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

Calls drop out all the time and then i will have no serivce for a couple of days. I cal them and after waiting an hour and a half on the phone the bloke told me to go to a vodafone store and get a blank sim. I told him i dont live near a vodafone store as i am in regional victoria and he told me to go to a store that sells vodafone sims and they will give me a blank sim. I questioned tihs and told him why would they give me a blank sim if they are not a vodafone store and he assured me they would. I went to the store and surprise suprise they told me where to go and did not give me a blank sim. I call back vodafone and waited on hold for 2 hours before i got through and told them they had lied to me and that they were not upholding their end of the contract by providing the service they advertise. They said they would send me another sim but it would take 7 days. I told them that in the past 12 months this has happened twice and i end up waiting 10 days for a replacement sim. They would not even credit me or compensate me for being without the phone for 10 days. I asked them to send me a couple of sims as this will happen again as it seems to happen every quarter where the sims fail, she told me they couldn't and it wasnt until i got really abusive and pissed off that she agreed to send me 2 sims. I had heard there was a problem with the vodafone network and checked their site and there was nothnig posted about any outages and when i questioned her she said there was no problems. I have since found out there were outages and they outright lied. I cant wait until my contract expires and i never have to deal with vodafone again.

I have a vodafone postpay mobile broadband internet which takes 5 minutes to load the vodafone page. That's when I can actually connect to the internet. After numerous times on hold to the call centre (btw - vodafone don't have a 'complaints' department), promises of a refund for the month which then didn't materialise, and speaking to the technical people who denied there was a service issue and suggested the solution was to take my laptop in my car and drive a couple of blocks to see if I got better service there.... I am at my wits end!

I live in Tenambit and I have checked there website, spoke to a service person at Greenhill and also spoke to customer service (2.5hrs on hold) about the problem and they all tell me service is excellent in my area and I should have full service. I DO NOT get full service, barely 1 bar. I have an Autistic son who get's extremely frustrated when we can't make phone calls/calls drop out.
It has taken me 2years to get him to use a phone and he still has problems.

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

One hour and 15 minutes on hold last week on land line because phone kept dropping out and only reconnecting on hard reset. I gave up waiting.

I've been with Vodafone for 6 years. My first problem came when they started sending me texts advertising their services. I was not happy when I got woken up by one at 1am! I rang them and got several more before they eventually stopped. I am sick of being the only person on holiday not to get a signal- this was long before the recently published reception drop-out. Now I've experience this it's the last straw. I rang Vodafone and was on hold for ages. I got through...silence. I said 'hello?' and they hung up on me. I phoned again and I was on hold for one hour before I spoke to someone who spoke very poor English. I was transferred three times then waited on hold for a further 15 mins! I hung up. Can you blame me? My contract expired last week- what fantastic timing! I've just signed with Telstra. I will never, ever go back to Vodafone.

3 months of appalling service, no data, dropped calls - (worst example 6 drops in 4 minutes on one call).
Spent over 4 hours on hold waiting for the pathetic offshore help desk to ask the same basic troubleshooting questions over and over again, Im an advanced user so they should be able to treat me as such. im giving them till mid jan if nothing changes im switching to telstra.

as hinch would say...Shame Vodafone Shame!!!

Dropped calls.. Unusable data during peak times.. Hours long waiting times on 1555 to seek assistance only to be transferred to the technical team with another hour wait time.. It doesn't get worse than this for phone service performance!!

i've been on hold for an hour and a half and this is the fifth fucking time i've had to call in less than a month. fix the data network, fix the call centre waiting time, fix your god damn website. if that automated voice tells me one more fucking time to "hang in there, we'll be with you really soon" i swear to god i will smash this phone in to a million little pieces

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

I've been with vodafail for about 7 weeks so far... and i'm horrified to think what i've gotten myself into. I've had so many of my customers emailing me saying they've been calling for hours and keep getting told my number is disconnected or out of service etc, strangely according to my phone i have full signal and i do get the occasional call.

I've had my sim card replaced due to MMS not working at all, It still didn't work immediately after the sim switch until about 3 days later. Then a couple of days after that it started working again.

Since then it only sporadically works, i've been into the vodafone store only to be told theres not much they can do and to call the support line... As i write this i've been on hold for passing 45 minutes now and still no sign of life.

Surely late on a sunday afternoon wouldn't be a peak period for them you would think...

At the same time i bought the phone i brought a car charger, 4 weeks after buying it, it failed and stopped charging the phone. Back to the Vodafone store i go.. only to be told we have to send it off and it could be 5-10 working days before its repaired or replaced. It's a bloody $20 charger, it should just be replaced on the spot. However even if they could do that as per usual there wasn't any in stock! I mean come on seriously vodafail, your taking in stupid amounts of money each month and declaring big profits and yet your network is just crap...

In addition i also suffer from the usual extremely slow internet service, delayed voicemail notifications, delayed text messages or messages that just never arrive.. random service dropouts. Last week i was in an area where according to there coverage map should have full 3g coverage. I couldn't get any mobile signal at all.

Have been with Vodafone for years with Blackberry devices. Switched to iPhone in March, all was ok, until the past 3 months or so. I now get constant dropouts, and voicemail messages appearing when the phone never rang. I have full bars with the phone next to me, but miss many many calls per day. often the voicemail turns up one or two days later, so my customers think i am rude or ineffactive. Have tried to call Vodafone but whilst on hold, the call keep dropping out so have to start all over again. When i did finally get through i was told there is nothing wrong with the network and must be an iPhone problem. However, we have 4 iPhones in the house, and we al ge drop outs!

The customers has to wait unbelievable waiting time as they call the Voda customer care. After you get through, they are trying to transfer you around and shift your problem to other department, then you have to call again and wait more time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

While travelling in a sydney train. I met a guy who worked with vf contractor. He told me this...VF sub-contracts its network maintainance...(For those who don't know Optus & Telstra run their own network where as Vodafone network is run by contracting company) The working conditions and quality of staff was very poor and the place is under staffed. This company further hires contractor and for some reasons not many staff stays there for too long. This company is paid for each fault fixed...so the more faults the more this company makes...it is very hard to pin point in mobile network who was responsible to create fault in first place..The company does temp fix the fault comes again in new shape nd they make more money..bcos they are paid for each fault attended..Vodafone in Australia has business model to target low end cutomer and Business customer. When a business complains they install a cheap repeater at his premises to boost signal..but if business PPL are moving they can have poor coverage. The reason if you see full signal but can't call will be the network is overloaded nd has no capacity left to take call..The only good thing bout Vodafone is it is dirt cheap nd in 80% places it will work fine..If you are always moving nd you want no call drop at peak time/ congested area then Vodafone is not for you.

Phone cuts out, sends multiple messages (which I am out of pocket for) poor reception and kept on hold for hours waiting to speak to people who cant even speak english. It is an absolute joke!!!!

Phone cuts out, sends multiple messages (which I am out of pocket for) poor reception and kept on hold for hours waiting to speak to people who cant even speak english. It is an absolute joke!!!!

For the Last two years I have been on a contract with Vodafone, paying 79 dollars a month for a phone that broke (was not at fault) however my insurance did not cover the breakage, despite paying extra insurance for precisely this possible eventuality. I decided to remain with vodafone despite weird data black holes and shoddy phone call connectivity, as This is my partners service provider and it works out a lot cheaper.I recently entered the last three months of my contract, at which point Vodafone will replace your handset and start a new contract. I went into the store on Friday only to discover that the handset that I want is only available to order over the phone. Today I spent over four hours on Hold and being misdirected to various departments, when all I want to do is Purchase a new service with them, and when the phone call was actually connected the call failed.
I'm waiting for my contract to expire and then moving to another service provider.

It's impossible to talk to a real person at Customer "Service" (?) without having to wait on hold for at least 45 minutes. Maybe that's their tactic to make us think twice about calling to complain.

2.5 hours on hold , 5 phone calls to change my Callscreen answer. When I advised service person on the other end of the phone about this and the general rubbish network of late - "really? we have no reported problems", blah blah blah . I have been a loyal customer since Vodafone day one in Australia - Vofafone - you've lost me.

Our business recently signed up to Vodaphone. What a disaster!! We have 10 mobiles on this plan and everyone is complaining of late SMS messages, no reception and at times an inability to call out or receive calls even when signal strength appears ok. Just about everyone in the organisation has tried ringing the so called service department to get answers. After sitting on hold for half the day they run you through a std script which will only frustrate the hell out of the caller. One of their operators recently blamed the phones that we were using. Fortunately the phones were bundled with the plan, so Vodaphone sent out new phones at no cost. Guess what? Same Problems!!! Do not use Vodaphony... Especially for your business!

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

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

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

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

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

Messages coming through from calls 12-18hrs late, but the phone was on in the first instance showing reception! Data transfer rates are appauling, dropped calls etc.... At the end of the day you pay for a service that is simply not being provided. Over 1 hour spent on customer/technical service, 40 minutes of which you are kept on hold for the next person to ask you exactly the same thing! Then advised it will be escalated with a response expected in 'about' 6 days. Completely unacceptable.

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

Messages coming through from calls 12-18hrs late, but the phone was on in the first instance showing reception! Data transfer rates are appauling, dropped calls etc.... At the end of the day you pay for a service that is simply not being provided. Over 1 hour spent on customer/technical service, 40 minutes of which you are kept on hold for the next person to ask you exactly the same thing! Then advised it will be escalated with a response expected in 'about' 6 days. Completely unacceptable.

The useless caps run out so fast with the high rates. I tried to go and change to another plan - the told me it was going to take at least 45 mins to set it up!! Also when trying to be able to use internet on my phone I was on hold on 1555 for 45 minutes!

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

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

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

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

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

Signed up with Vodafone 9 months ago. Their website did (and still does) show full 3G coverage in our area, even double checked this with sales staff. Never had more than half signal strength and only access data via my own wireless connection at home.
Complained last week and was told coverage issues were a temporary issue (what for nine months!!??). Escalated through to their network faults department who did confirm that my suburb does suffer from poor network coverage (thought I already told them that!!). Upshot is that they're waiving the CAP fees for the next two months to see if the coverage improves. If not they've agreed to cancel the contract without any fees. I asked about compensation for the previous nine months an not receiving the level of service I'd signed up for, "Sorry there's nothing we can do about that".
Oh, and why is the 'we'll phone you back' option when calling the customer service department, only available randomly?
Finally, this is a classic, I waited on-hold for around 40 minutes (call-back facility must have been on lunch) only to be told that I'd have to call back in at least 4 hours because all their systems were down - priceless!!!
VODAFONE - Wake up or leave it to someone who knows how to treat people.

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

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

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

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

I was a customer of Digicall the predecessor of Vodafone back in the early 1990's and now Vodafone. The company has deteriorated very rapidly in the last 3 years.

Their biggest failing is their Indian call centre. When you are a prepaid customer with a problem you are on hold forever - I'm talking 20 minutes, before someone in India answers your call. Then they are overly deferential - must be part of the culture while they keep putting you on hold and saying bear with me while they try and solve your problem... but then don't resolve it. You end up hanging up.

Whoever Vodafone Australia's head of Customer service is, the moron who came up with the idea of the Indian Call centre to save the company money - should be sacked.

Vodafone in Australia is a company on the pathway to ruin. In England they still have their act together - just not the Australian operation. The entire Australian management team should be sacked, and bring in new people from overseas.

The bad service extends to the stores. Staff - who look like they are on the minimum wage - aren't properly trained and trash the company to the customers.

I live on the North shore in Sydney and calls drop out every day at particular spots on my journey from Roseville to the City. I know where the spots are and warn my mother when I'm talking to her that the call will drop out in about 1 minutes time when I know I'm approaching the vodafone blackout spot.

Vodafone is a company in freefall due to its totally incompetent Australian management team.

The company is worse now than Digicall was when it was first set up back in 1995.

I am currently contemplating switching to Optus or Telstra and I am a customer who spends $100 a month.

Tried phoning them from my vodafone mobile to complain they had cut my wife's vodafone mobile service. Waited on hold. Put phone down and went to loudspeaker. Battery running low, plugged into charger. Still waited. And waited. And waited. Gave up after 4 hours and 29 minutes because I was worried my charger would melt or catch fire!

Ive been in contract since Jan when I signed up for an iphone and broadband for my laptop. The coverage has gradually gotten worse since I signed up. I live and work in the CBD/Surry Hills/Bondi Junction, yet I am constantly without service, with calls dropping, going directly to voicemail, unable to make calls, data will not work, and text messages do not come through/send. The broadband for my laptop only works 50% of the time so I am unable to do the things I need to as GPRS is too slow.
I have been complaining for months, and all I have heard is excuse after excuse, and lies after lies. I have even caught call centre staff out on things that have been untrue. I was told it was because I lived in a brick building!!! Well if my friends Telstra phones work fine in my apartment, then why can't my Vodafone phone??? Finally I found out who to speak to at the head office in Australia, who promised an investigation, and depending on the outcome I could terminate my contract early with no exit fees. After several weeks I still had not been prvided with answers. I emailed them one final time telling them I wanted a resolution within 48 hours or I would esculate my concerns to the ombudsman. I was contacted 2 days later and let out of my contract with 14 months remaining provided I give my phone back. Thats fine... Telstra have free ones if you sign up with them, along with a reliable network.
What i am most annoyed about, after readng the recent media coverage, is that Vodafone were aware of the issues from the start, yet still keeping signing people onto their network. They lied to me about the issues and made me spend hours on hold, to try and get some answers instead of being upfront and doing the right thing. Vodafone is a disgusting excuse for a company, and they should not be able to operate in such a way.

Tried to set up global roaming before going Os. Was on hold for 55 min and the the Indian customer service officer picked up and call went blank. My calls keep dropping out and when I text customer service for a balance of my usage half the time they don't reply back. Can't wait for plan to be up I will be going to telstra at least you get what u pay for and better coverage

after months of no cellular service,dropped calls, texts that don't send, and being fed complete BS from Vodafone customer service, I finally got out of my two year contract. call vodafail
, wait an hour on hold and ask for cancellations. Or call the TIO and tell them your not getting the service you are paying for. I went to Optus and its bliss. They even answer customer service calls! Don't get mad, get out of your Vodafail contract !!!!!

I live in Crows Nest - 5km from Sydney CBD - my phone stopped working in the back half of my house! I spent HOURS on hold and getting through to people overseas who claimed they 'understood my frustration' then spouted mumbo jumbo about no recorded problems in my area, they would have to run an engineers report that would take a few months then they would get back to me.....total rort!! And to make matter worse my cr*p phone would drop out half the time, making me have to call again and wait in the queue forever....grrr!! Finally went to the ombudsman and surprise surprise...got a call from someone from Vodafone not in an offshore call centre saying since I was 'such a valued customer' they would let me out of my contract. Now with Telstra and have never had a call drop. The TIO should really crack down on these guys....they are signing customers up to a service they can not deliver and making it almost impossible to get out of the contract

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

My Land line internet dropped out yesterday so I had to rely on my phone to give me access to the internet for work. Low and behold it would drop out every 30 seconds and when it was connected it would only download slower than dial up. I know it downloads faster than that since when I first purchase the phone\contract it was pulling down 2Mbps and would only drop out on occasion. Unfortunately I have noticed the network performance of VF degrading a lot over the last month. I called help desk but after 30 minutes on hold I gave up. Seriously if you are going to offer plans with generous data caps for a cheap price you better make sure your hardware has capacity to handle it! Thankfully my ISP (Internode) were fantastic and speedy in fixing my connection, maybe Voda should take a page out of their book.

45 mins on hold to get to vodafone, then a referral to Blackberry, cos it must be "a Blackberry issue". 45 mins there. No resolution. Who paid for that and for the hour and a half of my life I want back? Me. Shouldn't have got either the handset or the service contract. This is a freakin radio network. I thought we'd sorted out radio comm's in the 1950's?

seriously they stitch us up on the 1300 numbers in the contracts then make you call one and have to wait a further 45 minutes before you get a person on the line. That is if the call doesn't drop out first.

I am on Vodafone's post-paid mobile internet plan. For the first month, everything was plain sailing. On the second month, the data transmission dropped suddenly. My USB dongle could connect to the network, but could NOT transmit any data.

Called Vodafail's customer service and got put on hold for 1/2 an hour before actually speaking to a human; even then, I had to strain to understand his English which had a VERY, VERY strong accent.

I was taken through a whole series of troubleshooting steps which involved many more calls to customer service and trips down to the nearest Vodafail shop (which might as well be in Beijing). I was finally told that the base station that my USB dongle connected to was faulty and it would take a week to fix.

A WEEK!! A whole freaking week without internet during my exam period when I had to download notes off my school's network. Had to take the trouble of lugging my notebook down to school.

After the base station was fixed, I received no phone call from the tech team despite reassurances that I would get a call from them.

How reassuring is that?

In addition, I could not check my data entitlements via myvodafone.com.au on MANY occasions.

Been on hold for 5:12 Hours now...

I called back as soon as the original call I was on dropped out or I was hung up on! All I want to do is to cancel my newly signed (3 weeks) $100 Ultimate 24 mth plans x 3. I believe you have 28 days to terminated a newly signed contract, should said Telco be unable to provide products or services as advertised...

There network may have be oversubscribed & exceeded max capacity, & supply of sub standard handsets which find it difficult to receive any signal - yet coverage maps indicate full 3G - Crapple!!

As for Customer Service, still waiting... Will share an update!

Fought a seven month pitch battle with Vodafail over a number of issues you are all aware of - voicemail coming in weeks late; phone not receiving inbound calls although you have reception; not able to make calls out (i.e. call failure) although you have 5 bars; data so slow it's not worth using (wifi hotspots for me!). Their 'help desk' tried the usual: a) put me on hold forever; b) told me the usual 'something wrong with your phone routine - not their network c) become the trouble shooter for vodafone network issues - yey sure if you pay me I can do that (i.e. document time/place and get them to call you as the problem is occuring - sure if I didn't have to wait an hour I could do that!); d) keep you on the 'help desk' merry go round until you just quit and give up. Well for me it just pissed me off more, and I finally got out of my contract last week. Although the funny thing was that when speaking with their 'help desk' to finally get rid of the contract two days ago, the phone dropped out three times, although I had 3 bars reception (after waiting an hour and a half each time to talk to them as well, sure this was the final way of Vodafail to stop me getting out of my contract!). Gone Telstra now ... at least I have good coverage and I can receive and make calls now!

Vodafone do a good job of making people wait on hold if you need help. When I complained to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, Vodafone finally agreed to allowing me to exit my contract (which had 9 months remaining) with no charge. Be sure to complain to the TIO. It is a simple online process.

I recently signed up with Vodafone for an iPhone. First, I receive the phone without a number. Calling their service line kept me on hold for almost 2 hours. Gave up and had to head down to one of the Vodafone shops. Then I tried to unlock my iIphone as I am heading overseas. According to their Website, I will get a message when it is ready to be unlocked. Never got that message until someone told me to just go ahead. Oh my! Someone NOT in Vodafone phone is doing a better job than those who are getting paid. You think that's it? No! The data service is beyond words that I can find in my vocabulary. Try opening a site and you can drive from Geelong to Melbourne before seeing anything! When I got to Singapore, I had a prepaid SIM card and for half the price I am paying. The service level just blows Vodafone away. And no contract! Shame on you Vodafone! If people can load a Website faster than ADSL2 on 3G, I am left wondering why you cannot do so even in Melbourne city centre. Gosh!

I was with Vodafail for almost 14 years, but when the service went crap, I called to report and was on hold for 3 hours and 42 minutes without speaking to a single person, then they promised to call back as there was no one there who could deal with my issues. The next day, I was on hold for 5 different calls for over 6 hours all togther. I am disgusted by their complete disdain and utter lack of remorse or empathy for the issues the customers had to deal with. After they wouldn't do anything but off a lousy $20 one of credit, I complained to the Ombudsman and Vodafail finally agreed to let me out of my contract. They are a pathetic bunch of losers who believe that because you are in contract, they can treat you how they like and get away with it. The worst customer service in the world.

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

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

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

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

Action needs to be taken

Have been with VF for over 5 years, never had an issue until the 22nd of November - no reception on the phone, poor when outdoors, none when inside. Spent 4 HOURS on hold and FINALLY got thru, told that the issue was my SIM card. Went to a VF shop and had it changed, made it WORSE. Still having HUGE problems with my phone, to which I've been told it's the handset - how is that possible when I've tried my old handset and that has the same issues? I would LOVE to opt-out of my plan after having so many issues over the last 3 weeks, but I'll be stung with a massive contract pay-out fee :(

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

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

Can anyone get through "Customer Service" ??? They are an innovative company though. Rather than being on hold for 50mins, they now kick you off after 5... that way their stats look good

ACCC. AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT. ANYONE ! PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THESE CROOKS. THEY ARE THIEVES. HOW ARE THESE COMPANIES ABLE TO CONTINUE OPERATE AND STEAL MONEY WITH NO CONSEQUENCES ?

Important work messages that come 1 day later, lost work, lost Clients, dropped calls, unable to make calls, no service. 3 hour wait times to speak to someone.

The worst phone company in the world.

I have been a Vodafone customer for over 5 years now. Last year I signed into a mobile broadband internet contract at $40 month. Their broadband service is hopeless! Can never get a signal and when I do it drops out within minutes. Since June of last year I have been paying for a service that doesn't work. I have phoned numerous times to report the issues only to be sent another modem, another SIM and a wireless dock all of which have failed. For four months now I have been calling to complain about the service and register the problem. I am always told that the "cancellation team" will phone back but they never do. After waiting on hold for over an hour last week I finally was able to speak to someone who informed me that the matter needed to be investigated and that I could not break my contract without paying a fee. A fee! I've been paying $40 per month for a service that doesn't work! After informing Vodafone that I would be taking my complain further they decided to reduce my mobile broadband from $40 month to $10 and was told that this was a very good offer! They fail to see that I am stil paying for a service that doesn't work. I will be taking this further as this is in no way good enough.
Another issue (not a major one but still an issue) I have informed Vodafone of my change of address six times over the past 12 months yet they still have the previous address listed.
Had it!

It is rare that I will have a phone call without it dropping out at least once. The record so far is 12 times throughout one conversation with a friend. In trying to reach customer service, I called 9 times only to be put on hold and then for the call to just drop out. I am the most easy going customer but this is out of control. Thank you for creating Vodafail and I hope the ACCC either does something about it or shuts them down. They are cutting corners to save a dollar at the expense of the customers. It's the worst service of all time... and that is saying something.

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

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

For months now I've been told by my partner and friends how bad my phone is and that it must have been dropped a million times to be so bad. (can I just say I've only dropped it once and that was from a desk, hardly a big fall).
I drop out of most calls after 5mins. I get little signal indoors (live and work in the CBD!!!) and my voicemail don't work properly. It also usually takes me at least two go's to make a call. God forbid I be in an emergency...
I brought up the issue with a Vodafone store once and was told it was my phone and to call the service centre, ha! Sorry I don't have 3 hours to sit on hold only to be told there is nothing wrong!

Great Job vodafone, you ignore your loyal customers and pretend it's their fault. Such a useless company...

Constant "call failed" even when in range with full bars. 3G access problems. Constant drop outs esp with one other Voda customer who when I call, or he call me, guaranteed drop out within first 3 minutes each and every single F time?? Call Voda, on hold 30 mins, then get msg to leave msg and they will call me back? Yes they di acutally 3 hours later, explained my issue, then was transferred to another dept and on hold for 45 mins before I gave up....WTF???? they used to be good

I'm a 6 year customer of Vodafone and have noticed their customer service sliding to an all time low this year. On hold for 30 minutes plus every time I call (however, if you call the sales line, you get through in 2 minutes - funny that)... I have also emailed them 3 times to request getting out of my contract because they have been so bad, with no reply.

The minute my contract expires I'm out - can't put up with it any more - but they have lost another 2 year contract from me (and I spend $60-$80 per month).

Nice fail, Vodafone!

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

Vodafone's call centre is now the old 3 call centre based over in India. They are useless, they were useless back when 3 first came out, every call to them is minimum half hour and constantly placed on hold. TIO is the way to go.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I live in the Inner West and Work in the Sutherland Shire. All day yesterday I could not use my phone to make calls. There were two others in my office that are with Vodafone who had the same problem. I was on the phone for 2hours most of this time I was on hold. However they would not release me from my contract, gave me 3 months free then I have 2 months left until I can cancel my contract. They are supposedly investigating my issue. I also find I have no service when I'm in the city of inner west at times even though there are NO service outages. Yesterday I'd had enough that I went and signed up with OPTUS - I will be leaving Vodafone as soon as possible.

I try to call customor care - after being on hold for an hour - the call drops out. I have no 3G, 1 bar reception - I cannot access my optusnet emails, every call drops out, MMS does not come through until the next day, I always have to trying 3 or 4 times to make a call, only for it to drop out after 1 minute. This is pathetic.

No 3G data on my iphone, apps will not connect, tried on different handsets even, tried another carrier;s sim and works perfectly. Can't get through on the phone, 30 mins is too long to wait.

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

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

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

My mobile phone constantly drops out and our wireless broadband rarely works. We live in Waterloo - not exactly an area that should have connection problems. Every time we try to call to complain we are put on hold for so long that we give up. Two mobile phone plans with Vodafail AND a broadband connection plan yet no communication from Vodafail about issues. Lovely.

- experiencing volume and reception problems on my phone which were completely denied by vodafone - they blamed my hardware - i only know the truth from blogs and comments like this
- trying to call Vodafone customer service and waiting 47 minutes on hold

Im in the CBD with 1 bar of reception. Data just doesn't come and it took me an hour on hold with vodafone to cancel my contract.

Screw you vodafone!

Like many of you I was a relatively satisfied customer on prepaid. I've been a customer of Vodafone's now for 5 years. In May last year I signed up for a two year contract so I could get an iPhone and was immediately dissatisfied with the network coverage. Isn't 3G supposed to make coverage better?!

Recently the coverage has severely worsened, every call that I make drops out at least once. I can't have professional or other important conversations on my vodafone number because the calls ALWAYS DROP OUT. And I live in Kings Cross in the heart of Sydney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just ridiculous.

Voicemails never appeared on my iPhone on time - regularly appeared several days later. People would get very frustrated with me because I hadn't returned their call when I didn't even realise they'd call. Because Vodafone would also just divert them straight to voicemail, even when I should have had perfect reception in the middle of the city (and it said I had full reception).

Anyway, I've had $10 a month raped out of me since I signed up for insurance. When I needed to claim, I lodged a claim online (in October). They sent me an email with NONE of the details I needed saying someone would contact me in five days. No one ever called. When I finally got around to dropping my phone in to Bondi Junction yesterday the unhelpful salesman said I needed a claim number. When I checked my email at the store, there was no freaking claim number. I showed him this was the only thing they'd ever sent me on the matter. He said I would have to call the claims dept and get it myself before he could help me. I asked, couldn't he just look it up on the system? No, he said, I needed to call them myself from the store phone. Wouldn't take long. I SAT ON HOLD TO VODAFONE FOR TWELVE MINUTES WHILE IN THE VODAFONE SHOP.

Did you know they have a thing called a 'Churn level' or 'Churn number'? I asked another naive looking salesman what it meant while he was logging my phone into their system (mine said 'very low'). He said it's the category they put vodafone customers into based on how likely they are to leave the company. I said to him 'Well, after sitting on hold to vodafone because of your screw up for 10 minutes while in the vodafone shop, maybe you should change mine to extremely high, because come May I'm outta here' and he just laughed.

I'd encourage you all to call vodafone and insist that they change your 'churn number' to extremely high. They don't take people's complaints seriously.

When I had no service all day at the big day out this year (like thousands of other young vodafone customers at homebush) I called and complained a few days later. Vodafone's response? Have 300 free texts. OH THANKS A F**KING LOT, I'M ON A F**KING CAP YOU DOUCHE!

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

Vodafone sux in the city. I constantly cant send SMS, or get delayed SMS, continuous dropped calls and waiting on hold to Vodafone for at least an hour before being hung up on. I have been with most of the carriers and Vodafone has got soo bad over the last 2-3months that the service is almost non existant.. 3rd world service Vodafone!

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

I signed a 2year contract with vodafone about 1month ago- I have come to realise this was the worst decision of my life.
I have been experiencing little to no reception- majority of the time. delay in recieving msgs. unable to send messages- at one stage i was resending messages an average of 10times before they would actually send. No one could get through to my phone. this is shit.
I called up costumer service, was put on hold for an hour before i spoke to a person in India. Who told me it was a handset problem/sim problem and I should return to my vodafone dealer to get new settings and a sim. This is funny because I had just got a brand new samsung galaxy when i signed the contract.
I returned to my vodafone dealer and they told me. They;ve been experiencing the same problems with vodafone themselves- ie cannot sign contracts because the vodafone system is down.!!

Vodafone SUCKS even their franchisee's think so. what a load of bs and waste of money

No service, dropped calls, messages are 5 days late, my customers think I don't return calls, etc...
On hold for hours, no real help or advice...I would like a refund, or/and a different telco.

Very frustrating!!!

SMS not coming through, calls not coming in. I swapped sims to see if that could make it better but didn't. No service for far too long. Very hard, especially when i have a girlfriend currently overseas and I don't get her messages until 2am

Trying to activate a prepaid SIM but the self-service web portal is down (returns highly descriptive error code: "{1}") Meanwhile I've been on hold for 45 minutes lol.

Luckily it's just for testing and I've been an ex VF customer for some years now :) but still, how far can this company fall before it just completely implodes?

I can handle long waits on customer service lines if they actually fix the problems but its easier not to call... I can never understand the call centre staff due to their strong accents and they rarely fix the problem first go. They need some good performance management to get their call wait times and complaints down.

I've experience dropped calls, late voicemail messages, poor battery life and bad 3G coverage. Complaining to the call centre does nothing and they refuse to replace my phone or let me out of the contract I just signed. They deny there is any issue with their network or service and redirect you to departments that are closed after waiting on hold for hours.