received phone calls, text, or data. This has been going on for days now. Much like the previous mass outages.

Vodafone's webpage also working badly. Took me an hour of trying to finally unlock me phone.

Can't get into my online Vodafone account.

Other people I know with Vodafone are having similar problems. We coined the term Vodafail only to find so many others with the same issues and this website dedicated to exposing Vodafone's woeful performance.

Waiting on the phone for Vodafone assistance for over an hour. Can't use my mobile and had to borrow a landline as the mobile network just keeps on failing. Its down more than its up a - 90% down for several days. The same problems the other week, and the week before.

Bad, bad, bad.

I am in NZ and having the same kind of issues. Dropped calls being the most frustrating. Delayed texts make planning something via text virtually impossible as you can't be sure the message is received.

Friends in Vodafone say moral is not good as staff deal continuously with disgruntled customers.

My partner's company abandoned VF and took their business to Telecom. Constant billing issues where they would threaten to cut off service despite bills being paid on time, as there was a delay in processing payments. Customer services staff acknowledged this but were powerless to do anything more than send emails to the account people. He couldn't get to speak to anyone other than customer services, mind you, even they couldn't speak to anyone else, apparently. Then he discovered that instead of logging the job, they would delete any record of the conversation so they didn't appear to be unable to resolve his problems. (Well, we assume this is the case, because when following up complaints, no one would know anything about prior calls made. In short, it seems management have totally insulated themselves from the customers experiencing problems and as consumers we are powerless to get them to listen! Way to go, Vodafone!

Vodafone employees, I'd like to hear if you have the same issues that we describe.
I know you've had a gag order imposed. Eastgardens store staff told me so.
Another store manager in the eastern suburbs told me how depressing it is working in the stores at the moment.
But this is an anonymous forum, so don't fear the bullying.

I'd like to hear how you guys address your own account and phone issues. Any advice appreciated!

Perhaps you have the inside scoop on

Just got a contract release, 15 months into my contract, with no break fees.
My advice:
- document your issues and attempts to resolve
- attempt to resolve with customer care but DO NOT fall for their stall tactics around testing your area, handset or SIM. The problem is probably a network issue, it's likely not caused by anything else.
- if continuing network or customer service issues occur, call the TIO.
- a customer service manager will call you back, although it may take up to ten days.
- they will offer you gratuities such as credit, a reduction in plan costs with a view to review in a month.
- if you want to break your contract, do not accept these offers. Explain that you've lost confidence in the network, you are highly reliant, etc; Explain that the only feasible resolution is a contract break.
- they will likely agree to this, conditionally. They may push the early termination fee or cost of handset. DO NOT accept this. Simply explain that you have been paying x amount for so many months and you must have covered a major proportion of the phone cost. If that doesn't work, explain that you are unsatisfied with the outcome and you will escalate with the TIO (Vodafone's fine increases every time you escalate due to non-resolution. Not only will their fine increase, but Vodafone also pay an amount of the TIO's operating costs proportionate to their issue burden).
- At this point, your release should be approved. Get this in writing, via email or SMS.
- You will be allowed to immediately port your number to another network.
- once you do port, an account closing balance will be issued. This WILL NOT include any penalty payments such as early break charges.

Stick with it and seek a fair outcome!

Opened a Vodafone account and want my existing number transfered over. I was told by Vodafone it would take 1/2 to 1 hour. Has not happened. Cant get through to activation dept. When on hold to Vodafone activation dept the call drops out. Not Happy!

As an ex employee i have personally seen the way Vodafone cunstomers are treated- the reps ignoring endless calls from the customers they were sooo nice to BEFORE the contract was signed. But once that contract is signed dont expect any assistance!!! And lets not start on the way the employees are treated! Bitchiness, bullying, harrassment and thats just to start. I for one will be changing all my accounts over to another provider because I believe the way Vodafone treat people (customers or employees) is near criminal! I have been a customer of Vodafone for over 10 years and the treatment has just gotten worse the longer I am a customer!

After e-mailing a complaint listing all my issues, I finally got a reply today (several days after my intitial email submission). I've got to say I was impressed by the admission that the Vodafone network has been on the fritz for "several months" (though the wording went something like "some of our customers have been experiencing reception problems in some areas"). I was also told that they've now opened their Customer Care call centre 24 hours, due to the high demand.

The lady proceeded to offer me one month of free access as compensation after telling me that they were working to fix the problems, "hopefully before Christmas". I accepted the compensation, only because I don't have a phone other than the HTC Desire HD that I purchased just a month ago on a 12 month contract (and I'm loving the phone), so cancelling my contract would leave me without a phone and a huge headache.

I'm still getting constant phone and internet drop outs, delays in messages, and calls that don't come through. This site is hopefully putting more and more pressure on Vodafone to lift their game. I'm publicising it on my FB account and telling other Vodafone members about it to share their experiences.

Power to the people!

Three accounts from VFail..network is as bad as it can get..forget 3G..even EDGE is a problem.
Broadband..can't get to the home page in Stanhope Gardens (near Sunnyholt drive), NSW; when can I get my 2GB. Zero utilization in two months.
Acconting...did not apply 3 free months (NRMA)...added insurance without my consent. What a waste of my time and money.

See below, feel free to copy and forward with your story to:-

1. Vodafone
2. TIO

Call received within 1 day of TIO being informed from a decision maker in Australia.

Result:-

1. 2 Months Credit
2. Released from contract.

Good Luck

To whom it may concern,

I am severely disappointed in the level of service (or lack thereof) being provided from your network, and your customer service team. Your lack of network coverage in western Sydney, has been of an unsatisfactory level for the past two months. It has become so bad it has come to me writing this email.

I have spent most of the day attempting to get this issue resolved with your customer service team, however when I contacted your business call centre at 1400 hours on the 20th December 2010, your customer service personnel was unable to assist me due to computer issues. He could not call me back, and insisted I would have to make another call later in the day to sort it out.

I rang again around 1850 hours, and waited on hold for around 80 minutes, until your network lost reception and disconnected me.

I then rang again at 2120 hours and waited on hold for around 60 minutes until the call was answered, the customer service person told me he would put me on hold for 2 minutes and get back to me, another 83 minutes later another customer service person answered the phone, and then it dropped out.

The problems I am experiencing are continual call drop-outs covering most areas between Penrith, Blacktown, Castle Hill and Parramatta (the area my business operates in). On top of this the 3G connection enabling my email and internet access is also slower or non-existant from time to time and lagging of sms messages. These problems have been occurring for around the past 2 months, with no improvements. In attempt to see if the situation gets any better I have tried another sim card (on my account), and a different phone, and I still receive the same problems.

These problems have caused extreme inconvenience and have financially affected my business, through being non-contactable and getting sms messages too late, that a potential customer has sourced another company to conduct the repairs work.

I had been trying for over a month and half to switch my work account to a personal account after being made redundant from my job. Every time I contacted the number they gave me they would ask for the employer's PIN number. I told them over and over I didn't work there and then eventually I had to call my old work and ask them to get involved. After numerous emails I was told I was authorised to switch to my own account and I had to call the Direct Deals people. After an hour and a half waiting I was cut off. I called back and waited a further 50 mins only to be told by the indian call centre that I didn't have the right number. I asked him for the correct number and he then proceeded to read back the number I had just called on. In the end he said he couldn't help me and transferred me to another department in Australia where I sat on hold for a further 40 mins. When I finally got through I was then told it wasn't authorised and having gone through the story for the umpteenth time I was told they couldn't do anything without the authorisation.

So, I decided to go into a store and see a real person.....what a waste of time that was. When I got to the store, went through my story, the representative asked me for the PIN NUMBER!!! After saying I didn't have this number he said I would have to contact Direct Deals and that I could use their phone. I sat in their store for 40 mins until I finally cracked. I ask the Gen Y representative if I could see his manager and he flat out refused. He said the manager was too busy. I stormed out of the store absolutely furious.

To cut a long story short, I finally got onto someone and he was quite apologetic. I told him I didn't want to continue with Vodafone and asked what I needed to do to move across to Optus. He pleaded with me to "give Vodafone a second chance" and that he will give me a free month on the infinite plan. I said to him that I was wary signing up to another contract as if I wasn't happy with the service I would want out. He said it was fine and that I would be allowed to leave if I wasn't happy after the first free month.

I've been with them for one week and none of my email or internet is working. I contacted Wilbur and he sent me a (almost) computerised response saying it wasn't his department and that he couldn't help!!!

Just after I emailed him, I was then sent bill for $46.90 which was the period 15th Dec - 16th Dec. ONE DAY! I sent it to Wilbur who has reluctantly credited the account but how or why they did it is beyond me. There was no explanation.

I've got Optus taking over the account now and there will be hell to pay if they tell me I can't cancel or try and charge me a fee. I will be going to the TIO if this happens.

I've wasted so much of my time with Vodafone. It astounds me how one company can be so shit.

I have been using Vodafone for 8 years now, never really had an issue with customer service - actually every experience I had was great. Yeah, the reception was not always the best but this didn't affect me too much.
So, I open my most recent bill about 2 weeks ago, only to find it is $299.98?!?!! I am on an unlimited cap of $90, and an internate plan of @29.95 - that I do not use as I receive no reception. Rather than paying it out which I have been told several times is my only opton, just pay that amount everymonth. It's not a huge amount, so I don't really think about it. It also has only 3 months to run. My bill, in the 19 month I have been receiving them has never amounted to more than $90 + @29.95. So, I try to call the customer care. 5 attempts in one day, excessive hold times. finally get through to be told that their 'system is down', by a guy name Rasheed - or something dodgy like that. I can hardly understand the guy. I'm not the happiest of people, and I demand that they call ME back, I refuse to sit on hold at all any longer. He said they will within 4 hours. 10min later I receive a text saying they had triend to call me back, but I had not answered. Balls. My phone was next to me at my computer the whole 10mins.
3 more days of scattered attempts to contact them - but to no avail! even went into a local VODAFAIL store, who could also not explan the charges. Then on the 4th day I get through after a 34min wait. Only to be told I have come through to the wrong department. I get placed on hold for another 10mins. Call answered, to be told their system was 'down' again. That's when carcked and called the TIO, lodging a complaint. I try to call 1555 at 11pm that night thinking surely I will get through. Recording told me a minimim of 40min wait. Jam that up your A$$.
Yesterday, I am successful in getting through after an excessive wait AGAIN! (Apologies to my boss for using up work time.)
Apu (or whatever his name is) can't find the issue with my bill. Says there is a MPP charge on there. So I argue with this douchebag in his broken english, and his raised voice at me until finally he cracks and admits that there has been an error inm the bill. NO SHITE MORON. *** this is the good bit *** I demand some form of compensation for my time and all the troubles I have been having getting through to them. GET THIS - He says as a goodwill gesture, HE WILL CREDIT BACK THE CHARGES TO MY ACCOUNT!!! BUDDY, THAT IS NOT GOODWILL, THEY SHOULD HAVE NOT BVEEN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!! So I request to be put through to the complaints department. On hold for 10 more minutes. "Hello, this is another Indian call centre worker - but I am the manager, you can complain to me". After then detailing all the troubled AGAIN, I get nowhere. I also bring up the issue of paying for a service I don't receive with my internet. I ask for compensation for their lack of service and appaling customer service. I get nowhere. I ask to be put through to their complaints department again. This resulted in a heated argument about VODAFINE DOESN'T HAVE A COMPAINTS DEPARTMENT?!?!?! I give up, I advise I have already complained to the TIO. I then have an offer for a $29.95 credit for this months bill only. I ask for my contract to be cancelled of no charge - there are only 3 months left. I get nothing but a mouthful of crap from ths other Apu dude. I hang up.

I have now lodged a second complaint through the TIO.

Let's see what happens...

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN TIGHT-ASS COMPANIES MOVE THEIR CALL CENTRES OFF SHORE.
SHAME SHAME SHAME.

i have had a business account with Nodafone for over 10 years for my plumbing company. We have had network, service, reception, voicemail and data issues for the last few months and they are just getting worse.
We have different handsets, new/old sims so i know that they are not the problem.
I now have other friends and family who are complaining of the same issues so i knew it wasnt just me.
Now i have seen this and know for sure that they are lying to us.
I have phoned them and complained but just get told that they will put a service request in. Yeah Great!!
We need to be compensated by Vodafone. They cannot expect us to pay the same amount for the last few months when they knew of the problem!!!

I was gonna order Vodafone on a 12 month plan with HTC Desire HD on their NRMA 3 months free offer. Before that i had Vodafone on month to month plan. I called up their call center(wait of 40 mins so I chose the callback option though the CS didnt sound like doing customer service) told me that the offer is not valid now. I asked them to check their website and they did and came back yeah its valid. Then they said you have to talk to Sales team(I had told them I am a Vodafone customer already) but still they did and I waited for 30 mins and then hung up. After some time I called up again this time I was told this offer is not for 12 months(again I said check the website) they didnt agree(and were rude). I called NRMA and they confirmed that the offer is valid and they connected me directly to a local Vodafone respresentative and he said since I am on Vodafone on a month to month I can get a new contract and move my current number to prepaid and then move back in to the new contract. And yes the NRMA offer was valid for 12 month contracts too. I signed up the contract and got a virgin prepaid and moved my old voda to Virgin and then after a couple of days called Vodafone to move my number(which was on virgin) back to my new contract and I was told Vodafone can only do it at the time of signing up. huh that was enough for me to take. After going all through I was back again explaining the CS at Vodafail of what I was told by one of their friends. And finally they recognized it and said "we will do it as exception" bullshit.

Now the experience of using the new phone. I see the network going off atleast couple of days in a week and in Sydney CBD too. I have never seen the 3G or HSPDA showing on my HTC .. Never!! All this Saturday( afternoon) there was no data network in North Paramatta(I was trying to check Ashes scores). Also under the account I checked out of 2 Gig data a big chunk is GPRS. I hope it doesnt mean that I have to finish that first before I start getting 3G/HSPDA which I never even if I sit 24 hours on my phone and open websites. What a waste of money this contract is I wish I could get out of it.

I used to have vodafone mobile broadband. The coverage was shit so I cancelled my contract and sent back the USB modem. This was 3 or more months ago. I noticed in my emails that they are still billing me.. So I called them. After being on hold for AGES they transferred me to a different department, then told me I had been transferred to the wrong department. I gave up trying and just hung up. I called back the next day and again, they transferred me to several wrong departments. To this day they continue to bill me. I'm not even going to bother trying again. Their customer service is just bullshit. If they can't tell that me not using any data mean I DO NOT HAVE THE INTERNET ANYMORE then they are morons.

It all started in January when I had to suspend my brothers contract for three months as he was going overseas. They failed to do so and continued to charge him for the months it was supossed to be suspended. $50 credit given for each month. Next, I set up my direct debit to pay my bills one I had paid that day. I asked the operator when the next debit would come out, she said the next month. 2 days later, I was debited money from my account which they were not supposed to do and waited 2 hours on the phone with them to fix the problem but only to be told that it would take 21 days for the money to be put back into my account. Credit given $100. But not given because they did not apply it to my bill and then overcharged me?? WTF?? Get it together.. Next, my brother, whose contract was under my name decides to go onto his own contract as he is old enough to changes it over at the vodafone store BUT it is not done correctly and then has to spend 5 hours total on the phone and at another vodafone store the next day to fix the issue. THEN! they fail on the next month to change his contarct into his name $50 credit given to both him and myself. The next months bill comes in... HIS CONTRACT IS STILL UNDER MY NAME!!! It takes them 4 months to change it correctly. With 2 months free service added to my pile of credits given. As well as two really shitty Blackberry Storms (which they knew were terrible phones but failed to tell their customers about even though I complained numerous times with no compensation of a new one), crappy service probably about a day of phone calls to India and drop outs, Vodafone have really pissed me off this year... and to top it off! they want to offer me another 24 months of crap! hmmmm... get it together vodafone.

Have been with Vodafone for over 6 years and have always been quite satisfied with the service. But I did notice that over the last year and ESPECIALLY the last 2 months the service I am receiving is unacceptable. I first spoke to a CSR about 4 weeks ago (get them to call you back - its quicker altough this didnt happen the first time i chose that option!) and was told "technical issues" will be solved "soon". Over the last 2 weeks the problem has been unbearable. I live and work in Parramatta CBD in Sydney - one of the largest urban centres in Sydney - and I have had no 3g at all for days on ened, been getting messaged at 3 in the morning and vica-versa from messages that were sent hours/days ago and the last few days i have been left totally INCOMMUNICADO! No internet/messages or phone calls. I called them again and explained that I know what's going on and that i think its deplorable that they are denying any real explainations and continue to sign up new customers!!! The guy was actually o.k. The best I could get out of him was a $50 credit on my 2 phone account ($140pm) and a promise that all we be fixed by the first week of January. I said we will wait until then because we've been happy with Voda for many years but if not fixed by jan 10 i will be terminating the contract with no further charges to me. When he began to advise me there would be a termination charge (Got 11 months left) I cut him off and said that from a legal stand-point VODAFONE has ALREADY broken the contract by not providing a service that has been willingly paid for. Even if thhis problem does get fixed soon - I don't think we will ever begin another contract with Voda due to their inexcusable behaviour and arrogant attitude towards the customers who keep their bloody business afloat.

Over billing, no service, No customer care,

For the past three months I've had the worst reception, both GPRS and 3G, from any time with any Telco in my life (equal with Orange perhaps). I have an iPhone 3G and web pages don't load and calls and message just don't work any more.
I called to complain a few weeks ago and they said they'd start and investigation into my reception, throwing in 100 excuses as to why it might be going so bad. They said my address was not a problem spot.
I had to argue that I didn't spend all day at home, that I move all over Sydney for work.
I then had to call back after 'resetting network settings' in my phone and swapping SIM cards. They also suggested it could be a faulty phone.
Anyway, so I called back and said the reports in the SMH made them look bad. I said "if a Vodafone spokeswoman admitted to the media the network has a software issue restricting the service, you've failed to meet your contractual obligations".
They offered me $15 credit to my account.
I said do better, because the past three months of no service cost me $240.
They offered me $35 credit.
I said transfer me to the contract cancellation department.
After being on hold for the 10th time, I got there.
The 10th Indian person answered and instantly began offering me new plans and phones.
"I just want to cancel the contract," I said.
She then offered me three months of free bills. By the time that period is up I'll have 2-3 weeks of my contract left.
I accepted it knowing I will go with another telco after that time.
Vodafone, it's been swell, but I hope you get swallowed up by a better telco.

Work from home in Richmone - 3121. Just got a new HTC Legend under the $45 infinite plan which is great. But phone and data flaky 15th to 19th Dec. Missed calls from office etc. Vodafone claimed an upgraded to the network was being done, and would be completed by 19th. It is better today, (20th) but cant believe how they would bring down the service and not tell me in advance or offer some sort of compensation. Amateur hour. Spend less money advertising on the Cricket and keep the existing customers with better service! BTW, still dont understand the usage and billing data on Myvodafone.

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.

You are all racist to Indians!! What company does to outsource their customer care? People moving to telstra good fucking luck they are the biggest roughts so many hidden charges it's ridiculous. Every telco I'm Australia uses India as their main call centre. I am horrified how racist australia is!! People who get "shocking bills" go read through your contract everything you do is accounted for don't complain your racist.

I got a no contract $99 a month uncapped plan from Vodafail. I was with them for three weeks before it became unbearable and lost so many business calls my clients thought I was on holiday. After 3 weekS I canceled and moved to Telstra. I called Vodafail to tell them I had moved and that I wanted my final bill sent to me pro rated for the three weeks of the month. I was told by their billing department that this would be done and I had nothing to worry about all was in order. Remember I was with them only 3 weeks on a no contact $99 plan using my own phone. They just sent me a sim I that I put in and used.

On Thursday I was horrified to receive an SMS from them two days later that my final bill was $186!!!!!

I reported it to the TIO and have been trying to get through to them to find out how this cost $186????

It is Monday morning and I have to run my business but I am faced with the horror and frustration of having to call that fucking call centre in India to again try to find out how they got the figure of $186 and dispute it. I never wanted to have anything to do with them again. I just wanted to pay the bill and never contact them again. But this $186 bill forces me to get back in the fucking endless line of people trying to get answers from Vodafail. And good luck trying to understand some of the very thick Indian accents some of those call centre operators have!

THE REAL PROBLEM IS THAT IF I DO NOT PAY THIS EXTORTION THE VODFAIL BASTARDS WILL PUT ME IN DEFAULT AND FUCKING KILL MY, UP TO NOW, PERFECT CREDIT RATING. EVERYONE BEWARE. NOT ONLY DO THEY NOT PROVIDE A SERVICE BUT SHOULD YOU NOT PAY THEIR BLACKMAIL THEY WILL RUIN YOUR CREDIT RATING AUTOMATICALLY.


WILL THE TIO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING??? DOES ANYONE KNOW? I HAVE LODGED WITH THE TIO BUT WILL THAT PROTECT MY CREDIT RATING????

Apart from dropped calls, lack of signal and most of the symptoms mentioned here, I always pay the bills for two phones on the Vodafone web site which is fine until you are trying to pay the account in the month your credit card expires, because even if you are paying in the middle of September and your card's expiry is the end of September, the card has expired according to the web site. If you try and use your new card which starts in October, then the system declines the card altogether, so you cannot actually pay your bill at all. Even calling and finally getting through to the call center, even they could not help because they found the same situation that that could not overide. So their solution was to extend the due payment date to the 1st day of the following month. What moron wrote that system?

I've been with vodafone for about 10 years now and it's never given me any dramas. For weeks now I've had drama's with my coverage and I've spent hours and hours on the phone to customer service with the majority of it being on hold. I haven't been able to log into my account on the vodafone website for a month now too and when I call them they just keep telling me it's being worked on. I have since asked for a copy of my bill so I can see why I've got a bill that's way over what it normally is and I was told I'd have a copy in 48hrs, it's been over 5 days and I'm still waiting. I'm sick of sitting on hold with vodafone.

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.

After haggling with rude and unhelpful Vodafail customer service people when my prepaid was billed TWICE (I left it with my bank in the end, as it was getting nowhere and their customer service tried to recharge me after my bank chased them!!) NOW I'm cut off entirely - no service whatever for the past few days. I'm in the inner city, Sydney FFS! I may complain to the ombudsman, but easier, I believe, to complain with my feet - come monday I'm ditching Vodafail and switching to a new provider. I suggest you all do the same!

Vodafone will be losing a huge account when our company moves away from Vodafone. Had a great deal/contract, but its a shame their service sucks.

You should all use Telstra. While their billing systems are a bit buggered, their network is tops and their customer service is improving heaps. If you have a problem with their billing - call and they assist big time or you can contact David Thodey the CEO directly.

ACCC, help! Please.
Vodafone are selling a service which does not deliver to their promises.
This includes reception AND customer service.
I feel like I've been ripped off and I find it really upsetting, because if information was available I would've known better.
This is so unfair.
They should repay their customers ALL MONIES PAID IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS.

ACCC, help! Please.
Vodafone are selling a service which does not deliver to their promises.
This includes reception AND customer service.
I feel like I've been ripped off and I find it really upsetting, because if information was available I would've known better.
This is so unfair.
They should repay their customers ALL MONIES PAID IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS.

At first I asked: Is Vodafone Buddhist?
I'd like to thank Vodafone for the peaceful and quiet life I've been living recently. Its really quite relaxing trying to call someone I thought I had to speak to urgently about one matter or another only for my iphone to display Call Failed repeatedly every time I try and then drop all network coverage altogether.

This inability to communicate, now that it is so frequent, gives me a chance to relax, take a few deep breaths and reconsider the urgent nature of my call, especially as there seems to be nothing I can do to fix the problem. "Maybe its the universe trying to tell me something" I think to myself, or "is is Karma?" Or perhaps I should try "living in the 'now'" and not on my phone (especially as it doesn't work like a phone anymore).

Then I asked: Is Vodafone Amish?
Similarly with text messages and voicemail. Its almost a relief to not be living in the 21st century as I await the vodafone monkeys to tap out my messages in telegram format and then get them dispatched by messenger pigeon. As I live and work in the CBD and Vodafone only seems to have its pigeon fleet in the country, it can take hours or even days for a message to arrive.

Then I realised maybe: Vodaphone is an Isolationist?
I also travel very frequently to NZ, again, its really peaceful when I arrive back after being away for a week or so and realize I've have no missed calls, voicemail messages or texts. Sometimes this makes me feel lonely.
But then I realised that this saves me from having to make any troublesome return calls or follow up messages (not that I could on the network in any case).

So I'm looking forward to the next installment of Failure to see what it brings, in the meantime the Vodafone billing seems to be working just fine....

I recently thought it was a good idea to get a nokia N97 on a 24 month plan on teh special. After waiting 10 days for application just to be processed and about a week for the phone I finally got it..( got to love that you can track your application and delievery and find that it never changes from being processed I found that they started billing me from when application was approved even though i had no phone.. Also found they have been overcharging me on my plan, Not providing what the plan promises (200MB data where I only recieve 50MB.) Try and get through and wait for 40-60 minutes then get connected to an operator who says hello and then drops out... 3 times this happened... What a joke...

I went to Telstra after Vfone would not fix the problem of dropped calls, service interruptions and dismal download speed, only fob me off with tests and stalling (read go away) responses. I kept a Singapore Starhub phone and it would serve as a check to see if Vodafone, Optus or Telstra had service at my home office. It corroborated my assertion Vfone did not have continuous reliable service in my neighborhood. Complaining took too much time, offered insults to my phone skills and was a waste of time. I now want to dump my account but have not done so as I fear another imbroglio. I was with Vodafone for 15 years (remember Digicall?) and it worked well overseas but in the year 2010 it did not work in my neighborhood satisfactorily.

Guys, the other phoen companies aren't exactly perfect. Telstra can't even cancel my service without getting it wrong so I'vw swithced to Vodafone!

My broadband cable contract expires tomorrow so I called Telstra 4 weeks ago to let them know that I would not be extending. "You'll have to call back in 4 weeks as we can only cancel services immediately" was their response. I called back today, waited on hold for a while (as usual) then got someone who was unable to handle the call so I was put on hold again (as usual) and then got disconnected (as usual).

During my second call I had to explain it all again, give various forms of ID again, and eventually they found my account. After about 10 mins more of hold music I was told that they would now disconnect my broadband but as I was disconnecting a day before my contract expires that there would be an early cancellation fee but it would only be "a couple of dollars". They can chase me for that!

10 minutes later I assume that my broadband had been disconnected because my Foxtel cable TV service also disappeared. Perhaps they use scissors to disconnect you.

Phone call number three! call, on hold, explain, on hold, explain, on hold, transferred, they cant find my account despite me quoting all of the account numbers on the "One Bill", on hold, more forms of ID, on hold, Foxtel service finally resumes, still on hold, then I hang up - why should I be courteous!.
What a friggin joke!.

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.

I have been in contact with Vodafone over the past 2 days. Day one, on hold for 30 minutes, billing answers. I tell them I am not happy with their coverage and they have reneged on their end of the contract, therefore I will not accept and termination fees. I am told that I will need to speak to technical support. On hold for another full hour!!! After half an hour of trouble shooting, I am told I will relieve a call within 48 - 72 hours. No call. I call back. After 45 minutes of being on hold, some yahoo from overseas answers with the statement. 'Welcome to Vodafone, do not believe what you see on the news, it is not true.' WOW!!! Is that how they are training their staff. I beg to differ Vodafone, you do indeed have shocking coverage. Still no resolution, I am moving to another carrier. Shove the termination charge you now where!!!

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.

Locked out of my account on the web site (again....) despite correct user credentials. Had to call to get unlocked. Was kept on hold for more than 1 hour. Don't expect same service as more expensive telcos, but do expect value for money. If they can't lift their game very quickly will move to another telco.

ARE WE GOING TO GET A CREDIT ON OUR CONTRACTS> I THINK WE SHOULD HAVE A MASS ACTION NON PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS

i paid my bill on the 12th and it still shows i have not paid
so i rang then and after 2 1/2hrs was told its a glitch don't worry about it.

i wont because i have my receipt for payment fool.

Its a joke that they can not even get their online system running properly
(when you can actually log on )

Poor reception 2k from Sydney CBD, overcharged in my bill 2 months running, the promised credit to my account to correct this isn't showing - apparently there's known problems with myVodafone, repeated calls to the helpline about all these issues result in waiting times that are never less than half an hour - and then sometimes the call drops out...I could carry on! I have been with Vodafone for 6 years and never had a problem, but in the last few months it's all just completely fallen apart, I've never been angrier with any company in all my life.

No reception in several parts of Sydney city + 1.5 hrs waiting with customer support to sort out issue + Billing errors

Constant coverage drop-outs, unable to connect (website) issues, and to top it off, my request to have a text service cancelled which they (customer service) claim from the system point of view is, yet a month later still getting daily messages and still being billed for it!!??

I had an internet account for approximately 3 years and a mobile phone account for 5 years. Last year they sent me a bill for $1500.00 for my phone and internet. I rang and complained to the stupid call centre people in india and was told they would drop my bill down to $1200.00. I said if you look back over my bills you could see that my phone and internet had never been more than $120.00. The call centre person told me I had to pay the bill, and I said no and they basically told me that they would take legal action against me and they were abusive swearing at me. In the end I went to the telephone onbudsman and they adjusted the bill to $120.00 but not without a massive fight. Then I decided to go on vodafone prepaid for $29.00 per month. I live in the inner suburbs of sydney and for nearly 5 months now I can barely get an internet connect that doesnt last more than 3 mins without dropping out. I rung and complained and again was told by somebody in india it was a problem with my computer. I am just disgusted by the behavour of a company that is not transparent with its behavour with its billing and you can never work out exactly what you owe.

1) MyVodafone Account website doesnt work consistently. Slow, can not retrieve account history, messages suggesting an error in retrieving account details (has been like this for years)

2)The "live.vodafone" APN is broken, further contributing to the slow data throughput experience on smart phones (been like this for months)

3)The Network Outage section of the website is "STILL" not accurately reflecting the extent of the problems.

4)The various Vodafone support channels e.g- Phone, Twitter etc are still denying the existance of problems.

Vodaphone and 3 have had major problems with roaming and billing for months.

The claim the problems have been fixed. WRONG! Currently in Darwin. Phone shows full bars for reception but pages take minutes to load. If at all. When I get back to Melbourne I'm going to make sone videos to prove that the problems have not been fixed. This is the only way to prove to them and the ombudsman that the network is broken. I suggest if you are Aa pissed off as I am you do the same and upload videos to YouTube. Then can all link into them via twitter and face book.

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.

Lets start with the delivery of my new iPhone, advised of a 3wk wait 5weeks later called waited on hold for 45mins. My phone had not been ordered fast foward 4wks phone finally arrives 9wks in total.

My wireless net is on average poor service or no service i live in the heart of the northern beaches my girlfriend with optus always has 3g coverage? My broadband is also hit & miss if it will connect to a usable server.

Vodafone also had a system issue in early feb in which my bill wasnt debited from my acc. I called & was advised it was paid, i advise it hadnt been debited so i dont know how it was paid. In June i recived a letter advising of the system issue & that my account would be debited to correct the bill, I rang voda to find out the total of the bill & was advised the letter was incorrect & I was upto date. July voda try to debit the "owing amount" on my account & it is dishonoured, I call voda & am advise i havnt paid my bill since feb when they direct debit my acc? I advise of the previous calls, I was told I was lying & that i need to pay the bill. A week later my phone was blocked 6 phone calls later 3 more rude advisers & finally after threating going to the communications ombardsman is my "owing amount waived" & my account reinstated.

At the end of my phone contract after having had a sims card with voda since the Nokia 5110 was the bees knees I'll be moving.

I know this is a 2 year old story but i couldn't resist telling it when i saw this site.

about 2 years ago we got voda internet. within a month it had stopped working completely. everytime we switched the modem on...nothing.

calling customer support during the day was hopeless, never got through. mum and i woke up early one day to call them at 7am on the dot when the lines opened. at 705am the message we got when we called was "our voda customer service reps have slept in this morning, please try again later"

finally got through, they could do nothing for us. spent about 2 weeks trying to call to get our issue resolved. speaking to the same customer service rep each time. finally ended up wanting to just get disconnected and we refused to pay the contract termination fee because we didnt have any working internet.

the finance department customer service rep was the same guy was the previously useless tech service rep. finally got him to understand that we wanted to account closed.

he apparently did it, and to this day we still get monthly bills sent to us in the mail. we havent paid a single bill and when we call to tell them to stop sending us bills, they say the account is closed and we dont owe anything...and yet...we keep getting bills!

absolutely pathetic!

Took months for telstra to get my home phone going and then several more months to get the billing right. If I had a dollar for.every minute spent on the phone with a Telstra 'customer service rep' I'd have built my own network. Vodafone took 10 minutes and I was making unlimited calls to anyone in Australia. Telstra and Optus rip off their customers and are a disgrace.

I rang Vodafone to get up a new business account at the beginning of November. It is now 18th December and they have twice delivered an incorrect handset. I am still waiting for the correct handset and have no phone as I have to keep the incorrect ones in their packaging for return. Everytime I ring to find out what is happening I am on hold for at least an hour and then spend an another hour being bounced bewtween departments and customer service people while they try and work out what is happening. I still have no phone to use but am alreadxy nearly 2 months into my contract.

signed for 2 years contract @$17.10 /mo (19/mo 10%disc), 3 months free.
the bill: $55.40! + no 3 months free applied.
had to wait an hour on the phone to talk to someone at billing to sort it out.

Half of the time calls are not being connected at all. If finally successful many call are dropping off in the middle of the conversation. The point of frustration is hugh as I am running a business and have 3 accounts.

I have resorted to morse code and pigeons to deliver messages...Vodafony has no idea when it comes to technical service or customer service. The only reliable service they have is billing.

Zero coverage or service in the sydney CBD, or anywhere for that matter. I have been in situations where people have been trying to reach me and it goes straight to my voicemail. Messages take forever to send, it is beyond a joke. I called wishing to cancel my contract. I called - and after being hold for 1 hour and 30 minutes i was transferred to another department. She then said i had to go into the shop to get a new sim card. I did. It still didnt work. I was told i would get a call back at 1pm. That never happened. I then called THEM back and was on hold for another hour, to be transferred, then told that the system wasnt working and they couldnt access my account details. I then called back again after they had tried to reach me, but due to the fact i get zero coverage, couldnt get through (funny that). I called back again, to be told that despite vodafone being open "24/7 for contract customers" they the disputes department and contract department was only open 9-6 and to call back tomorrow. The woman in the vodafone shop said she understood and just to call up and get them to approve the transfer of the phone number to another carrier so i could start using my new phone etc. I tried that, vodafone wouldn't help and said ...again... to call back tomorrow. I've emailed the ombudsman and this is getting beyond a joke.

Ported to VF only to find areawhere I work is non existant to Vodafone. 7 colleagues at work can't even see the newwork at all. Sometimes I get 3G signal but no phone reception (if anything) Customer service wants me to phone from another handet to show it's not my phone. Hey I got 7 people who can prove it isn't my phone.
Customer help ?? An offshore unit who have no idea where Sydney is. Apparently It's in Bathurst. Well Same state anyway.

My iPhone cannot read the MyVodaphone website, so I can't see what my account is doing.

Might have to port out after only being in less that two weeks

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?

I had a bizarre experience with Vodafone. All of a sudden they extracted about 4 times the usual monthly amount from my account(about $260)- with no explanation. Then someone rang me from a private mobile number claiming to be a VF representative and offering to update my contract. He asked for my details and I told him he could shove it- I asked for him to verify to me he was actually from VF but he was not allowed to ... or something. The impass ended when I rang their usual customer service number and had to wait the average about 45 minutes for an answer(the OS call centre worker confirmed the last guys was actually from VF). I went on to express my disappointed at being charged such a ludicrous amount, and he seemed to explain it was because of some change in the contract.. It was never really clear- but - and this is the killer- He offered to update my contract and retrospectivly apply this update so I wouldnt get charged as much. Of course I agreed. I was shanghai'd. When this was done he claimed I was $170 in credit, which VF would kindly hold onto for me. They still have my money(each month I use up some of this excess credit). They are a corporate cancer.

I was with '3 mobile' and when time to upgrade my handset, I was told '3' was merging with Vodaphone so therefore I had no choice but to change to them also. I was also told at the time that Vodaphone had better coverage, which now seems very doubtful as my phone often has poor or no signal in the middle of Sydneys CDB or in my home in the Southern suburbs of Sydney (which was never a problem with 3)

Since changing over, i have had nothing but problems. see following:

The handset took approx. 3 weeks to deliver (not 3 days as told).
Vodaphone canceled my '3' sim card without notification to me so i was left without my business phone for 2 days.
Trying to set up voicemail was a nightmare - it took more than 30 minutes as i kept being redirected back to the top menu with the recorded message not being saved.
my plan (supporting 2 gig of data) would not let me connect to the internet.
phone calls break up or contain static or do not connect. When speaking to customer (NO)service there is a contact distracting echo over the line.
Wait times for customer support are absolutely horrendous on the many times i have had to call. Often to the point that i just give up as i run out of time on my lunch break.
When i politely asked customer service if i could lodge an official complaint i was told that Vodaphone did not have any customer feedback lines.
my phone did not arrive with a user guide. (not sure if this is vodaphone or phone co) i had to search for one online.

I used Vodaphone 10 years ago and the service was horrendous then also. I remember them charging me for months after finalizing my account with them and it was a nightmare trying to sort it out. Them at one point threatning legal action. In the end i just paid for months i didn't use as i felt i wouldn't be able to afford the legal fees. Obviously things haven't improved since then.

Action needs to be taken

I've been dealing with VodaFAIL's customer support for the past 2 months. All started when i was in Spain and i got a text message saying that my bill has reached $850 and i need to pay or call them asap or my account will be suspended. Tried calling them but got a closed of business hours. I received the same message at least 5 times a day. Then i get a call from someone (in the middle of the night) telling me i need to pay my bill knowing that i had Intl roaming on. Then when i got my phone stolen, i had to buy an international phone card to call customer care but was on hold for 1hr, until my card ran out of credits. Asked my sister in OZ to call on my behalf, but she was on hold for 1hr and gave up. Returned to OZ and tried calling customer care again, was on hold for 1hr15mins until it hung out. Emailed support centre to ask for somebody to call me but was told they can't do that coz it's against policy...yet they didn't have any issues with calling me in Spain and making me pay!!! After my complaint, they were willing to decrease the bill to $300. Then i asked if they can provide any special deals coz i still have 13months on the contract with no iphone. First agent told me she can offer to put me on a new contract but i have buy a new phone and pay the exit fee, which i asked her how is that special goodwill deal? Hung up and then called back and spoke to another agent who were able to do something for me (probably only agent who did something right). During this time i had to go to the VF store everyday to see if they have the iPhone 4 in stock; every store gave me same rude generic response 'no'. 2wks later they tell me they can put me on a waitlist if i call their customer care. so i did, after another 30min wait. Spoke to another failed customer service agent who did not even read his notes before assisting me and made assumptions that were completely wrong. i had to escalate to a manager who then was able to put me up the waitlist and waived the delivery fee which this agent told me he couldn't do. TOTAL CRAP! And yesterday i got a letter saying that a delivery was attempted but no answer so need to pick up at the postal office. Went to work late today just so i can pick up the phone...they only delivered the micro sim!!!! WTF!!!!

This is just the customer service side so don't get me started with the constant bad reception and slow internet speed and i live within 4kms of Sydney CBD!

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

I had their mobile internet USB device on contract and had repeated dropouts whilst living in Melbourne, then they screwed with the billing date causing me to exceed my data limit and end up with a referred debt. Only recently did I get this fixed but still had to pay the monthly service fee while I had the device even though it worked like crap, we then got their prepaid one and same issues again in both Melbourne and Albury. Since gone to Optus, costs more for the data but I get 1mb+ instead of the 50kb I was getting on Vodafone. I think they can see how many times I had to reconnect and should be able to guage that as a reason for full refund of ALL costs associated with the service. When I spoke to them 2 weeks ago they said they have no issue with the service.....

I'm one of the lucky ones. I was with them for a year with an iPhone 3GS - mainly because Telstra was expensive and we're in an Optus black spot here. Always had call dropouts, but accepted it as part of the digital network - until, that is, we had a blackout at home and a sick child. Phones were out, and I couldn't get a signal fro Vodafone anywhere, despite being in their "3G coverage area".

Once child was sorted at hospital, I'd had enough. They told me "go out on the road to make a call - we only guarantee signal to the street - despite being on the top of a hill and facing the tower.

I packed up both phones, cancelled the plans and ported the numbers and told them to shove the service - they had breached their contract. They reluctantly agreed to termination fees, and allowed me to port that day (to Telstra), but took them 2 months to send me the post-paid satchels to return the phones. And the whole time they kept billing me - PLUS $1000 cancellation fee !!!

While their customer service may have improved in some areas (i.e. the Twitter guys were very good), their network SUCKS

I'm not so technology savvy, I only signed up a plan with vodafone few weeks ago, I pick Vodafone because i saw many Vodafone outlets so i though I could talk to a real person to meet my need. I ask the vodafone sales consultants as to how to access my account, the staff can't help. my X6 Nokia is already not working, sent away for repair, still waiting,,,,,,

I've been such a loyal customer for so damn long. My accountant says to me the last year - you must get some awesome perks for paying that much and for that long. What damn perks??!!! I've had drop outs, load errors, communication errors, EDGE. Call them this week to work out wtf is going and they tell me it's my sim card thats an issue and to go use another phone and another sim for a day to determine if that is the problem. Go f*ck yourself. I want out!!!

I have 3G mobile broadband with 3, which is owned by Hutchison Australia, and could only receive 0.1 MBPS in manly, Sydney earlier this year. I tried for 6 months to get it fixed but to no avail. I cancelled my account because they could not fix the service. They would not refund me for the price of the modem. Even now I am still receiving a monthly bill for an account I do not have.

wrong information provided even before i signed on the contract. Wrong information again when i went to a different store. Called up to complain, and got a call back less than an hour with a real australian woman who was rude and not the least bit helpful anyway, after talking to someone in India, on hold for 30 minutes in total only to wait for a call back. Saving grace was a very polite gentleman from another store that listened to me and checked up his computer to give me what i wanted straight away, no hassles, no unnecessary documents etc etc... why did i spend all this effort? because vodafone is the only one with the blackberry i want on the plan that suits me. just because you have the monopoly doesn't mean you can be rude and ignorant to the customer. Customer service is crap, network service is below average, bills are unclear and myvodafail account on website is next to useless, vague and unclear.

Nearly cost me a new relationship cause this guy thought I was ignoring his texts and I thought he was ignoring mine. Just turns out that they were being 'sent' and 'charged' to our accounts - yet never being delivered or seen again.

I'm talking about customer service this time, and the endless phone queues and run around whenever you call them.

I tried to change my number to vodafone earlier this year (my employer was taking over my phone account) and the operation they said would take 'a few hours' took 6 days. I called them every day, was always kept on hold for over an hour, and was told every time that it would be resolved in a 'few hours'. I was hung up on several times - not on purpose, because I was being rude, but accidentally, because they didn't know how to use their hold/transfer functions. The first day I spoke to 4 different people just trying to get my number transfered, the first of whom was the worst informed customer service person I've ever worked with (I knew more them him).

And I suspect the whole thing too so long because they had me black marked because I got angry when they refused to refund my credit after I'd been on the phone to them for hours. They tried to claim it was my fault for calling the number from their store's website instead of the number for existing customers - even though I was a new customer and had never heard of either number.

Our company had noticed this since early this year. Bought it to the attention of our account manager, emails, reports etc etc. In denial, met up with the Vodafone Dealer Owner who we went through, told us that to get out of contract in March 2011, had to pay $2k. Don't think we will be paying the $2k, I think we can call it compensation. We even got Telstra sims, as an emergency backup.

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.

The other night I couldn't log in to my Vodafone account to check my bill, after 90 minutes on hold (to be exact), an arrogant an unapologetic operator answered. When questioned about why the waiting time had been so long, he simply stated that they were "very busy". When I raised my issue, he then said that he could not get into the system to reset my password, and that I should call back in 24 hours. When I said that I didn't think that I should have to call back, but rather that they should call me back when the system was up again, he eventually agreed to arrange a call back for me. In the meantime, I sent a complaint via their website, which I received the following generic, pathetic response:

"Thank you for your email. It is always disappointing when a customer is unhappy with any aspect of our company and we regret that you have been dissatisfied with the service you received during the above mentioned phone call. Vodafone continually strive to achieve the highest possible standard of service and go to considerable lengths to train our staff in all aspects of customer service. We are currently experiencing a very high volume of incoming calls and i do apologise for the wait in queue. Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. Your feedback allows Vodafone to improve their business for the future."

Firstly my 5 month old Blackberry "woke" one morning and didn't work. I phoned help desk and eventually was told to take it into my Vodafone retailer in Bondi Junction. The store wanted to send it in for repair and said it would take up to 1 month but they did not have a replacement phone to offer me. They claimed they would contact me once they could offer me a replacement phone. Long story short - that never happened and I couldn't find any one at Vodafone or Blackberry to complain to. I phoned another help line and someone from Mumbai/Bangalore?? kept giving me Vodafone addresses in Melbourne even though I explained several times I lived in Inner Sydney. Hopeless!!! Finally took it into a different Vodafone at Eastgardens. They sent Blackberry off for repair and approx 2 weeks later I got a new Blackberry phone back. Since then, almost every call falls out even though I have taken the 3G signal off. The browser absolutely doesn't work - even the smallest request comes back that the file is too large to view.
Who do I complain to - what if we all refuse to pay our bills until they sort out these problems. I have made far more calls on my landline in the past month than ever before - so why should I pay a Vodafone account when almost all calls fail?? I am really fed up about this.

I just went to pay my FINAL Vodafone account because I got ported to OPTUS ( my phone works now! ) and I can't pay it!! 1555 won't answer and their website won't let me either. Good one Vodafone...you couldn't organise a root in a brothel!!

Signed up for mobile broadband a couple of weeks ago but couldn't log on to their website to check usage for some reason. Tried calling 3 times and was on hold for at least an hour (I was informed at the start of the call that the wait was 20 min, F--king joke). Finally got through and logged in to find someone elses name on my account. Emailed them about the problem because I wasn't waiting on the phone again and I never got a reply. FAIL.

I upgraded one of my mobile phones to a higher cost plan. This was done at Vodafone in Broadway Sydney. The sales person illegally upgraded my second mobile phone without consent or signature and tagged it with direct debit details from first account ( and they included handset insurance). Unfortunately I did not notice this fraud until the end of 24 month contract. I contacted Vodafone for an explanation and they said it was my responsibility to prove I did not sign the second contract. I countered it was their responsibility to prove I did. It seems I was right. They had no proof of second upgrade and offered a refund of only 50% of amount paid over 24 month period. Their reason was that I did not notice the fraud and therefore should be liable for half of it. I took the matter to ombudsman and eventually received full refund. The company knowingly employs people who use fraud to steal your money and then tries to keep half of the gains. This is corporate theft!!! I will never ever ever use Vodafone again and advise anyone considering it to run a million miles. And if you have two mobile phones and any direct debit accounts - check them thoroughly. You cannot trust the employees.

I was charged $60+ for data usage a few months ago, but here is the kicker, I dont have my phome set up for data. My phone showed no data but my account said I had 10 MB of downloads. Called them up and they did credit my account, but still something is going wrong.

I moved away from Vodafone over 8 months ago. My account is still in credit and I receive regular statements and sms telling me I am still in credit. Despite numerous requests for a refund of this credit amount, nothing has happened. They have my money and I can't have it back ~ be warned ~ once they get your money they don't want to give it back.

I work for a small business with 26 employees and we signed a contract with Vodafone and the phone has never worked properly at all. We have informed Vodafone and they are still fixing it for nearly 10 months. We have lost business as well. ( As the customer wants to discuss a quote on the final day and they tried us and we did not get the call and we got our VM after a day,when the customer went with another vendor. Hope this gets resolved.

Used vodafone 3G as a temporary connection while changing ADSL. Bearly got above 4 kB/s. If that wasn't bad enough, when it came time to close my account they tried to charge me for more than the minimum term. One call to the TIO fixed the fail.

I dont have an account with vodafone anymore yet they still send me bills saying they owe me money, trying to get that back is a mission. In the TOS it states after 365 days they can wipe and money oweing to me as no collected, and they will try everything possible in their power to return this money to me! Appart from answer the phone of course

I have a query about my bill, Vodafone say they have listened and now for billing enquiries they are open 24 hours a day.
Vodafone state that 80% of calls are answered within 20 seconds!
Spent over a total of 12 hours on the phone and not once have spoken to a human being.
Shameful.
Read more about the exploits here:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=50254152616&topic=20517