I had signed a vodafone contract at a retail store, at the point of sales the sales clerk did a search in my area and said it had coverage and the sale could go ahead. This phone contract was signed in mid 2009. After recieving the phone and taking it home all that appeared on my phone was either "no service" or "searching". i had called vodafone on numerous occasions and i was always transfered to india to speak with a customer service representative. When i had requested to speak to a australian they refused and said all i could speak with is the customer care team in india. the matter was left unresolved in 2010 i had called again and repeatedly asked for a australian based in australia i did speak to the suprivisor, they had promised on 2 occassions to send out a representative from vodafone to test my area for service as i had numerous complaints to the company. i was paying for a service i only recieved in the cbd or neighbouring suburbs. my area had been declared a black spot by most phone providers other then telstra so i knew my area had poor coverage but vodafone continuely kept saying my area was fine. it wasnt until mid 2010 i had enough and threatened to leave the company and they still did not conduct tests on my suburb for reception that they offered a $24 discount on my bill. I refuse to pay my bills as they have promised since august of 2009 they will fix the problem and they havent no one has been in contact with me like they promised to let me know of any updates i have 5 members in my family who are vodafone who live under the same roof who experience the same problem. i want the contract resindered with no cost to me because vodafone has not fulfilled their part of the contract.

I hardly have any network coverage. You can't speak to a real person when you ring their help line. I was docked 2 days work because I didn't receive a txt until 5 days after it was sent. I have a nokia slide and was asured that i would have no problems with vodafone, i think i will go back to optus.

AFTER UPGRADING FROM A IPHONE 3G (THE FIRST ONE) AND RENEWING WITH VODAFONE ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO, MY 3G HAS BEEN WOEFUL AT BEST, I HAVE BEEN SWITCHING THE PHONE OFF EVERY HALF HOUR TO REGAIN 3G ACCESS... AS A LAST RESORT IVE SWITCHED OFF 3G BROWSING, AND I AM RUNNING ON EDGE... PAINFULLY SLOW, BUT BETTER THAN THE STALLING NOTHING OF 3G. MY BILL IS INCORRECT, BUT I CANT GET THROUGH TO BILLING, AND WHEN I ASK FOR FAULTS, IT SAYS ITS TRANSFERRING ME, BUT THEN I GET A MESSAGE THE NUMBER IS NOT CONNECTED, I CANT EVEN GET MY BILLING SORTED, LET ALONE THE (NOW RENEDERED) POINTLESS IPHONE 3G CONNECTION

ACCC - why did u allow the 3 Vodafone merger
TIO - 8704 and counting disgruntled customers
What has to happen before our regulatory bodies do something ???????

Bought a New Xperia x10 mini pro.
Calls dropped out like crazy, and mms failed to function. Phone update to remedy some problems was not available from the carrier. Dropped in to store to see if it was the phone. Was told we have to call the help number. Spent an hour on hold to be told that at minimum the phone needs to be returned once for service.
2 weeks later, phone is returned, in the same condition, DESPITE an OS update being then available. Finally updated the phone's OS on our own, without help from Vodaphone.
MMS still doesn't work properly, and calls still drop out. Reception is abysmal, and we are about 2kms from the CBD. Walking from one room to another in the house cuts the signal. Messages routinely fail to appear until 6-12hrs late, by which time they are out of context.
A month's worth of credit was applied to the account, but piling MORE free rubbish on top of rubbish is hardly compensation.

In other hilarity, using voip on my ipod with microphone works better, and the in-app messaging from words-with-friends is more reliable and timely. Sure I can only use it from places with free wifi or wifi I have a key for, but it's more reliable than Vodafail.

I have got out of the mess by getting rid of the problem vodaphone I was a mobile hairdresser and when I signed up was assured that in the area where I wished to conduct my buisness ther were three towers on complaining (sometimes on hold for two hours then hung up on) they said yes the towers were in the area but never promised great coverage which was true I just thought now I don't think about the sopplier without nealy having a breakdown
Al Watts

I have been with vodafone for years, and never really had to much of a problem until the past year... I recently just started a new contract to get an iphone 4, the reason I did this was because I THOUGHT my old iphone was having troubles, not getting text messages till 3 hours or more after they are sent, text messages not sending although I have what appears to be full reception, phone calls dropping out so I cannot hear anything the person is saying yet they can hear me... So me being stupid and thinking that it was my phone that had the problem I decided to get a new phone and start a 2 year contract all over again, now look whos been sucked in, my new phone is having all the same problems! Thanks a lot vodafone you now get to rip me off for yet another 2 years. This has gone beyone frustrating me today as it was because of this that my boyfriend was unable to contact me with an emergency, his calls and texts would not go through, thanks to vodafone I got them 4 hours later.. Still waiting for the missed calls to even show up.

brand new blackberry smart phone worked fine for approx 2 months.then signal drop outs, battery starting lasting roughly 8 hours at most, can't receive calls or text messages at all most of the time, receive voice messages roughly 3-4 hours after people leave them (that's when i can check them) can rarely access internet on it and more often than not it cuts out halfway through calls

I have been on 3 since 2006 and have ONLY started having issues in the past year, and only since vodaphone have taken over has the problem worsened. I have an iPhone. I have to stand out on my street to have a decent phone call without the person breaking up or cutting out. my phone permanently says searching or no service inside. there is hardly ever 3G reception in my area, the eastern suburbs especially in my area have many areas that seem to be lacking reception and with a split up family I always seem to be in these non covered areas. I am paying ridiculous dollars for nothing!! I am sick and tired of struggling to use my phone!! but the massive thing that gets to me is. the thousands of dollars they want me to pay to get out of my contract!!! YOUR ALREADY SCABBING MY MONEY!!!!

This is a joke. I'm willing to bet that 90% of the people complaining are using an iPhone, which is a joke in itself. iPhones have had known reception problems since DAY ONE!

Put an iPhone 4 next to a HTC Desire HD, Samsuns Galaxy S, X10, HTC Legend or almost ANY other phone, and you will see the reception difference.

I work in a Vodafone store and we shut people up EVERY DAY. They show me their iPhone with 1 bar, I pull out my HTC with 4-5 bars.

iPhones suck up the most bandwidth of any phone in Australia to date, and with the number of them out there, what do you expect? Vodafone pushes more iPhones out a day than any other network in Australia, and with the 3 take over, you can't blame them for the troubles. They're upgrading their 3G towers so that the iPhone people wont have anymore problems (well there will always be problems with iPhones)

Just relax and wait till they upgrade the towers. Vodafone is still 2nd out of all the major Mobile companies in Australia with or without the customers complaining.

Calls dropping out ,3G coverage drops out and GSM not much better, slow internet then loosing connection .Was just on the phone to Vodafone for over 1 hour ,they would not let me get out of my contract yet not sure if they will and they believe ther are no issues in my area Gladesville NSW.They want me to go to a vodafone store and try a new sim card before they will talk to me again, if it doesn't fix the problem then they will escalate the issue. I also have a virgin mobile which uses the optus network and with the phones side by side the virgin one has full 3G coverage and the vodafone has no 3G switching from 3G to regular GSM every couple of minutes.Where i work it is actually a vodafone and optus site with a tower right out the front on a light pole until a few months ago coverage was great until vodafone had something changed in the com box inside the building i work in now i can't even get or make a call without it dropping out.

My opinion is that Vodaphone have had more than ample time to fix issues. I have had majour 'drop out' issues going on for years. Every time my phone drops out and it also does it when I am on the phone and a message comes through, every time it does this its costing me and you of course to reconnect. I don't believe they have any excuse for this its simple, I give my money to them and in return I expect full service or money back now. But of course this wont happen so I say pull out now. Yes everyone should regardless if on a contract pull out now they can't prosicute everyone. I am gone and back to the evil Telstra it is.

We can only stand in one spot in our house to get reception. Even then it drops out. It is pointless have any internet access on our phone it doesnt work. My partner and i have spent thousands of dollars with Vodafone, with expensive international phone bills and always going over our caps. As soon as our contracts are up we will be leaving, even with only 4 months left it is still redicuously expensive to get out of our contract!

I have an iphone (on Vodafone) and have to use the phone with the 3G network switched off. If 3G coverage is switched on the phone has no service. Running on the 2G network I still find i have poor coverage in Perth, particularly Wembley.

My reception is crap, my calls always drop out, My mate told me to put the settings on 2G from 3G, So basically I bought a 3G phone with a crappy service provider who cant even provide the 3G experience, and the bastards have kept quite about this, rather than come out and tell their customers, this is a joke and to top it off you call get put on hold for 1-3hrs, and then transferred all around India, also the Indian Sam who is the supervisor at the Crappy Indian call centre told me since I have been a customer for two years and have never brought up the crappy service their is not much I can do, this is despite trying to call them numerous times, F*CK VODAFONE! now im getting my ombudsman involved!

I live in Kurrajong 2758. The only good mobile sevice we get was vodafone until now. They merged with 3 and didnt take into consideration the effect it would have on all existing loyal customers. we have gone from having A1 service to near 2 none :( this is so frustrating. I have been with vodafone 4 10yrs, i have 2 mobile phones & broadband. i renewed each contract 8 months ago and since then the service has gone down hill. I contacted vodafone and was told it was due the the merge, there is to high demmand in my area and at this point they arent doing anything to fix this. Shouldnt they have looked at this b4 the merge. If everyone complains & provides feedback they'll have to fix this so keep it up

I have used Vodaphone since they started in Australia and basically their service has been good. Having said that the reception since I got a new contract and an i Phone 4 it has been very patchy.I have complained and they said they were spending $400 million and it would be fixed in a few days. I am hoping they do.They have fixed their complaints service already by allowing you to elect to leave your number and they call you back when your position in line comes up and not having to speak to "Linda" but using the keypad instead.I have used this once and it worked well.I advised them that should they not improve their coverage I would be canceling my contract.

Lara should get the sack. Doesn't understand a word I say. I call to speak to a real person not a machine.

I wait on hold on the phone for more than 30 minutes each time I try to call Vodafone with a problem. They don't seem to care at all about customer service, the service they do provide is shocking anyway. My partner and I started with Vodafone a little over a year ago becuase they had a free 'Vodafone to Vodafone' offer which we took up so we could contact eachother for free. Within months Vodafone started charging us for all the calls and text messages to eachother. Their invoicing system is a mess, randomly charging me $800+ with no reason at all!!! I refused to pay so now they have shut my phone down and I can't use it. Thanks a lot Vodafone.

In my area Vodafone jumps from no service to searching to vodafone mobile covereage to vodafone 3G. It sucks my battery life dramatically and quite frankly gives me the shits.

When i have full reception on 3G my internet usage is slow if it works at all, but get this, when i have 1 bar of reception on 3G the internet on my phone is still slow but works continuously ! i don't get it !

Ok and finally i drop out of calls constantly even when i have full reception ! I receive messages sometimes 3-4 days later and mms' sometimes takes 2-3 hours of continuous trying to send them through.

One query i do have is, do all these people use iphones ?

I have only recently become a vodafone customer (approx 5 months) and at first was happy with service. For at least the past month or two have had constant call drop-outs and non-existent coverage. I can go for at least half a day without being able to make or recieve phone calls, nearly every day. The first experience of this resulted in my boyfriend driving 30 mins to my house at 1am because of worry of what had happened to me when my phone cut out and he could not get back in touch with me to find out what had happened. Was a bit of an overreaction but is the sort of thing that can happen when your phone just cuts out suddenly due to service. Was very scary to wake up to someone buzzing apartment in the middle of the night.

The sad thing about their service though, is that when I signed up for my contract, the rep in store told me that soon 3 and Voda would be merging, and if coverage changed I would be allowed out of my contract. I can't believe that a rep from the company would be telling me on the day that I am signing a contract for their company 'don't worry, you'll be able to get out of it'!!

Calling 1555 is one of the most frustrating calls to make, and makes dealing with Vodafone extremely unpleasant. Whilst this website has said that you can have the option of vodafone calling you back, I have never been offered this option when calling, so am unsure as to how that works.

Am currently looking into other providers and will be changing as soon as I have found a suitable plan.

For some reason, my 3G stopped working around the subiaco/mt claremont area back in july 2010 and no one has managed to fix it yet.

I unfortunately made a decision to join Vodafone (initally with 3, but would endup with Vodafone anyways).

I had to port three numbers and get a new one, so in total 4 postpaid plans.

It all started almost three weeks ago and after a friendly chat with the sales staff, i placed the order for my phones. They lost my order and left me waiting for the phones to come.

After spending almost a day to catch someone on phone, i got hold of the supervisor and he organised to send me the phones a day before christmas.

It took me a few days to find out how to activate and when i called them to find that the plans were listed wrong in their system. Were sorted in couple of hours of phone chasing, still waiting to port one number.

Opend the phone boxes, with no info or any contract with it. The brand new Nokia N97 mini has a faulty touch screen. Spent almost 56mins and call dropped, someone called back to tell me that i need to take it to a store and they need to verify if the phone is faulty.

Online account service shows entirly different and outdated plan info on which staff has no controll.

Frustrated an dcursing why i made this stupid decision. Almost a month gone and still chasing up...

I wander what will be in next 24 months?????

I'm with 3 mobile and they are the same carrier as Vodafone. I am disgusted with the service and number of dropouts I have put up with, I have made complaint after complaint and still I get no satisfaction. I am so happy for this website and could wait to express my pain. Vodafone/3 mobile get your act together or get out.

I too have been a long serving customer of Vodafone. Since 3G has become the major provider for phones these days, It has become apparent that the service is shocking. I also thought it was my new iPhone 4 after reading about its reception problems in America, however Apple insisted that this isnt such an issue in Australia. After discussing with friends and family (All too on Voda) I concluded that its Vodafones network issues. Dropping out in the middle of Conference Calls with over-seas counterparts, business deals, the phone is something you need to work when you need it, we shouldnt have to wait for the reception to pick up.
I also have a USB Modem with Vodafone, I often only receive 1 3G bar of reception if it doesn't kick over to EDGE network; and thats on the occasion it works at all- USELESS!

I & My wife are having same problems with Three
It seems that both of these companies. Charge for services they do not provide coverage& service shocking.
Will not confirm anything in writing.
They have not kept their end of the contract from the beginning and each time we speak to them it is a different story.
Even their notes are not correct.
We keep records.

Totally unacceptable internet service when I have children overseas.

Not only is it contracts that the problems so do prepaid. I went overseas and I topped up my prepaid balance as I had alot of credit left I didn't recharge and Because I didn't recharge by the expirey date I lost all my vodafone credit when I rung to complain I was told that even if you have alot of credit you still have to recharge now that's what I call a rip off. My husband was going to NZ for 4 days he had $50.00 credit on his phone so he recharged only to lose the $50.00. They said they would credit it as vodafone to vodafone minutes. He got back on the fourth day recharged his phone and lost the vodafone minutes. He wants to know what is going on.

If you absolutely fundamentally need to be contacted at all times and cannot afford any outage use half a brain and build some redundancy into your telecommunications.

This means don't rely on one provider.

Do you think the plane you fly on has one set of control cables? What if they break? Will they just complain?

Of course not. Voda is pretty poor; but you get what you pay for. If you've got some CRITICAL BUSINESS NEED because you are VERY IMPORTANT take some responsibility and build redundancy in.

I had my mobile stolen. So need to activate a new pre paid sim card. This took me three weeks of approx 15 calls and waiting up to 56mins on hold with no answer. I then attempted contact by email which I was called back after two days. Then I was given misinformation about what sim I needed to obtain. Apparently I needed to get a sim from the vodafone store not any prepaid sim from the supermarket. Why would you go to the vodafone store, then go home to call Vodoafone to activate? I managed to get a sim at the Vodoafone store from a very uninterested customer rep who said he could not activate the sim as the system was down. So I had to go home and try and call vodafone again at a later time. Eventually after several more attempts to get through with no luck. I emailed again. I was eventually called back 2 days later. I requested the last three weeks of my prepaid credit be extended which they said they will do. But never happened. I then put forward a complaint in writing/email outlining all the issues including a print out of all the calls I made and how long I waited with no answer. The response completely ignored all the issues and basically just said they were very busy. Very poor show from a major international communications company. I will be switching provider as soon as possible.

I have prepaid mobile broadband.It used to work sort of ok.Every month it is getting slower- current speed is 72 bps-just slightly slower than a carrier pigeon.I can rarely get 3G and sometimes I cant get any signal.I'm lucky -I'm not on plan.I've just got 8Gig prepaid I wont use.Tomorrow I will go and join up with some other telco.
They must be monitoring me I just got a 3G signal & 1.3kps.How i yearn for my old fast reliable dial up.

The Network Coverage.

I stay in the Homebush area of Sydney and have been staying here since past 3 yrs. I do use the 3 / vodafone mobile phone service but have been having problems of the network coverage since a long time. I have had dropped calls, no network coverage and also been charged for download even though I do not use it at all. I did complain to the customer service but no positive reply from them. They did tell me that they have checked the connection tower and alls fine at their end so asked me to change the place where I stay, which was like come on. I can't change my house for the sake of a network error. After a long arguement with the customer service the only thing they do is give me a one off $10 credit for goodwill on my next invoice.

Its not only that but all my friends when they come to visit me have the same kind of network problem, dropped calls and no service most of the time.

After this I decide to cancel my contract but they want me to pay the whole 24 month contract plant of $49 for each month at once and they will cancel my contract. I was not able to pay off the whole plan at one go, so I decided to keep to hang on with it.

But am really disappointed with the service vodafone provides.

In my business, I rely on the fact that my customers, staff etc can contact me no matter what. This does not occur with Vodafone, recently loss a major business deal as I did not get a answering machine message or text to my mobil for many hours. In fact the service has been slipping further into disfunction since January 2010. I like everyone else thought that it was my iphone or other phones that we have with Vodafone. In fact I had spent may hours on different days in at Apple complaining about their product was not working as expected. Apple to their credit replaced my phone. I purposely went to Apple after being told by Customer Service at Vodafone that my phone was to blame. Only when I told Customer Service several month later that Apple had confirmed that it was not my phone in error did the staff admit that they knew that this was the case. This is misleading and deceptive conduct on the part of Vodafone. Fortunately for me I have every conversation well documented and various proof from Vodafone supporting my case. Most people are understanding if a company is honest and upfront with issues, but Vodafone has intentionally mislead, as well incorrectly billing. I for one will be joining the legal fight against Vodafone. Oh and by the way the Mobil Broadband from Vodafone is not secure and anyone can hack your system as there is no protection. I also have documented evidence of this. Vodafone has damaged my business and my family and myself as well. If Vodafone had admitted the issue when they were first aware of it and followed it up and actually do what they were paid to do then they would have stopped selling until they had fixed their issues and not continue to add to the problem. Vodafone as a direct result of your actions, I am personally out of pocket many millions of dollars.

I work at Ingleburn, We never had a problem with our recption untill mid to late september, Now i have to go out onto the front verandah to make a call & recieve calls, It is costing our company money & business. I have rang vodafone they said they would ring back in 28 min, I recieved a call 3&1/2 hours later, The guy was on the phone trying to check the recption and kept saying it was ok in the area, this went on for 60 min or so, He said he would text me the outcome within 72 hours. 5 Days later still waiting. Not Happy

My Family and friends try to contact me all the time and say that it just goes straight to message bank.. when on my phone it clearly says full 3G recpetion. Messages I can recieve up to 2 days later, obviously when they are now irrelevant! I can be stuck on a major highway just outside of the city and the phone says NO SERVICE. How are we supposed to rely on vodafail at all if they cant even get coverage "that is promised to you" even in such a high density area! At first I thought it was the iPhone I bought.. but now I realise its not.. its just the company who are happy to wave a perfectly good phone in your face not caring about your needs in the Service, customer care etc are.
It's not fair to lock someone in a contract, when your not willing to be in the contract with them Vodafone!

I'm a doctor and work on the Gold Coast. I have good outside phone coverage, am often woken at 3 am with delayed text messages from the previous day, and am unable to use the mobile data to look up vital data on my iPhone apps if needed. I have purchased an I pad with Telstra data, to allow me to access data. This is compromising patient care. I do not have the time to explain these issues to the overseas call centre, and quite frankly the complaints continue to fall on deaf ears. Vodafone are simply in breach of their contract with me - I was promised 3G data coverage, and may as well have none. They are putting lives at risk and perhaps patients who are injured as a result of the above issues could also become part of the class action. ACCC and TIO get off ur bums and fix this mess

Constant Network dropouts and poor reception. Currently been without service since 23rd December 2010... One Week with NO SERVICE!!

I also receive voicemails from OTHER peoples voicemail boxes. I get a phone call, answer the phone and then all these random voicemail messages from multiple peoples voicemail boxes begins playing back to me.

Vodafone has a lot to answer for and I have submitted my complaint to the TIO. Vodafone needs to release me and wife from the remainder of our contract with no financial penalties and we will port our numbers to another service provider who can provide the service they promised.

I have been a loyally Vodafone customer for over 10 years but in the last 6months the service has become so POOR it is unusable and I can no longer tolerate this unacceptable service.

It is almost 2011 and this type of service should not be allowed in this day and age.

Totally disappointed

--Doug

Vodafone are going to be sooo f**ked over cause of this hahahahaha up yours vodafone CEO!!

I have consistent drop outs on my phone of calls, am missing calls and there are also problems with the delayed receipt of messages. All of these are on a phone I use for business and it dropped out when i was negotiating a contract, needless to say i looked like a fool. I thought i would call up vodaphone and see what they can do. i called 6 times in total, it dropped out twice whilst doing that. One of these calls i was on hold for 138 minutes and 57 seconds before it decided to drop out. these guys suck, go somewhere else for a phone

i have 8 months left and i pay $100 a month =( HELP!!! How do i get out of this freely????????

The ironic thing is that I convinced my teenage son to go Voda when he got a phone, because I wanted him to have a decent quality phone, with decent quality service provider.

I have an I phone 4 I have limited or no internet 3G service (dial up internet was quicker)constant internet timing out on secure websites and most others.Weak signal strenght in any area espesially indoors.I was on holidays in Egypt in the desert at Abu Simbol and Croatia 4 months ago and had better service and coverage than i have 40 kms from the city in Melbourne Vic.Rang vodafone they told me it was a sim problem sent me a new one ,as if that was going to make a difference well as i thought it didnt .Totally sic of Vodafone .If they spent as much money on serious network upgrades as they do on motor racing sponsors an the hopless Aussie cricket team i might not be complaining like i have been for the last 4 months. they are so &*%%^&#$%^#^%

Poor reception everywhere!! My husband and I both have Vodafone handsets and he can get reception where I can not and vice versa! We can be in metro Melb and be on the phone when it just drops out - Emergency Calls ONLY!!
I have been into see Vodafone about the poor reception to see if there is anything that they can do and the answer is... "you can only pay out your contract!!" Suprise Suprise!
We are living in Launching Place and asked before we moved if the coverage was good here and they said YES!! Not so true! I have now had to get the landline phone capped so we can call mobiles from it!! More money!!
I am over all the drop outs and lack of help by Vodafone and once the contract does run out believe me I WILL NOT be resigning with them!!
NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO UNHAPPY WITH A PHONE PROVIDER!!!!

My phone fails to receive messages on time, calls are not coming through but the callback service works. Their customer service takes forever to answer (and always has), they take money out of my account without permission and fail to take money out when I do authorise it. Their call centre (which seems to be based in India) is crap. They're polite but they don't seem to resolve issues but rely on people withering away on the end of the phone waiting for the line to be picked up after wasteful waiting times and repeated calls on the same issue. Vodafail is headed for the bin...only a week to go.

Main problem with 3G on my lap top. It receives but will not send, and is very slow. 3k's out of Brisbane and it shows 'poor signal'. Just about at the end of my patience with Vodafone. Poor signal strength on mobile too.Thank you for bringing vodafone's problems to our attention.

Bill Silvester.

Coverage in Darwin is rubbish. Dropped calls still happening, seemed worse with my HTC for some reason even though it indicated full reception.
What's worse is I had my phone break and the staff at the Voda shop is Cas are in a league of their own with regards to ignorance of their own procedures, politeness, professionality, you know, basic service standards. When I went to get my phone serviced by warranty, they couldn't look up my phone details where I got it from, so I went home and got my receipt. Then, the IMEI was apparently invalid....jesus it took so long.....
The second time the girl had NO IDEA what she was doing and then actually left the store to talk to someone. I was in there for >45 minutes just to get my phone serviced, waiting around while some bloke slowly guided her through the process she hadn't been trained in and couldn't figure out.
Part of the problem, I am sure, is that every time I go in there, I am astounded at the length of time it takes them to do anything on their computer system. Also, I am annoyed that they can't do all that much without ringing home first.
How can I get them to release me? The shop alone is bad enough, and then with the dropped calls....I used to like Voda, but recent experience has made me a hater.

I cant bat, cant bowl but i use vodaphone

I've been with Voda for several years with no problems apart from initially being without my phone for 12 days while they stuffed up the porting process. Oh, and the lack of coverage outside major centres.

Lately though, I have had text messages not arrive, or arrive days late, and little or no reception where previously it was fine. Calls drop out, or caller/call-ee cannot hear each other. The 6 phones I have with Voda all have this issue.

Also, my online account at My Vodafone has been deleted (by them), and I cannot check my usage history, account balance, or use it to recharge my account. I know I can do this other ways, but online is/was most convenient and easy.

i used vodaphone to make deals with indian book makers and the reception cut off on me after i gave up the ashes!

Vodafone's coverage map (http://www.vodafone.com.au/tools/checker/index.htm) shows full wireless internet coverage in my area (central Canberra) - in reality, we're lucky to get one bar out of five on signal strength and the modem constantly switches bands looking for a stronger signal which slows the service even further.
Now 4 months into a 12-month contract, we'll never use Vodafone again.

After being made to change from 3 to vodafone, i was assured that i would recieve the same service as vodafone own 3, what rubbish, i am very disapointed with the coverage, how am i supposed to use my cap when i can't get a signal half the time and the signal is not consistent. After a visit to my local Vodafone dealer in Robina i had no signal in their shop the assistant then proceeded to tell me it was a fault with the phone, come on vodaphone, i dont like being patronised, i am sure your shop staff must get fed up with hearing the same complaints, spend some of that massive profit and sort it out.

Mobile internet wont load, get text messages hours later, phone calls drop out saying connection error! i have 8 months left and i pay $100 a month =( HELP!!!

I've been with Vodafone for over 10 years and I've had a few minor wins with complaints that I have lodged with their customer service personnel. That said their coverage has been to say the least fairly appalling in that time. This is something that I have 'lived' with until now. Recently I signed for a 24mth contract with a new iPhone 4 and coincidently have found that 3G coverage in Darwin has dropped. This resulted in my phone constantly searching for 3G service, which in turn sapped my battery at a great rate of knots. I have since turned 3G off and have found that not only my battery has a better life, but the 2G service is a lot quicker and more readily available than 3G. This is inexcusable considering VHA tout 3G availability in Darwin - why should we have to resort to using the old network technology. Get your act together Vodafone.
In addition, I too have been told by friends and colleagues that they have service most of the way to Katherine with Telstra, yet as soon as I reach Noonamah all service is gone - why Vodafone? Considering the NT has a lot of remote areas I would hate to experience any sort of difficulty on the road as I would not be able to contact anyone for help!

R. Forbes. Inner city BrisNeyLand . from 12/12/2010 within 400mts unobsructed view of a tower , my (desktop) mobile broadband CeaseD COMPLETELY to load a page ... , the search engine page never completely loaded as nor did any page then attempted to download . (three complete days).
Tho I have not noted times , (casual domestic use) some afternoons & evenings download time is extended to untenable . To a point of apparently not functioning or so long the page times out .
Since then and today the reception bars show only TWO coloured of a possible five . Downloads are slow , vision is staggered , I am due to re-charge & will consider another provider .
Also , at sign-up I was assured this dongle was adequate for vision ; it has patently never been so... disGRUNTled....! !

I live in munno para and struggle to have a conversation on the vodafone network, calls end with the message network rejected

My coverage and drop out call rate/call failed is a pain Today i woke up and there was no coverage for 2 hours in the middle of Sydney
I will now go through my ph records to count the number of dropped calls i have had over the years
I have been with V since 1992 in Sth Africa NZ UK and Australia and it is always the same Its about time someone did something like this to brings to Vodafones attention the issues we are having on a day to day basis

I am sick of my phone always dropping out of range. It is quite often that I am in the middle of the city and my phone says no service.
The 3G of it is awful as well - every time that I try to use it, it will be down. Mobile phones are supposed to be reliable, mine is so far away from that.
Leaving home with or without my phone would almost make no difference as it almost never works when I need it.
I have called customer service a few times and after being on hold for over an hour I got hanged up on - UNACCEPTABLE!!
I have six months left in my contract and then I am definitely getting the hell out of this company... And to any new potential customers - do not do it!! Signing a contract with these people will be something that you will regret for months to come.

I have posted on here previously but just need to vent my rage! RRRRAWWWRWR! I just spent 43 minutes on hold, to get soem f***wit in the Philipines who said he was attempting to look at my settings, and then he CUT ME OFF. You really, really dont want to do that to me. This is WAR. Ive reported them to the TIO.
WANKER!

Lucy, SA

I live in Redcliffe, Brisbane and frequently find my calls drop out. I use a iPhones for Vodafone mobile when inside the house only 2 BAR of network. For Vodafone Broadband same 2 BAR of network and sometime connected but limited access (mean cannot surfing)and sometime disconnected, cut off, no network, network error. At the moment I'm incredibly frustrated. Paid huge amount of money bu terrible service. I am waiting to find out what the problem is. anyone can answer???

I recently moved and until then had no problems with vodafone, however now our phone reception is poor and we can not use our vodafone internet at all. They will not let me out of my contract even though they can no longer provide the internet service. I am currently having to pay double the internet as telstra does have coversge. Not happy...

Can someone help me understand how Vodafone is allowed to continue to sign up customers using misleading and deceptive practice (by omission)?

At bare minimum, their coverage map is obviously overstated, or at minimum, outdated.

Would these breaches lead to jail time for some Vodafone executives, or simply hefty fines?

Please, please ACCC. HELP!

My reception is horrible, text messages come in hours later, phone internet wont load, why sell me a phone for 2 year contract and then say your in a dead zone! i have 8 months till i can get out and then im changing NETWORK!!!!

I set up my vodafone mobile for global raoming in early Dec as i was heading to New York for Christmas and New Year. On arrival in New York i attempted to contact the owner of the appartment to inform her i had arrived....not able to make this call was the text i received....i then attempted to call the driver again same message was sent. My baggaege had been misplaced and i was stuck at JFK airport with no means of making ANY CALLS. I have since attempted to contact vodafone unable to call them from my moblie i called from a pay phone in NYC only to wait over an hour and spend more than $50 in call costs......I had family attempt to call vodafone back in Ausralia and they to waited so long their mobiles went flat.....what a terrible start to what was meant to be a holiday of a lifetime....Vodafone will no longer be my mobile or internet provider when i return to Australia....after 8 years i am very disappointed....

The day this site was made I had to call customer care a total of six times. I was trying to get a answer for a customer for her service and the only answer I got back from all six reps was BECAUSE and then they hung up on me. I wanted to scream! It was a simple issue I could have fixed myself IF their system was working in store

I was with Vodafone for many years and then after constant call drop outs, incorrect charges and poor competitive pricing, I logged a complaint with the staff. They stated there was nothing they could do but log the issue and they would endeavor to..."increase coverage, stabilize the network and fix billing issues". This did not transpire and after numerous calls complaining about these issues and staying on hold for up to an hour to finally be told I was over charged but I would NOT be getting my money back tipped me over the edge. I stated I would be taking my business else where and would recommend every person i know to do the same. The next day was one of the happiest days of my life as i walked to Optus and had my number ported over and have never looked back.
Vodafone need to realize there business relies on people and when the people are not happy with the service this is an indication to fix up the problem or lose money. I have ensured at least 100 people have not signed up to Vodafone.

Coverage is so patchy in and around Tamworth that when the phone reports that it has 3G coverage you cannot make phonecalls without it immediately dropping out

I have a combo mobile broadband and mobile phone. Broadband is EXCEPTIONALLY bad and the phone drops out about 50% of the phone calls I make. I've complained bitterly and they keep telling me I'm in either a "dead" zone or a "drop off" zone, but I live in the northern suburbs of Sydney not in the outback - how is this possible. I am beyond frustrated. I think I've been with them for 6 months or so and have complained approximately twice a month since I began. It's got me nowhere. There was a brief offer of cancelling my contract the other day, but that was rescinded and they offered me half price for six months in the hope that they're service would improve and I would be happy. It just blows my mind that they think they've the right to charge the prices they do but the delivery is abysmal.

Ironically I wrote Vodafone an upset letter several months ago. They never responded. Thought I'd share it here:

9th June 2010

Dear Vodafone Australia VH3,

You might know me. I'm that guy who two years ago came to your network for the awesome that was and still is the iPhone. You'll probably also remember I was number 6 in line, just incase you forgot my dedication or colossal nerdisim (you be the judge), to stand in the blistering cold for hours to get one. I have had a problem with the network but I've let this fall by the wayside too many times and finally after contacting your company on several occasions to voice my concerns, they have fallen on deaf ears with no resolution. I have little choice but to write you this diatribe related to your network.

I live in Gawler, South Australia. Don't recoil in fear, it's okay, I don't wear flannelette, (Okay, I did once for a themed party at uni, but the shirt belonged to a friend). However, I have chosen to subscribe to your network for my mobile telephone and iPad 3G data services, this is where the problem is. Your company's website maps for coverage dictate that Gawler has full 3G network service, which when you're using peripherals that use your network, you'd believe it too based on the full bars you see in the signal indicator. This is where this shit gets real. The minute you access data or calls, it suddenly becomes slow and laggy and unresponsive, inside or outside, trust me, I'm like a nomadic gypsy trying to find a good spot for reception. I have even been known to stand in bizarre positions to act as a human antenna to increase signal. All of this and resolution. Nothing works and i'm pretty sure it is because it's your fault. Not my house, not my geographical location but the speed at which you allow data to be delivered at my location. I know this because when I'm closer to Adelaide the speeds are normal. I used Speed test.net's official ass kicking application to test your network speeds and in the town of Gawler, main street near my house and It clocks 40.8kb/sec download where as with Gawler's sister hood, Elizabeth and the major city of Adelaide attain speeds of around 258KB/sec and higher. Full signal in all locations, yet so much variation in speed, sickening isn't it? PS I'm aware the city uses HSDPA technology which is why I also mentioned Elizabeth's hood, that is the same as Gawlers but with a bigger population, probably less teeth and more flannelette though.

Initially I thought I was crazy or heaven forbid, maybe the iPhone who gets a bad wrap for signal was to blame but I've even had a blackberry, same old story. I really didn't want the iPhone to be the blame because I love it which can be supported by the fact that the girls at uni have learnt to convert my iPhone rants into chemical energy like plants converting light energy in to chemical enrtgy as food but I'm glad to say, it's certainly not the iPhone, iPad or Blackberry as the myth was busted by the aforementioned. These speeds akin to dial up of circa 1997 are probably suitable for some of Gawler's subscribers but they don't have any teeth, I do, and I feel that it's one of the reasons why they settle for the less that I can't stand for.

So I decided that instead of just bitching in my mind about it every time I tried to access google boob search (you might know it as google image search) and I, as a result, die a little bit inside from frustration of slow speed. Left with that feeling similar to one of jumping on a bag of puppies. I decided I'd call in to let you guys know and maybe you could check it out and fix your tower or something and I could get on board and be in love with you again. So I placed a call, presumably to india. I spoke to lovely bunch of people that had names more Australian and generic than mine, PS no one is called 'Betty' or 'Gavin' anymore (You should remind them of this when they're assigning themselves 'Australian' names). Anyway, they were up to their old tricks again both times, those tricksters! They hand balled me to all sorts of other service teams, back and forwards about 4 times on each occasion until someone would finally pretend to log my problem and a technician would call me back within 72 hours to give me the results. Well I'm not sure and I forgot to ask but I've been overseas lots before and all the places I've been use the same day and time format that Australia uses. India may be the exception but even in Indian hours, a week of Australian and 'normal' time, should at very least be equivalent to 72 Indian hours, if this isn't the case, are they even in 2010 yet?

Based on this I would like Vodafone Hutchings 3 Australia to take this letter as a formal complaint against your services and finally take action and rectify your claims if you are not otherwise prepared to bring your network up to the standards you claim. Otherwise I shall be forced to move to network that doesn't hurt me anymore. I guess at this point I should probably also point out that I decided to stand in Vodafone's line those fateful two years ago only because you opened a whole hour earlier than any other store, grounding isn't it? Yeah, that's what I thought...

Regards,


Andrew
South Australia.

I regularly get bad signal in Sydney, not to mention Top Ryde Shopping Centre (strange, even at the Vodafone kiosk LOL). Christmas Day in West Pennant Hills - No service wahtsoever.
I have used Vodafone for quite a few years now, maybe its the merge with 3 that caused this problem, who would have thought that if you merged 2 retailers that youd get worse service?

my trouble with vodaphone is that text - both pictures and messages - don't come through sometimes for 24 or 48 hours. and my phone generally seems to be very slow. another issue is that i text 'customer service' for my account balance. when they reply with the amount, it is never correct. in the past i have believed them when they say i've got $77 remaining only to be billed way over my cap because i used up the $77 plus whatever amount they didn't mention

Straight through to the voicemail when connected via 3G. Now I only use 2G. Slow SMS, voicemail notification. Often hours later and sometimes days. Extremely slow data at the best of time. Often it will NOT work with full reception.
Emailed Vodafone support. Replied back in over 1 week to say if you are still having problems, let us know. Just a robot respond. They don't even read my email. DISGRACEFUL!!!!

Yet another story to add to my list. Called vodafone and selected the "call me back option" Wow they really did call me back within 20 minutes. Did I get to speak to a soul? NO of course not. They ring me back.... They play my recorded voicemail/ name onleft earlier.... Then it just rang and rang and rang and rang for a good two minutes. No explanation. Am I hold again? Is someone ever going to pick up? Is this yet another little trick they have going to avoid talking to me yet again? Last time they transfered me then hung up.

Disgusted and irritated I didn't waste my time listening to a seemingly endless ring tone and hung up.

Thanks for the brilliant service. A month has gone by and I am still yet to have a conversation with someone.

I just want to get the heck outta my contract. 12 weeks til it ends and it just can't come fast enough!!

Hopeless coverage, cant get any help at the store I bought the phone from and charged me when i called the toll free number to complain. I wish I never left Telstra, Vodafone the worst mobile provider in Australia

I had wondered as to why my mobile phone connected to Vodaphone often cut out during a course of conversation in the CBD and about 11 kms out at Windsor Gardens, At first i thought it had something to do with the geographical location of Adealide and my relationship to the communications towers on Mount Lofty, so I started facing North-South when making a phone call interstate and overseas. but teh problem persisted, even had the mobile phone checked to see if there was the fault of the phone. My friends i often joked that it was ASIO
listening in and the government spying on us and when we used certain political words,we were cut off, but your investigations into vodaphone have proven otherwise.

cant get coverage half the time even in my house if i move 3 feet I lose the signal. They wont replace the blown up charger I bought unless I give them the phone back or take it to the repair centre myself.Charged me to wait on the toll free line and then didnt call me back. i have been to the store where I bought the phone 5 times now to complain. Told me to take the I phone back to Apple myself to have it checked for weak signal.

cant get coverage half the time, the store wont replace the battery charger they sold me when it blew up unless I give them the phone back and it would take 3 weeks. The I phone they gave me is junk and they wont give me any other phone to replace it. told me to take it to apple myself and complain to them. They charged my account $50 to call them on their complaints "toll free" line (kept me aiting 25 minutes and then didnt call me back as promised.. I have been back to the store 5 times and still no satisfaction.

I have been using Vodafone for many years now, and recently switched to their INFINITE PLAN and boy have i had DROP OUTS . its a pain in the neck even trying to re-establish connection. i do hope they fix the problem soon. My concern is what if someone - who lives on their own - need s to contact an emergency after hours Doctor or Ambulance and they dont have a landline and cant connect their vodafone !!! God forbid that someone meets an unfortunate ending because of Vodafones network problems.......... Barbie

My wifi connection using Vodafone is constantly dropping out or very slow and it changes range from poor to good without even moving - making internet search and browse very slow - I may as well resort to the library again like the pre-internet days! It would be quicker.

Calls dont connect, people calling me go straight to voicemail which means I have to pay extra to hear my message, and now vodafone is saying my last bill wasnt paid when it clearly was. Let me go back to Optus please... pretty please. You can keep your phone.

hi
i truly understand your complaints. we are with vodafone as well... we find it hard to talk to anyone who knows what they are doing.... however its not just vodafone that is like this. we were with another company "O" is the first letter of the company and they were FAR FAR FAR FAR worse than vodafone.
Why don't you do a big campaign on all the mobile phone companies and change the whole system of our service, billing and receiving of service throughout the whole industry ?

very poor to no reception. People can't hear me. call drop off. Poor internet reception- slow and cut off all the time.

I'm glad I've got a gig of data allowance in my plan as it takes about 10-20 mins to load the any page at any time of the day, it's always on wifi when I'm at home. I was quoted in the "excellent" coverage zone when I completed my contract, I feel for people In their poor coverage areas.
Glad I'm not the only one with a vodaphony.

Boxing-day in city voda has fail aging ..I had wait 1 hours to call my gf on voda, all it was saying was network is congested!! Non of the incoming and out going worked!
If you going to city on 31, get OPTUS prepaid if u don't wont's to use Telstra paid phone,.
& if any one from Vodafone reading this,.... U should improve network rather making u r vidashit deals chipper, voda now sounds like TPG.. cheapp...chepp & only chipp..!!! U not giving power to us.. U putting us in trouble and making money.. ;(

i work for vodafone in store and in all honestly, i think 80% of the customers ive dealt with on a day to day basis over the last 3 months have been complaints. from service to billing to wait times on phones..... its a joke not just for the consumer but for the lowly employee who has to face the consumer while the guys at the top sip there tea and smoke cigars not doing anything about its dwindling support and customer base. GET OFF YOUR ASS VODAFONE AND PREPARE TO GET IT KICKED!

Complete loss of service for 5 hours on Christmas Eve plus vodaphone dead for 3 hours one day last week. Nearly every time I try to call I get a network busy msg - then 2 mins later I can call

I signed up in October this year and was told by the Vodafone sales assistant I had 2.5Gb downloads free for two years with my Android purchase plus bonus download deal. Second bill = $498 worth of data. It seems nothing was free at all in contrast to the stated terms of their contract. These are the first TELCO pickpockets I've known to look you in the eyes while they rob you blind. Very poor service everywhere. Dropped out calls and 6 hour delays on SMS as well. No MMS working 'apparently'.

I keep droping call when ever I'm on the move.
It seem's the towers can't handel the roaming??

Every time you talk to a customer service agent at the phone company you really need to date and record everything you and them say...
When i upgraded my contract this year with three i was offered a iphone 3 on the $29 contract + an extra $18 per month for the I phone. I decided to upgrade, Than i got my first bill. Three had charged me $35 extra for the phone per month. I rang and complained and three told me they have no recorded message of the agree $18 per month for the Iphone and the phone should have been $35 and thats that i will have to pay $35 per month for the iphone. I complained 10+ times to three about this issue. I than lodged my complaint with the TIO. I gave them every bit of information i recorded down. Within the week, i had a call from a lady from the TIO saying three will have to honor the agreement of the $18 per month iphone charge, not the $35 which three wanted.

One small win for the little guy. Thanks TIO..

no network coverage
not being able to make calls due to "connection error"
calls dropping out due to "connecton error"
selected the option of call back and never received a call back had to call them back SO YOU DO LOOSE YOUR PLACE IN THE QUE

I have been a pre-paid customer for many years. Up until about 3 months ago, i was happy. But now i face delayed txt and voice messages, poor signal, drop-outs and everytime i try and talk to customer service, i am placed on hold on passed from 1 department to another for hours. I am on a infinate contract now, but still being charged wrong, and they cannot tell me why. VERY DISAPPOINTED

Vodafone grossly over-estimate their coverage on maps. According to their own coverage maps, I was supposedly in a full coverage area. But with constant drop-outs I made a complaint. This is Vodafone's written reply: "Our technicians have advised that the service difficulty you are experiencing at your address is unfortunately not a temporary issue. They have advised that your location is one where low signal performance would be expected."
RIDICULOUS! How can they continue to falsely advertise their coverage? The telecommunications ombudsman said they have no power to force them to fix their maps so they are a true representation of the service they can provide. People of the world - do not sign up to Vodafone!!!!

I was originally with 3 and then switched to Vodaphone for mobile on advice of better coverage, same with my wireless internet. Fail.....constant dropouts with my phone and just as poor connectivity on my month by month internet. The worst of it is getting through to customer service. I was on hold for 3 hours one day and still didn;t get through to an operator. Keep an eye out for AllConnect in March '11, competetive, service with a smile and all in country.

Consistently poor reception in central Melbourne CBD. It's almost impossible to browse webpages without them hanging and needing to reload. Voicemail messages take anywhere from 2-7 days to be delivered. Honestly, what is the point of having a 3G phone with such poor and unreliable service. As soon as my contract runs out I will be back with Telstra.