hey guys,

I finally called vodafone to start my process of getting out of my contract, however after talking to the technicians and then cancellations they allowed me to port my number over in the next hour.

the main hints that i can really give you is that :
1) Explain your situation clearly ! tell them what ur experiencing, i had no recpetion in my own house, and 2 bars outside, and clearly told them that im paying them for a 3g service that i dont even get in my own home !! its ridiculous that i would have to go outside just to recieve phone calls.

2) Be polite ! i myself work for a mobile carrier, and i can tell u that the people that come in yelling and screaming are the ones we end up not giving a shit about and hand balling to another department.

3) Be clear on what you want ! The Technicians offered me 25% off for the next 3 months, the cancellations team offered me 50% off for the next 3 months, but both were unacceptable, why am i paying for a service i dont get ?

4) if you don't get what u want hang up politely ! if Cancellations team refuse to Waive the ETC's for you just grab their name, and a interaction (note) number and hang up and go to TIO.

Good luck

Vodafone staff insisted there was an issue with my handset for the bad service, and countless dropouts. So i finally jumped ship:
Vodafail to Telstra porting just done.. Its like going from a 386 to a Quadcore lol. Everything is much snappier from the iMessenger to webpage/GPS loading times. Calls seem much clearer to me. And no drops outs thus far (whispers). So far so good.. Thought id share.

For 3 straight days my reception has been horrible. Had 'No Service' at all points of the day while at home. Have to go to the point of driving out of the suburb to get a decent signal. Happens in other locations aswell.

Had enough and called up Vodafone. Their demands from me for them to escalated the problem were almost ludacris. Who remembers specific exact incidents and dates when their calls dropped out? They asked me to make some calls to give as examples but how could I when I have 'No Service'. I told them all the calls I made to them that day were example enough because almost everyone of them had cut out. No this was good enough for them. They also wanted me to update my firmware but I'm hesistant to do so as I thin iOS5 will slow down my already slow 3GS.

Finally made the decision to cancel the contract. They had the nerve to offer me a new contract and new iphone 4S saying I wouldn't have any reception issues on it and all I had two do was pay $177 (9 months left on a $69 plan). Wasn't a good enough deal for me so another lady offered me 3 months 3 till the problem gets sorted. Hesitantly decided to take up the offer. Hopefully the coverage gets better ASAP.

haven't got out yet but i am trying to get out of my mobile broadband plan they told me excelnt coverage and then i had it rechecked because it's running slower then a snails left nut. they told me that whoever told me i had good coverage lied to me and this is not the first i've heard of this happening help me out of this mess please ?

I had written Mammoth fail on the 15 of November and this is an update.
I have kept fighting this and started to record all of my conversations with Vodafone as the notes that Vodafone keep are completely miss leading I was having one conversation where I was told point blank that no one would have said that to me so I replayed the voice recording to her she then tried to tell me that it was because I had confused the operator!
In the end I think that I have won we had 2 accounts with Vodafone this is what I have gotten
Account 1
Waive early termination fees $772.56
Waive all owing charges (have not payed anything since this started) $325.31
All money back for hand set payment $45
Compensation $200
Account 2
Waive early termination fee $823.01
Waive all owing charges $483.06
Compensation $38

I have gotten letters to confirm that both accounts are completely clear
The $38 and $45 was credited to the credit card and the $200 will be credited to my bank with in the next 5 days it was a long fight but in the end I got what I wanted and I will never go back to Vodafone for anything!

Thanks vodefone you moved me from three to vodefone due to the fact that my three phone was never working now it work but all my calls go to voicemail with out fail and it is not set that way on my phone at all

Moved to Telstra, just wanted to let you all know that you get worse service from Optus then with Voda.

I battled for 1 year until they agreed to cancel the contract.

TELSTRA IS THE WAY TO GO....

Was a very happy three customer for a long time until Vodafone came on board. For the last 6 months I had drop outs with my network. With work I work at of three different schools and experienced the problem at every location. 3 weeks ago with 2 months left on my contract I finally complained. Last week customer service called me, I told them that I wasn't happy with the service. They gave me a week to leave without any exit fees. 2 days later switched to the Telstra network, today i am currently at one mt locations that I had experienced network coverage no problems with Telstra

Hah! Sexual, got your attention, eh?!

For the past 3 years, I have been committed to 3THREE and Vodafone. I'm not sharing a story about how I quit my contract early, or how I can now sit on the toilet and stream HD porn to my phone without massive lag (and yes, when I was doing this with 3THREE, I was experiencing the 'peak' of the 'broadband zone'). No. Instead, I am sharing a story about how the switch between 3THREE and Voda is now saving me money.

I have also taken into consideration that the plan inclusions that I was on with 3THREE and Vodafone were quite aged (therefore not that great), but I'm still saving money nevertheless.

I was on the 3THREE $49.00 cap ($350 calls, 250mb data, +$15.00 unlimited SMS) ... Totalling $64.00 a month. Pathetic, I know.
I am now on the Telstra Freedom connect $49.00 BYO cap ($550 calls, 1.5GB data, Unlimited SMS).

A total difference of $15.00 a month, where Telstra has given me an epic deal!

But here's the catch to my 'saving money' statement. If you walk into a Telstra store and ask what Roaming charges are in Australia, they'll look at you funny. Yes, that's right... there is no such thing as a roaming charge with Telstra.

For 3 years, I've been dealing with 3THREE's roaming charges. Not once did I get a bill that was actually $64.00. They were always at least $80.00. Why did this happen, you ask? simple, it happens because smart phones like to connect to the internet periodically to keep you informed. They're not smart enough to know if you're roaming, and it shouldn't be your job to ensure that your cellular data is turned off whilst in a Roaming zone.

I've been with Telstra for 2 months though. Not once have I even come close to using my download limit, or go over my cap. I'm one very happy camper. On another note, I very much DO NOT miss the 'No Service' bar on the top.

Another short mention on the Customer Service, yeah... go to Telstra, they'll do absolutely everything for you.. They even told me to do my shopping whilst they slave on the phone for me to fix a minor issue in my contract (which believe it or not, was my fault). 3Voda just shooed me off with some Indians number.

However, in all this gain.... I have only one issue.
I now notice that every time I have a bat, I'm finished a fair bit quicker. Hmm. Odd. :P

Hi,

I'm with 3 and remember the media around the rise in Vodafone complaints in recent times (94% if I remember correctly). It also wasn't that long ago that 2 members of my family were caught in a tedious fiasco to do with billing. Needless to say I'd rather drop them both and head to Telstra. At least that way I can speak with someone when I have a problem.

A

I was on pre-paid Vodafone (so sorry about no additional help, I just want to share a story). I had been frustrated with them for years, as I travel by car a lot for work. I was finding myself unable to get reception for up to three hours of a four hour car trip some days. The final straw was that I was in a town called Woollert one day and had no reception. THIS TOWN IS 4KM FROM THE END OF THE METROPOLITAN TRAIN LINE (epping).
So I finally said TO HELL WITH YOU CLOWNS. I've switched to Telstra, they might be more pricey but I couldn't care less. Life is too short for crap phone companies and dealing without amenities which phone companies should provide as part of their basic deals (such as, y'know, RECEPTION). Well, Vodafone is a crap phone company in Australia, and I'm willing to part with the extra few dollars here and there so that I can talk to family and friends uninterrupted. Goodbye, Vodafone; consider me gone for good.

Hi guys! Just want to share a story.

I'm a 3 customer who has been underwhelmed at best by 3's service, coverage and communication. Now that 3 has merged with Vodaphone, I don't hold much hope for things getting better. Things have already started to degrade, so I want out, and fast!

I think I may have found a little loophole that might allow me to exit my contract without a fee. Currently (and when I began my contract a year ago), 3 customers roam onto the Telstra 3G network when they want 3G coverage outside of the 3 Broadband zone. Eventually all of 3's old customers will be hosted on the Vodaphone network (something I am not looking forward to!)

I'm hoping that if 3 changes it's policy so that we roam on the (craptastic) Vodaphone 3G network, I may be able to dispute it with the TIO. My reasoning: if I had known that I would be on the Vodaphone network during my contract, I would never have signed up. If this happens before the end of my contract, 3 will have *significantly misrepresented* the service I am being provided.

I'll keep you all posted,

P

I used to be on TPG i kept creeping over my cap and stalling the last few days. I ordered online and got the vodafone infinite and galaxy s2 delivered within a couple of days and haven't looked back reception is just as good if not better. browsing speeds are great and i don;t need my home phone. 13 numbers are irrelevant as a quick google will show me the 'international' contact number which is a local number. Oh... plus i got a $600 phone for nothing making it $480 for unlimited calls for 24months oh and 500gb pretty much does it for me... apparently for $4 extra yhou can get an extra 700mb of data.... well happy browsing and good luck!!!

Anyway thought i'd share, cheers and toodles!!!

So - went to look at phones today as mine is 6 months out from needing to be renewed and 3 (Now Vodafone) have typically let me have one early for "resigning" up a new contract. They were all excited about a "new network" that apparently is faster (850 or something?) but I then popped into Telstra who told me that a network agreement between Hutchedson and Telstra is set to expire in April of next year. Apparently if I stay with 3/Vodafone I'm suddenly going to experience a mass drop in speed and support when this termination of "networking sharing" occurs. So my gain is to get a cheap phone off efail, stay on month by month, and sit back until April! Then I'm not (thankfully) locked in.

My Vodafone seems to be working fine and has done since November last year.
Not sure what all the who ha is about.
Had one problem when I went to Dalysford for one night and had no coverage. Rang them and they gave me a $30 credit on my next bill.
From my understanding 3G coverage is not perfect with any provider. I was in a department store yesterday with someone who was on optus and they could not log on to their account to do a bank transfer.

We have become so dependant and want coverage "everywhere" and if not we are complaining.

So come on guys be thankful for what we have.

Russell

Lodged all my complaints with the Vodafoam (no) support. After months of zero resolution, I lodged the complaint with the TIO >>> Now have been released from contract!

I'm now connected with another provider .. so good to have a service that just works!

tio and a good friend that was able to put up with dealing with their crappy stupid dumb ignorant not skilled nor understandinding 1 way hard to understand reps!!! To think they were the best network until 2010... And still getting worse somebody tell them to give up hardcore, maybe give us the calls for india, manilla wateva the f#@!!! they was from so we can show them how it feels to not understand or even acknowledge a word or time wasted by the customer whos on the recieving end getting nothing but $5-600 bills and when given credits as a solution, those credits come back up to bite ya. You cant win & as for them dumb f#@!!! that hang up on ya when its so too hard or even when you ask for a delta numb they either giv u a mambaiii name or sprint the letters so fast that u lmfaooo dont even want to ask again.. But if you say i dont understand you can you give me your delta numb in plain english??
TIO fines their ass every complaint they get so really all the rip off's Im having the last laugh. Optus is the way to go Iv worked in that industry before & optus I think was the only company that had staff hired as customer service not starving sale gurus. And as the rest sent their jobs to india and Phillipines (Vod N Tel) Optus had no problems not firing or forcing staff to quit their prescious darling headf!@#@@@ job!

easy

Lodged a complaint with the Vic Telco Ombudsman after no joy with the billing/cancellation department who wouldn't release me from my contract due to days without reception in Daylesford, poor 3g in Melbourne and delayed MMS's.

A few days later got a call from someone high up in Vodafone saying my contract would be terminated free of charge, and I could keep my handset which would be discounted from $360 to $130.

I was also advised that the handset didn't require unlocking, so with this information in hand went and got a Telstra sim, just to find that my handset WAS locked and not on Voda's system to perform a self unlock. Thanks Vodafone, even without your red sim, I still cant make calls.

We signed up for Vodafone on the Friday. On the Monday we asked for our money back. It took them 10 days to do so. We were originally asked to wait for the "upgrade" which was coming however we did not believe them. They then offered to switch us to 3 network however we did not want that either. Now they promised to waive all costs if we post the handsets back to them. We are now happily yet reluctantly Telstra customers.

I have been complaining since the very begining of this year. They gave me 3 free months, by which at the end of that time 'all issues should be resolved'. They weren't. Called back before the 3 free months was up telling them i didn't want to pay for something that doesn't work. They put in an investigation, nothing was found. Called again to get updates a couple more times. Got through to the cancellations dept, who gave me 6 more free months. But i didn't want that, i was over it. So i put in an online complain to the TIO, and less than one week later i am with Telstra!!!! :D
I think that complaining a little and keeping a level head (dispite the frustration) was the best way to go. Got lots of free stuff, and then a cancellation, no questions asked.

After a month of mobile broadband pain, multiple calls, issues logged - no followup or if there was it was days after they had promised to get back to me. Rang up on 27/4 told them I wanted to cancel and they said yes on the spot and had cut me off by the time I got off the phone.

I am still waiting on the bag to send them back their modem/sim. Apparently once they get it back they remove the "cancelation charges". going to call tomorrow and demand my postage bag as I am sure getting the cancellation charges reversed after its billed to me will be a bigger pain in the ass...

6 months left on my mobile and I am gone after 17 years as a customer...

I'm currently having issues with my molbile broadband - keeps dropping out and not loading etc. They said something about an upgrade in my area within the next few months - therefore I have the next few (3) months free, and if there are still problems they will cancel my contract at no fee :)
I have other ways to access internet, and it sometimes works anyway, but I'm happy!

Called Vodafone to complain about the usual issue. Slow voicemail message, poor reception, drop outs, slow text messages. Got 3 months of free account. Usual charge is $69 a month so as long as I use phone as usual, should be free for 3 months. Next stop will be TIO so I can try and get out of contract which is up in Oct. Have already switched by two kids phones to Telstra as they were prepaid. No reception problems, internet loads just fine.

Called Three, didn't get any joy, open a ticket at TIO website, got a call from three saying that I was allowed to go free! However of course the last bill was a mess, had to call them again to rectify (they tried to charged me $83 more)
I am with TPG now (which uses Optus), it is good so far.
Bye VodaCrap!!

I called Customer Care yesterday and after about 45mins on the phone and several escalations got 6 months free service on my $99 unlimited plan with agreement that if the poor reception and 3G performance wasn't fixed in 2 months I'd be let out of contract free (based on claims that there are upgrades in the Melbourne CBD and Scoresby areas I was complaining about due at the end of April).

This site was fantastic in helping me set up a 'script' of my own - service not fit for purpose, refusing the first offers (first a discount, then 1 month, then 3 months, then 6 months) and demonstrating that I expect a quality service and that I understood I had the TIO as a recourse. I mentioned the letter from the Vodafone CEO acknowledging poor service, the class action, the many press reports and Vodafone's own press report about network upgrades due to over-subscription and congestion.

For me my ideal outcome is actually that Vodafone fix their service - I've been with them for a long time and have had great service and customer service up until the last 6 months. Would love them to fix it and am happy that they've dealt with my issues as best they can until they either fix the network or I leave in 2 months because they haven't done so.

spent an hour on the phone to them, told them politely that i had enough of their poor service, lack of reception, msg not coming thru, let them no i was out of service for 2 hours on Saturday, Sunday no one could contact me if they we not with vodafone.. got offered first the 3 months free i said No i want free of vodafone, then got offered 6 months free, told them i was not going to take that has they cannot guarantee me coverage. i was persistent and said i want out of the contract, finally after an hour they said yes, just got to send back my phone and they will cancel the contract free of charge. I did mention to them that in my view Vodafone was not abiding by there contract to me, and if I did not get the solution I was after that I would complain to the TIO. i must say the 2 gentleman i spoke to were very nice & polite. WINNER!!!

PORTED OUT....I am now happier than ever now i have rid myself of the cancer that is vodafail. after 18 months stuck in a black hole of POOR customer service, LAZY staff at the store, HOURS and HOURS on hold (which has RUINED john mayer for me) reception that had me wanting to start communicating with family and friends through smoke signals, I called to ask how much it was to cancel, the person on the other end who i could barely understand then tried to tell me that it was only the upgrades team who could give this to me, i calmly explained that if he transferred me the next call would be from the TIO, which seemed to magically give him access to the figures.
I must admit since walking into the optus shop and cancelling with voda there has been a faint hint of a smile, JUST KNOWING i will never have to deal with them again. the BEST $300 ive ever spent to get rid anything.....I would strongly recommend anyone who is thinking of leaving to take the $$ hit $$, and feel the stress leave you almost instantly.

I was a new customer of Crazy John's and first reported problems with poor call quality, dropped calls and network errors back in December last year. CJs advised Voda were aware of the issues and they would be resolved by mid December.

Come January, still no improvement. CJs were very helpful, however after 3 instances of providing evidence of dropped calls, network errors and poor call quality (even whilst talking to CJs!), they advised there were no network issues in South Melbourne. I insisted they release me from my contract, CJs declined and offered a month's free line rental. I refused and told them I was contacting the TIO.

Just over a week after contacting the TIO, CJs contacted me and offered to release me from my contract conditional upon my paying 50% of the handset cost (I had been with them for less than 1 year). I accepted their offer, ported my number to Telstra and have had no problems since. Very happy!!!

I live 15km from Melbourne CBD and suffer horrible network coverage. What surprises me the most is i work in Melbourne CBD from mon - fri and the network is still hopeless. trying to load work emails while out of the office is a nightmare,let alone trying to surf the web.
Also, when i signed with Vodafone they assured me that my beach house in Rye, Victoria is in a full 3G area....guess what??? every time i go there i don't see the 3G symbol at all on my iPhone, i only see a couple of bars with the 2G / roaming circle!!!
Vodafone have offered me four months free usage. I accepted because my contract expires Oct 11 and i'll be moving to Telstra. Unless Vodafone work some magic!!!
Cheers

After reading about the problems with Vodafone in 2010, I confronted the sales people about the problem when placing my new order (yes, I know I am taking a risk.) They guaranteed that if I could not solve possible future coverage and signal strength issues with the technical support department, I would be able to break contract and go back to Telstra.

Got 6 months free access on the infinte $45.

Let me just say, in the exact same spot where vodafone ahd no reception at all, Telstra had full reception :) love telstra

Called crazy johns on a nuber of occasions complaining about coverage, they kept stating that they only guaranteed coverage at my home address! So over them so contacted TIO - told 10 days and within 6 days including weekend had a call from someone call centre in Tasmania letting us know we could port to another carrier and we had contracts cancelled no fees! We do have to pay the final account but I had issues with that due to the account being for a time where there were numerous drop outs so she halved the account then applied a further $15 credit for late fees if I dont pay on time. Was also told that would receive $49 credit for each phone for month in advance paid. Have to send back phones and all accessories supplied however! Not sure if I am going to call them again because I have been paying handset repayments and the accessoris never fit our phones so I gave them away to the kids who have trashed some and lost some (paul frank lanyards and cases). How did others get to keep handsets and accessories - any input would be appreciated. We were more than half way through our contracts.

After my complaint to the TIO, Vodafone contacted me and gave me three (3) months FREE access from my post paid account (saving $130 per month) (2 mobiles) with a further reduction in plan monthly costs on my iPhone ($99 plan down to $79 plan) with no penalty. Have no major issue's with them now. And will stick by them. Cheers.

Alright
This is my story with vodafail.

2 days after signing up after being promised great 3G coverage in my location , Gippsland (country rural-vic). I get my sim & phone and whow I have NO coverage ANYWHERE. So after calling them up with the rage of god demanding an intimidate cancellation, and being offered everything to stay ( even like 5 months free billing). I pointed out to them that their coverage map is obviously lying, they said it was a problem with the network and so they transferred my call to technical help who spent a day checking the coverage and then called me back and confirmed this. Then he transferred me to some other Indian chap who said I can be released for no charge after porting my number to another network ( for no cost) ,all I had to do was return the handset. Once my number has been ported (which I did today) they would send me out a package to return the phone and all costs and everything will be waived, as of now I am awaiting arrival of my package.

Got out of my contract today, may i say Lolly from the resolution team was fantastic... She was the best thing that Vodafone could offer me :)

got sick of 3's patchy coverage and terrible 3G network so I decided to swap over to Vodafone as I heard it was free.
the service was just as bad so I decided to do what other were doing and jump ship.
called up vodafone on 27th Jan to complain about the service.
they said 'oh, we'll lodge a network evaluation with our technicians and get back to you in 3 days'
reading what other fellow vodafailers had posted, I knew they weren't going to get back to me so I decided to email the TIO.
got a call from a lovely girl from Vodafone today (8th Feb)allowing me to exit the contract and port to another carrier with the option of paying for my iPhone 3GS 32GB for $100 which I accepted.
so now I am free of vodafone and im going to pop into a telstra store tomorrow morning and start enjoying a good connection :)

to ANYONE who is with vodafone and wishes to get out of there contract follow these simple steps.

1. Call vodafone, complain about recepion/coverage.
2. Email/Call TIO and tell them all the details.
3. Recieve call from Vodafone resolution center.
4. THATS IT.

you're welcome,

and thanks to all that have shared their gain, has made my experience much less stressful.

how long do satchels take to come to melbourne????????

Well... I had the network coverage issue, no coverage at home. Checked their coverage map on the site and my home well inside the full coverage area. They broke the contract with that. So Vodafone technician told me (after stay on the line for 1.5Hrs 4 times) they can't do anything as they only promise "street coverage" and I do have coverage out side my house. Then I ask him to show me where it says Vodafone only promise "street coverage" on their website. And he ask me to check terms and conditions (He talk to me from India), I did check and couldn't find it. I demanded not to pay for my bill as Vodafone didn't met their service promise. So they canceled my first month bill (I was with Vodafone only for 1 month, never again).

Then I lodged an online complaint on http://www.tio.com.au/. Very next day Vodafone (an oz guy from Sydney) rang me and ask me what I want to do, wot the hell I wanted Vodafone to terminate my contract. They simply did.

I had Nokia N8 best HD camera but lag with os. They sent me express post bag to send it back after one week. Hell with contracts I bought HUAWEI U8150 IDEOS Android for $200 and from Dick Smith and chucked Amaysim.com (use Optus network) pre paid sim card in. Pretty damn cheap call rates for the same price I paid to Vodafone and an amazing phone for just $200.

Hope this story helps someone here.

Called vodafone a while back to complain about poor reception, call dropouts, painfully slow internet etc etc. They told me that a 'team' of technicians would investigate the problem and get back to me in 4-5 days. 5 days later I lodged a complaint with the TIO. 9 days later the 'team' called me and said that yes, there is some congestion during busy times but they are upgrading the network and all should be sorted in about a month. I called vodafone the next day and told them that I had notified the TIO and I wanted out - free of charge. Strangely there were problems connecting me to the cancellation department and they would call me back in 48hours. 96 hours later I called them back and asked for cancellations.

Here are their offers in chronological order:

- free access for 3 months until network upgrades sorted out: declined
- termination fee of $801.00 and unlock the phone - declined
- $300 to keep handset and $501.00 waived - declined. I was also told that vodafone didn't want the handset back as it was no good to them. I was then put on hold

- final offer - return handset (which they didn't want) and termination of contract 18 months early with no exit fee and free to port my number to another network - ACCEPTED

Now I await the satchel to return the handset.
Thanks MIhir (call centre guy)

I'll be with Telstra this afternoon

i'm wondering if Vodafone has finally got it's act together in my area. After months of barely being able to get online, for the past 2 weeks, I have been able to get online and stay online for as long as I have wanted...

I gave my friend a long-winded set of instructions and referred her to this site.
She experienced the same problems: call drop-outs, slow data etc.
She was with Optus. She called the local Optus call centre and was out of her contract with one phone call. Her's and her husband's.

Called Vodafone customer care Monday 24th Jan to request being released from our contracts 8 months early (both my husband & I had our phones with them) due to network issues including constant call dropouts, message sending failures etc. Calls dropped out 3 times whilst doing this! Was told they would investigate & get back to us by Friday 28th Jan. No word by 5.30pm Friday so completed online TIO complaint form, received a call from Vodafone Monday 31st Jan which dropped out again before they could speak to us, so they then sent us a text saying we were released from our contracts & free to go. Happy days!!
Very pleased with the speed of the process once TIO were contacted. Thoroughly recommend going along that pathway!

Contacted the TIO!

Don't bother going to Vodafone directly as the Indian call centre and network team will spend weeks getting you to perform timely tests on their network.

Within 3 days of contacting the TIO, a lovely lady from Vodafone's consumer relations team called and offered to cancel my contract free of charge - with the option to purchase my phone or send it back.

She even told me if my husband wanted "out" as well, not to bother going through Vodafone channels - she recommended going straight to the TIO.

Bottom line? Lodge complaint with the TIO if you want to get out of your contract.

They offered to cancel the remainder of my 21 month contract and will be sending satchel for me to return my damaged phone. No more to pay phew! I am now free to shop around for better deal and one that hopefully works.

Reception issues and privacy breach concerns submitted to the TIO. Just got a text from Vodafone saying I was now able to cancel my contract and port my number at no cost at all. I called them to confirm and found I didn't need to send back or pay for the iphone 4 I still owed $600 on either. Preeeetttttttyyyyy happpppppy !

Poor coverage in my area, so rang them up explained, they got back to me and said i was in a poor coverage area and offered me:
Vodafone will pay my $69 cap for the next 6 months, and after this if i am still not happy i can walk away from my contract with no charge. Sounded like a win/win, so i took the offer.
I think the key is to be polite to the people on the phone, but to still get your point across to them.

Called vodafone to complain. Registered my complaint after more attempts to get their their pathetic IVR than I care to remember. I finally established dialogue and advised I wished to be released from my contract, that vodafone had caused me significant lost business and personal pain. I was told they had to do some technical checks to confirm I am having issues and that this would take no longer than 72 hours upon which I'd be contacted again and if all was well, or rather not well, they'd release me from my contract. Well 1 week later not a word from vodafone, contacted the TIO, started the ball rolling and they said vodafone had 10 business days to resolve my issue. 13 days later I get a Paul from vodafone try to call me on my home phone each day while I'm at work, 3 days later he reaches me in the morning and I'm released from my contract. Finally, the ordeal is over. I was paying $119 or something for my vodafone unlimited plan, which i clearly didn't get any value from, so now i'm going with telstra as I just want service now and I'm willing to deal with the likes of telstra to get it even if I have to pay a premium.

I lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman regarding my poor reception. Within a few days, Vodafone made a call to me and very politely and respectfully allowed me to leave my contract free of charge. In fact, my account has now been credited a mystery $20...!

I ported to Optus expecting slightly better coverage, and can now safely say I long for the days Vodafone were simply disconnecting my calls. With Optus I cannot even make a call, let alone download apps or send pxts. Optus have since confirmed for me that I live in an "Optus dead spot" and that I should just turn my 3G off.

Sorry Vodafone. I miss you. You are apparently the better of two evils. Forgive me?

I called Vodafail, and told them my reception was poor. After speaking to three different people including a manager, I was told i would be credited for four bills (so would my wife) and that an investigation into the problem would be launched. If it came back as expected, then I would be let out of my contract with no charge. I also contacted the TIO while waiting for this to happen. Within two working days I was let out of my contract, so was my wife, and we are now both with virgin with brand new iPhones...great result.

Had complained about service in three addresses. Lodged an online complaint and was offered 2 months credit. Said I wanted out and they wanted to investigate for three weeks. I then lodged a TIO complaint; they had until 24.01 to rectify the situation - heck even call me. That didn't happen, so I called the TIO again.

Have not received a call but got an SMS today from VF saying they will agree to my TIO request and I can wriggle out of my contract today. Will call India one last time to action my erm... SMS notification.

Got sick of Vodaphone about 6 months ago, quit and got a new telco,but they kept sending email bills, and phone text reminders, for $-10.73, as in MINUS $10.73. After countless attempts to contact them about it by email (others will know what this involves), it turned out that THEY owed ME $10.73. A staff member explained it to me. So finally they sent me a cheque for that amount. And now? They sent me yet another bill, and email notification, for - wait for it - $00.00. Should I pay it?

Rang TIO, explained that I do not get suitable coverage at the suburbs I visit the most, that I use the phone for work, and that I purchased a smart phone so I can use the net on the run, which i can't due to reception problems. Vodafone customer service was fine, but they had trouble finding addresses where I did not get reception, even when aided by Google Maps.I asked to log a network issue ticket the first time I rang, but when i rang back the second time I found out it was never lodged. The TIO were delightful to deal with and now I have been let out of my contract. I never had to raise my voice or get angry at Vodafone, but I did express my extreme dissatisfaction with the Company after being a customer for over 3 years. Thank you TIO. I would highly recommend that any users experiencing issues to first contact Vodafone, but to follow through with the TIO if you are finding that you are not receiving the service required, especially if you are on a contract.

I have only been with vodafone for a couple of weeks (new iphone, 24 month plan) and yet get no service at work at all. I called numerous times within the fist couple of days of my contract and was told a variety of things (you need to wait 2 months, wait 5 days, swap your SIM, we will offer you free stuff etc etc). In the end I was so angry that I submitted a complaint online with the TIO.

Today I just got a text from Vodafone saying:

"Hi Vodafone has agreed to your request re TIO complaint to waive your Voice commitment due to coverage issues. Letter to follow with full details however you may port out/ cancel as of today. Kind Regards Vodafone Resolutions"

YIPPIE!!!! I am freeeee!

I would STRONGLY recommend to anyone, even if you have only just signed up, to try and solve your issue through Vodafone first (document everything they say to try and resolve your issue) and then if you get the same stories I did then go straight to the TIO. The process was so quick and the resolution exactly what I wanted.

Thanks to this web site for putting me onto the TIO, I wouldn't have known to do that otherwise :)

4 services with vodafone loyal customer for 7 years. Half way through contract.Service simply disappeared on two phones 16 dec 2010. One month of Calling everyday, on hold for hours, going into store 7 times, lodging a complaint with TIO. So much lost business. emailed ceo of vodafone....call 2 hours later. contract cancelled. fee waived when i send handsets back. So much stress. Now with telstra. so happy.

Just short of 2 months into a 24 month contract.....complaints and hanging on line to vodafail re: no service & drop outs....with no result....put in complaint to TIO 6th Jan & received a call from Vodafail rep on sunday 16th Jan....lovely young man...spoke Australian....admitted I was in a bad service area and I was let out of my contract....giving me my Account number so I can port my number to another carrier....just have to return my hanset...so great out come...!!

My son has a vodafone prepaid....doesnt use it that much....so paid the $25 to unlock his phone....needed to call vofafail to get his details and account number so I could port his number to another carrier & surprise spent over 1 hour waiting for vodafail to answer....gave up....tried again today & just 20 mins....rang AMAYSIM....answered and spoke to an lovely Australian lady within 1 minute....she was great and within 1.5 hours they had ported my sons number....now thats what I call customer service.....!!

With 5 months to go on my contract, today I rang up, was on the phone for just over an hour, and came out with:

- free upgrade to a new handset. (My iPhone 4 is getting delivered in 5-7 working days, and I get to keep the old one, which works fine - hellooo ebay!)
- waived the fee for breaking my contract
- the first 3 months of the new contract completely free
- $10 discount on the $69 plan, each month for the full duration of the new contract

I'm pretty happy with the result, especially as I was lucky enough not to have had the same level of problems that many of the people here have experienced.

I actually believe them when they say they will upgrade the network, because so many regulatory eyes are on the company now, there is no way wthey will get away with sub-standard service going forward.

Fun fact: While I was on the call to Vodafone(from a land line) it dropped out twice, and the same call centre consultant called me back within minutes. That's decent service.

Ok, so after hearing about the privacy leak, and the network dramas I've been having for the past for 4 months... I called Vodafone, to discuss the fact that I wanted to break my contract.

Over the course of 5 days, being transfered multiple times to different departments, people, management, and to add to the frustration, regular drop outs while on hold, I finally got onto an agent who advised me that after following all their troubleshooting steps that I was able to break the contract, waiving my $540 termination fee, and all I'd have to do is either return my iPhone or pay it out ($130).. during this discussion, the line dropped out.

Few minutes later I had received a SMS saying that they acknowledged the line disconnected, and that I would get a call back. Didn't receive it. So i called again.

Finally after waiting ages go through, the new agent advised that there were no notes/record of my previous discussion. Wasn't good enough.

I spent 1.30 mins arguing with him, telling him that I wanted to cancel my contract like the previous agent had promised. After putting me on hold, and speaking to his manager back and forth, they decided that they were happy to terminate my contract, waiving my termination fee, but I had to pay $200 for my handset. I refused, and finally convinced him that I was only willing to pay $130 as promised by the previous agent.

They agreed.

Now in all this, ultimately a termination of contract was ideal for me, but at the moment I don't have time to shop around for another carrier, and port over my number, so I explained to the agent that after being a customer of vodafone for 12 years, that after all this, they were willing to let me go? I said to him that I am willing to continue on being a customer for a few more months in hope that their network issues will resolve, and the $540 termination fee that they were willing to waive, is to be applied to my bill over the next 6 months... IT WORKED.

My plan of action is... after 6 months (when my contract ends) I will thank them very much... and sign up a new contact with a different carrier (and hope to get my hot hands on the new iPhone 5 when it's released) ha!

Was on the phone for 1.30Hrs (1555) and Amradhah answered my call at 8PM today (13th). And ask me to set the Operator selection to Manual (which I have done already after reading some post on the internet) with no gain. And asked me 3 calls which I've made (number, date and time) and dropped. Then said one of their technician gonna contact me in 5 business days to investigate and after another 2 business days another call to inform me the result. If they find no signal then I can exit the contract, she said. I refused to pay the bill till this resolved and she credited the account for this month.

Well seems like some gain. But I want to leave Vodafone.

I left Vodafone before it all went really tits up. Best move ever.

After countless hour on hold while trying to work out if Vodafone was actually "investigating the problem" we finally went to the ombudsman. And after one email to them, vodafone rang me (on my landline) to tell me that I would be getting out of my contract FREE OF CHARGE and all out standing bills were waived.
A week later the CEO of vodafone called to apologise and try and get me to stay.

After countless hour on hold while trying to work out if Vodafone was actually "investigating the problem" we finally went to the ombudsman. And after one email to them, vodafone rang me (on my landline) to tell me that I would be getting out of my contract FREE OF CHARGE and all out standing bills were waived.
A week later the CEO of vodafone called to apologise and try and get me to stay. I went to Telstra

Hi,
i was facing the standard problems with 3g mms and call drop outs etc i wrote to the tio in 3 days i was out of my contract dont try and do it ur self go thru the tio!

I have been with Vodafail since July 2009 and have had nothing but problems with them. Countless calls to them to try and resolve the problems, hours of life lost while on hold, next to no coverage at home (15km from Melbourne CBD), constant call drop outs, no data coverage... the list goes on.
After seeing the news about this website and people taking action I contacted them again yesterday and have canceled my contract. If the above problems are happening with you, contact V and ask them to investigate the problems, they did that with me and concurred that I am in a poor signal area for them (which is the case in most areas of Australia) and therefore I am free to leave the contract with NO cancellation fees, these are waived when I return my handset. Today I will go about signing up with a real provider and look fwd to a hassle free telecommunication future. Give it a crack, you have nothing to loose and everything to gain!

I am a business customer with Vodafone and rely heavily on my calls to make money. I am using an Iphone and am continuously having call drops, which in turn effects my productivity and is more of a pain than anything.
I was speaking to an Aussie chap by the name of Graham at the call centre which I believe is in Tassie.
I must admit was angry and was at the stage where I wanted out of my contract due to the continued issues with my calls dropping. He was actually probably the most helpful consultant I've ever spoken to at a call centre. He copped my anger which was not directed at him, just the bloody network. He stepped me through an option which I didn't know was possible, to switch the Iphone to 2G. He explained the data speeds would be a lot slower but would help at least with the call drops. I must admit I was skeptical but he sounded genuine in what he was saying and also indicated that parts of Melbourne would be improved over teh coming months. So I gave it a go. I've been using my phone for calls on 2G for several days now and would you believe it. I have no call drops!!, except if I know I'm going through a black spot. So apart from the data side of things something so simple has impacted me in a positive way. I take my hat off to the chap that helped me.

On December 23 I spent the best part of a morning on the phone to a Vodafail call centre in India. I was polite but firm and when I was told that I did have service in my area I repeated that I had my phone there with me (I called on my landline as I had no service on the Vodafail) and I definitely had no service despite what their database said. They appeared to have no record of my previous complaints and offered to refer me to technical support. I politely declined this as pointless and asked to speak to a supervisor each time having to explain my situation - living in rural Victoria, travelling alone on country roads at night - a safety issue etc etc. I persisted politely, each time escalating it to the next level of supervisor and finally they agreed to cancel my contract and waive any fees. I am now with another provider and have five bars on my phone.

I contacted Vodafone 1555 a number of times regarding coverage issues I was having in Southbank Victoria and my iphone 4 coming up with "searching" and "No service" This went on for around two weeks before I contacted the TIO, after waiting for a vodafone complains staff member to contact me, that took around two weeks I was released from my contract and was able to keep the handset due to being on a 12 month contract. I also received a $60.00 credit for three months of not being able to use data on the vodafone network.

My issue was from back in august'10 an was resolved by late oct!
Basically I had network issues and they kept blaming my handset. Through out my dispute with vodafone I received many comments which suprisef me like "do you have another handset?" I said no, vodafone the asked "Could you borrow a phone from a friend for a few days?" I lost my mind at that statement as a multiple million dollar company would stoop so low! I had also been left on hold for hours at a time. One particular day my call from my handset was on hold for 2.5 hrs, while my phone was on hold my wides got through in 20 minutes. From this I suspect that thier system is designed to detect accounts with issues and divert to a line with no or little staffing hoping the customer will just give up!
In the end I managed to get 3 months free for all of my sevices (3 mobiles and a mobile Internet) on the grounds that there was insuffiecieny coverage for me to run a business on. Then after thier investigation was completed they released the remainder of my contract ( about 7 months worth) and unlocked my phones even released outstanding payments.
If you try to talk to anyone try and speak to the loyalties department as they are based in Australia and a genuinely more help than their foreign counterparts(I won't even comment on their level of service!!!!!!' wink wink).
No I am with relates and can't complain this far, it's been a little over 2 months but I am getting the service I am paying for!

Good luck and try the loyalties guys, they helped me.

I contacted Voafone to complain about the service, the calls dropping out; the slow data and they advised me to change my SIM card and/or wipe my SIM card.

If only I know this 10 months ago. Well I'll be trying this out this evening. Looking forward to seeing the results :-)

After being a Voda customer for a few years I decided enough was enough. Went to a Voda store to complain about the poor iPhone performance on their network and was told "it is what it is". I went straight to the TIO, two weeks later I was with another network with a new iPhone and will never look back.

ok I was travelling to the city alot around new years christmas ect... and for some reason EVERYTIME The train stopped @ Richmond I would lose all my Signal and I wouldn't get it back until I arrived in at Flinders Street. I went passed today and I had Signal :) was like average 3-4 bars. not good but not bad :).

Lodge a complaint with the ITO. Vodafone rang me this morning (06/01/11) and without any hesition let me out of my contrct early with no charges and credited my internet bill as I hadn't been using the internet. Very happy with the result, and now I can go with another carrier.

Got sick of trying to get through to the call centre and ignored emails regarding an over charge on my bill and when the service was disconnected after I refused to pay them, I ripped out the sim, binned it and changed providers.

When I signed up with Vodafail they asked me if I wanted to transfer my old mob ph number over to them. I said yes as long as that didn't cancel out my contract with other provider as I still wanted some of the options they were offering. Vodafail assured me that in doing this it wouldn't cause a breach of contract and thus incur exit fees - I agreed to that re-inforcing to them that I didn't want to cancel the other contract, they again assured me there would be no problem. In the mean time I received a large account from other service provider and when I phoned them they said that this amount was an exit fee I explained to them what had happened. They advised me that if Vodafail would cancel my contract then they would waive the exit fee fully. Well there in lay the long drawn out process the first 2 times I called them was met with utter rudeness. Before I rang the 3rd time I decided to seek legal advice as to the legality of non-disclusure in contracts. I was told that the contract would be considered invalid if they failed to disclose contractual information. Armed with this info I rang Vodafail explained the situation for the 3rd time and told them of my conversation with my lawyer and the legal stance re this matter. I also said that if this problem wasn't resolved then the next move would be a legal letter demanding action and if necessary we were fully prepared to take them to court. Well they couldn't be more helpful they asked me what the exit fee was I told them and they said that they would get back to me. Surprisingly they called me back 20 mins later and said that they were willing to pay the exit fee of over $400 as for the problems with service delivery if they are unable to fix this then they will release me from my contract without incurring an exit fee. I strongly advise people to seek legal advice I got mine from the Victorian Legal Aid Service so it didn't even cost me anything at all.

It is more expensive but as we don't have a home phone (our choice I know) we needed more reliable coverage, so we went to investigate telstra. while inside the telstra shop i rang vodafail to check my biller code number for the paperwork, waited online for 16 minutes before talking to someone. i told him what was going on and that we were leaving vodafail. he responded by saying "we know that there have been problems, how about giving us another chance?". how about no. then i got put through to vodafails cancellation team and waited on the phone for 6 minutes before the call cut out! what a surprise! the bloke at telstra was fantastic and our numbers were ported across as we sat there. fantastic service! like i said more expensive but at this stage well worth it

Finally. Sometimes being loud and louder with vodafone and went to TIO got you somewhere. After 4 weeks of phone call to voda and TIO etc, finally someone from vodafone (Aussie) guy called and released me from my contract, I got 7 months to go. yay ! Goodbye vodafone and thank you vodafail !!!!!!!!

Trying to email vodafone via their website to tell them about my crap network coverage, its now been submitting for 15 minutes!....Good on you vodafone, it never ceases to amaze me how useless you are!

Filed TIO complaint just before christmas stating that I was promised better coverage in the coming months after my contract was signed and that when I complained I was told that it's still being upgraded. Requested that the remaining 6 months of my contract be waived. I got a call this morning stating that the remaining commitment had been waived and that I was free to do what I wanted.

I received a text for my next bill (previously these texts were going to someone else's hone! Hello privacy breach! Anyhow, I digress) and nearly fell off my chair I thought I'd call them. After trying to download my bill and their site locking me out (happens ALL the time) I was still on hold. The high bill was due to extortionate roaming charges. Yes I had been OS but their garbage service meant NO WAY was I going to pay full price! $144 for a 20min ph call ( to a bank) is out of control. So once I got through, explained "Hell no, I'm not paying that" they went from "We can't give a discount" to..."I can give a 30% discount, but that's it.." to "ok 50% discount." I decided this was fine. The discount kept going up once I said "I refuse to pay this money for a company that serves up poo in a bucket and calls it service. I don't need this mobile, I have another and can't wait for this contract to be up! You can block my number now, put a note on your end saying 'customer will pay once has a response from the Telco Ombudsman." This is when they coughed up the higher discount.
The hold time might have been out of control (as is the norm!) but the O word works every time where valid.
Happy hunting kids! Never pay full price for crap service!!!

woohoo just got of the phone with vodafone and after being asked why when i was on prepaid do i stay at vodafone i told them that i have been a customer for 12 years and it has only been the last 4mths that i have had prob with them and the fact that most of my family are on vodafone including my kids and the phones are locked into vodafone and have never had a prob with them until the merge with 3 started. I have just been given a new nokia x6 $149 recharge and 8 gig of data for my broadband stick and was only on hold for 5min today

Lodged a complaint via the TIO after Vodafail ignored my letters and phone calls. Within a week I had been released from contract without penalty and ported over to Telstra on a special plan. WIN.

For a few months my partner and I had been experiencing shit service. We would not receive some calls, txts and voice mails. We also could not use the internet service on our iPhones after 6pm every night. We both had called customer service on separate occasions, and after always waiting on hold for at least 30mins we tried all their troubleshooting.
I could honestly write a book on the crap that followed these initial phone calls, but I dont have the time.
I spent the next month on the phone to VODAFAIL every day, call waiting times varied from 30mins to 3 hours. On one occasion I was on hold for 2hours and 40mins to have some idiot pick my call up and then hang up on me.
I had one Australian MORON tell me to go buy a telstra pre paid simcard and use that until VODAFAIL could resolve my problems. When I asked him to unlock my iphone he refused and then further suggested that i buy a prepaid phone too...seriously.
I contacted TIO in the end and finally spoke to someone who could ACTUALLY HELP ME. She cancelled mine and my partners contracts (we both had 13 months to go) for free, and credited our last bill as the service had not even been working properly.
We are now with Telstra and have great service and have had no issues so far.

I was on a "Vodafony" prepaid (only calls, no data - ok coverage) for years and then tried to get on a Iphone plan, but they were useless in giving me any committment on when I could get an Iphone. Then I heard about their poor CBD in-building coverage with iphones. So thanks to their crap loyalty I now have a Iphone with a real provider with excellant coverage and data speed. Thanks Vodafony!! MAGIC!!!