I have been with vodafone for a number of years. I was a Pre Paid customer for my mobile phone. I decided to become a Mobile broadband customer on thier pre paid service. BIG MISTAKE #1. The data speeds are terrible and very slow, but worse, in a 1 month period i am guaranteed to be comppletly un able to use thie Mobile Broadband at all!! This causes some horrific problems as i have a strong need to use interenet, my family and friends often are over seas.
As i am writing this i wonder why, but i then decided to go on a 12 month contract with my mobile phone, what was i thinking?????
In the first 3 weeks my contract was activated as a 24 month $49 contract and not the 12 month $49. And when i tried to call to fix this problem the fun really started! After trying to negotiate my way throught " LARA " i would then be put on hold, for a minimum of at least 20mins!! And when i eventually did get to speak to an operator, it would seem that apprently i do not speak very good English because i can never understand the operator, and nor can they understand me. I am Australian, and speak fluent english. Or at least i thought. Some times when i send text messages they often will not arrive at destination, and sometimes 10 duplicate messages get delivered, a week later!
On the whole my Mobile Phone does not seem to suffer too many problems, but the mobile broad band is a horror joke!!! Its shocking. And the customer help centre is nothing short of disgusting and a total joke!!!!
I want to join in this class action asap!!! I have had enough!!!!!

No reception/calls drop out frequently, no texts alerting to voicemail. Data coverage is dismal, not even 20% of the time do I get data coverage. Called vodafone, was on hold after speaking to a lady from a call centre initailly for 48 minutes......... needless to say I gave up and ended the call.

A friend recommend I move over to vodafone after my contract expired from another carrier. I did and what a disaster!! I was told that it would take 24 hours to change over and I can keep my phone number. 3 days later I was not connected I rang around 6pm and was on hold for 2 hours till 8pm and was disconnected. I tried 2 more evenings and on the 3rd day I was told they are experiencing technical problems. I was without a phone for 7 days. Finally someone told me that initially the staff did not ask me for my old carriers account number to do the transfer (so much for training!). I was connected. Now I am experiencing reception problem. My phone hardly rings and I can hardly hear the person on the other end. I cant wait to return to my original carrier.

I have made over 10 phone calls to Vodafone (after waiting an hour on hold) to complain about the ongoing drop outs only to be told to " switch ur phone off then on" on more than 5 occasions, i have had my gprs reactivated 3 times and still have the same issue.
I requested to go on a lower plan as I don't see why I should continue paying a high monthly fee when I dnt get my full service only to be told "i signed up on a 24 month contract"
The service I received was appalling! I'm stuck for over 1 year!

Vodafone mobile internet? When it does work, it is slow, and when I try access using my phone it doesn't work half the time. I have tried calling customer service, only to be put on hold, then told to call another department, and now I have just given up. Luckily I only have 1 month left of a 24 month contract, and then I will not be renewing.

I tried to use the Mobile 3G broadband connection after signing up for a 2 year contract. I tried to get out of the contract the very next day after signing, but it was difficult to speak with anyone in customer service - I spent many hours on hold. I finally gave up and let the contract run it's course without using it. Vodafone seem to intentionally make it almost impossible to have complaints properly addressed. I will never do business with Vodafone again.

Hi,

In the middle of trying to organise a move; and, the phone either has no reception or just drops the call. This is extremely frustrating.

Just to make it all funnier, Vodafone sent a survey asking about whether I was happy with the service. Needless to say, I would never refer anyone to them.

Have not tried customer care due to ready about the hours on hold. None of this is fair to any of us; and the amount of time wasted is outrageous..

I have been with Vodafone for more than 6 years. There service used to be fantastic and so did their coverage especially in regional areas (although not really remote but definitely out of the the big towns). Now it is appalling that I can't receive a call in the city where I live and work without it regularly dropping out. I am out of pocket regularly with the dropouts as I have to recall as face another connection fee plus the fact that they bill in 30 or 60 second intervals!!! Apparently they were doing a tower upgrade over a year ago but the coverage has only gotten worse not better especially in the regional areas. How come I can't have a conversation inside a house or building anymore???

I too have also experience customer service issues when calling Customer Care 1555, I finally get through once the stupid Lara (who used to work well) finally understands what I want but then I am placed on hold for an exhorbitant amount of time and then I am finally transferred to someone where it rings and rings and rings eventually after 5 minutes of the ringing I hang up (sick of the noise in my ear) and try again (I can only assume the person does not want to pick up as they can see how long I have been on hold for and will get an earful from me!). The next few times I try once Lara sorts it out, I am then told there has been a problem and I will have to call again later and am promptly hung up on. Other times, I am transferred to the wrong area to be told it is closed and need to call again during business hours and not given the option to speak to anyone or change my choice. I have to call again!!!

I am disappointed with both the coverage and service as I have recommended many people in the past to Vodafone and they are all worse off now than before and I am now faced with changing companies which means I have to pay to call them all or vice versa! All because of this crap!

My phone was cut off without warning as Vodafone claimed that i had not paid my bill. Having been an honorable client for many years i was very upset about the situation. I was put on hold umpteen times without a response and bearing in mind i was having to call off someone else's phone, therefore incurring fees for them. Once i finally got through vodafone were claiming that they had tried to debit my credit card and it was rejected. I then called the bank and they claimed that my credit card had not even been attempted to debit. Vodafone has cost me time and money. As soon as my contract is up i vow to never waste my time with their company ever again.

Vodafone. IM SO GLAD TO BE FREEEEE OF YOU! When the "scheduled maintenance" that occured on a saturday a few weeks back, i was left with a brick of an iphone 4 with no service available. Most vodafone users around me got their service back that night. Me however - No. SIX DAYS OF NO SERVICE! I rang every single day trying to figure out what happened, being left on hold for hours at a time, being disconnected etc - then on the sixth day I spoke to someone who said it takes seven days once they've put a 'voucher in' to source the problem, and ohhh, they forgot to put the voucher in so i have SEVEN MORE DAYS TO WAIT. Well obviously this led me on a tirade of abuse for a good 10 minutes saying I want OUT and NOW and i want my 200 dollar bill WIPED and blah blah blah.

Well after being told to wait while he transfers me to the accounts department to cancel the contract i screamed 'dont you dare put me on hold again!!!" and I was told "it's an internal transfer so it wont be as long a wait". OH REALLY? 2 hours.... 2..... hours. of.my.life.

Anyway it turned out to be worth it as after explaining how long I had been without service and how they breached the contract, they wiped my bill, told me they would refund my handset fee i pid up front and let me out of my contract - just have to send the handset back.

Now I'm with optus and they PWN VODAFONE SO HARD!

I needed to speak with vodafone customer support. I called and waited on hold for 2 hours, while being repeatedly told by an automated message that I was 'almost there'. After the 2 hour mark the call simply dropped out.

I am so disgusted in the service I have received to date. I'm paying for additional internet for my laptop that to date I have been unable to actually log onto and an iphone that has the worst reception I have experienced in all the years I have been a mobile phone user. Every time I called the service line I am told that 'Vodafone are experiencing an unprecedented number of calls and that the wait could be up to and over an hour!' Unprecedented... really, I beg to differ!!!! And please tell me who has an hour to wait on hold!

What a joke, signing with Vodafone was the biggest mistake I ever made!

I'm on pre-paid and in the last few months my reception has disappeared, my calls drop out, I rarely receive mms that have been sent to me and the ones I send rarely arrive. I've called vodafone several times, I have been on hold for hours only to be disconnected, I have been transferred from one department to another and still cannot get my issues solved! I had to send 9 emails to get a real person to answer and STILL my problem wasn't solved, I was just issued more data allowance. Would be great if I could actually use it! I went to a store to talk to staff but had to wait until the staff finished their Christmas plans conversation!!!
I downloaded vodafones "who to call" app for the iPhone only to figure out that I actually can't call 3 customers for free after all, after I called one to find I'd used up my credit

For the last 3 months, on a very regular basis..vodafone sends my smses 3 or 4 times. I am then charged for this triplicate/quadruple send. I have rang vodafone, been put on hold for hours...been into a few stores. The best they can do is give me credit for the éxtra'smses sent. People now hate receiving my smses and I'm reluctant to use the sms service incase its still occurring. The problem was meant to have been fixed a month ago...but still happening. Vodafone staff are blaming the 3 merger. 3 are blaming the Vodafone merger. Get your act together Vodafone!

we changed internet service a couple of months ago, just waited till the contract expired.live in southport on the gold coast and constantly dropped out and had to reload. were also on the crazy ron network which used vodafone. same thing just waited till the contract ran out then went to telstra. couldnt get mobile reception in the house if there were enough bars and the phone rang we had to run to the footpath just to be able to talk and even there recetion was poor. now 3 bars on the phone. reception on internet and phone perfect. poor reception and customer service non existent. waiting for over an hour everytime i needed to talk to them. netscape actualy calls me back if i have a problem no waiting on hold just to get someone to hang up on me. vodaphone very very poor. will never use again

we changed internet service a couple of months ago, just waited till the contract expired.live in southport on the gold coast and constantly dropped out and had to reload. were also on the crazy ron network which used vodafone. same thing just waited till the contract ran out then went to telstra. couldnt get mobile reception in the house if there were enough bars and the phone rang we had to run to the footpath just to be able to talk and even there recetion was poor. now 3 bars on the phone. reception on internet and phone perfect. poor reception and customer service non existent. waiting for over an hour everytime i needed to talk to them. netscape actualy calls me back if i have a problem no waiting on hold just to get someone to hang up on me. vodaphone very very poor. will never use again

Recently my phone started sending out multiple copies of texts. My friends were receiving up to 10 copies of the same text. I was unsure if I was being charged for these texts, so I tried sending a request to my account balance. This was hopelessly inaccurate as I was never sure when the extra texts were sent.

So I decided to call Vodafone.

I could not get hold of anyone.

So I decided to see exactly how long it would take before the system cut me off, or alternatively, if I got to hear from a human.

I placed my phone on the charger, rang the number, put it on speaker so I didn't have to hold it up to my ear. This I did at around 10am. Over 24 hours - TWENTY FOUR BLOODY HOURS - I was still on hold. Every 15min or so arecorded message came through to let me know I was in a cue and my call "was important."

In the end I gave up. I had been on hold ALL DAY, and ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT, into lunch time the next day. Before I actually hung up.

Prior to this I had called every number possible related to Vodafone, and managed to speak to one person in the "business" dept who referred me back to the numbers I had called.

A week after this experience I received a call from a vodafone telemarketer - in the middle of work - asking me if I wanted to sign up for extra specials etc etc.
I took this opportunity to tell him of my experiences and relate my grief and concern that I was being charged for texts I never sent.
He said he'd get back to me after speaking to his supervisor.

3 months later, I'm still waiting.

In a little while I will buy a new phone, and I will NEVER go back to vodafail.
I'm utterly disgusted with their dodgy practices.

Oh, and reception? Only in the inner metro north of Melbourne. Everywhere else is one to 0 bars. I have noticed nobody else has this poor range with their providers.

My Usual Business phone plan spend is around $250 -$350 per month.... this month $4,000+ reason being one of my numbers has downloaded 10 gig of data over the month (phone is used by a person largely in wifi network and who also sleeps at night), and why didn't I get notification before it got to $3000?. OK, fair enough, say we have downloaded 10 gig, now give me a reasonable price for it! I then tried to contact them on many occasions usually on hold for 15-20 minutes and when I got through, the consultant has either no knowledge of why the bill is so high or.....beep beep beep, ohh, the indian call centre has dropped out again, here goes another 20 minutes of my life wasted. Anyway, finally have reported them to the TIO....lets see what happens, there is no way I am paying this, bad credit rating or not!

AB

I recenly attempted to speak to Voda Customer Service. The automated voice announcer advised:

"We listened to your feedback and we are now opened 24/7....... You call has been placed in the queue and your estimated wait time is... 2 Hours and 46 minutes..." Well done Voda!

i currently work for a 3/vodafone dealer and the biggest regret i've had this year was moving from 3 and signing up to vodafone. firstly, my number from 3 stopped working, but the number didnt actually port over to vodafone for a few days so i was stuck with no phone and no number over these few days. after that, i had shitty reception (though somewhat understandable as i got the iphone 4), however internet speed was poor. as the weeks went by the call dropouts increased, poor reception increased, internet speed became more and more slower. then there was the incident on a saturday not too long ago where voda had no reception for hours. then just before xmas again my phone cut out service for around 1-2 hours. i work for vodafone and i even think people should steer clear of them..

Well I was lucky after 2 months of complaints and continue calls most of which had me on hold for an hour or more I was able to terminate my contract 11 months early. No penalty was applied but I am awaiting my final bill to confirm this.
We will wait and see

I was with Vodafone for 4 weeks. Using my iphone with Vodafone was a complete waste of time. Using google maps was useless as I reach my destination before my maps loaded. onstatnt calls dropping out and being on hold for 2 hours for support - Vodafone return calls at midnight etc etc etc
I finally had to leave and to to Telstra. Never again.

Terrible coverage where I lived (even though it was inner Sydney!) and Vodafone refused to do anything about it for a number of years. Then they started charging my bill for services I had never asked for. After months of trying to resolve this I eventually started a TIO complaint. All improperly billed money was eventually refunded but Vodafone never addressed the fault in their billing system that caused the overcharging in the first place.

Not to mention the huge wait times to talk to customer service staff. These used to be regularly 45 minutes, and are still something like 10-15 mins. In comparison, Telstra have made huge strides recently to improve their customer service, with friendlier staff and zero wait time every time I have called them.

Ported out to Telstra in the end, and advising everyone I know to steer clear of Vodafone.

I have been a vodafone customer for many years and currently still have 1 year to go on my contract. Reception has been mostly good to ok until about 6 months ago where it went from ok to complete fail. When there is reception, calling a landline connects faster than calling another vodafone number. If an attempt to call fails, the time it takes to cancel the call causes my phone to stuff up until I go into flight mode and back out (or until I reboot the phone) to clear the cancelled call. Where there is no reception, I have to do the flight mode trick for the phone to attempt to connect to vodafone again. I have tested with sims from other carriers just in case it was my phone. Seems to work just fine with other sims.

I want to keep my mobile number but can't get out of my contract (without penalty) because I can't get hold of a vodafone support person. No reply via email. Going through formal complaints channel is taking too long. I want out now!

My new i-phone would only receive voicemail messages after up to 4 days later. (Not immediately as one would expect) I lost over $300 worth of work in my detailing business directly as a result of not receiving the notifications in a timely manner. Waited on hold for 70 mins, being transferred from one department to another, to try to fix this. It ended up being something they knew about, that they'd put in place to 'avoid glitches in the system '. When I complained about my lost income as a direct result of this 'quickfix'they 'generously'compensated me $10. Oh,...and I did get a 'sorry'.

As well as the usual thing of receiving texts 5 hours after they were sent and being the only person to be unable to send/receive calls or messages on NYE because I foolishly stuck with Vodafone while everyone on Telstra, Optus happily texts away, I have another Vodafail. I recently got an iPhone and needed to transfer my sim details to a micro-sim. I called Vodafone who said they would send me the sim then I would 'simply have to call them' to activate it.

I received my sim and dialled the customer care line first thing in the morning (06:00) I heard a message that said they were experiencing higher than normal volumes of calls and it would take more than 30 minutes to answer my call. An hour on hold went by and I'd still not got anywhere, so I drove the 45 minutes to work with my phone on speaker on the passenger seat just to see if they would pick up. No. Not the next hour either, or the one after.

I had my phone on my desk on speaker while I worked and had others call the same number to see if it was just me, but no. At 11:00 the line went dead. I went to a Vodafone store in my lunch break to try and get it sorted, and the sales assistant said he could not help me. He said I have to call customer care. When I replied that I'd been on hold with them for five hours, he claimed I should have had no problem as they'd been calling the same number all day. I said I was not spending more time on the phone and please just sort it out for me here. He replied there was no way he could, so I left, walked 20 metres to the Optus store and I have not had a problem since (they could help me, funnily enough!).

I'd been with Vodafone for over 6 years (appreciated the value for money basically) but I've had enough of their shocking service.

I was with Vodafone for over a year, fortunately I was prepared to go through all the crap to rid myself of them.
I had wireless broadband, never got more than 10mins on the net before I lost the connection.
The most infuriating thing for me was trying to contact them. Sometimes Id wait up to 30mins to get through. Then when i realised i wasnt speaking to someone in Australia I demanded to be put through to someone here.
That irritating "Voice Recognition" system they have "Im Lara, all you have to do is talk to me" obviously designed to keep you on hold as long as possible in the hope that youll just give up!!
They still kept sending me bills up to 5months after id finally paid up and finished with them.I finally called them again, and again "30 mins" on hold, got the operator to look up my details, to be told "Oh, youre no longer a customer" Duh!! She said she would stop the bills coming. No bills so far, but im still not convinced theyve stopped. Vodafone were without a doubt the "Worst" company I have ever dealt with and I will "Never" go near them again.

I have been a loyal Vodafone customer for over 10 years and it's a shame to experience in the last 2 years it's decline in services. Vodafone is falling apart. My problems encountered are:
- having to break my internet broadband contract as internet service, which once worked fine completely ceased in the area I live in.
- after breaking the contract, receiving ongoing bills for months and having to make several attempts on the phone and in store to have the bills cancelled.
- I changed my mobile number and this reset everything in the system, so I no longer was able to receive MMS, internet or have my bills sent to my email. I also was unable to access voicemail settings for some unknown reason.
- It took 4 phone calls and a visit in store to rectify the abovementioned.
LETS NOT FORGET
- Constant delays in text messaging
- 45 minute wait on hold to customer service (at all times)
- Constant outage nation wide, especially when it's 2am and you have a medical emergency.

I have 6 months left on my phone contract, I will be changing carrier and will boycot Vodafail forever. I have already moved to another carrier for my net services and am satisfied.

i have two phone in contract with vodaphone and i have raised the point that i have reception issues everywher i go.also i have drop outs and bad internet usage. i actual called vodaphone where i was on hold for 80 min. while i was on hold i sent them an email stating my fustrations. nobody respomed to me. a week later i got a call from vodaphone. they issed me a $49 credit on my phone becuase i was on hold for 80 min. however when it came to the serivce they blamed it on th sim card and the phone. i went through the steps that they told me to do to rectify this issue but the propblem is still not fixed. i just gave up. but now i am holding hope with this website. please help me get my phones out of vodaphone

I keep on getting drop outs .People try to ring cannot get through ,messages donnot get through straight away .Rang to complain on hold for a long time while on hold call drop out .

I keep on getting drop outs .People try to ring cannot get through ,messages donnot get through straight away .Rang to complain on hold for a long time while on hold call drop out .

I keep on getting drop outs .People try to ring cannot get through ,messages donnot get through straight away .Rang to complain on hold for a long time while on hold call drop out .

I keep on getting drop outs .People try to ring cannot get through ,messages donnot get through straight away .Rang to complain on hold for a long time while on hold call drop out .

I keep on getting drop outs .People try to ring cannot get through ,messages donnot get through straight away .Rang to complain on hold for a long time while on hold call drop out .

I heard about this site on the radio this morning - reading through I see so many people experiencing the exact same problems I have - I have been with Vodafone for 3 years but in the last 5 month it has been a disaster - constant drop outs of calls, network connection errors, service not available errors - I thought is was my handset so after a long process eventually they sent "for repair" which has changed nothing. I am trying to run a small business but I get no reception or constant drop outs so it is a huge problem for me - go to the store & even they put you on hold to the customer service site for who knows how long - the result - nothing but frustration...

They were overcharging me for four months. I called several times and was on hold for over half an hour before hanging up. Emailed the complaints page on their website one month ago and no response. Finally today I used the call back function on the automated telephone system. I did receive a call back and problem solved. It seems like they have engaged in some outsourcing because "Michael" who I spoke to was not from Australia. At least they are trying to solve the problem.

No reception, no service, no support, what network?
I was happy for many years with Vodafail, they provided a viable alternative to Optus & Telstra. But somewhere between being the new kid on the block and the failed service provider they are today, Vodafail forgot that they were in the telco space and started to ride on the back of 'you have contract, you will stay & you will pay'. With extreme wait times to speak with staff who have no skill or understanding of issues, an inability to make or receive calls (Hobart) I have left my mobile on permanent divert to my landline in hope that at least some people can get to my message bank 101. Unfortunately a contract is locking me in, hopefully with enough contracts coming up for renewal over the next 12 months, Vodafail will soon be a distant memory for all Australians and the other carriers will learn from this mess that Australian consumers are learning to stand up for their rights.

I have not been able to make or receive calls in my suburb for the past week! I receive text messages and am able to send them just fine, there are no issues with my reception but calls just do not work! Tried calling 3 times over three days and after 50 minutes on hold the phone call has been cut off each time! It's impossible to speak to somebody and the people in their stores claim "we know there is an issue but we dont know what it is" well your a great help! I have sent them an email but really I'm not expecting a response. The ombudsman might be a good idea right about now...

I could not get the internet to work when i first joined vodafone back in June 2009. I downloaded the settings on-line installled them on my phone and followed all the instructions, yet it wouldn't work.

I tried calling the help line, but after being on hold for 20 minutes the call would drop out and i would be placed right back in the front of the queue again. This happened about 3 times across different days.

I tried going into a store, to only receive attitude from the staff who were completely disinterested as i wasn't buying. All they did was tell me to call the customer support.

I called customer support and got through. All the operator did was send the settings to my phone again, which i installed again and yet still didn't work.

I tried logging a request on the online support platform that vodafone have. Still no luck.

I tried calling vodafone and simply asking for some step-by-step instructions to change the settings my self. I finally reached an operator who understood my exasperation and put me through to the support. After speaking to someone who did mot understand english i was put through to an operator who finally solved my problem. My account did not have internet activated, despite me requesting it on the application form i completed.

I don't understand why Vodafone make it so hard to help their customers. Vodafone have serious issues in terms of the culture in there organisation. It is completely customer service averse.

Great site: I have been a Vodafone custoer for far too long. Its time Vodafone provided a better service. Patchy coverage in regional OZ even on highways. Even Virgin coverage seems better. Patchy coverage in innercity Melbourne, calls dropping out and very slow data. Plus the appalling service from the automated telephone system. I have also had bill paying problems when I was charged twice in 2009 when I tried to pay my bill via the phone. I also love the wY they charge when I am on global roaming. This us a company that deserves to have it's brand trashed for it's contempt for it's customers.

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

I signed up to vodafone 3G broadband several weeks ago so that I could access the evenings. After signing on to a 12 month contract I realised that their network is so congested that I couldn't get any traffic through at all - I literally couldn't even access Google's homepage between 9pm and 11pm every night.

After spending several frustrating weeks trying to resolve the issue with their support team, i gave up and paid the $200 contract breakout fee just so that I could start sleeping at night again. Their support service was worse than useless - more than 1 hour on hold, followed by being put through to another deparment and being put on hold again, then hang-ups, broken promises of call backs, misunderstandings, confusion and then nothing.

Thanks for the nightmare vodafone. At least I'm now free of you forever.

Class action, anyone?

I've had so many issues with vodafone I'm no longer with them. But most recently I was on the phone for almost an hour, on hold, trying to sort out a billing issue. Finally I had to hang up before actually speaking to anyone because I had to go to work. I have called back twice since and spoken to customer service people in Mumbai who are trying to sort out my billing issue. Vodafone needs to reimburse me the $60 they charged to my credit card after I left vodafone in October. They admit they owe me the money, but they haven't reimbursed me yet.

Last year I travelled for work and a vodafone sales person recommended I use a USB with a 24 month contract for wireless internet. Many of the places I travelled to in Australia had very weak service, if any service at all. I spent hours and hours on the vodafone help-line, and finally vodafone recinded my contract.

My father and sister had vodafone accounts until recently. For the ten years they had their accounts they received extremely poor customer service. at the completion of their contracts they have been charged at least $100 more than they owed, but the process of trying to deal with customer service prohibits any attempt on their part to reclaim that money.

Maybe if they spent all that money they are spending on TV ads and sponsoring the lame Cricket *yawn* on their network, they might not have these probs.

Vodafone - the only people who care about your cricket sponsorship are the Indians who keep us on hold for an hour in your lame, rude, annoying offshore call centres.

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

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

When I tried to call because I was having issues with my voicemail I was on hold for just over an hour, then an Indian guy answered who told me to visit the website! I told him I had done this and he said there was nothing he could do as all the 'settings' in my account had voicemail switched on.

Also my date is PAINFULLY slow, facebook, smh.com.au everything takes ages to load (even if it does load).

My friend has Optus, and while he doesn't love them, he said he has never been on hold for more than ten minutes when he has a prob.

calls keep cutting out and they keep charching for too much services that i dont use and when i complain its always waiting on hold for nothing or to get to someone who says you sighned up for this shit

Had a 3 broadband stick for data when travelling but kept being hit with massive roaming data charges. So while sill in contract, got a new Voda mobile broadband sick as Voda coverage extends regionally. Or so we were led to believe. Since getting it on 27/09/2010, we have not been able to get it to work. Tried multiple computers, it fails. Call Vodafone, on hold for 2 hours before being answered. Told we had to call back next day. Next day on hold for 2 hours. Told it was not activated by the sales person. They activate it, it worked - for the day. Next day it didn't work. Called and on hold for 2 hours again. Re-Activated it again. Next day didn't work again. Repeat above story each time we travelled for the past 3 months.

I have actually being having serious network issues with Vodafone since June this year. This included,
- not being able to make calls
- entire network out for mins and sometimes up to an hour (ie no reception of any type)
- slow to non-existent data services
- SMS that were either not delivered or delivered over 24 hours late

I live in Newtown within 5km of the Sydney CBD and my house is actually 100metres from the telephone exchange, I have direct line of sight to a Vodafone mobile phone tower.

When I complained in June I was told it was a problem with my handset and went through the whole isolation test. I knew this was nit the problem because,
- I swapped SIM into another handset and had same problems
- my partner is also with Vodafone and was having same problems
- I was unable to call friends living in same area who were on Vodafone

After explaining all this to a Vodafone CSR I was finally given an explanation by Vodafone. The Newtown tower was being 'upgraded' which will take a few months so please 'switch your phone back to 2G until the work is complete'.

The biggest issue by far has been the lack of communication from Vodafone. No letter or email to explain what I was told over the phone, no date letting me know when services would be back to normal, nothing.

In short the access to the network didn't improve and by November I had actually found myself working around the Vodaphone problems by,
- switching my mobile back to 2G
- borrowing my neighbors mobile to make calls who was not with Vodafone
- buying a 3G data card and connecting it to a laptop using another Telco's 3G network

I primarily use my phone for business and have been on a business plan for 5 years. The inconvenience has impacted on my ability to work and I will be joining the class action to seek damages and compensation.

Four weeks ago I swapped over to another network after being on hold to Vodafone for over 2 hours. It actually took less than 30mins to swap to the other network.

I don't think Vodafone still understands how pissed off people are about this. When I complained in writing to Vodafone they denied the problems and said they won't be letting me out of my contract.

Letting me out of my contract is the least of their problems, I would have assumed losing our business, we have 5 contracts with Vodafone and have spent over 10k in the last 3 years was a bigger issue for them.

I don't get reception anywhere in my house. In the middle of the city in Sydney.When you call them you end up on hold for up to 2 hours. They are taking our hard earned money and not reinvesting into their network..They must be taking the piss.

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

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

I have an iPhone 3GS with Vodafone (which has now, unfortunately for her, been passed down to my girlfriend). The reception, for the last 18 months has been lousy at best. One bar almost all day, everywhere. Trying to use the internet on the iPhone is totally useless. You'd probably be quicker going to the server, plugging in a flash drive, and retrieving data that way. I have tried contacting Vodafone many, many times, but have given up after being on hold for hours.

What can I do!

I have had nothing but trouble with receiving calls roaming coverage, dropped calls, lack of 3G network and then when I ring to talk to someone I am stuck on hold for hours...when I finally get to talk to someone they tell me it's not their fAult and it's not as bad as what I say?? Then I ask to be released from my contract so I can go with a provider who actually can offer me the service I need and I am denied that as well - yet I am forced to pay for a service that is clearly unable to be delivered as was sold or promised to me... How can they get away with it? They should just release contracts and listen to the feedback from customers - to ignore us just doesn't make good business sense...

On trying to change from prepaid to plan via customer service, I spent (no exaggeration) at least 10 hours on the phone to vodafone to the past week. One of which was and 2hr 11 min call which ended on me being hung up on (accidentally or not) by the service.

I wanted to keep my same number, they sent me out a sim card which i put in my phone. They cancelled my prepaid simcard, but once I had put this new sim card in my phone I realised it was not my number, and furthermore I was unable to receive calls or texts on it! This was ongoing for over 2 days, being unable to be contacted. I rang on numerous occasions, each time having to repeat myself, to no avail. They would say 'we have fixed for you', but then nothing would happen!

Finally it worked. But now the internet on my phone isn't working. I have rung them no less than 3 times on this issue, with no improvement. My internet still doesn't work.

I am SICK of sitting on hold and talking to dip shits on the other line who seem to just LIE to get you off the line.

Worst idea ever, changing from prepay to postpay, if you are thinking of it, DON'T do it, it is not worth the pain.

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

Im stuck in a contract for the next 20 months, yet constant dropouts, an lets not talk about accessing the web...takes ages, then nothing. So i dont bother. Im paying to have a really great phone that i cant use. Ive tried complaining, but have been kept on hold for over 2hrs (on more than one occasion), and during that call, guess what, i got disconnected. I just dont bother anymore. Id like my contract price dropped, or to get what ive been promised...EPIC FAIL Vodafone.

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.

I have been with Vodafone since 1996 and up until the last say 3 years have been very happy with them. But in the last three years, they have moved their call centre & rather than getting people in North Ryde or down in Tassie - I now have to wait hours on the phone to finally get someone I can barely understand let alone hear, in a forgein country who then sticks to the script and fails to provide any real useful information or assistance. I remember when their data team actually knew what was going on and were very helpful. In recent months - possibly since the merger with 3, I have found call / signal quality to be getting worse. Christmas day I was trying to have a conversation with my sister & the call dropped out at least 3 times. I have not complained to vodafone as I can not be bothered wasting my time on hold to them. I may go straight to the TCO.

This is about '3' but Vodaphone have sent me notification they are all the same now! Great. Fantastic.

Called customer care (are they joking with that name!).

India of course.

Waited to friggin ages. Why if they are using cheap third world labour are we constantly put on hold for hours at a time.

Finally I get through. Speak to someone I can hardly understand. Sorry our computer system is down. You will have to call back.

Said not good enough. I insisted they would have to call me back.

Told they can't do that. Told they can't make out going calls. Seriously. One of the biggest telephone companies in the world won't let their employees phone their customers back.

Went around and around for ages. Eventually got a promise I would be called back.

Of course - that never happened. Even after complaining to a manager the next week.

Has anyone else had this problem? You call us back. We can't phone you.

Lost 6 hours of my life on hold to vodafail this week. My 'call back' came at 1am in the morning and they still couldn't fix the problem.

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

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

vodafone automatically turned my voicemail off when i went overseas and turned off international roaming, then turned it on again.
upon return, my voicemail was inactivated.
i spent 1 hour on three separate occasions on hold to vodafone, eventually getting through to a call centre in india who were of no help.
they advised to call another number, which i was on hold for another hour. they were unable to help me and suggested i email customer service.
instead of 5 business days as stated on the website, it took 11 business days for vodafone to turn on my voicemail.
i am extremely disappointed and can't wait to get out of my contract.

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

Calls go straight to voicemail
Phone says there is reception but says my phone is off
Try to make a phone call and sometimes need to try over 5 times to work
Receive voicemail notifications hours later
Try to call Vodafone and was on hold for over 30 minutes each time. Who has time to stay on hold that long? I waited once and call was answered 48 mins later to someone who was extremely difficult to understand... Problem still not resolved...

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 been a Voda customer since 1996. They used to be great, I used to be rewarded for being a loyal customer. Now, they suck and don't care about their customers, even old ones like me. The last few months is the first time in 15 years I've seriously thought about leaving.

* Other people have found me uncontactable. My other half rang me at home the other day and said "Why aren't you answering your mobile?" My mobile hadn't even rung. He said it went through to voicemail. I'm still waiting to get the message. (This now happens A LOT, which is making work and business colleagues very frustrated with me. Voicemails can take days to come through, if they come through at all.)

* How is it that I can live in Glebe, in plain view of the city skyline, and get no reception? Broadway Shopping Centre is also an inexplicable dead spot, and has been for the last three or four years.

* 3G is uselessly slow when you get it. If you get it. Wherever you are.

* My latest fun experience - I was on a work trip overseas and had switched on Global Roaming via the website before I left. When I landed in the UK, I had no reception and no Global Roaming. The person who was picking me up couldn't contact me, I couldn't contact him. It took him hours of walking around the airport to find me. When I got to a computer, I turned roaming on again. A couple of times. Again, nothing. I called customer service, was on hold for an hour and had to give up (any wonder I came home to a $900 phone bill!). I later called the faults line, who told me there had been an issue with switching on GR via the website (for three weeks??? WHERE WAS THE MESSAGE ON THE WEBSITE SAYING 'THIS DOESN'T WORK, PLEASE CALL US', VODA??) They said they could put in a request to turn on my roaming but it might take 3 days. I sent a bunch of emails to various people which resulted in it being switched on sooner. In the meantime, I'm in a foreign country, for work, and practically uncontactable.

One thing that was an eye opener on this trip - the reception and 3G speed I had in the UK and the US was exemplary. It is what Voda promises here, and it showed me just how much they don't deliver.

Thank you and f%$k you Vodafone, for leaving me with no alternative but to switch to those damn crooks at Telstra.

I live in the inner south of ACT, and work in the parliamentary triangle. For months now, the usual garbage of dropped calls, not being able to make calls, texts that can take up to 2 days to arrive or be delivered. I also have vodafone for wireless broadband - I honestly can't remember the last time I managed to get 3G, and I have given up using it at home, it takes too long to load and continually disconnects itself.Talk about frustrating. The service is beyond substandard, it's virtually pointless because it's so unreliable. By the way, I don't have an iphone, so it's not that, I use a brand new Samsung.

I actually thought I was going mad to be honest, the usual, call drop outs, took AGES to hang up on a call, NO SERVICE in CBD areas...Voicemail was delayed and so was SMS...Web was often slow and got the usual error messages. After spending 2 hours on the so called HELP Line I decided to go into the store and make them feel my pain as I waited on the phone line. I guess whilst on hold the guy at the counter we had to enter into polite conversation, so after about 30 minutes the guy admitted that since vodafail had purchased "3" they have had significant problems with service..I spent literally 2 hours being pushed from DEPT to DEPT each blaming the other, and in the end they told me it was my iPhone and needed to go to Apple. Over the last week I have heard about the numerous complaints and I have decided to lodge a complaint with the TIO as I can't be bothered to waste any more time with Vodafail on their Helpless Lines..Voda have until the 12th Jan to contact me and I am going to demand to get out of my contract, will keep you all posted

Wireless broadband cutomer in Brisbane. Initially 5GB for $40 seemed resonable against the alt options. The service was S-L-O-W to say the least, barely above dial up. Connecting was massive issue, but thanks to Whirlpool, learnt how to hook up using Windows internet connection instead of Voda software. Soon as Bigpond dropped 50GB to $50 bucks this year, migrated straight away (already had BB connection/Foxtel). Called Voda and on hold for 45 mins. THAT was enough time for me to lodge a complaint with Telephone Ombudsman...
Got a phone call back the next day from Voda rep (aussie). Why anyone waits for hours is beyond me! 45 mins is enough. I wouldn't treat my customers like that. I wouldn't have a business. End result, dropped back to a 1GB plan for $10/mth. The irony is that it works pretty good at my folks place on the Gold Coast...So I'm happy enough now.

I have been experiencing call drop outs for the past 3-4 weeks. Last 4-5 days have been absolutely horrendous. Most of my incoming calls go straight to my voicemail. Gives me "connection error" 9/10 times when I try to call someone. I have been trying to talk to someone for the past one week.. I'm on hold for 45 minutes and more but still can't get through. This is totally unacceptable. I was very patient for the first few weeks but now I have no choice but move to another network. I have demanded someone talk to me but haven't received a call yet. I have been a Vodafone customer for the past 10 years. This is really disappointing.

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!

have been on hold for 40 minutes now.. internet on my iphone not working, I got cut off in all phone calls I made this week. I paid my bill 2 weeks ago and still overdue in my Vodafone.

really really crap.

ACCC has to interfere!!

I've been a Vodafone customer for years. Things were awesome until 2010 until now I never had a bad word to say about them. At the start of the year I lost total reception for three days, I rang Vodafone and they gave me a discount for that month, only had to pay half my bill so I was happy with that. It was simple and easy.
The last 3 months I have had more days without reception than with. This also includes numerous in store sim swaps with staff who were very apologetic and helpful, but limited in what they can do. I've used different phones and I just don't have the reception Vodafone use to give me. I've emailed Vodafone numerous times only to be told 'they will launch an investigation with their technicians and someone will contact me within 5 business days' No one does. I try to phone Vodafone and I spend hours on hold and speak to no one, or I get disconnected. This also means tying up a land line that is not mine as my mobile phone is the only phone number I have.
Finally fed up with it all, I contacted the TIO asking them to contact Vodafone on my behalf to release me from my contract - done with in one week. No penalty due to me, no early exit fees they just asked that I pay $150.00 to keep my phone or send it back. I'm paying the $150.00 to keep my phone as it would cost me more to buy a new one.
Sadly how Vodafone have treated, or should I say not treated me with my questions and frustrations I may have been more inclined to 'wait it out' but as the mobile is my only contact number, I need reception, I need to be able to use it for it's intended purpose.
I have read many of the posts on here and people comment that you can go and get 'ripped off' by other phone companies - I don't have a problem paying for what I'm getting, so long as I'm getting it.

Vodafone isn't the only company having network problems, Optus has been having a rough time too. The networks weren't designed to handle the massive data usage that smartphones offer. People used to complain that mobile downloads were too expensive, and now that the prices have come down they overuse 3G and clog the network! I was furious with Vodafone for all the things people are outlining below - call dropouts, texts taking too long and no 3G. I changed from my iPhone back to a Nokia and NONE of the problems remain. My partner has an HTC and always has full coverage when my iphone struggles.

This website only highlights our disgusting dependence on technology and instantaneous communication. I'm going to write my Nan a letter instead of calling her this week.

My girlfriend's phone disconnected with no reason. Trying to get through to customer service, so that her phone is more useful than a doorstop, currently still on hold 1hr 50 mins and counting.

I work for Optus, and I know that in many areas our customer service is lacking, but this is just beyond a joke!

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.

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

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

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

Seriously. Buy a clue Vodafone.

Northern Beaches- How to get out of your contract.....I just did. I advised them that it was my only phone at home (i.e we do not have a landline) and they ended a newly signed (i.e 3 months ago) 24 month contract WITHOUT QUESTION. All i have to do is return the phone which came with the contract.

Don't let the customer service operator fool you into conducting the "tests" i.e try a new sim, turn phone off and on, telling you that they will call you back later (on your mobile phone) when you are in the place where you have no reception -what is wrong with these people. Aggressilvely DEMAND to speak to the cancellations team oh, did I mention? Expect to be on hold for + 1hr 20mins!!!! GOOD LUCK!

I recently spent over 2.5 hours on hold to them wanting to upgrade my plan to the new Apple iPhone 4, I never got through to them, so I tried again, after 1.5 hours on hold I had to have a bathroom break and couldn't wait any longer. So Im stuck till I get get through to one of the fools at Vodafone. My pain worsens, now as with all the other Vodafone users I am making multiple calls to have one conversation, thanks to their excellent coverage.

21st December Sporadic 3G reception from 14.00 to well after 00.00.Was on hold with Vodafone for appox 1hr.20 min and gave up.Friend rang me on land line to ask why my mobile was off !
Finally contacted them this morning Vodafone is unaware of any problems in the southern area of Sydney yesterday. Once again no compensation or truth about poor service.

When I joined Vodafone 12 months ago, I explicitly stated that not only do I need reception in my home town (obviously), but I need reception where my parents live in a small town on the other side of the Blue Mountains. Vodafone sold me the plan and the phone (iPhone 3GS) and told me I would have no service problems. The reason I need reception at where my parents live is my mother is sick. Sure enough, I get to my parents town and I have reception for probably 40% of the time. Ringing Vodafone, I was told a "network upgrade is taking place soon". I gave Vodafone the benefit of the doubt and over the next 12 months, my visits to my parents hom town resulted in the same reception problems. I rang Vodafone recently about this and they told me that my phone is incompatible with Vodafones network. When I told them it was the phone they sold me, they told me to "turn 3G off". I told them 3G is always off on my phone because it works slightly better, even for data (go figure!) and then they told me next time I am in the town to call them so they can troubleshoot it. I said to them "so I wait until my phone has reception, call Vodafone, be on hold for over an hour in which time my phone will probably drop out, and then if I get through, I will be told that my phone is working. Or I won't have reception and won't be able to call". They then told me to call from a land line. This is where the saga is currently at. I can't wait to get away from Vodafone... And will NEVER go back! I HATE Telstra/ Bigpond but at least their mobile network and 3G are good!

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.

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

This kinda reminds me of something that happened not too long ago... Some of you might remember a company called 'Toyota.' Now a few months ago, Toyota had a small number of people complain of auto acceleration, and as soon as these few complaints hit the media they multiplied faster than rabbits. Typically they were just Americans looking for a little bit of excitement in their otherwise dull lives, thriving off a need to complain about something. At that time I was amazed at how quickly these Americans jumped on the media spun bandwagon, started by a small number of unfortunate cases, but I was also proud that my fellow Australians did not jump on board with the sensationalism. But now my eyes are open... Shame on all of you.

Also, posted from my Vodafone iPhone with full signal :)

I just recieved a $500 phone bill and I spent most of this month trying to reconnect failed calls or return 4 day old voicemails... Mind you I had cut my usage by half from the previous month and that bill was only $130 (Go figure). Turns out I am being charged 75cents per 30sec phone call... Absolutely disgusting. Vodafail have now got a call back service which means you don't lose your place in the queue, they took 3hrs to call me back. When asked if I could be released from my contract which is due to expire in January, they told me I wasn't due to be released until April (my paper work says January). I also got told I needed to make a formal complaint (which I thought I was) turns out I needed to be transferred to another department which had "more than 40min wait time"!! I demanded that someone call me back as I wasn't going to wait anymore. The lady told me that the complaints department do not do call backs....
I am utterly disgusted that I am currently paying good money to be with such a terrible provider, in any other circumstances we would be allowed to stop using a provider but not with Telecommunication providers!

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.

ok well i get put on hold for a very long time like 40 minutes and i couldnt ring the 1555 number as that was not working so i called the 1300 number and then get told i will be charged for it after holding for 40 mins , and then i get put on hold through to section and section and still get no where , and then i get told to ring back on the 20th which i did but was on hold for 50 mins so gave up and will try again later , i need to sort out what i need to pay to cancel my contract or at least upgrade with no fee for the shit service im getting and pay for each month, im sick of talking to people that dont speak english and dont care !!! i pay $90.00 a month for god sake i should get some type of service with someone that cares !!! VODAFAIL alright

I've used Voda for over 5 years in Queensland. Like everyone else, I was initially sucked in by the cheap rates, and the old adage 'you get what you pay for' has never rung more true. Started with prepay, went onto a contract around 3 years ago. About 18 mths /2 yrs ago all the family's different Voda handsets started dropping calls more regularly, callers could hear us answering but we couldn't hear them, and calls we made were not dialing through (handset shows a call is in progress but she's all blank). Different handsets from LG, Motorola, Nokia, and differing locations. I went through the help desk scenario, talked to techies and CSRs, even got a call back from a team dedicated to making it appear they cared. All with the same result in that the network problems were recognized, & network fixes were either 'coming' or had been 'delayed'. Many times on hold, waiting. I ported my number to my land line provider with a new contract, but AAPT uses Voda's network to carry, stuck in the same boat (fool!). Done all the SIM resets, handset resets and tests. My work mobile is on Voda also, when it drops a call I immediately check my other phone to try making the call (Blackberry vs Nokia) and even though both show signal neither works = NETWORK PROBLEMS. I can be anywhere in the Brisbane Metro area. Coverage in Metro isn't so much the problem as Network availability. When it's not actually down, overloading is crowding out the slots available. It's not rocket science and they know all about it, no mystery. They just don't want to spend money fixing it, which means they don't give a toss about their customers. I know that not many Telco's do here in AU, but these pricks take the cake!! I am now going to force the issue and get the hell out. Well done...

After fifteen calls, being on hold for cumulatively 1.5 hours, complaining about not reception I finally got a call back from the outsourced customer support centre advising me that there were no problems with the service in the postcodes I'd reported and that I'm the only one complaining. I give up. They're not getting my business. I'm canceling my contract immediately. Good riddance.

I pay my bill ahead and am normaly in Credit. I paid $50 ahead last monday but my amout owing still shows I owe them $43. When I spoke to the 40 minute wait of a help desk he told me that THis will not be shown on my bill till two days after my due date on teh 28th of dec. Also when I mentioned that the online SMS was not working I got transfered to the "SPECIAL SUPPORT TEAM" Ie put back on hold at the end of the queue

Up to 24 hour delay in delivery of voicemail. Calls cut out 50% of the time in the Sydney metro area. 48 hours unable to call numbers commencing with 13... that one took 1.5 hours on hold to fix. Counting down the days until the end of my contract.

I have been a customer pre-paid and contract all up for about 5-6 years! This is the worst service ever.
Am currently serving the last year of the 2 year contract I am one and for the last 4 months I have had drp outs, no service, web sites take over 5 minutes to load and most dont load at all, sms looking like they have sent but dont recieve.
I live in Hornsby NSW an area that recieves stantard service as per their website states.
Months ago I tried to call to report these issues. After several 45 minute waits and several drop outs while on hold - suprise suprise - I have been unable to speak to someone on the phone so I emailed in detail the problem only to receive some confusion automatic email asking me to fill in a form stating everything I just mentioned.
There was no mention of any technical issues.
This was the same story when I went into a VF store. Noone knew anything about it except for one staff member who told me I will just have to switch to 2G and that VF are doing maintainence to the towers and some customers will just have poor service and will have to live with it. Yeah I dont think so Vf read your contact people and use this against them.
So off the TCO I went and hopefully I will be out of my contact by Christmas. Best present I will ever receive!
Teltra here I come!