Over the last year the reception issues have gotten to the point i can only txt message from my house and ONLY if i hold my phone near the front windows.. I have nearly thrown my phone in frustration at the drop outs and delays in txt messages... So infuriating!!!! NOW my phone has been locked to incomming calla and outgoing with no warning and my bill is not overdue!!! I have been with this company 7 years too long.. I will be investigating my rights tomorrow...

I have 2 phones, my work phone HTC Desire HD and my personal iPhone 4(with Optus)
Well i have been trying to get 3g working at a decent speed and Voda just SUCKS!! i am lucky to get over 10kb/sec where with my iphone tethered to optus i can get 170kb/sec +
I just moved to Melbourne(from Sydney) to open a new branch and dont have ADSL yet installed into my place.
I even went out and purchased a Vodaphone 3G USB modem but i get the same speeds. VODA YOU SUCK AND NEED TO CHANGE YOUR NETWORK, im surprised there isn't a full out class action/war against you.
Oi and btw your website says that your support is 24x7 and there is no wait times, i called and it says to call back at 7AM(no wonder there is no wait times :|). How can a business that offers 24x7 service only support it some hours? seriously!
I will defiantly be getting my boss onto our account manager in the morning and hitting them up!
.
if anyone is wondering as well my postcode is 3037 in VIC

PS voda you suck :)

(copied from a facebook status to save typing it in full again):-

Is past being angry at Vodafone, now i just piss myself laughing at their incompetence. I called just a while ago re another billing issue, got the usual spiel regarding entering my number/access code etc via the keypad..THEN i wait on hold for twenty minutes until someone from the subcontinent answers with "welcome to vodafone, my name is Wayne (Hmmm, Im not so sure....) can i start with your name please..

Me - 'My name is xxxx'..

'Wayne' - "Can you call back in four hours please, our system is down"...

Me - (giggling out loud at this stage) "Ok 'Wayne' I'll jump out of the sack at 2am shall I?"...

'Wayne' - "Thankyou for calling vodafone..goodbye"....needless to say, I am now looking for something very hard to ram my face into repeatedly....

I cannot believe how bad this company is, 9/10 times i call, their system is down or no-one is available to answer my question. They will lie, promise things they can't deliver just to get you off the phone..and I am stuck with them for another 18mths due to the fact that my issues relate to billing problems only and not service/coverage issues..

Usual shocking reception, data speeds, SMS send failures, voicemail etc. called Vodafone & on hold to india for 50 mins. Told them I wanted to leave. Was offered 4 months to stay. Since I only had 4 months left on my contract, I thought "what the hell?". I'd keep my handset, then I can move to Telstra. Cool!!

Next month, I got a bill! Odd I thought as I have 4 months free. Rang Voda. Told no record of it. Assured it would be applied. Same thing next month. 45 mins on hold, only for call to drop out. Again, regular as clockwork, my bill came again now over $300!! Threatened with service restriction. By this stage I was over talking to Vodafones "service" centre in India.

Out of the blue got a call from the Tasmanian call centre doing a random "customer satisfaction" survey. Told her the issues and she told me a retention team member would be in touch. 2 weeks later, Indian team member called. Had no idea what was going on, was only told to call me.

I hung up. Lodged a complaint with the TIO. Thats supposed to STOP all collection action etc. what the hell, it's only a government regulation right??? So woke up one day & my phone is barred!!!

Called ombudsman & was given direct line to their TIO liaison team (they're Australians who speak English as a first language thank the Lord!!). Had restrictions lifted, my 4 months credited and I'm finally getting what Vodafone promised e over 4 months previously!!

Now, I'm off to Telstra to go with them and actually get reception & the service I pay for! Good to get the result from Vodafone, but it's just not good enough. You've lost my business FOR LIFE!!!

Every month I get charged for a wifi device that was free as part of my contract, every month I have to ring them and get a credit for the amount they shouldn't have charged and am told the problem has been sorted and will not occur again.
4 months in a row and it's still happening.

My time + aggravation + time on hold + charges paid. Vodafail owe me about $760.00 so far

There customer service is as bad as their phone service.

My partner and I have been on 3mobile for some time now, so we could call each other for free and she could call her 3mobile friends for free. But all her friends changed to vodafone so yesterday she changed to Vodafone.
We had to do it in store at coles, because we couldn't get through on the phone. Even when we took up the "call back" option, we just went back on hold.
But the girl at Coles in chadstone was really helpful.
So anyway, today the phone(New iPhone 4s) has been charged and is working fine, but it doesn't prompt you to enter a password for wifi??? Mine always does!
So I turned wifi off and tried the same google search with each phone, on 3, my phone found results in 2-3 seconds... About 1.5 mins later, her phone popped-up as unable to connect to server!
I can call her from the next room, but the reception is worse than when I used to have a Nokia 5110 12 years ago!
I'm hoping there's a way out of this, because I can't imagine another 24 months of this rubbish!

I placed an order on the 5th Dec. 2011. Told 5 to 7 working days for delivery. Have waited and waited and tonight I called their customer care number that they gave me which is wrong, and asked where my phone was. After speeking to a person in India who kept putting me on hold, I was told that my phone was sent to my address and that noone was home to receive it and that it was given to the P.O. for collection. That might have been the case but why was there no notification of them telling me that the phone was at the P.O. for collection. I go the my P.O. on a regular basis to collect parcels (and know the staff well) and never have they told me that there was a phone/parcel waiting to be collected. And why was I never given a 2nd and final notice as is the norm at all P.O.'s before they send the parcels back?
Then they wanted to refund my money and I said no I want the phone because I stood to lose nearly $50 of Bonus bank dollars that I had accumulated. They placed the order again and this time I asked that it be sent to my work and that there will be someone there to sign for it. Again in 5 to 7 days. We shall see Vodafone. I'll bet if Adam Gilchrist could see the complaints on this website, he might have had second thoughts about promoting them.

Trying to swap from pre-paid to post paid. Its the most painful experience I've been through. I already have two numbers with them. Wanting to add a third shouldn't be that difficult. F--king Indian call centre is just another painful addition. On hold for half an hour then they tell you that you have the wrong department. I have to call the curry muncher back when it's switched over, to add extra data to the plan. Aaargh!

Dropped calls
Snail speed data
On hold with customer care for an hour only to be cut off

I have people telling me that when they call they get a recorded message that the number is not in use. Often I cannot call or send texts especially if they are slightly long. My calls frequently drop out. My son is also with Vodaphone and he has also been experiencing similar problems.

Poor customer service and extremely long wait time when trying to call for phone support. Recently I called 1555 number stated that I had connection problems proceeded to wait 45 minutes the a
recorded message came on asking for which invoice I wanted to pay and how I wanted to pay! Or something along that line!

Long wait time when calling into the shop. Staff who are not aware of general difficulties that customers Are having and generally the attitude of staff is that they are not aware of any complaints about network service.

This is an issue to do with 3 Care but arn't they all the same people now?
To summarise my over 12 month ongoing issue:

I had to give my iPhone up for repair due to technical issues numerous times in a row as they kepy telling me the issue was fixed but I would get the phone back with the same problems.They gave me an ancient replacement phone during all the time I was without my phone which was broken anyway and couldn't receive some calls all the meanwhile I was still paying for my unused iPhone.

The last time I came to pick up my iPhone from repair they told me the issue cldnt be fixed and gave me a new phone and told me they updated my plan to the new $49 Unlimited plan so I would get unlimited calls to all 3 & vodafone users

2months later my plan hadnt changed so I went back to the store the woman told me 3 care made a mistake and didnt put me on it and that it would get done right away.

next month received a big bill due to still being on the wrong plan went into the store and they told me there was no notes of anyone having offered me the new plan.

Called 3 care after long arguements and getting put on hold to speak to supervisors they credited me back the money over my $49 cap and told me I would be transferred to the new plan for the next month.

A few months later I was still not getting unlimited calls to vodafone and 3 and came into stores and rang them more times than I can count. Every time took ages to explain my issue and most of the time despite my insisting to write notes about each phone call the new guy would tell me there is no record of me having being offered the update or having called the previous million times.

Finally after numerous expensive bills for a service I wasn't receiving in October 2011 I was told that the unlimited plan does not exist on 3 and can only be accessed on Vodafone so the guy at the Vodafone (used to be 3) store told me he would transfer me to 3 so that I could be on the unlimited plan in the next month and that he would call me back within 48hours to let me know if they can credit me back any of the bills.

I received no contact from Vodafone and on the 24th Dec received a $394.60 bill from 3 (I thought I had been transferred to Vodafone). I rung them immediately and spoke for hours to 3 Care employee then supervisor then manager who finally told me that he would credit me back $344.60 for te Nov-Dec bill and he will call me back the next week when the Dec-Jan bill comes through so he can calculate the amount to return to me for that bill. He also said he would send me out a new iphone with a $59 Vodafone contract for which I would only be paying $49 and will have the unlimited calls.

Did not receive any calls so on the 12th Jan called them back, first spoke to a boy who said there was no record of anyone telling me they will return the money, after arguing for 20mins he got the manager I spoke to last time to call me back. The manager made up excuses for not having called me back and as to why I haven't received the money and offered to pay back half of both bills instead of the full amount he quoted me last time. I refused and reminded him what he told me in the last phone call so he put me on hold came back and said due to me having to chase them up for it he will credit me the amount which he already offered me last time we spoke! He became annoyed with my dissatisfaction, telling me this is my fault and finally said "look we'll credit u the $394.60 plus half of the second bill in the next 24hours! Bye!" and hung up on me.

Today I just got the new iPhone in the mail but I'm not sure what to do as I am very hesitant about starting another contract with them! I have received extremely poor customer service, pretty much have been accused of lying everytime I spoke to a new person on the issue and spent hours and hours chasing up vodafone people to come through.

I transferred from three to Vodafone and was told that I was in a good coverage area, Southbank Victoria. Vodafone now tell me the network is being "upgraded" in the area and this is the reason why I would experience slow data speeds on my pocket wifi. Lucky for me I have the coverage guarantee. I was told the cancellations team were "busy" and to call back again later, however I'm now on hold waiting for them to answer.

A few months a go, I had a message to say that I could recontract without penalty to a Galaxy II. Seemed like a good deal as I was 13 months into contract with a dead HTC Magic that was 1 month out of warranty.

When I called them, they offered the $65 plan with $0 handset payments, or $45 plan with $10 repayments. After clarifying that there were no handset repayments, I took the deal on the $65 plan. They then offered a wireless 3g modem with 5 gig data for an extra $5. I took the deal.

Now, after a couple of months of not checking (I was foolish enough to trust them to get it right, as I have been a customer for over 10 years) I found I was getting charged $65 for the plan, $10 monthly for the handset and $10 for the modem.

When I called to complain, they said "but the notes on your account say you were told $65 plan + $10 handset + $10 modem". When I insisted that was incorrect, I was put on hold, then she came back with "I just spoke with the consultant that sold you the phone and they say they remember perfectly that you were told 65 + 10 + 10, you just don't remember correctly".

I then told them I was willing to accept the charges incurred so far, but wanted the remaining charges fixed, and they refused.

So, clearly talking to customer service doesn't help, and apparently the memories of the sales staff is infallible.

sigh on hold for 15 mins now

No reception anywhere in the suburb have to drive 2 suburbs down to get reception. Could not recharge my prepaid service today and got charged twice. Been calling their customer service and been on hold and the service drops out. Getting constant text messages that Vodafail is upgrading service in the area 5 times now. This is a joke just want to cry.

A loyal Vodafail customer for 8 years this really has taken the cake. I tried to cancel my wireless broadband dongle which had finished its contract before a trip overseas for 6 months. Instead my contract was put on hold.

When I returned to the country I went to get a new wifi dongle and sign up to a new 12 month contract. They did this and put a 24 month on my old dongle without my knowledge at the same time. When i found out i was being charged twice for a service i didnt use I rang the Dehli ditzes who were no help whatsoever.

After 2 hours on the phone just explaining the situation to the worlds most incompetent and useless staff my battery ran out and I had no resolution. I rang again a week later and was told to send them back my new device and only then would they cancel my new service. wtf? i want the old one cancelled!! and my money reimbursed! no can do. i have to pay cancelation fees for a service i did not sign up to. ARGH! i have since referred this to TIO. Here's hoping.

I made the wrong decision of swapping from my old telco over to vodafail. After being on hold for half an hour they said the number would be swapped over in the next couple of hours. A week later my phone number had not been ported and after hours being on the phone to customer service, the number finally ported. What a mistake! ever since I swapped I have experienced call drop outs, received text messages that had being delayed for days numerous times and crappy reception. Thanks Vodafail!

I would like to say that the service over the phone from Vodafone has been most unsatisfactory. I have called Vodafone with various enquiries four times within the last 2 weeks. This is why I have been unhappy with the service:

the wait times are over 20 minutes on average
I am passed from one officer to another at least 2 times - each time having to wait 10-15 minutes, again
twice the call 'dropped out' and I had to re-dial again
the service officers are often short and abrupt
my queries have been left unanswered and I've had to google or go to a shop

I was a Three customer and regret changing as their service did not incur such long waiting times and infuriating service.

In a 24 month contract with Three, mobile calls around Sydney have rarely dropped out. Now calls made in simliar with Vodafone have dropped out several times and the signal is weaker.

Furthermore, I have a pocket wifi account with Vodafone and do not understand why the account details are not together in the one place.

The contents of this email will go to the vodafail.com website as well as I am angry enough to do this. I will not recommend Vodafone to anyone unless the service is markedly improved.

Now they have changed the email billing process so you cant print off the bill and see the bill details. I rang, was on hold for 20 minutes then half way through telling them, the call cut off.. I cant wait for my contract to expire so I can change to telstra

I have been a Vodafone customer for 12 years. Recently the plan I had been on for 7 years was changed. I did not want to sign up for a new contract. So I opted to port my service to a pre-paid starter kit.
I activated my started kit, and added $50 of credit.
Then called Vodafone to port my number. The first time I called, I had someone repeat 'Welcome to Vodafone how may I help you?' 4 times in quick succession before hanging up on me! The next time I called I was told to call back during business hours, which I did, eventually I got through to someone who told me it was another department, fast forward 6 hours of being on hold over 3 calls today, and finally I am told, that I cant have my original number, it is impossible. Vodafone disconnected my original service and it can no longer be ported.

We put man on the moon, but I cant have my original mobile number.

Im going to Telstra.

Unable to obtain Customer support, having been put on hold for more than 45 minutes and on hold again when put through the Technical team. Total time in trying to obtain Customer Service so far is 01:03:50 and counting.
I have given up waiting!
This is not right. Vodafone you have failed me!

Called Vodafone to pay my final bill and to get my number porter after a very very painfgul 2 years, was on hold for nearly 10mins before I got the option to opt for a call back at 9am this morning (12mins ago) which I did recieve but unfourtantly apparently Vodafone are experiencing a 'systems outage' and I need to call them back in 24hrs at which point I will be able to speak to someone. What a joke!!!

Shocking coverage! Phone switches from 3G to searching to no service to edge to SOS. Mobile broadband either not connecting or only connecting to edge! Called customer support 3 times on hold for 20 mind each time!!! I want out of my contract for no penalty!!

Vodafone made a 'human error' and marked my account as deceased - therefore barring my service. They said a lady had called up with my mobile number and pin and asked to transfer my account into their name. After being on hold for 5 mins, I was told they were working on numerous applications at the time and had mixed up my account with a deceased lady's account. Not happy Jan.

Support call to fix a discrepancy on my latest bill (overcharge by $120) results in the support guy muting me on hold for 15 minutes untill I lose it and hang up. Didn't once inform me of what he was doing! Pissed off cause I just signed my wife on to vodaphone for 2 years. Issue not resolved.

This morning, I spent 70 minutes on the phone with Vodafail to cancel a service. In the end, I was told I had to go to a store to have it finally cancelled. I can't believe it took 70 minutes, and the service still could not be completely cancelled.

The matter was relatively simple, but I was constantly put on hold, the guy spoke to me for about two mintues, then put me on hold for 10 minutes, then did this again, again and again.

I have a blackberry 9780 and randomly this morning the sim said it it was having a read error. I went into Vodafail store and as I was waiting for 30mins just to get service...a flood of people started coming in with the same error on their blackberries. The Vodafail staff member got onto 1 retail support person who had no idea what was going on. Then 5 mins later he got onto another guy who said an issue had been identified but no solutions yet. THAT WAS AT 10AM. Weve tried new sim cards and still nothing

I'm a business person on a business plan and cant get onto anyone in Australia to speak to about this. I tried calling customer service ( got stuffed around by Lara voice automated menu and her inability to recognise the words "business support") and finally got to the blackberry technical handest team.....when finally a pre-recorded message came through saying that Vodafail had recognized their was a service issue with blackberry's and they were working to solve it. Its now 4.15pm AND STILL NO SOLUTION!!!!!!!! I'm on the phone now holding while the multiple arms of this business keep transfering me, asking me to turn my phone on and off.......and then putting me on hold. I CANNOT RUN A BUSINESS ON VODAFONE WITH THIS KIND OF SUPPORT. I've lost $1000's of dollars today being unreachable with a phone that doesnt work.

Hi people,

I was still able to sent a text in the morning says about 815am.
The network suddenly decided to die on me. Unable to make phone calls or internet connection.... only able to connect to wifi (the smart phone did it- not VODA!!!!)

Rang the customer service, was put on hold for at least 30 min!!! and the customer service lady was not able to tell you what was wrong with the network...

But on the nsw service - they says no outrage!!! which is bullshit!!!

unhappy voda customer like u guys :((((

For anyone thinking of going with Vodafone and getting the new Iphone 4S, don't bother, go elsewhere. I ordered my phone on 26 October and it still hasn't arrived. I had to take time off work twice to go into the store because the 1555 help number couldn't locate my phone. Twice when I did call 155 I was put on hold, the first time for over 1/2 an hour, only to have someone else pick up and say how can I help you - so had to go over it all again. The 2nd time it dropped out whilst I was on hold and had to call back, wait for 1/2 hour, then explain it all again. Finally in the end they admitted there was an error and a new phone was ordered on the 16 November with a 'High Priority' and a delivery date of 3 - 5 working days. Two days later this was extended again with a delivery date of 24 November. It is now 28 November, I havve just called the 1555 number only to be told they have no idea where my phone is or when it will be delivered. Apparently though I will receive a text tomorrow telling me when it will arrive, maybe this time, unlike the last two times, it will arrive. I am not holding my breath and am going out to see what Telstra or Virgin can offer me. I've been with Vodafone now for about 8 years I think, never really had too many problems with drop outs or anything else but this time, they have dropped the ball on so many occasions and they have lost a customer for life... Do they care, I don't think so. So again, if you are looking at getting an Iphone 4S with Vodafone, save yourself a lot of pain and go elsewhere.....

Had no network coverage all weekend long at Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort. Friend with Telstra had full signal. I tried calling Vodafail when I returned and had signal. Was on hold too long. Sent an email advising of the issue. Got an automated response asking me to send another email if I actually have an issue. Seriously fail Vodafail!

I can't log in to website to pay bill and they now no longer let you pay bills through the phone messaging service.I'm not going to waste an hour of my life on hold every time i want to pay my bills they better get their shit together or else no money

My mum was previously with 3 and went to allphones to renew her contract before it expired, and they convinced her to go with vodafone without checking area coverage. She got home to discover she had NO phone reception at home, and rang Vodafone this morning to cancel. After screwing around with settings for 10 minutes, waiting on hold for 5 more minutes, being hung up on and then them calling back at the same time I tried calling them again, I finally got put on to the same person I talked to previously and she put me on hold again and then put me through to the cancellation department. Cancelling the contract took about 10 minutes, then he said it would be easy to get the number on another carrier just go to a store and sign up. We mentioned we wanted to go back to 3 (otherwise known as a reverse migration) and he said just go to the store. I mentioned this at least three times and always got the same response. When I finally got to a 3/vodafone store they checked the call notes and apparently it was noted that they had offered to do a reverse migration and I had DECLINED, which was a lie. The reverse migration is now going to take 48 hours to complete, not including the three hours in total I wasted this morning driving to various places and talking on the phone and being kept on hold.

I originally signed what the sales clerk told me was a six month mobile internet contract with vodafone (let it be a lesson, read ur contracts.. .. all of it!)It turned out of course to be a 12 month. Due to no, or very little reception and complaints to Vodafone and the ombudsman re both reception and billing, the service was cancelled, except that vodafone still felt that they could bill me for a service i am not under contract for, don't use, and has been officially cancelled. So i went to my local vodafone outlet( i prefer them to wait on hold rather than using my own credtit) where the kind sales staff showed me on their system that my contract was cancelled and that i was no longer a customer. They did some messing around before ensuring me that the bills would stop. Since then i have recieved 2 Bills from vodafone for a service that does not work, is out of contract, has been cancelled 3 times, is recorded on vodafone's own system as "Account terminated" and has an ombudsman report filed against it.

Recently left Vodafone due to terrible coverage and then was charged a early termination fee after being told earlier in the year (via email) that I could terminate my contract at any time with no penalty.

I called to discuss this with Vodafone only to be given the run around and told that I would need to pay - After being placed on hold 100 times and my continuing to object to paying the fee when I had emails saying otherwise, I was transfered to a supervisor who told me that he would personally call me back in 3 days - Highly excessive time if you ask me!! Espcially when I receive a TXT saying "proceedings will commence if you dont pay your outstanding account".

I then call to lodge a complaint and to my surprise end up in the same call centre where I expressed my concerns to the lady about the consultant potentially being her supervisor or sitting next to her or being her best friend only to be transferred to her supervisor to make the complaint and guess who answers...one of the people I was wanting to make a complaint about!!!

Pathetic! In one hand happy to no longer be a cutstomer of theirs but in the other just want this overdue account cleared!

I have moved house, wanting to switch from 3 to Vodafone to avoid roaming data charges. Should be simple, but have now been in a porting limbo for 24 hours. I tried to activate the new SIM using the automated phone facility. The only thing that happened is that a bill turned up in my e-mail for $0, but the 3 service remained active. Tried to call before 8:00pm when the porting team close, but was on hold for too long, so I gave up. Called again later and tried tech support, got a "hello" from a human after 35 minutes, but got dumped back at the start of the queue again, and then after 50 minutes had a conversation which resulted in me being told the porting team was closed. The call centre have agreed to call me at 7:00pm tomorrow. I'll bet the don't, but I can hope.

If Vodafone actually set about deliberately destroying their brand and business, they'd do a fine job. They clearly know how to.

It's terrible all over but it simply doesn't work IN GLEBE! INNER CITY SYDNEY!!! ALL ALONG one of the BUSIEST streets in sydney! I have never actually been able to upload a picture via twitter, not once! it's definitely gotten worse since i moved here 4 months ago (it was atrocious in brisbane as well). so i rang and explained this. they offer to waive my bills until march next year. my reply?
"so basically i can pay nothing and receive nothing?"
"...it would appear so"
haha! so i cancelled, they tried to make me pay out my contract. i told them that there isn't really a contract because my phone doesn't work. 5 minutes on hold. they waived this fee now.

am now on optus as of today... it switches over soon, time will tell if this is a glebe bermuda triangle issue or a vodafone issue. i think it's safe to say it's a vodafail issue.

so for way too long now I have accepted , VODAFAILS lack of service, the constant recalling of phone calls that cut out, the scary sounds of an aliens or someone under water tapping into my phone calls, .. or simple people telling me that they cant hear what i am saying so they will just text... BUT now this month they have decided that this recalling and texting has come at a charge, MORE then triple my monthly allowance..

TO top it off, when i call to complain, they ask if i can call them back in 4 hours time due to them unable to access my bill due to system maintenance... 4hours later i get a call (10.00pm at night) to be told i've gone over my allowance and that i have to pay the bill... then a sorry ma-em.. i cant hear you.. i cant hear you... phone cuts out.. i am sitting at my table. my phone still stating i have 3 bars of reception.. i go no where.. the phone rings again.. hello ma-em are you there?...... i explain i have not moved, my bars of reception have not change, and he has CLEARLY illustrated my frustrations of vodafail and of people cutting out on me.. and me usually the one to recall.. still no sympathy or assistance. HE then states i have gone over my bill and i must pay.. but he will get the maintenance team which have shut for the evening to call me tomorrow.. (despite having a new iphone which i got off vodafone, thinking my last last nokia must of had issues for people cutting out on me.

My temper now boiling, He ends with have a nice DAY.. (10.15pm) grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr no sleep tonight!

I had to migrate from 3 to Vodafone due to coverage issues. I received my first bill from them which was 2 bills in 1, as apparently I have to pay in advance for a service I have not yet used, this was not advised when I agreed to the migration. A week after my due date of my first bill I had my service cut even though I did try to call them to arrange a 3 day extension but their billing system was down for 24 hours and this morning they did a system upgrade. By the time I got to speak to someone my service had been cut, they did not care and said it was fine to pay the bill but would not restore my service or lack there of. I tried to call them later tonight after nearly an hour on hold, I was told that this was policy, I asked to ask to speak to a manager and I was quite polite and the representative kept muting me and then disconnected my call. I called back again, again a long hold time, asked to speak to a manager, advised I wasn't happy with the service and the representative hung up on me again. I am now going to take this further so my experience is a MASSIVE FAIL :-(

Having spent 5 hrs on the phone over 10 phone calls to their customer service and 2 TIO complaints, I STILL receive a text saying I owe them money after my account was supposed to be closed in June 2011 (currently Nov 2011). During another 50 minute phone call the operator tells me they credited some money they owed me to my bank account twice, so I owe them money. I checked my bank statements and this was not so. After waiting on hold for 10 minutes he comes back, gives me a transaction reference and stops speaking. I assume he meant check it with the bank, so when I became cross he rudely interrupts and says "STOP TALKING!" I was alarmed and stopped. After more confusion I finally decipher he means they wiped the supposed amount I owed them from my record. Apart from the utter hopelessness and dishonesty of their company, customer service and billing team that I have encountered over the last 5 months, I receive the RUDEST response from a customer service operator that I have ever received in my life. NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER will I use Vodafone for ANYTHING ever again, so long as I shall ever live.
FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vodafone need a reality check, i get a newer phone, and it has a even worse signal pick up than my older phone. Its a complete sham, and i have had enough, everything else i use is with Telstra who i get no problems with, and it looks like my mobile is going to them as well. Screw Vodafone, i have used their shonky mobile network for 8 years too long.

I have been trying to get information/service with regards to a plan I've just signed up with. I have tried calling them, using their online services (and I use the term loosely) as well as in person at one of their shops, all to NO AVAIL. The two issues I was trying to get help with were 1) changing my address that was from 4 years ago and was in a completely different state 2) to find out where my new phone was that I had ordered and received no notification of how long it would take to deliver or any email confirmation of my payment.

On the phone, I was put on hold for 45 minutes after the automated voice told me it would be a 4-minute wait. I was then informed that the query I had was meant to go to another dept so the person on the other line put me on hold to redirect my call. I waited another half hour before I just go so pissed of I hung up. I then went through their callback system to get another useless operator (who is clearly aware that there are no consequences for crap customer service) who then told me he's going to put me on hold to re-direct my call. I was too angry to wait again so I told him I refuse to wait another hour to have either of my issues addressed. I told him I wanted to cancel the plan. He said he'll have to re-direct my call. What exactly is the point in calling the "help" line, when if you do, there is NO HELP on the other end, just redirecting?

I then tried to log-in online. Again instead of being redirected by a person, I was 'redirected' to pages that either timed out or just didn't load. I was going through their "helpful" tips because I thought I might be doing something wrong. Now, I'm in IT so I'm not unfamiliar with navigating through sites. Their site it just completely UNHELPFUL and cluttered to manoeuvre through. I feel this is a deliberate tactic to confuse the consumer. There are loads of sections that are similarly named but with different information. Completely useless to garner any sort of useful information.

I then tried to go into the shop only to be left waiting in line, to get a ticket to wait in yet another queue. This is the sort of business practice their executives think is going to get them more clients?

I think everyone who has had an issue with Vodafone needs to post their discontent on every social media site possible. This is unacceptable as well as unethical business practice. I'm fairly shocked at the rapid decline of their service since they merged with Three. I am also going to be posting on travel sites that all travellers and expats should avoid using Vodafone in Australia (regardless of what their experiences were in other countries, because mine in the UK was ok). Regardless of how appealing it sounds, it's all a ploy to steal your hard earned money and ruin your day if you ever have the misfortune of having to call them for any assistance.

Thanks for letting vent.

Congratulations for getting the Samsung Galaxie 2 at 5$ only per month. Well Done.

However I have done better today.

I have 5 accounts with Three but made the mistake to migrate to Vodafone last month. For the past 5 weeks I have nothing but abuses and profanities against the Vodafone customers services and counter service staff, some of whom cried. I also threatened to walk off my contract without paying(I can lose my credit card and have new numbers reissued) and kicked up so much fuss with their priority service that they repeatedly called me to stop me from migrating back to Telstra.

I am saying this here so that you guys should repeat the same abuses to their Vodafone staff, I have used up to 5 phones to choke up their customer service line every time they put me on hold for more than 15 min. Make they pay dearly for their sloppy services and shonky connections. Guess what...they rewarded me by first waiving two of my 5 account of all minimum charges for 1 month, from last week. I abused them again today, they lifted the waiving to all 5 accounts for the next 6 months, saving me like $1,300.00 in total.

Who says that abusive and discourteous bheaviours does not pay ?

If you wish send me your response so that I can copy to you all the voice recording of the abuses and profanities I used, and the rewards Vodafone conceded to me following my beliggerence. Payback time for these corporate bulies.

OCCUPY WALL STREET.

Lets start with the switch from 3 Mobile to Vodafail! 3 were fantastic for over 5 years! Still not officially with Vodaphone but already hate them! They lie, lie, lie and fail in every area!
Called to switch over from Vodaphone to 3 on the 10th October 2011, all good phone to be there between 3-5 days! 7 days later no phone! Check website, it says upto 10 days for a new switch over! Call up they say to wait for 10 days(you did said 3-5 to start with)! Ok 10 days come around and still no phone! Call up and they have stuffed up a whole shipment of new phones! There is no way to track them as they ruined the tracking numbers! Thanks Vodaphone! Told to wait another week as they are dealing with it! Call back again, now out to 16 days, they cant find it, try calling the dispatcher or AAE! Call them, they say they dont deal with consumers, only vodaphone! AAE cant find it cos the tracking numbers are wrong! (why I am calling and not them, i dont no! its their job to call around and fix it not me!)Call back Vodaphone, this time they decide to do it for me! Man calls dispatcher many times and says they are not there! Well the lying little man was told that I called 10 minutes before I called him and they answered my call! He places me on hold again and calls them again, surprise surprise they answer this time! But they cant help me and then calls AAE and they say its somewhere, but they cant say where, but the problem has been fixed and it is transit! Told to wait until the following Friday, will be there, no problems im assured! That Friday comes around, now 25 days since I started, and no phone! Call back and they try to go through the whole process again, and this time I tell them to sort it out themselves and call me back! They do and say that AAE where unable to deliver the package! How or why they dont no but it is being returned to the dispatcher! I speak with AAE and after talking to them we discover that Vodaphone stuffed up the address which is why it didnt get there! Ask Vodaphone why they didnt call me "as you are not a customer we are unable to contact you" - again LIES - I am a Vodaphone mobile broadband customer(which by the way doesnt work and is as slow as dial up and I live 5 minutes from the CBD in St Kilda Road), I tell them and they ignore me, they seem to know im right but just cant say anything!
So now ask where to from here and can they send the phone again, no they have 'cancelled your order and you must now reorder'! Could not understand this but go through the whole ordering process again and lets see how it goes, BUT I am told that as the phone I am after is in high demand there will be an extended wait on the product! I lose it after that, after 25 days I am told they now dont have the phone in stock and I have to wait after I have signed up for a second time! After he stuffs around for a bit he finally says he can get my original returned phone, sent back out to me, but I have to wait for it to be returned! better than nothing, but why they couldn't just do that instead of re-signing up I will never no!
Now I still sit here waiting 29 days later and still no phone! Now onto their complaints department and TIO!

Im sick of theses crappy intertnet and phone coverage everytime i ring them to complain about it i usely get stuck on hold for atleast 30mins they try and say there upgrading the towers and they would be ready late LAST month how is this fair on me ive been a vodafone customer for a long time and had faith in vodafone with everything but not now if they cant provide a descent signal in the year 2011
im pretty sure TELSTRA WILL

Vodafone has barred my mobile because of an $80 bill I will not pay due to bad service. I have been with the company for over Ten years. I have spoken to their staff in India four times in the last 24 hours, combined on hold over an hour. All they offered was a $10 waver.

Vodafone is so useless they cannot check their call logs or phone logs. Instead they decide to run in circles hundreds of times. They never call back. They provide more than poor service. Wait times are ridiculous. Customer service team barely speaks english. If I could influence anyone who I havent already influenced to not go with Vodafone, I would influence everyone on the planet. Vodafone = ONE HUGE FAIL AS A COMPANY.

After 40 minutes on hold waiting to talk to an Indian, I got through and was told, "Call back in 24 hours. We are having a system outage". I just want to check that I have roaming enabled as I'm going overseas tomorrow. This can't go on.

I have been with 3 for 12 years with little trouble....bring on Vodafone...1st day after having to switch, received wrong phones!!! After finally getting a phone that was not what I ordered and then spending 4 hours on hold, I was advised to go into the Vodaphone store where my problems could be soughted out.
After spending another 4 hours in that store, we came to an agreement that I would accept the phone I did not want because they did not have the phone in Australia that they had advertised! I rang on Monday morning to activate the sim card for the phone that did not fit in the phone as my new phone required a micro sim and Vodafone had sent me a large sim card....3 times!!! I am now waiting for the service to activate...4 days later after the message on the activation told me that the service would take between 2 hours and 24 hours!!! Go vodafail. I have tried to call back and let them know how pathetic thier customer service is and also that this is the worst company I have ever had to deal with but the Indians in the call centre can't give me any answers so who can???

My mobile internet bill just came in at $309.97 and I didn't even use it!!! Last month was $271.70 month before was $164.62. Every month it increases so thought I would test them and NOT use it at all. The bill is even larger - currently I am on hold listening to crap music - 20 mins so far.

How do they explain the bill?

Just been on the customer service line hold for two hours, due to not being able to access data for the past two days, finally got hold of someone who informed me that the entire State of NSW has no capability to access data coverage, they've known about it for the past 48 hours but can't give any indication when the problem will be resolved.

So all of you in the same boat save yourself two hours on hold because thats the situation as it stands

My Internet and phone calls keep dropping out so I have to keep cAlling customer service and be put on hold for hours then they tell me my bills over one thousand dollars when it only rose so high because I have to keep recalling and reconnecting to the net my phone freezes also and they do nothing to help just put on some random from overseas who tells me Theres nothing they can do
I will never ever ever make the mistake of getting myself in a vodafone contract again.

I have had non stop issues with coverage and my phone turning itself on and off and not having coverage even in apparently good areas. When I complained they had no issues with ending my contract 4 months early and waiving the termination fees if I sent my handset back. Fine I just wanted out. Over two months later and I have sent the handset back and they tell me it is received yet I was charged the $500 termination fee and it has still not been credited back to my account!!! Hours and hours on hold and lots of being disconnected and told it has to be sent to back of house and will be done within 6 working days and still nothing.

On hold for over an hour then close of business hours for phone line comes around finally spoke with someone to be told to ring another number. VODAFONE GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!!!!!!

Internet keeps dropping out - DNS lookup fails time after time. Server closes connection without sending data, browser times out because response too long..... Vodafone need to URGENTLY resolve Internet Gateway issues with THEIR ISP. Too few ports available or what? The network is always OK but the Internet connection is a BIGTIME FAIL!! My wireless Telstra connection just hoons along with no slowdown, but I signed up with Voda 'cos their mobile data rates are more civilized. I want Vodafone to honour its contract with me by supplying continuous data. Like I said, their High Speed network is OK, just the Internet connection sucks - a gateway issue, not a network issue. Please get this right & stop blaming it on network upgrading which is NOT the root cause. I reiterate, Voda's Internet Gateway is the bottleneck - PLEASE, PLEASE FIX IT!!!

I have been with Vodafone for over 6 years. My mother, brother and father are also with Vodafone. None of us had experienced any problems with them to date and they were offering plans with the new iphone 4s that suited me. I went in today and requested the iphone on the $59 a month CAP plan (with $0 to pay for the phone). Unfortunately I am someone who is easily persuaded by salespeople, it's just my nature, so i always do my research first so I know what to get and don't get ripped off. The salesman today - and what a salesman he was - gave me every reason under the sun why I should go with their new INFINITE plan as opposed to the CAP plan, telling me the CAP plan is more for overseas calls while the infinite plan is better for local calls etc. Tried to sell me the most expensive one and i flatly refused. Eventually he had me agreeing to the $45 INFINITE plan with an extra $17 for the phone. All up not much difference to the $59 CAP. But then the extra charges come in, an extra $4 a month for another 700MB of data since it only comes with 500MB (as opposed to the CAP that has 2GB!) and then the insurance was offered as well. I was hesitant and he said don't worry all this has a 14 day cooling off period. To which I asked if that also meant changing the plan and he said of course, I could change the plan with Vodafone Customer Service. After thinking it over I decided I had been talked into something I didn't want and called customer service to change to the $59 CAP. He was very helpful and changed the plan and deleted the extra $4 I had bundled on for extra data and at the end of the conversation I also confirmed that the $17 for the phone (as part of the INFINITE plan) had been deleted to which he responded NO, I still had to pay the $17 as that was an agreement with the store. How can it be since every Vodafone store and online offer the same thing! I called the store and was told the following:
"The $17 is not reversible. Once I have signed up for the contract, the handset charges will be the same no matter what plan I change to"
I then called Vodafone customer complaints and told the lady the situation. I was then on hold and ten minutes later she returned to say there is nothing she can do about it, she has spoken to her manager and he said there is nothing customer serviced can do, I will have to enquire with the store. I told her that was not good enough and requested to speak to the manager. I was put through to the Accounts Manager and he still claimed that he could do nothing. I told him that was unacceptable and eventually he said he could offer me a $5 per month credit. This would mean that I am paying $59 a month for the CAP plan - which should include the handset for $0 plus an extra $17 that they claim I cannot get out of. With the $5 credit I am giving Vodafone $12 for absolutely nothing! Not Acceptable. I told the Accounts Manager that this result was not sufficient and that I will be inquiring with the ACCC to which he said "fine go ahead" and hung up!!
I have never experienced anything like this in my life. Firstly from the Salesman (who is actually the MANAGER of that store - Bondi Junction Westfield) - who didn't exactly lie but certainly did not give me all the information and the truth. Secondly why does Vodafone have a complaints department if they don't actually try and solve those complaints. If the account manager could credit me $5 he surely could credit me $17!
Is there anything I can do with this? It just seems like a complete rip off and I am now stuck with paying alot more than I wanted to for the next 24 months - money I can't really afford to just throw away like this...

After changing from vodafone to telstra on the 9th october i realised that my iphone was locked to vodafone. damn. so I called them and they assured me it would be done. They STILL haven't unlocked it, although they were meant to call me yesterday (the second lot of '4 business days' i've had to wait, after they somehow forgot to action it after the first time i called them) and also sent me a text telling me it had been done, but alas, when i enter my details on the unlocking website it tells me that my details aren't found. so it's taken them 11 days to do sweet FA! i called their 1300 number and opted for the callback option. they rang me back, then all i got was the engaged tone. so i rang them back, sat on hold for 25 mins and then gave up. argh. today when you call the number it isn't even connecting!! i can't believe i gave them so much of my hard-earned money for 2 years. what a bunch of mofos. how can they actually get away with this???

Trying to recharge son's mobile and waiting on hold for more than 25 minutes

I needed a new phone and ported my service from 3 to vodafone on a Sunday. I was told the service should be active within 24 hours and to ring vodafone customer service if it wasn't connected by noon the next day, i.e. monday.

I waited until Tuesday morning before contacting vodafone customer service, waited on hold for 20 minutes. When I got to speak to someone that person told me they would transfer me to their connections team. That person then hung up on me.

I returned to the store where I got the phone to seek their assistance. After 30 minutes I was told that it would take another 24-48 hours to connect my service, because they had thousands of iphones to be registered.
I told them that this delay was not acceptable and asked for the contract to be cancelled. I was told that this was not possible. At this point I threw the phone on the floor, tore up the contract and walked out.
Good luck to vodafone in getting any money out of me. I will be going elsewhere for my new phone.
Vodafone can kiss my 4king azz.

First of all I have ordered a black iPhone 4S, and they shipped me with a white one. Wasted half a day trying to sort thing out(80% on hold waiting, with 90% drop offs after waiting for 30 mins+!).

Then they cannot activate my sim, after 5 -6 fail transfer calls to their Activation department (which all dropped off after waiting more than 20 mins!), its finally activated. BUT THEN.... they activated on the wrong account and I have to drive to the local store, get someone to call them up (because by this stage I could not possible go through their Indian customer service any longer).

NOW after everything is finally sorted (took 2 days), there is NO RECEPTION! I live in Lidcombe, and on my Telstra iPad it shows FULL bar, but crappy vodafail only has 1 or even no bar. I even try to call my phone, and 40% of the time it wouldn't even get through and went straight to voicemail.

So regret of taking on vodafail because its 20 bucks cheaper than Telstra. For those thinking about signing up with vodafail... DO NOT DO IT! AS IT CAUSES MORE GRIEF THAN IT SHOULD. I would rather pay a slightly more premium price and get PERFECT reception and coverage.

How good is this mob. ive been a customer for the better part of 5 years. I think thats pretty loyal. Ive finally had a gut full of receiving sms in the middle of the night that were sent during the day. im sick of rining my mrs and leaving VM only to find out she never got her VM. Finally i ring customer service lol .. i say lol because i got the "we will call you back because we are busy". well true to their form they called me back and without even talking to anyone i was put on hold. I got cranky after 45 min and hung up. What a bunch of incompatant turkeys. I want out of this place. I have 6 months to run on my contract and im thinking about just paying it and getting clear. such incompatance

after randomly sending me out 3 phones, and never sending me a return address. I held onto the phones in the packaging until voda contacted me. they finally sent me a letter saying "please pay for the extra 2 phones or return." Still without a return address. I have been trying to ring them for 3 days now. I have rang 6 times and been placed on hold from a variety of 42-79 minutes with no on ever picking up. I have been to a 3 stores around Brisbane and they apparently cant help me and the only advise I get is "you have to contact voda by phone"

I recently moved from 3 to Vodafone and there are no coverage at all in my area. I try to ring them several times and had to wait for 2 hrs on hold and still no fix to the issues and I cant even move back to 3 or get rid of vodafone as I am locked into a contract now.

Service keeps dropping out. I've come to expect nothing more from Vodafail - Preparing to spend the next 4 days on hold in an attempt to complain and bail from my contract.

I had a default added on my Credit history from vodafone 3 years ago. I ended my contract with Vodafone and went prepaid so now have been a vodafone customer for around 7 years. However, when I ended my contract I paid over $1200 to finalise it and was told it was all finished. a couple months later i recieve this bill for over $500 dollars. So I rang vodafone asking why i was billed and had this indian rep that i couldn't understand they said it was the exit fee so i said no i finalised this contract ages ago i shouldn't be billed this extra amount and demanded to speak to a supervisor. Then was put on hold for ridiculous amounts of time or put through to another person i couldn't understand. I rang so many times with the exact same outcome then was sent a letter informing me I had been defaulted! i was younger then and had never (and have never since) been defaulted so i stupidly paid the amount immediately. i have only now become aware of my rights (which are i should not have been defaulted if i was disputing the bill) or the TIO. So I rang Voda and informed them on this but they say they don't have any records of me disputing the amount! which made me so angry because it was a huge headache for me at the time! i lodged an enquiry with the TIO and they say my complaint is ligit but they can't help because it was over 2 years ago. i need to contact the Resolutions team... or go to fair trading! Resolutions team never answer the phone... so fair trading it is! if anyone else knows how i can have it removed let me know!

I Can't call out i cant text. Inside my House or outside my house. I sometimes even go up the street for a bit better and it still drops out. No matter where i am i'm scared to be on the phone to long because it could drop out at any time. Theyre customer service is a complete JOKE! i cant call them because ill get put on hold so long it will cut out. so i tryed putting an on-line complaint in. off there website i got an auto response saying i have good reception so i changed the complaint to outline there lack of thought. they then proceeded to e-mail me ( auto response ) the same msg as the previous auto response about 94 percent of Australians have great service.I since have not had a reply but it has not been 2 working days yet which they said it will take. so maybe 2 weeks. i live in a house of 4 people (including myself) and we all have massive problem no matter Where we are. we are all changing providers.

I have been with 3 for a number of years and have always acknowledged that their coverage is not good outside of major cities...........but that is not my complaint. 3 have always been first class on customer service and could be relied upon to assist where possible and advise if there was a problem. I had chosen for my personal mobiles (which included the wife and all the kids as well - 5 services in total) because i had had difficulties with billings in the past with Vodafone and it took me a year to get my name off a "bad credit" listing that they had instigated.

Imagine my dismay when i discovered that 3 was now part of Vodafone. Still, have to give everyone a second chance..............

Now, my eldest son was sent a message regarding upgrading his phone (it comes out of contract in 3 months) and the same week we all received notification that 3 was now part of Vodafone "officially". He decided that it was time he had his own account rather than using mine so we needed to transfer ownership and then he could upgrade to a new phone.

I called 3, explained the situation and they told me no problem but that the new phone would be with Vodafone as they were now all one Company. I asked about the ownership transfer and was told that it should be fine and could be done by phone but would be easier "in-store". Knowing all the ID problems normally associated with transfers I thought, yes in-store would be easier.

We arrived at the recommended store (Innaloo, WA) and noted the big new signs with 3 and Vodafone on them but also noticed a large queue.......but that is normal so we queued for approximately 30 minutes. The somewhat harrasses sales lady finally spoke to us somewhat rudely and we explained what we needed to do. We were then informed that they would not do it in-store because it took too long and because they were a Vodafone store and not a 3 store. No amount of arguing would help and we were told to call 3 and do it on the telephone. We were also informed that Vodafone and 3 are seperate Companies.

After an exchange of words we got the message and went outside the store and called 3. I explained what had happened and was told that the gorl in storw was incorrect but as we were on the phone they would do the transfer there and then. It took about 30 minutes in a noisy shopping centre but we got through it and the changes to ownership were made.

Needless to say, I was still a little upset with the store so i went back in (queued again) and complained to the Manager saying that i wanted to lodge a complaint. She listened then told me that the sales assistant was correct and that they did not have to deal with the issues from 3. Apparently all the stores had complained about having to deal with ownership issues from 3 and that 3 was supposed to be a seperate Company and all changes should be done on the phone. Again, apparently they had been told that a memo had been sent to all phone staff advising them not to direct 3 customers to stores!!!!

I explained that I had spoken to three different operators at 3 over the past week and that they all appeared unaware of it. I was told that it was not her problem and to take it up with 3.

Fortunately we only have 3 months left on the Contracts.............good to see that Vodafone have not changed and are as inept and unhelpful as ever. I am never going to recommend them to anyone, and cancel all services at the end of Contract...........I suggest that all 3 customers do the same thing......Vodafone will muck you around, overcharge you and be down right rude to you if you dare question them.

I just attempted to call Vodafone with one objective - to cancel my mobile broadband contract which is past the 24 month period. After being on hold, then requesting to be called, I got a call back 5 minutes later.
After going through a few questions including being interrogated as to why I want to cancel my contract (I no longer need the service), he put me on hold, then told me that the cancellation department was experiencing system difficulties, and told me to call back in 24 hours. How is it possible that such a large sector of a telecommunications company can be 'down' - and down at the exact moment that I need them!! WHAT ARE THE ODDS.

I swear they are TRYING to make their customers hate them - whenever I call, they have some excuse as to why they can't do something simple for me. Last time it was to change my online password, and now to cancel my contract. AM I ASKING TOO MUCH!

I can't wait to be rid of them. They make everything so much harder than it should be.

I bought a Voda SIM in the UK to use on my UK-Europe trip. Put 20 pounds on the phone in Italy, and it magically disappeared 2 days later although I only spent 4 pounds of it.
Rang Voda who confirmed that they didn't know where the credit had gone, and only gave me 10 pounds back.
I used 2 pounds (roaming internet) and lo and behold, all my credit magically disappeared.
Called Voda -again-, put on hold for 10 mins (paying roaming costs off my partner's phone as mine has no credit with which to call!), and told that the reason is still unknown to them and they won't give me any credit as it'll probably disappear again.
Refer my case to the faults team who might resolve in a couple of weeks but will be unable to call me as I'll be back in Aus by the time they fix it...
In the meantime I'm stranded with no map or internet or credit to call/text, and Voda refuse to help further.

FAIL.

So i called vodafone to ask some questions about my bill...and we all know they have the "call back" feature...whereby instead of holding on to the phone while being placed on hold, they'll call you back when your call is ready to be taken...nifty idea i thought.....well it would have been if it was used properly!
So i decided to use this option, and was told by the bloody annoying automated message i'll get a call back in 2-5minutes.
So i receive a call back after 2 minutes, "good start" i thought to myself. WRONG. I have been on hold for the past 26 minutes, and still going!
FIX UP YOUR SH*T YOU MORONS!

This is the editorial from the Sydnet Morning Herald editorial regarding Vodafone and other telecommunications companies --

"Your call is important to us"

MARKETING researchers refer to a critical tipping point at which customers become sworn brand enemies, consumers so passionately enraged by service failure that they will bad-mouth a company at every opportunity and go out of their way to sabotage the business in any way they can.

The "Vodafail" website is, unfortunately, a good measure of the extraordinary level of customer rage among telecommunications consumers. The parody site offers dissatisfied customers a chance to share their pain - and compete for various dubious honours such at the longest time spent on hold (257 minutes continuously). The site was constructed by a frustrated customer during the time he wasted trying to resolve his problems with Vodafone, which makes an obvious point. Yet the telecommunications industry has been fully deregulated since 1997 and such competition is supposed to deliver price and service benefits. What has gone so wrong that more than 200,000 Australians complained to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in 2009-10, double the number of complaints annually in the considerably larger British market?

First, Vodafone is no standout when it comes to poor service and confounding consumer information. It seems all telephone companies go out of their way to exploit the increasing complexity of telecommunications services to their advantage, making consumer choice virtually meaningless.

Take the so-called cap on which most mobile phone contracts are based. "Capped" means limited or shut off, and so implies a maximum payment. But in a phone contract a cap is a minimum payment. Go over the cap and call prices and data costs rocket.

One case highlighted in an Australian Communications and Media Authority inquiry, released last week, featured an overwhelmed father who was unable to determine when his daughter had reached her $129 cap and found himself facing a $4544.71 monthly bill. Research by the Brotherhood of St Laurence found that if the first 15 hours of mobile phone use cost $79 a month, the next 15 hours put the bill up to $889. Other consumers are paying too much for plans far above their usage. With smartphones and service "bundling", the market is just getting more complicated. The authority's proposal that ''cap'' and other misleading terms be banned and that the true, comparable cost of a two-minute call, for example, be disclosed makes good sense. It's up to the phone companies to turn their reputations and service levels around. It would be real failure of the market and the industry if regulators have to step in to clean up the mess.

Yesterday I decided to update my mobile phone from vodafone to another service provider. I've been having problems with my phone since I got it and was told there was nothing I could do about. I've also had problems where vodafone have completely forgotten to send me bills. But I've just sucked it up and waited till my contract was up. Yesterday I was told that to switch from vodafone to another provider I needed my account number from vodafone. I was told that I could just walk into a vodafone store and they could just write it down for me since I didn't have a bill on me. I walked into the store and was told that I had to call customer care myself to get the account number. The staff in the store were not busy, the few customers in the store were all being looked after. And they had 5 staff members on and could have spent the 30 seconds looking it up on the computer, but i didn't question it and I thought whatever I'll call 1555. Luckily I only waited two minutes to speak to someone, but when I asked for my account number they refused to give it to me. They asked me why I needed it, I told them it was for business. Like I need to give a reason - it's my business.
They put me on hold, a minute later came back and told me they were putting me on to their supervisor. I was put back on hold, finally someone came on and again I asked for my account number. This went on for about 5 minutes. They were stalling and refusing to give it to me. I was trying to be polite, but I was so frustrated by this point. All I wanted was my account number - I couldn't believe how hard it was to just tell me. When I explained again that I needed it for business, that I was moving to another network they reluctantly agreed to give it to me if I would stay on the phone for another two minutes afterwards to go over a new plan or network problems. The person finally gave me my account number and I repeated it to confirm. They then started to go into their spiel to keep me on the network so I quickly interrupted and thanked the person and then hung up before they could say anything else. WORD TO THE WISE: because I was very unwise, If you need to change service providers, take a bill with you so you already have YOUR information on you and don't have to deal with vodahell!

Ok, so got a e-mail from 3 a few months ago saying they would wave my last few months contract if i signed up to a new vodafail plan. Called the number, and asked to be put on a 45 infinite plan (but with 1GB of data cause the GF has it) they said we cant offer you a lower plan then what you are on already (49 iPhone cap) so i say "ok, ill wait till im out of contract" on the 30/8/11 I signed up online for a SIM Only Infinite 45 plan. Website shows that it's come's with 1.5GB Data, Infinite txt/calls blah blah. Fine print says "extra 1gb promotion will continue till the 30th November 2011" so I add to cart, confirm sale all the time checking it still say 1.5GB. A week later (after Aust air post sent my order back to vodafail, Couldn't find address? Bull!) I sorted it out in store and collected my sim, paid my first bill and ported my number. Signed up for My Vodafone and checked my entitlements and data say "500mb". So I call vodafail...

1st Call: I try to explain the details and female (Indian) just repeats "No, that plan only comes with 500MB" no matter what I tell her, she is not listening. I tell her to check the website, she says "I don't need to, I know what it comes with" I hang up and double check online to make sure I'm 100% with the details... And I am.

2nd Call: Speak to another Indian male who double checks the website and says "ok, let me put you on hold..." 20 min later he returns and says "ok sir, I have confirmed that the website is wrong and you are not entitled to anything more then 500MB" after I explaining how ridiculous this is and the BS I have already been through he just repeats the same as above so I ask to talk to someone higher up...

On hold again...

5min later I'm talking to a manager who again repeats the above statement... I'm starting to get angry by this point so I inform them that it is false advertising and breech of contract blah blah... So the manager says "The best I can do is give it to you for 6 months after that you can cancel or pay..." I say this is BS, im not paying for something that was included in the plan I signed up for. Manager repeats himself again... (This is going nowhere) so I inform him I will be speaking to consumer affairs and discussing my rights in this situation. I hang up as the manager try's to keep me talking on the phone. I call consumer affairs who tell me it's false advertising at least and put me on to the ombudsman, I make a complaint. Now waiting to hear back from Vodafail... All this BS over 1GB of data!!!

hullo sir, i had been using this vodafone for past 4 months,yeah it was working gr8, but right now whatever problem i had been facing ,it really feels like IT SUCKS, i took vodafone connection just because of its great internet speed, which is no doubt is true, but few days before when i shifted to a new place ,my vodafone gprs was still working gr8, but after 3 days i found that it stopped working out there, then i called to customer executives and you won't believe i had spend around 200 to 300 bucks for it,and no body gave me the perfect solution, except giving access point settings and all, and some time this bloody customer care executives used to play with me and used to keep me on hold for a long time and do not used to forward my call to the technical department ,then finally i went to the NOKIA promoter ,he took my phone ,and he inputted all the access point settings and then my vodafone gprs started working, he also told me that my phone is not going to support the vodafone gprs if i'll go to my house,because the place where iam staying doesn't supports the gprs ,yeah calls and messages would come but the gprs won't and actually it was right i faced the same problem because of network problem ,also in vodafone some unusual deductions used to happen through message and funnily the vodafone doesn't have any records for it,also just because of not supporting of gprs iam also in a loss +98 rupees ,so i request to rectify all these features for further development ,.,.else i would not recommend vodafone for use to any one of my friend,

i have not been on vodafone since cancellation of their sevice in late january and im still getting billed its up to 500 odd dollars now and well they can shove that right where the sun dont shine!!!!!what kind of racket are they running they are basically legal scammers!!!!they suck you in and then you have to keep calling them well im over it!!!!whos paying for MY TIME to get stuffed around by them????at a few stages of calling them i have been on hold for 3 hours them hung up on only to ring back more infuriated!!!!!vodafone you should give up and sell out while your stockprices are still in with a chance i will never recommend anyone to use this absoloutly ridiculious network that isnt worth what it says it is!!!!!

have been hung up on by calling customer care, 3rd time calling now I am on hold listening to stupid music for the past 30 mins AND GUESS WHAT AFTER ALL THAT WAITING I GET the "disconnected sounds". WTF

I tried to call Vodafone's customer care from my BARRED phone (as I believe I should not pay for shit service) BUT while on hold for over 5 mins hearing the damn jingle and the lady repeating "Sorry this is taking longer than expected" I get NUMBERS to call but since my phone is barred I still cannot call those vodafone services. So after waiting for just two numbers the CUSTOMER CARELINE automatically hangs up. Mind you, I do not own a landline - use my mobile for all calls, because of this I have lost so many job opportunities due to frequent drop outs while doing my PHONE INTERVIEWS! I have to ask to borrow my other people's mobile just to do it if possible! THANKS Vodafail.

A $79 capped post-paid plan (including iPhone) which commenced Feb 2010. Bills were coming in $600+ - duplicated calls, my mobile number calling itself, duplicated SMS charges, web access that didn't seem to disconnect itself. My calls to customer service - (i) unanswered, (ii) on hold for ages and ages or (iii) promises that a supervisor would call me back. I've never heard back. I desperately want to get out of my plan, and I believe others have done so but without the billing disputes finalised, I am stuck in a loop. I now have a pre-paid plan with another carrier but I'm being threatened with legal advice on the "undisputed" billing amount, which I can't identify.

I only use text because I hate talking on the phone. When I do make a call, its on the home phone, so I was shocked to get a warning text that my flexi credit was below $10. I get $30 text and talk and even though I sometimes run out of free text, I never run out of credit within the 60 days. Its been less than a month, I still have 88 free texts left and yet $20. worth of flexi-credit has just vanished!!! I'm changing to another carrier, I recently lost $149 worth of 3/vodafone mobile broadband credit due to it expiring early. I just can't handle going through all the !@#$%^ of sitting on hold for an hour and then struggling to understand what someone is saying in their broken English.

Live in Como in the Sutherland Shire of NSW. Have had poor reception for past few years, but recently moved and now have intermittent coverage at best. I run a business from home and have calls drop out or divert to voicemail on a daily basis. Have been calling Vodafone to complain every month or so. Since the move (May) they have offered half price for three months, then after further complaint free for three months, asking me to please be patient as they are doing major upgrades. However, they still insist that my address has great coverage. Yet they are referring the complaint for "investigation". Was told in June to wait until the end of July and if not resolved then could terminate my contract without fees and return handset (HTC Desire HD). Upon calling them on 4th August was told "we can see you haven't been using your handset. How do you know your coverage hasn't improved? We can't cancel your contract. My answer: The phone is switched on every day and I can see the number of bars has not improved. I don't make any outgoing calls (why would I?) - have a second handset for outgoing on Amaysim (uses Optus network and coverage is quite good). People still call me on my Voda phone and the calls still drop out, go straight to voicemail, or they can't hear me.
Anyway, insisted on speaking with a supervisor. Was told they would call back in 24-48 hours. I said that wasn't good enough. They insisted a supervisor would call back within 24-48 hours. A supervisor did call me back about an hour later. Resolved to hold on for two more weeks (until 18th Aug) and if no improvement can terminate with no exit fees. The matter has again been referred to investigations - as a priority this time! What was it the last few times?
I have reviewed the Vodafone blog about their upgrades. I can see there is a planned upgrade in an adjacent suburb (Jannali) for Q3 2011, but it is not noted under the "sites in testing and planned to come On-Air in next couple of weeks".
I am not confident of any improvement by the 18th. I will not be taking "no" for an answer this time!
I have downloaded several apps to help monitor my coverage. I click on "OpenSignal" app every couple of hours and it generally reports between 23% and 37% signal strength.
Does anyone know of an app that can tell the strength of other networks at a location without having to get another sim?
I will probably go with Amaysim once I am out of Vodafone as I am not keen to enter another contract. For $39.90 a month can get unlimited talk and text +4Gb data. That will do me fine.
PS hubby just got iPhone 4 on Telstra NextG and has not lost a single call yet.
PPS I am not even trying to get web / email on my phone - I just want to be able to make and receive calls.
PPS I must say that my time on hold waiting for Vodafone customer service has not been too bad and the staff, if anything, have been overly helpful and apologetic. They just haven't been able to fix my problem.

I was overseas (In the USA) in late June and July and a week before I left, I went into a vodafail shop to get them to check that it was on international roaming and it would all be fine overseas. They assured me it was after checking my account and fixing it all up. I am a prepaid customer, and because I was going for a month I purchased $49 flexi credit hoping it would last the trip (note this has a 30 day expiry)

I get over to South Korea (stopover) and I noticed it didn't pick up signal to any network but because I was only there one day I didn't worry, thinking it would be okay once I reached New York.

New York - Day 1 no sms from Voda saying I'd joined an american network.
I tried manually selecting networks, it didn't work.

New York - Day 2 still no connection so I used hotel phone with a prepaid card to call up the vodafail overseas customer care number.

I get put on hold for ages, and I get transferred to different people each time having to explain to each person what was going on - no one saved details on file or told the next person. I explained that I was not able to receive/make INCOMING or OUTGOING calls and yet each different person would say to me "It's okay we'll give you a call back on your mobile once it's sorted" I had to practically yell at some of the customer service reps what I had said quite a few times "I CAN NOT RECEIVE CALLS"
Unfortunately the call cut out (I'm not sure if it was on their end or my end...) and I had to recall and start the process all over again.

The second call, I got trasnferred to SEVEN different reps. Finally through to the IT department (mind you I had to explain the situation again and again to all SEVEN reps grr!)
IT Department checked my account and notified me that it should be working and that my settings were all correct. Therefore not their problem. I explained that I had been in to the shop and they'd fixed it but my HTC Legend wasn't working and no they couldn't call me back cause my phone DID NOT RECIEVE INCOMING CALLS!
They put me on hold (about 20 times throughout my two hour conversation with the IT department) and said that they could try some trouble shooting with me over the phone.

They requested that I manually try selecting the network (which I did - even though I had tried this myself about 100 times since I'd arrived in NYC) that didn't work. Next they got me to dial all these codes (don't remember what they were called tho.. ) that didn't work. Then they told me the only option was to factory reset my phone and hope that worked. Because I was overseas, I didn't have my cables to back up my phone (this is a brand new phone too!) and so I'd loose all my photos which I'd just taken, all my numbers etc.

I did do what they suggested and factory restarted my phone. It didn't work either. I was starting to get quite annoyed by this stage - I really needed a phone while OS and didn't want to keep using the hotel phoen because it would charge me evry time I used a call card as well.

After TWO HOURS on the phone - the call dropped out and I lost them again.
I tried calling back, but couldn't get to the IT department and they told me to call back later (apparantly something happened in Mumbai and half the office was gone).

When I tried manually selecting network a couple of days later- it said "UNABLE TO SELECT NETWORK SIM/NETWORK ERROR CONTACT YOUR SERVICE PROVIDER"

I couldn't waste another two hours on the phone so I had to leave it till I returned to Australia.

When I got back on the first day back - I went in to a Vodafail shop and they told me that because I was prepaid they couldn't help me out and If I wanted to have my phone looked at it would take 4 weeks and they don't supply back up / replacement phones for prepaid customers.
I called the call centre once again and they said they didn't understand why my phone still wasn't working (even in Australia!) and that I must have damaged the phone.

My credit expired - even though I hadn't used it. I have since been forced to buy a new phone
(am now with Optus and have a brilliant iPhone 4) but I was so angry that I spent all that time and worry about a phone and money on credit when I hadn't used any of it and it expired.

dropping line, almost no internet on mobile, delayed voicemail, delayed miss calls???, cant talk to customet due to dropping line/holding too long
it's really vodafail

I signed up in Feb of this year with IPHONE 4 on that $49 unlimited deal. I had the phone for a couple of months before I started cracking the shits due to poor coverage I called up and spent hours on hold to finally speak to someone. They ran test and everything and couple of weeks later I had to call back because they said they would call me but they didn't. So when I called them they offerred me everything 3 months for free, Discounts on my bills. I said to VODAFONE that, That was a nice thing but there is no point with the poor coverage. In the end they said they would send out a recovery bag for My Iphone 4 to send it back and they would cancel the contract free of charge. It has now been 6 months and I have not received my recovery bag and I have rang up a couple of times to get it.
Yet still have not received it every time I have tried to call in the last month or two I spend ages on hold and then get disconnected but now when I ring I get DUE TO HIGH NUMBER OF CALLS WE CANNOT TAKE YOUR CALL AT THE MOMENT! What is that crap about?
They have sent me a disconnection bill of over $1000 and I cannot get a hold of this pathetic company! I think I will take this up with the TIO!

I have been on a $20 plan for years and I have always paid my account on time and only rarely go over my call limits. I got a new I phone this month, put in my sim card and despite having no coverage in the house I have just moved into, I received a statement from Vodafone for my monthly account of $612.30!!!!! This is over two and a half YEARS worth of call totals in one month. It is all in data downloads which are not on my plan, despite the fact that I haven't actually accessed the internet from my new phone. I have tried calling Vodafone and have spoken with India but after wasting an hour of my life I am no clearer on just why I have such a huge bill. The staff don't call back when they say they will and I have sat on hold for 30 mins without their customer service bothering to pick up my call. Surprisingly, I don't have endless hours to devote to waiting on the phone for Vodafone. I know I am not an important customer to them but I can in no way afford to pay $612.30 for data charges I have not used. Hmmmm, I do feel a little bit better now....thank you Vodafail!

On hold again
Just can't wait to get off hold again
Listenin' to the dumb hold music which never ends.
And I can't wait to get off hold again
On hold again
Getting angrier then I've never been
Saying things that I'll prob'lly say again,
As soon as I get off hold again.

With thanks to Willie Nelson

Trying to obtain an unlock code to get away from Vodafail. Rang 7 days ago was told would be available in 5 days, no calls from them since, rang again am now told by supervisor another 4 days required. Pathetic over 3 hours on hold and on calls and have gotten no where, they then put me to their retention dept, yeah right ! Have complained got plan cancelled and half price until I can move away. Cannot wait !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

1. I called up to complain and to get out of my contract, but the voicemessage at Vodaphone said there was a 40 min wait and to go to the web site - the web site says to call the number I had just rung! What nonsense!
2. While on hold and looking at the internet page referred to above, I did get through to someone fairly quickly but then they were ACTUALLY ARGUING with me about me wanting to get out of my contract! The conversation ended when the call dropped out. Talk about ironic...

Tried calling 1555@ 08.15 Sunday morning 24/07 ... just simply gave up waiting @ 09.05 without having spoken to anybody; music on hold was OK though!!

I sent my wife a message at 11:30am yesterday, 33 hours later she has still not received it (we are both with Vodafone). This is a common occurrence and we have to rely on either a confirmation sms or a phone call if it is important - I expect this places a further burden on the service! We used to just assume that the message would get through instantly.

I'm not complaining to Vodafone directly because I know there will be no benefit for me. I have no desire to be put through an automated system, placed on hold and eventually connected to an operator who apologizes and tells me it will get better. It seems easier just to wait for the contract to run out and find a new provider.

So how can one call centre be so incompetent? Are they not trainer correctly or just lack intelligence? Sick of being constantly transferred to the incorrect department! Then sick of being promised calls back that never happen. Not to mention being put on hold for long periods of time and having the incompetent call centre rep come back with an answer to a question I never asked.

I don't care where the Call Centre is, as long as they know how to do their job

Tired of being on hold when contacting Vodafone support ??? - According to the cheat sheet from the TV report the other night - to bypass their phone system and get to an actual person then "Press 1 for mobile services, then 5. You can enter your mobile number or just hold. Avoid the voice activation system.". Haven't tried it to see if it works but is supposed to you to a human contact much quicker - not that that will help much based on the fact that many of their helpdesk people are flat out speaking English.