At the start of August 2011, Vodafone NZ screwed up their outgoing email server. About 80% of emails were simply being bounced without any attempt at being sent by their server with an error message because it thought they were spam. After a week and a half someone finally deigned to "fix" the problem. Apparently the fools had set the spam filter too high and the server was simply rejecting messages.

The following week international access to websites was broken, with website requests were taking three minutes or more to be acknowledged and start loading. Yet another week and a half before anyone at Vodafone bothered to look into it and fix it.

Then the outgoing email server screwed up again and bounced most emails as spam. After another week of "looking into it" this problem has SUPPOSEDLY now been "fixed" ... but instead of bouncing emails with an error message, the outgoing emails are now simply being deleted and never arrive at their recipient!

You try to post messages on their forum letting them know there are problems, and your messages are either deleted, hidden or you're told this isn't the right place ... and even worse, my account with the forum has been completely blocked!!

VODAFONE IS COMPETLEY AND UTTERLY HOPELESS!!!!! Xo(
They don't have any ability whatsoever to actually run an ISP and have absolutely no idea what "customer service" is.

Vodafone is the BIGGEST joke of an Internet provider in New Zealand!!

we have been with vodafail for 10 yrs with 4 contracts at present, in the last few yrs our coverage had deterioated so much so that we have to make and recieve 80% of our calls and txts outside.I have spent hrs on the ph to numerous and very nice customer service reps in Mumbai with no solution to our problems. They have offered my all sorts of discounts but dont seem to understand "its not about the money" it about being able to use our mobiles in the house. I have now taken action with the TIO ombudsman and am now awaiting a call from Vodafail.Wish me luck !

Luckily enough this problem hasn't caused me any big issues, but I paid for something that I never received.
I had gone on a contract last year in September, unlimited calls to ANYONE in Australia, and unlimited pxt and sms. I had asked extensively about unlimited calls to anyone because it sounded too good to be true, but for $80 a month i figured it was worth it. The guys at the store had convinced me that I could call anyone, and I changed from my optus account to Vodafone.
I recently went onto the vodafone website to check up on some details and found that I only have unlimited calls available to vodafone and 3.
Called customer service and he confirmed that, as well as saying that there was no unlimited deals like that available in september, only in december.
I'll be taking this further...

RECEPTION CONSTANTLY DROPS OUT< CUSTOMER SERVICE IS TERRIBLE< YOU CAN NEVER GET A AN ANSWER>

Ive had 2 days with no service despite driving thru 4 different postcodes. Yesterday customer service said I would be contacted within 4-6hrs, my problem was "urgent", their words!Today they have tried to call me but because my reception is so bad the calls have dropped out the minute I answer. I keep saying I will call them and unlock my phone and escape. But I just dont want to devote an hour of my life to a phone call with "Lara". I do however continue to spend unlimited time calling them to complain about no service??? I cant get angry at them anymore because all the smart people have moved tp optus or telstra, and Im still here. Not for much longer. Im finding a spare hour this weekend.

This morning, I was awoken by a text message alerting me to the fact that my current months bill was in excess of $1700, and that I should call an unfamiliar customer service number immediately to avoid account suspension. Since my billing cycle only started a couple days ago, and I have recently been checking my usage every night, I was very surprised that I could have gone over, when last night there were no excess charges. Having googled the provided customer service number and finding no relevant result I began to suspect a scam, and very warily logged into myvodafone.com to examine my usage. The resultant page explained:

Sorry for the inconvenience
- There has been a communication problem and your request has not been processed. Please try again later.

No matter how many times I tried reloading, I was taken to the same message. When I viewed my account summary, the only page I could successfully load, the Amount owing was more than $1900, and there was still no way to see the description of charges. So I called vodafone, (the regular customer service number, not the one included in the text) and asked many questions regarding the charges on my account. I was told that there were currently issues in their system, and they would not be able to look into my account details. The nice woman then told me to wait 24 hours and call back. As I was quite distressed that my account might be suspended, I told her that I did not feel comfortable waiting around for a full day, at which point she told me to call back in three hours, and the problem should be fixed... (It wasn't)

I am hoping that my account is experiencing the same glitch that the call center is having, and when I wake up tomorrow, this will all have been a dream. Sadly, having found his site and read a few stories that sound closely akin to my own, I feel I may be in for the long haul, and will no doubt lose a considerable balance from my bank account.

Cheers, thanks for listening to a vent.

6169 post code Shoalwater WA signal has become increasingly poor over the last few months to the extent that maximum in our house is one bar and about 100 mts down the street you will get two . It has always sometimes been a bit of a problem even before 3G but you could usually find a spot by roaming around somewhere within our household vacinity . Considered getting rid of our landline but glad I didn,t as thats all we can use in our house at the moment however its quite costly when you are paying for an Infinate Vodafone plan and also landline costs . I have an iphone 4 which has always been worse than the rest of our family Nokias but these are now having the same problem so can,t blame the phones . Tried friends iphone 4 in our house with Telstra and she had four bar signal next to my one .Have been a loyal Vodafone customer for twelve years and have no complaints with their customer service staff on the phone and their stores have always been helpful . I have read all the blurp on Vodafone website and seems they are making every effort to fix this and after my complaint have given a 25 % discount off our three accounts for all of us this month so they are trying . Website states they are doing up grades in the Shoalwater area by September and I was just told on their customer care line to wait until end of September as this should fix the problem . I sure hope so as I don,t want to have to go to Telstra it is such a shame that all this is happening . Looks like Telstra is going to end up with a monopoly again then prices will soar with no competition . My husbands plan is up in November so he will have to switch to another network if nothing improves but rest of family are only 9 months into 24 month contracts so will be getting advise as to how we can get out of these if Vodafone don,t manage to fix this

How hopeless can Vodafail be!

Took the speed issues to the TIO, Vodafail didn't get in contact until the last day (10th working day), was told nothing that they could do until 850 MHz is installed in my area however Vodafail has no plans to install it. I agreed that they give me some data as compensation however Vodafail failed to add it to my account.

Vodafail, you just lost another customer and will unlikely gain any more since I'll be telling those who are thinking to switch not to pick Vodafail.

For 2 years I have been fighting with Vodaphone over their absolutely poor service.. I have been in discussions with their resolutions and the TIO...although I got a large credit, I have been addressing the issue and found that Vodaphone is solely at fault. Recently because I asked the TIO to review it, I was told by Vodaphone to "port" my services elsewhere. Today I received an e-mail suggesting that I harrassed resolutions. Not the fact (PERSONAL DETAILS REMOVED) but more the fact that Vodaphone have been caught out ripping people off.My internet is already ported to iinet. My mobile is following. I suggest that anyone wanting great service and people who go out of their way to help a customer, then iinet is the one. I trialed their system for 3 months before deciding and it was great. Since porting my net 3 days ago. I have had 6 e-mails making sure everything is fine. As for Vodafail, time to show them customer power.

Being a (former) customer service rep for vodafail , i apologise for instances when was unable to help customers, human beings like me who had families and trying to make ends meet... My hands were tied. Add to that the frustration of being forced to do intermittent 6-day week or an extra hour of overtime (@$3AUD/hr) at extremely short notice.

I mean F*ck Nigel! I haven't even written a letter to you yet but already your statements from previous dissatisfied customers piss me off. I'm new to your country from Canada, and I must say I heard a lot better things from my mates about your company than I seen first hand! What gives?!
I signed up to a new phone from some asshole who kept calling me when I had prepaid cards, now my third $29 cap plan, which I hardly use just billed me for $220 of data plan that I didn't even use. In turn I tried to speak with customer service to discuss these charges and was forced to speak with two Vodafone representatives, either spoke english well enough to understand that Vodafone was in the wrong for these charges! They said the best they could do was give me $40 credit on my next bill. Not good enough!! The first rep said they were a customer service supervisor, the second apparently was a account manager supervisor. On principal alone I will cancel my contract and go elsewhere if my $220 bill is not reversed. They have since put me on a 72 hour wait for a customer service representative with more authority (hopefully speaks english) to respond, probably while I'm eating dinner again. I hope Vodafone makes the correct decision during the next phone discussion. Oh, the first calls were recorded for training purposes, which I didn't fully understand. I would love to hear that conversation again , you would hear me repeatedly stating I can not understand what information you are trying to give me. What a laugh!

Rick from Canada

1300650410 Vodafone customer service still down... uncontactable! 1300 650 410

Tried to unlock an old phone from 3 mobile, i rang customer service to get the code. Rather then just pressing all the options, i kept pressing the # key and i went straight to a operator, he had such a temper, i couldnt believe it. Im paying for his shit curry dinner he has every night and the way in which he talks to me is a joke.
Anyway, i didnt get the code as "he didnt have the authority to give it to me"
i asked to talk to the person with authority, he said there is no person here to help you, go to the 3mobile website and look at how to unlock the phone. (its just a pdf saying how to enter a code and press enter) how stupid do they think we are, seriously!!
i have 2 vodafone, and a 3 mobile, phone in my room which require a code to unlock and i cant get it.

I have been overseas and disabled my iPhone's 3G and Internet Capabilities altogether. 7th day into my 9 day holiday I get a message in a nutshell saying the following "You have $350.00 outstanding from your account" - I call vodafone straight away. They tell me that it may be a phone or a billing issue due to data usage (excessive), they need to investigate it. They promised to call me back. I arrive in Sydney, and the next day my phone gets barred and I can not call my employer and tell him that I have been delayed for work. We lost $4000 that morning. It gets better. I call vodafone that night and they tell me that they can not do anything until their team in sydney starts work at 8am. I call again at 8.30am. Have to explain my story all over again, then get redirected to their sydney team to get an error "Sorry we operate 9am-8pm" instead of going back to the guy who I just spoke to it hang up. I called again at 9.30 5 times until I finally got through (My phone dropped connectivity because of the infamous vodafone "service"). Then the guy tells me the following, my iPhone accumulated $390 worth of data roaming. Because it downloaded and uploaded 30Mb of data in total, I can see that you have launched a dispute and think that this is false. Unfortunately we can not disbar your phone until you pay that sum (even though its not due for an other month) (In case you are wondering New Zealand charges it prepaid customers 50c a Mb rate - thats the highest - Vodafone is charging me $10/Mb< for services that I did not use + Dissabled my number and calling until I did so). The problem is on their side and I end up paying for it. Before I could reply the phone call was dropped. I want out of my contract, you can have the phone and I am going to Tesltra. I am having dropped calls and I can not use internet if I am traveling faster than an average butterfly. Sure people tell me that their customer service is not as good but the best customer service not having to ring "customer service" in the first place. I am getting in contact with Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and speaking with vodafone personally

I gave up on my usb but am stuck on my phone contract until June next year (never again after many years with Vodafone -will move fully to Optus)

Impossible to submit my post box address online for my mail. Their site doesn't cater for that so have tried to phone customer service which I thought would have improved by now. The dreaded LARA's still there so I hung on...had to press 5 x 3 and a recorded voice said I was being put through, it rang then it said ''error number" then just dropped out!!

I can't believe things haven't improved by now FM

1.Poor data reception around clayton and oakliegh area's in Victoria on a HTC Desire HD even outside. At oakleigh train station I cant even use the internet, it just does not work!
2. After last 2 pre-paid recharges, my credit will add on to what credit I had left e.g If I had $20 and got a $30 recharge it becomes $50. My free sms will do the same but, my data always resets to 250mb, and will not add on what data I had left. Usual story, rang customer service tried to blame my sim card.

Customer service is very poor, tranfering me to different departments, so I told them they have lost me as a customer so as soon as my credit is used I will be going to another carrier.

I used to work for Vodafone, and hated it! Not initially because of the company itself, but because of the call centre-which is now Vodafone's fault for lack of training and informing staff exactly which department does what so that they don't toss the customers from one department to the next.
Imagine making 20 of those one call centre phone calls a day and you will understand the pain I along with half the Vodafone staff experienced.

I haven't worked for them for about a year now, but unfortunately I signed myself up to a contract before leaving them. The problem these days is the call centre regardless of any miscommunication have absolutely no authority to do something within their department. There is no one to speak to any more who can resolve any issue!

I can go on and on about my mobile broadband issues and being charged per month when it has been in repairs for 6 weeks, Or how about staying on the phone for hours being thrown around like a rag doll from customer service department to collections team to be hung up on as soon as I ask for Loyalties and Retention (apparently now called 'Cancellation team') which is the only department that jumped to fix the wrongly applied barring to my phone which cost me days of important business calls and emails (I upgraded from Vodafone Rep to an Advertising agency) and should really be with Telstra, even though there service is equally poor, at least we won't get any dropped calls.

Anyway, I will not bore you with my pain story, I'm sure others have covered every problem. However Vodafone CEO if your reading this, you can say goodbye to your pretty penny because I can guarantee you that your business is already down the drain, the only income you will receive from here on in will be the left over contracts, which if like mine will end within this year and I will disappear from your pathetic Siebel software which gave away customers details.

P.S your company is not shit because of the slow service or dropped calls every now and again, because people don't care - nothing is perfect, it's shit because your to busy sitting on your yacht enjoying your passion fruit mojito to notice your untrained staff are failing to meet each customers expectations-and that is an understatement!

Live in Wollongong, have a Blackberry on a month to month basis with Vodafail, everything working well(at least I had 3G functionality intermittently) until last Wednesday when all services dropped out without explanation. Yesterday I received a text message from Vodafone to let me know that a network upgrade was being made text was two days late and arrived after the upgrade was made.

Still having no service after the alleged network upgrade was done, I contacted customer service and after two hours of speaking with a very polite Indian gentleman, and going through the motions of trying to convince me that my Blackberry was faulty (its not I've been through this before with them) he went on to inform me that after checking the signal coverage of my area, it appears that the upgrades to the network have resulted in DOWNGRADE of services available in my area???? WTF?

After five call dropouts during our conversation, the final suggestion was for me to find a neighbour and use their phone should any emergency arise, as Vodafone could not guarantee an uninterupted service from this point onwards.

Thank you Vodafone your alleged $1bn upgrades in your network have resulted in even less coverage in the 3rd largest city in the most populous state in the Country.

*** VHA SELLS MOBILES WHICH IT IS FULLY AWARE ARE FAULTY ***
I upgraded online from Pre-Paid to Post Paid and could select either a Nokia N97 Mini or iPhone3 @ $29 per month & simply ticked the box for $9.90 p/mth insurance. I completed the order online & received the phone a week later. I have had ENDLESS issues with the mobile and sent it for repair, only to get it back functioning more erratic than before. (Naturally I was reluctant to send it for a 2nd attempt) I did notice they sent it to the VHA workshop & not Nokia which is where it should have gone. Hmmm
Whilst I waited 2 weeks for it's return, I did some research online and discovered many levels of complaints regarding the full sized N97 model, which the mini was purported to have fixed. Then I discovered the same issues with Connectivity, Software upgrades and Browser limitations with the mini model also. The advertising said I could watch videos online but experienced "Upgrade Flash Player" which the handset wouldn't allow.
According to the plethora of information, it seems both Nokia AND Vodafone are well aware of the technical issues with BOTH these handsets, yet continued to sell them in stores nationally. (Sometimes @ premium rates)
I grit and bared it until a month later my mobile fell out of my pocket whilst washing up and I had to call to claim my Insurance. I was told I had to pay an excess of $50 if they repaired it (waiting up to 2wks minimum) or $175 if they replaced the handset completely. Now, I did NOT receive ANY information during sign-up or with the received documentation about any excess for insurance, I had simply ticked a box. I was practically accused of lying by one operator & promised a callback by a Team Leader.
After numerous calls being referred from Insurance to Customer Service to Direct back and forth, no one could give me a explanation. I ended up eventually speaking with a team called "WIN- BACK". I explained I refused to pay any excess and if so, requested cancellation of the contract under Trade Practices (Misleading & unconscionable conduct) which had been advised by TIO.
I was told by Vodafone ... "Too bad, You will have to pay the Termination Fee." I explained seeing the handset was water logged it would no doubt be the $175 so if they were going to charge me for it anyway, then I requested to attend my local store and obtain a different model. They accepted this and I ensured a Reference Number to streamline the process.
Apart from a minor delay in obtaining consent in-store (wasn't in notes), I requested a Samsung Galaxy S2 which would require an upgrade from $29 - $59 per month which was refused due to my bill not being paid (per instructions from the TIO until matter was resolved). You would think this would have been an opportunity for Vodafone to not only resolve a customer complaint but obtain MORE business? I eventually chose the Nexus S on the same plan with insurance (wasn't taking any further chances)
I received a phone call later that day from an authorised VHA rep to tell me they were crediting me $50 toward the $175 replacement cost. Whilst this was a very nice gesture, the fact that I have to pay an excess at all is ridiculous.
I am in the process of consulting legal counsel to determine if Vodafone Hutchinson Australia can be prosecuted for selling mobile handsets when they are aware they are faulty. And also how customer can terminate their contracts due to this.

I'd be interested if anyone has any feedback, advise etc. Cheers.

Together in Solidarity

I am the poor Three Vodaphone user, after three and vodaphone merged together, three customers are treated as rubbish. The retailers, customer service always try to push the customers to swich their plan to Vodaphone, they told you there are more handset available on vodaphone. I have ordered a new handset online, the same day I called Three wanted to confirm they have received my order. They said the order had been canceled because the handset it not available, I asked if there is no more stocks of the handset whyit is still availble online. They said it is a system mistake. Ask advised me that phone is available on Vodaphone. If I would like to swith my plan from Three to Vodaphone, they will more than happy to give me that phone. I asked if the order has been canceled by system, when I haven't been notified until I called them. They just told me it takes 48 hours for the system to generate the message to me. Until today, after more than 1 and half months, I haven't received any message stated my order has been cancelled due to stock not available.

It is really disgusting as they actually have the stocks, they just simply don't want to keep three's customer. Since we are three's customer, so we can be treated as rubbish.

after suggestion from my brother to get cheaper $45 infinite plan i was bit worried abt service such coverage, customer service. however, i was quite shocked with coverage. it is bloody excellent coverage. no drama at all.. i think they have improved after complain. good value in infinite $45. i am very pleased and i refered to my 4 frnds in south australia. all of them are amazed with the plan n improvement. very well done i guess..

DISGRACEFUL SERVICE SIX MONTHS OF COMPLAINING TO VODAPHONE HAS NOT IMPROVED ANY PART OF THE CRAP SERVICE. BUT I FOUND OUT YOU CAN REPORT THEM TO THE ICO. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS OMBADSMAN. IT COST VODAPHONE $1400.00 ON AVERAGE FOR EVERY CLAIM INVESTIGATED

I left vodafone after being with them since 1994. I had been persisting with ridiculous service, coverage and drop outs until I became ill. I spent 7 days alone in my house unable to travel. I was unable to conduct business via the mobile. Reception has always been poor with drop outs, Ive lived with it making the call backs when I am on the road. Not being able to use the phone for that time was a serious health and business issue for me.

I paid an amount up front to minimise the exit charge on a phone to $300ish. After months of drop outs and years of dealing with Lara I went to Telstra. I assumed that churning the number cancelled the service at vodafone. Thats was the case with my wife. I have a bill for $1297 including $990 for a cancelation fee. They tell me had I called them before churning they done something however it is now too late now. Add my voice to the clamour. Sad really, they were the best customer service company I had ever dealt with 10 years ago. That acolade no goes to AAMI!!!

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

I signed up sadly 5weeks ago not knowing the joke of a service i would get.
I have reception in 2 rooms of my house and thats just one bar and not clear signal when i talk.
I sms my friend literally 3 houses up from me and they dont get the message for 40minutes,
when i want to call someone, i wait upto 1minute for the call connection before it rings,
i called customer service and i invited them to come to my house and experience what i am getting, they said "we have no technicians in your area" and they would do a reception check on the website......of course the website is made to make them look perfect with great coverage
Their 3G is non existent in my area, and when i get it (while in Sydney), their net is soo slow
I have been late to uni presentations numerous times from not receiving (backup) wake up calls from a mate.
Other friends ask me why is my phone turned off all the time, (it never is)
all this after 5weeks.
ill be crying for the next 23months :(

I use Vodafone prepaid broadband and for 2 weeks my connection has constantly dropped out even when my coverage is supposedly excellent, load times are so slow that they time out, some sites such as youtube or facebook will not load at all and some sites load their coverpage but go no further than that! I haven't contacted customer service, but I'm interested to know if it would be worthwhile?

After a phone call that lasted 1 1/2 hrs to cancel my account with Vodafone due to no service coverage, I lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman (TIO)to have early termination charges waived. This was followed up with another 1/2 an hr phone call with Vodafone discussing the cancellation of my account and return of my internet modem sticks. I find that almost 2 months later I'm still being billed! So called up and spent another 45 mins on the phone being transferred to several different operators in India and Australia to question why after 3 specific requests to close the account, I'm still being billed! Finally I have someone say they closed the account and waived the charges. The charges were only waived once I threatened to go to the ombudsman again. I will NEVER EVER EVER use Vodafone again. Not only is their product pathetic, their service is HOPELESS! Kids in yr 3 would be more effective at managing their customer service than they are.

ok im a three customer, have been since 2004. i have been very happy with their service. BUT since they merged with vodafone, the sales staff instore appear to be rude and unhelpfull. they basically brush me off and give me the 3 customer service number. soon as i say im with 3 they blank me out instore and try to get me to sign up with vodaphone. has anyone else expirienced this? extremely rude and disrespectful. i dont know if i would still stay with three. the old 3 stores were run by fantasic people, never had a problem with them.

After 2 days of my service not receiving calls, i began to try & call the customer service line, as usual no good & i cant even get into contact with them. Thinking this may be my phones fault (many drops) i have bought a brand new phone outright & to my amazement NOTHING!! then i try the new sim card that come with it.. you guessed it NOTHING!! i think this company can go to hell. I cant even call customer service to give them hell.. what a waste of money.

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

I am in a $90 a month contract with vodafone and have experienced little to no reception since my signup to vodafone, i have reported the issue three times and each time they assign the call to a technician to investigate the issue and then im told there is nothing wrong.

In the mean time im still paying $90 a month for call dropouts, intermittent data issues even though 3G is available and nothing is being done about it.

I am seriously over the service and customer service offered by vodafone overall.

Disgruntled Vodafone Customer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No reception - on a good day 1 little bar. Dropped calls.
Delayed SMS Messages and worst of all Very poor customer service from people that don't even know that Canberra is the capital of Australia! I am leaving Voda-no-phone and going to another provider this weekend.

Service and/or internet continually drops out in Sydney CBD. Constantly have to refresh and toggle airplane mode. Very annoying. Tried to speak to customer service but they were blatantly rude to me. E.g. "if you ACTUALLY read what I said.." being very condescending and impatient. For a company that is losing hundreds of thousands of customers every month, vodafail should really get some more polite customer service staff. Changing to Amaysim as soon as my contract ends next month. Good riddance vodafail.

It's reassuring, in a way to read i'm not the only person dealing with sub-standard service.

I'm on a $49/month cap for my mobile phone (iPhone 3) which has some data usage allowance - i'm not sure exactly how much because i hardly ever access the net over the mobile and, since my billing dramas started 2 weeks ago, no one at vodafone has been able to tell me !!

Vodafone sent me a letter on 27/6/11 telling me of a 'correction' to it's billing system which would see some types of internet usage attract a fee. I also have a wireless broadband account with them, and because of this wrote back to them asking them;
why they were doing this?, at what specific rate where they going charge these services at? and how they were planning to differentiate between the 'regular' and 'newly charged' types of usage.

I aslo asked for a copy of my contract (that contians my signature) with them to be sent to me ASAP.

My reply answered none of my questions. They stated a link on the MyVodafone site that i should visit, the Standard Terms of Service page. I checked it out, and there's 3 different versions of it - which one is applicable to me? I don't know, because they didn't/haven't sent me a copy of the contract as requested!!

Anyway, I then received my July account to find i'd been charged $286.65 for data usage - from my PHONE, not the wireless b/b!(My normal total for both is $90) Like i said earlier, i hardly ever use my phone for net access. I rang 'customer service' to ask what was going on, explained my situation, only to be told that i must have used the data because it's on the record and that's pretty much it.

When i asked for details, they couldn't provide any specifics because the bill hadn't been generated yet. "Really?", I asked, "then how can tell me the exact total if you don't have all the details of the charges, then?" "Um, err I'm sorry, but that's how the system works... etc."

I hit the roof when the bill was finally generated two days later.
According to Vodafone, i'd used 14mb of data and at some point went past my limit (whatever it is) and have been charged $286 as a result. Interestingly, the rate i was charged before the 'billing correction' they wrote to me about and after it is almost 4 fold. eg: before - 123kb = $3.60, after - 193kb = $12.60.

In one instance, for daily usage that i wasn't aware of, i was charged $73.80 FOR 69KB !!!!!!!!!

I've looked at my daily usage since, and there's a pattern - every 30-40 minutes, even with ALL my apps removed and me not touching my phone, i'm being charged $0.90 for 6kb of usage over 5:01 mins. Every time - $0.90,6kb, 5:01 up to twenty times a day. I can assure you, it's not me doing this!!

I'm getting my info and documents together and will be writing back to Vodafone and to the TIO to get results, because this is just plain ridiculous.

I'll take responsablity and pay for services i've used, but when you're dealing with a company that wont tell you what your entitlements are, won't answer genuine quieries to thier billing system, and charges you inconsistant and stupid costs for services you haven't used or received any benefit from, then something's gotta give..... and it won't be me!

Thanks to all who've shared thier experiences here ( amazed at the sheer number!) and to the creators of this site!!
All the best.

Called customer service yesterday.
Lady from the call centre tells me "you have excellent coverage in your area..." 30 seconds later my call drops out. amazing..
She called me back to say dropping out after 18 minutes is a very good result - does anyone know if having drop outs is standard on other networks too?

For anyone in country areas contemplating signing up with Vodafone "DON'T DO IT"
(refer 18756)you would be better of with 2 cans and a length of string.I have recently been released from 2yr contract 6 weeks in after lengthy conversations and multiple excuses from vodafone customer service supervisor.
For those of you sick of your service simply ask vodafone customer service what their interpretation of MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS is, because its surely not the same as their customers who buy mobile phones to use primarily as a contact tool.
So then when you get the usual act dumb reaction from the CS rep let them know that you now intend to use your PHONE-JAMMER, when they ask what that is, tell them: Its where you take the phone back to the Vodafone store and JAM it up someones arse!. (I'm sure I heard the VF CS rep giggling in the background) Anyhow stay with or join Telstra for hassle free phone coms its worth that little bit extra (especially for emergencies) as we are all finding out...

Hi,
Being a loyal customer who has never had any problems with Vodafone for the past 6 years or so. I am frustrated that Facebook was advertised as being free on my plan. However, after calling customer service when I realized I was well over my cap from data usage with Facebook, they stated that Facebook was only free through accessing 'm.facebook.com' and not through the iPhone application I had downloaded. Vodafone clearly needs to be more clear cut with data usage information.

Currently on a fail $79 cap rarely use internet exept for the odd work email or 2 whilst attending family funeral received an sms from fail informing me that I have exceeded my monthly cap my bill is currently $5oo!!!!!!!!! {caught my breath felt chest for any abnormal pains} And than proceeded at the next suitable time to ring customer service after the usual round the world aided bye the confusion of the one only ibot//annoying LARA !Finally touchdown in what i am assuming would be India after the usual language barrier confusion and what can only be described as vodafail intelect I was informed by what sounded to me like a growing more & more excited some what allmost chuckling voice on the other end that i would still have to pay this bill because i had exceeded my cap.{dahhhhhhhhhh} please can anybody help me with a direct attack on the internet to india or at least vodafail itself heres hoping

I got charged for excess data usage where i have only been accessing the usual websites like previous months. I stayed well below the data limit over the past 2 years. Couple of days in this billing cycle I was charged with massive data usage. I called the customer service and all the response they can give is "it's your fault. You deal with it". This is the last nail in the coffin for me as I put up with the network for the past few months where I can not even get coverage in the Melbourne CBD and have to walk like a mad man holding up the phone. Very good example of how not to treat your customers.

After having so many issues with speed (no faster then dial-up most of the times), I though I would try the Vodafail's community forum in hope to have the issue looked at and fixed. While they may show they want to help on the forum, they fail to call within the times you give them as to when you're available and when you miss the call, they state they will call you back but they don't. Stay well away from this company. Time for the TIO.

I'm upgrading from the iPhone 3 to the iPhone 4, and was told that I need to get a new smaller SIM card. So I dropped in to my local store and everything was fine until they told me that my password is incorrect. I said I didn't know what else it could be, so they called Customer Service in India. Then I get told that the computer says that the phone number belongs to someone else, and that I failed every identification question! They won't even tell me what the name is on the account even though I was able to prove that I owned the number! They refused to do anything about it and said they weren't going to discuss it with me any further! Now I have a brand new phone that is completely useless and even Vodafone's own staff are unable to convince Customer Service to help me!

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

To begin, this isn't the first problem I've had with Vodafail, nor is it the first time I've posted on here.. I am currently on the $49 Cap, I first had billing problems a few months ago, in which i was overbilled $50, therefore my bill became $99, I went down to see them at their store and they explain where this extra usage was, I understood this and was happy to pay, and for a few months I had no billing issues, fastforward to my latest bill $120, I logged onto my vodaphone.com and looked at my bill (as the one i'm email has no usage info, just how much I owe, even though last time this happen I requested to have an itemised bill), On the website I was charged for items mid billing session, but not for the start and end of that time... Confused I rang their customer service centre and spoke to probably 6 different people who 'couldn't access my full bill' but i had 'most likely gone over' I explain what the bill said online and they then said they didn't know how to help me as they couldn't see it, and it would be best for me to go in store, then proceeded to hangup on me, mid sentence.. So 20mins later I was on my way to the store, once i got there, I waited another 40mins to be served, although people had just walked in and been seen straight away. I explained my issue to them and they couldn't access my bill, so i logged them onto my vodaphone.com under my name and showed them the issues, the person who helped me in store was relatively helpful and he called the customer centre and was transfer from everywhere to billing to cancellation to upgrades, but still no help. Eventually he called his manager who was 'out on lunch' and the manager told me that I had most likely gone over my cap, again i explain it and he said it was probably a glitch in the system and they would fix it on monday (I went in on a saturday), Wednesday that week i get a text message saying yes i had gone over my cap, and i would have to pay the full amount, but as a sign of goodwill they would credit my bill $60. Therefore I only had to pay an extra charge of $10.. No explanation of what i had gone over.. Am awaiting with bated breath to see what my next bill comes in under, hopefully I won't owe anything thanks to my 'credit'

Another annoyance, last night my partner got their bill, they are also with Vodafail, and under the $49 cap, the bill said it was for $560.. once again we logged onto vodaphone.com to see the bill, but according to that he is still under his cap and hasn't gone over, we rang but once again could get no answers, i am planned on heading down today to try and get this sorted for him and change carriers from vodafail.

what makes me laugh is everytime I call I am given the option to upgrade my phone and renew my contract as it is up on the 1/08.. YEAH RIGHT! hahaha

Hopefully that all made sense...

My HTC Legend is unable to pick up more than a bar of reception at my house. There are none at my work!!! I very rarely get a SMS and can never answer a call when I'm at work. I've called Vodafone and they actually admitted that 3 reception is better!!!! When I send a text message that is 4 sentences long it only sends half of the message occasionally and twice!!!!! Facebook never works and my Internet doesn't either - apart from if I'm looking at the Vodafone homepage which will charge me!!!! Going to a Vodafone shop only results in me being being told to ring the Vodafone customer service again!!! Do you think it's my phone or the reception???? I'm a little frustrated and need my phone due to health problems. I have had this phone since December last
year and it's never worked properly. Could you please give me some advice??? The phone has already been reset too.

Seriously tearing my hair out!

Live on the North Shore, work in the Inner West, travel through the CBD every day. Patchy coverage everywhere, missed calls because callers can't get through to me, text message alerts that come through hours after a voicemail has been left, signal strength constantly up and down, data service abysmal, paying 69 dollars a month for something I can't use. My partner and most of my contacts on Vodafone but it's embarrassing how many times I have dropped calls, have to make repeated attempts to call.

Six weeks ago, spoke to customer service, described (very diplomatically and politely I might add) all my issues, found them to be reasonably helpful... albeit it was two hours of my life on the phone to a call centre that i'll never get back. Got callbacks and had my phone reset, established that all the stated areas of Sydney had "network issues"... as a consolation, I was offered for $69 to be credited to my account for 3 months.

Reasonable I thought, although ordinarily I'd have no qualms about paying for something that does what its supposed to. Six weeks later, and two bills have been sent out to me, neither with any suggestion that this credit offer has been applied.

So I ring back again... guess what, no record that the conversation ever took place! Brilliant. So, another hour on the phone through various departments and "engineers" all going through the same charade of calling back, resetting, testing, postcode checks, blah blah blah...

Seriously, what's the best thing to do here? Apparently, this time they've requested the credit to my next bill, and on my explicit request, they made a note on my account that the conversation we'd had had taken place and the outcome stated. However, a discounted bill for the next month or two doesn't actually help me, it just eases the pain a little bit. I still have nearly 12 months left on my contract and the cost to buy my way out of it is over $600...

Help!

I'm a student studying part time through open universities. I've had a USB dongle broadband stick which worked fine tge first few months of use, then it started switching to hsdpa and speeds have dropped to worse than dial up. I took the USB dongle to a Vodafone store and expressed dissatisfaction, they gave me a pocket wifi device, it's been 4 weeks with this device and no better. I'm going to fail university because I rely heavily on a Internet connection for study material and lectures but I'm unable to download this material! I am so bloody furious I almost feel homicidal, I've smashed my iPhone in frustration and almost punched a hole in My 27inch iMac screen. I called Vodafone customer service and told them how dissatisfied I was and all they could offer me was my next bill waived.... Thanks guys, so you should fucking waive it, because I can't bloody use it anyway!
Why on earth are we paying for a service we aren't getting, I pay my bill on time every time... I'm sticking to my agreement in the contract... Vodafone isn't... Simple!

Migrated from 3 to Vodafone in an effort to resolve reception issues ( live on top of a hill, line of sight to 3 towers...but hey ).
Migration for one phone took 4 days and about 3 hours on the phone
Migration of second (wifes) took nearly a month and another 8 hours on the phone to customer service.
Received first bill - all the agreed conditions were incorrect and overbilled - another 3 hours and 12 different parties to get that resolved.

Data is atrocious everywhere, and coverage ( original issue ) is marginally better but still not great.

And why is it that the helpdesk has to put you on hold for 3 minutes everytime they need to look up a detail? You spend more time on hold that resolving the issue.

10 months living in North Sydney with high rent and can't call or text message in my own living room, all communication must be done via the bedroom.
In 2 months Optus here I come.

They make enough money having there customer service department in Cairo you would think they can organise decent reception here in OZ

I have been a loyal happy customer of VODAFAIL since i got my first phone 10 years ago! and in the last year i have been dea set disgusted at the service and reception i dont get reception standing in a vodafone store! I have tried and tried to cancel my contract seeing as to ME they are NOT meeting the contractual obligations AT ALL!! When junst 2012 comes i will be cancelling my contract and heading over to Telstra al though thei customer service is crap the reception will be better! i hate vodafail with a passion and i am sooo unhappy!

Sydney, CBD. Another day with full bars, 3G and absolutely no internet connection. Reception is fine, however, the network is dead. I've followed all the suggestions from the Vodafone customer service representatives, without improvement.

I've experienced continuously poor reception and exceptionally slow downloads to the extent that I don't even bother accessing my emails or using the internet on my iPhone unless absolutely necessary.

Having approached four Vodafone stores in Sydney to address a multitude of problems which also relate to billing, I've been dismissed by their service representatives, who've claimed that the reception issues were previously addressed. After three incredibly frustrating and failed attempts to resolve the matter via Vodafone's non-existent "customer service" call centres offshore, I want my contract cancelled immediately.

I'd like to know why Vodafone is not being held accountable for not delivering to their service and product offering, when clearly so many customers have been adversely affected.

Excrucuating problems with Vodafail's mobile internet - even with a replacement unit the service doesn't function properly - runs slolwy and patchy - and I still can't send any emails despite the "best" (sic) efforts of their customer service centre - tried to cancel contract and now they want me to pay over $300 in termination fees!!!!!

No network in my area. I rang vodafone thrice. Still problem not solved. Worst customer service all centre.

Only a customer for 2 months and I wish now I walked by the store that day! Coverage is bad at home and in work signal comes and goes. I need my mobile at work for the school to reach me as I have a daughter with medical problems. Billing seems to be my biggest problem at the moment. First bill arrived 9th June am on a $70 plan. I paid the bill on the same day, checked my Vodafone account for several days and no sign of the payment. Contacted the customer service and they told me to wait. I waited but nothing so called them again and told me not to worry it will show. Then on the 4th July I receive a text that I am going to be cut off on the 7th if I did not pay my bill!! Called again by the way what is up with the fake names if they are called Andrew , Nicole etc (heavy Indian accent)then I am called Mother Theresa . He Andrew told me to send the credit card statement so went to the bank as Vodacrap did not believe me! Phoned again and tried to tell them the transaction number it took nearly 30 min for Nicole to write it down and she got it wrong! So I went to the shop they were helpful put on my account that they could not disconnect me and took a copy and told me they will sort it out. New bill arrives for July and I tried to pay 3 times my credit card is declined (nope it wasn't) tried again the next day and bingo delighted with myself I paid a bill. I asked customer not so good service did they find my missing payment?? Gave them 2 working days and guess what I owe them for 2 months. Thanks Vodafone for making my holidays a pleasant one and I guess I will need to visit the shop again!

Organised upgrade to iphone 4 after current Blackeberry phone ceased (7 months old and purchased through Vodafone), but as my last bill was paid on the 15th July via Bpay,(today is the 17th and a Sunday!) they hadn't cleared the payment yet and I was left with no phone to use. Very poor service and I have been a customer for 5 years!

why must you sit back and bag the network- vodafone has a fantastic network, better plans then you will find anywhere else, great customer service and so on. the tiny percentage of people out there who may have had a bad experience, stop complaining and move networks.

My second 24 month contract with Vodafone. First time around i was happy enough. The last 2 years have been terrible. Im having the same problems so many others are, Texts not getting through, Phone calls dropping out, woeful customer service. There's one spot near my work where i can see the "phone tower" and still my calls drop out. The good news for me- only 2 months left with these idiots.

As of 48hrs ago I was smacked with a $900 bill...
I have a $45 unlimited plan with 1gb of data per month. The bill was not for excess calls/sms etc but rather for going over the data limit. The interesting thing is when you work out the $900 in terms of how many mb of data over the limit i was it turns out to be close to 5gb. Even more interesting is the fact that records of data transfer for this month show that in the handfull of times i have accessed the net the data usage was at most 500kb. Then all of a sudden on 10/7/11 there is a massive 1.5 gb spike in data usage - this alone obvsiously exceeds my monthly data limit. However on 3 other occassions there over the next 24 hours I apparently downloaded files as big as 1.8gb.

I have the same applications on my phonw i have had for the last 6mo when i first entered the contract and at no other time have i has issues with data limits. And yet i had vodafone service attendants telling me it was me. I replied with the question of why would I knowingly go over the limit by an extra 4gb? Of course the customer service rep was silent and offered to slash $200 off the hefty $900 bill to which i replied thats a start now lets address the remaining $700. I checked the download records on my phone itself and apart from a 100mb operating system upgrade last month (outside of this billing period) i have no other updates that were downloaded so it wasnt due to automatic software updates either...even if it was, what bloody phone app needs software updates in the order of 4gb? In short the problem has yet to be solved and im waiting for a call back from one of the customer service managers. Any ideas on how to tackle this or any similar stories please let me know. Any help would be greatly appreciated

I have been with vodafone for 4 months.

Firstly, I never have phone reception, and I live 15 mins drive from perths city centre. I recently went to visit my mother in south australia, had 6 people around the table everyone had FULL bars of reception on different networks, I was lucky to get 1 bar, the whole 4 weeks I was there I had to call everyone who had called me back when I went for a drive.... This resulted in a $600 phone bill!! Rang them and they couldnt do anything for me.

Secondly, I asked vodafone to notify me when my bill got to $50, $100, etc. so I could monitor my usage. First month yep they did that, then stopped and I ended up with a massive bill, as far as I was aware I was still under my cap! Rang and complained all they could do was give me 10% off the bill.... Wasn't happy, not good enough!

Now I am not receiving my bills via email, rang to get this sorted and yep they have the right email address, and apparently theyre definantly sent got told to check my spam folder but I already had, I got a "well we cant help you then" ... Not impressed!

Not getting texts or emails about my bills how am I supposed to pay it? They just keep cutting my phone off without warning! I need my phone for work and I am losing business from it.

Im pretty sure contracts go both ways, they provide a service, I pay them for that service.... Theyre not providing me with a service at all! Not getting phone reception, my bill, any sort of customer service at all! Ive had more than enough and I WANT OUT OF MY CONTRACT!!!!!

Last time I rang them the guy on the other end couldnt understand what I was saying and I got that frustrated I ended up abusing him and hanging up!

Terrible customer service, terrible coverage, terrible everything. My calls drop in and out in volume and quality constantly, delayed text messages, an absolute minimum of a 20 minute wait to speak to customer service, an ironic, inappropriate title for vodafone to use, who rarely speak translatable english, OR care about my problems after tedious minutes of negotiating the language barrier. My data rate is pathetic. Using websites is completely impractical, I can set my phone to navigate to a page and wait half an hour and it has maybe a 50/50 chance of having loaded. Cannot use even a fraction of the data I pay for, I can use literally about 1/00th of my monthly quota when constantly trying to use it.

Not to mention my phone drops off the network completely almost every day, and I live under a relay... my housemates on alternative providers have full coverage at all times, and I cant wait to change. Ive been with vodafone for 10 years and back then they used to be the best, its all just gone downhill dramatically.

Try this for size. I run a business account with "up to" 6 phones, at the moment just 3 active phones. The advantage of this account is I can add and remove numbers without penalty. Supposedly. Last number that was added to the account had a NEW ACCOUNT set up in my business name, complete with 2 phone numbers I've never heard of and has racked up several hundred dollars in calls. Additionally, they've been sending the bills to an extinct street address. I've given it straight to customer service to sort out and told them not to contact me until it is sorted out. They have a 48 hour deadline. Unbelievable.

When I email a question to Vodafone, I get a crappy automated response that doesn't even answer my original question! They are obviously scanning for keywords and sending a generic reply, hoping that you won't bug them further. It is not clear how to get a real answer from them. Vodafone's customer service is hopeless and they are trying to avoid as much contact with customers as possible!

I've been on the $39 vodafone mobile broadband plan for a couple of weeks and the signal literally dropps out every 5 minutes! It's too slow to play youtube videos and can take up to 2 minutes to reach the google.com.au home page. I even called customer service who say my laptop is old(even though I only bought it 2 weeks ago)

Unable to send SMS, calls go straight to voicemail which don't arrive to me for upto 24hrs which often means missing out on business worth tens of thousands of dollars. Internet on the mobile doesn't work or a best is very slow.

Vodafone customer service rep promising to send out a new broadband Internet device that is supposed to fix the lack of broadband Internet being received, only to have it never show up.

Why doesn't the governing body do what CASA did to tiger airways and shut vodafone down?

I have recently switched from 3 to Vodafone. Biggest mistake ever. Reception is terrible, I have to navigate through a complicated maze to download my bill on MyVodafone, because the email link sent with my bill doesn't work and the company's customer service representatives are idiots. It took them 15 minutes to verify my identity, when the password give to them was correct all along. Ridiculous. I've only been with Vodafone one month and I want out. NOW!

I bought the vodafone wireless from the shop. Everything was ok and then after a week i stopped getting reception. after a month it was still no good. I called them up and they gave me the worst customer service and wouldnt let me cancel a plan for something that doesnt even work.

Poor reception, terrible & frustratingly SLOW internet coverage all day every day. Sometimes i cant even connect to basic apps like facebook or google maps????!!!! So sick of hearing about the supposed improvements theyre making atm because im not seeing any sort of improvement.

TERRIBLE customer service as well. ok, your choice to outsource but at least BRIEF the people on the deals you offer. i signed up for an NRMA discount and havent received it on any of my bills yet (ive been with vodafone for 4 months now), tried to call today and had to SPELL OUT NRMA for the operator (no its not NRME its NRMA!!!!!) AND explain what the deal was! Ridiculous. Not only that i was transferred to 3 different operators and had to explain the same thing OVER and OVER only to be transferred again and again. so frustrating! What a complete and utter waste of 45mins

I come under my mothers contract so I haven't had to deal with most of vodafone's crap! But months and months ago,, vodafone charged my mothers bill twice to her account. When she realised she called straight away, and the customer service was so bad she wanted to rip her own hair out! No one would help her.. So now, months later, my mum is still paying her bills minus the amount they charged her twice for. That's all she can do in the matter. That money has been technically overdue for months but no one has contacted her. GOOD ONE GUYS!

I'm not even going to start about the crappy coverage.

I have extremely poor coverage both at my home, uni and work. In April I called vodafone and they said they would give me 6 months off my bill and that the upgrade in my area would occur in July. They stated that AT ANY TIME before the end of July I could cancel my contract free of charge and send the phone back. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Reception in my area is still terrible, I have also been overcharged $10.00 a month for a pack I didn't approve. I canceled the pack, one month later it was back on the bill. I canceled it again and was charged an early exit fee without my knowledge and after explaining I never approved this. Due to shocking coverage, phone calls dropping out and then poor service I called to cancel my contract. This morning I was told that Vodafone reneged on their contracts as on 25/6/11. I cannot understand how they are allowed to do this!

Vodafone customer service is crap! First off..why the hell do you have to tell them your phone number after you've entered it into the phone twice!
My problem- trying to register for myVodafone but the password that kept getting sent to the phone would not work. I had at least 10 passwords sent! I have phoned vodafone at least 6times tonight, each time they said they would sort this but all they would do is send another password! It's obviously not just a password problem! at least 2 call centre reps said they'd delete the profile and sort this out...yeah right!
still not registered with myVodafone..will not bother trying again! porting number tomorrow to anyone else!!
SAVE YOURSELF THE STRESS OF DEALING WITH INCOMPETENT CALL CENTRE STAFF - DO NOT GET VODAFONE!

1) - I work in the middle of Sydney city and get no mobile reception at work - at all, ever! I was advised by Vodafone that the building is a 'black spot' and this will never be resolved
2) - After returning from a short trip overseas (3 weeks) I was greeted with a $600 phone bill. After 6 emails and 10 hours on the phone Ive had no resolution to the overcharges and data roaming charges billed (which was never activated. Upon non receipt of payment for incorrect charges, Vodafone decided to activate call barring on my phone without any notification. After contacting Vodafone to re-activate the service I was advised that it would not be activated until the bill was paid. After explaining the situation in relation to incorrect billing, I was told "to bad" and that bill had to be paid.
In good faith I paid $300 off the bill believing this to be the amount that should have been charged initially. It took me 3 days to get my phone "back online" leaving several freinds and family quite worried about me.
3)- My 3 subsequent bills have also been charged in error with data roaming charges when I am in Australia!?
4) - My Vodafone broadband constantly drops out. I have been working remotely from home on several occasions, when, BAM it drops off and I lose all my work.

I have never experienced not only such a poor service, but the manner in which the issues are dealt with (or not) are beyond belief.
Get your act together Vodafone! We've all had enough!

DON'T SIGN WITH VODAFONE.

They've got "very good deals" of late but you won't even get what you're paying for because of the bad service - bad service infrastructurally and bad service customer style.

I've had my contract for nearly two years and it was great at the beginning - they provided everything that was contracted for and service was good. That didn't last long with the service now so intermittent that I'm often standing in the middle of Sydney CBD with no reception. Or my call will connect, and then cut out soon after - meaning I have to make the call again and (surprise!) pay another round of flagfall. I send texts and they don't deliver. Long and short is - it's useless as a communication tool if you can't make calls and send texts that never arrive at their destination. I'm on an expensive business cap too and it's unimaginable how anyone is supposed to be able to conduct business on such a plan.

It also seems ridiculous that they waste time sending a glossy letter (June 2011) about how they're attempting to fix up the infrastructure but...

Had no time or resources to let all their customers know that they could swap on to the new plans (of the same value) after the Vodafone - 3 merger went through. Customer service told me that I would have been given the option:
(i) Had I visited one of their stores (why would I randomly visit a Vodafone store!)
(ii) Had I visited their cluttered website (why would I regularly visit their website)
They didn't even send an email out to notify their pre-existing customers. So turns out anyone on the old plans has to pay through the nose to make Vodafone to 3 calls; it's not part of the Vodafone to Vodafone minutes even though 3 IS Vodafone (and it's widely publicised and plastered all over their own websites).

Other service providers may be slightly more expensive on face value, but Vodafone definitely isn't worth the frustration. You think you're getting a good deal but you will always be exceeding your cap in ways you were unaware of (and plenty of my friends with caps on other providers have NEVER had to pay extra charges).

Customer service were polite but extremely unhelpful and couldn't resolve the issue. How to explain to someone miles away that in Australia, you visit the Vodafone shop once to try out phones and sign a contract, then you never regularly visit it again!

After months of terrible mobile broadband connection with my Vodafone stick, and even an upgrade to a newer supposedly better stick with no improvement, I called Vodafone to query the bad connection. They checked a few things and said my settings were fine, it must be a network issue, and they network team would investigate and call me back within 32hrs. They didnt. I called up 3 days later to cancel my account because I'd had enough and wanted to get a better provider. I was put through the ringer, being told that there were no service issues discovered by the network team. I complained that no one had bothered to inform me of that result prior to my call, and they said they called me and left a voice mail. I had not received a call. Despite this, I was still experiencing the same connection problems, ie. dropping out every 20 seconds, having to refresh an address link up to 30 times to get the website to show etc. 50 mins later I had been transferred 6 times to 6 different people who persisted in telling me that there was not a network problem, and finally told that if I wanted to cancel my contract I had to pay a $199 early termination fee. I was totally unaware that I was even still on a contract! My original 2 yr contract expired in June 2010 and apparently it was renewed last yr automatically! Given the lack of service I have received I don't think I should have to pay to end this supposed contract, regardless of whether there is agreement to it's existence or not. The saga ended with my resolution to take the issue to the Telecommunications Ombudsmen, which the supervisor I was speaking with did not seem concerned about. The customer service was nothing short of pathetic. In fact, lacking completely.

I received a text message from Vodafone saying there would be changes to data usage and charges. I called and listened to the rather vague recorded message just saying that usage of services such as Skype would change but with no information of how. I called customer services, went through to an Indian call centre and just got off the phone, after 37 minutes and with nothing resolved. I just made the decision to stick with vodafone on Friday when my felxicap expired, based purely on how good the data charges were and am told that there is no chance of a refund and they still do not have information on how the charges will work, even though it is happening in just over one week.

When I complained about what short notice I was being given for such significant - although still mostly unknown - changes, I was told that Australia's laws require just one week notice. Their tactics and lack of customer service makes me think it's worth losing the money I have paid for the next month and just swapping to another provider immediately.

Hi I have a laptop and a vodafone modem. This is the only computer in our house and due to my income the only computer and package I can afford. I can never get coverage I can not even get coverage to check my emails or do the basic google searches required for homework for my children ect. So basically I am paying for "NOTHING". this is not acceptable nor is the customer service line that vodafone offers because when I call it I wait and wait and wait and then they hang up on me . So then I get a "IMPROVING OUR SERVICE" note in the mail telling me to visit vodafone.com.au/redeem website to get my new modem well I cant get coverage to visit this website so I get in my car and drive to the top of the nearest hill to get coverage and find out that this website doesnt even exist????? Frustrated yes unaxceptable yes . Dont know what to do.
Regards, FRUSTRATED.

I live in South Lake and the Vodafone website says the suburb has been upgraded in April 2011 to 850Mhz. I has sent emails asking for confirmation and have been waiting for 2 weeks for a reply. I still get drop outs, have to use my land line to make calls. I left Telstra because I hated the customer service.....but now I wish I hadn't left.

Billing issues. I was given a credit for the bad service and coverage. Months later they take away my credit and said it was applied by error. Raise complaint to TIO and someone from Vodafone calls me and said they will apply the credit and will show up on next bill. Bill arrives and no credit. Call customer service and they know nothing about it. TIO again. Not only is coverage a problem but so is their billing.

Everything from Vodafone is fail, including the phones they brand. Anything Vodafone is fail. Don't buy a footy sweater that has vodafone on it, something bad will happen.

Vodafone is a virus in many different shapes and forms.

Dear Vodafone, you lost your credibility when you decided to hire an indian call centre to deal with angry customers. If you have angry customers before they dial 1555, why on earth would you try piss them off even more by having untrained employees who speak english but don't understand it, do your dirty work...

After waiting two weeks to receive my Broadband modem that took several endless phone calls, that resulted in having to pick up my own parcel, I had to call yet again (there's a shocker!) I was charged during the whole two weeks of NOT having my modem let alone using it. I also asked for 6GB not 500MB (is that even a valid plan?) Have some commonsense what on earth will I do with half a GB, 'receive 2 emails' and I'm over my cap?!!! Let's not even mention my internet would not work until 10 minutes ago, and that's no thanks to Vodafone!

Lara: 'HI. I'm Lara, if you would like to talk to me using your keyboard please press #1, if you would like to talk to me like normal using a few words press #2'

Me: Fuck no! #1 it is...

(Please be patient while they transfer me to 5 different departments...)

Real name unknown: 'Hi, I'm Daniel...'

(Yea alright, that's just the name you've been given to disguise your indian name)

Real name unknown: 'Can you please read out your phone number and confirm your name and birthdate?'

(WTF for? I already typed it on my keyboard while getting through to you, and you have it on your screen in front of your face!)

...After delayed responses and asking me 'how my day is' not that I have time to respond, but still I'm polite and respond.

Me: '...I purchased a mobile broadband dongle over the phone from a Vodafone representative, I didn't get it until yesterday. It has informed me I only have 500MB of Data.. Why? I'm on a 6GB plan'

Name unknown: 'hmm, okay hold on I will check for you...'

(On hold for 5 minutes I kid you not.)

Name unknown: 'Your on the infinite plan, the $99 you only receive 3GB of data'

(Are you fucking shitting me right now?...)

Me: 'No, no, MOBILE BROADBAND not my phone plan a separate transaction under the same name!. I want to know why I only have 500MB of data and I should have 6GB, which would be around 6000MB not half a GB!!!'

Name unknown: 'One moment I will check that for you...'

(Ten minutes later...no joke, I'm willing to show my call history)

Name unknown: 'Yes 500MB is half a GB, and 6000MB is 6GB, that is correct anything else I can help you with?'

(WHAT A JOKE! I did not wait 20 minutes for some clown to confirm the difference between GB and MB, Google could have answered that within a second...)

***BEEP BEEP BEEP***

Have an amazing life 'Daniel', I hope the $3.20 per hour you receive will keep you intelligent.
Vodafone, enjoy your early retirement/grave, I hate Telstra for the same customer service reason, but god do they look like a diamond standing next to you.

lost all my v-mail msg today
had a drop out at the same spot as very day for the past 3 years i wonder why i still with this bunch of losers (i refer to losing me and all the rest of there ex-customers.......) maybe outsourcing customer service to the 3rd world isnt such a great business idea ......wonder if the ceo is with vodafone or 3 PLEASE DRIVE FROM ULTIMO TO DARLING HABOUR PAST THE IAN THORPE POOL FOR YOU DAILY DROP OUT MR CEO ......I AM NOT STUPID TO BELIEF YOUR UPGRADE ADS ANYMORE .......BYE BYE VODAFONE

Vodafone is builling me for txt message that was not made from my mobile, and are trying to make me pay for these messages.. i dont know who the number belongs to nor do i ever txt these no's. they are a rip off and the txt are $4.00 each..they are no help and their customer service is awful!!!

I've had no signal for the past hour. When I eventually make it to a phone booth to call the "help" line, I'm betting they'll say I've been cut off for not paying my $700 bill. WHY? Because it is absolutely APPALLING that I should rack up a bill like that in the first place, simply from calling other mobiles in Australia. I have never encountered such irresponsible price trapping or poor customer service in my life and fully intend to take my business elsewhere. Goodbye, Vodafail.

i have been using 3.com for mobile phone service for about 6 years now and has been doing good job until recently (since early this year)i found the network coverage is getting poor. now it is hardly i can make a stable phone call inside my house as it will goes off anytime and I have to go outside the house to make phone call. This was NEVER happen before.

I was wondering the reason behind and only recently i found out that 3.com is no longer solely exist but has combined with Vodafone. I am not sure if this is the factor behind it but certainly i have had enough to this.
Cetainly i don't want to talk outside the house especially during winter night.

After couple of months of waiting after complaint to the customer service hopefully this issue can be rectified but unfortunately I can see no improvement.

So i have decided to switch to other mobile operater and i don't mind to pay extra for better network coverage.

Some 4 months ago I terminated my contract with Vodafail, I have had several communications with their facebook team as I am constantly receiving texts and e mails about the old account, saying I owe them money.

The facebook team have advised me several times that the old account has been closed and I will not receive any more texts or mails.

I advised Vodafail facebook team that the next mail/text would result in a complaint to the TIO as I consider it harassment and spam. The Vodafail facebook assured me I would not receive any more requests.

Today I had yet another e mail, so, off to the TIO.

Is it really that difficult to cancel (several times) an account, or are they just totally incompetent?

Customer service has reached a new low with this bunch of twerps.

Been having trouble with the network for last year now the reception at the Entrance were i live is a joke i have to go stand on my veranda and hold my phone into the air to get maybe 1 bar. So i have been hasseling customer service and VodaFAIL store at Bay village. They said that there are tower upgrades in the area happening sometime in July, July! so we have to wait a month or maybe even more for improved signal, well thats what customer care said but a VodaFAIL bay village they said there is no new towers going up in your area and there is no problem with the signal in your area. Vodafone are useless and they need to stop all this marketing and advertising and fix there problems.

I signed up for 2 year broadband, what a joke speeds where closer to dial up but I considered it was mobile so it was okayish.

The bit that gets me is I was supposed to get the 5,6 & 7 month free, it never happened. They now tell me it is not in my contract, even though they where advertising it at the time ending 31/03/2009.

They have the worst customer service I have ever experienced, rude, arrogant, pushy and down right offensive at times. To be fair, today I received good customer service but this is the first time in 2 years.

I've closed my account with them (even that was a struggle) and now that they have bought 3 I will be closing that phone account too. I will never deal with this company again.

every month they are still charging me when my bills should be $0 as i pay fortnightly. There is $130 discrepency i have stopped paying until they sort it out! WHen spoke with them they said they could not get access to information because of net down. THey have blocked me from my vodafone website access because put in 3 wrong passwords. So when i rang to get it changed they say that they cant as the whole website has been down. What for 6 months!!!!! say website is down NOT wrong password or phone number.
Cannot get any phone coveraage on new Iphone 4. not network nothing.partner changed phones and still samet thign happening to his. THey are EPIC FAIL and customer service is shocking, service is shocking they should be shut down for ripping people off! not delivering on the deals they provide!!!

plastic cups and string anyone?

Joined the 35$ sim-only cab. This is the second month. Spent about 2-3 hours per month with india on the phone finding out why havent i yet recieved a bill for ACTUALLY $35!..first bill was 37$ and they said it was "connection fees"..second bill $53!!!! Bloody Hell! that included an "honesty fee" when my "autopayment" bounced off..altho i didnt know i had autopayment activated, didnt get any news about it bouncing off and thought i just paid my bill on time and thats that. In addition there was $1.5 for promotional txts that i never recieved and 2$ creditcard processing fees! After writing off some of those payments i asked the girl (ok..they did improve their customer service i gota say..last year i used to wait 2 hours b4 anyone speaks to me) to cancel my contract & she managed to convince me to keep it 1 more month as a TEST! we'll see.
Reason i dont leave them? coz i dont think any of the other providers are better. we are TRAPPED! plastic cups and string anyone?

Oh Vodafail, how can I possibly download 2,000,000kB of data when my mobile is off? Why is it that I am the one that has to ask your customer service reps twice to calm down? Why do I have to pay $500 for your mistake. No my dear Vodafail, I think not, TIO has been contacted and you have 10 days to respond.
Why do we not have a better regulated Telecommunications system in Australia?

6 months into 24 month contract. Trying to run small business from home with 3 Mobile but always have low or no signal. Daughter and wife are with Optus and have full signal. How do I break contract. Customer service is bad. help at all, if you can understand them! Frustrated to max when I have to go for a drive and make phone calls in good reception area.