I got a call from Vodafone yesterday. They advised me that my contract is almost up and they wanted me to renew my 2 years 599 business cap contract.

I asked them why you guys are still trying to sign up new customer and ring your existing to try and get them to renew their contract even though the network is almost unusable.

The data service is like the slowest thing I have ever seen. It takes about 3 minutes to load up SMH website in the middle of CBD!!!!

Obviously I had a go at the guy. I tell you what it was the best feeling in the world. I have been waiting for this phone call for almost a year.

I have been with Vodafone for at least 10 years. Simply because it has been great , up until the past 24 months. I went on a $79 Cap with a black berry storm, that had numerous problems- even though i had insurance, i was asked to pay ridiculous amounts of excess to exchange my phone. Which in my opinion, was faulty from the moment I bought it. I find they have know customer loyalty, and a 'can't be bothered' attitude! When I changed from Pre Paid I wanted to keep my phone number, however the customer service rep in the store said " this will take up to 24 hours and I won't be able to give you free accessories"... So, I dont care about that! I want the same number- yet he continued to ramble off excuses. I have friends who have been called 6 months out from their Optus contract & are offered an upgrade because they are "loyal" customers. I would have spent well into the thousands with Vodafone by now, yet have never once been offered anything!

5 months out from my contract expiring my phone was stolen, I had been told by one rep that I could upgrade for free 3 months out from my contract, yet when I asked someone else they said i couldnt- then as usual, i spent hours on hold and transferred to different people- Dont even get me started on "LARA". I had the option to pay $300 excess to get an Iphone 3, or pay $350 to upgrade early and get an Iphone 4- yet they werent taking any orders. I ended up spending 2 months without a phone because I simply didnt have the time, to spend 3 hours on the phone.

A major problem is, they never send me my bill through email, and whenever i try and check my balance via text i ALWAYS get a text back saying " this service is unavailable at this time". YES it is, because they want you to go over your cap.

I am now on an infinity cap, because i couldnt pay out my contract and go with Optus as i had originally planned, as i needed a phone ASAP. "infinity" yet read all the terms and conditions- it's hardly unlimited access.

I can see i have full range on my mobile but when i ring my mobile it says i am out of range, this is because my family was seriously trying to call me at my work and when they cannot contact me they called my office at that time i came to know that my mobile phone ( vodafone) does not work.

Well after 2 mths of compliants and being told by Vodafone that "yes coverage is very patchy in your area" they have released me from my phone contract. Apparently Vodafone will send me a pre-paid bag to return my iphone 3G. (Holding my breath in anticipation!)as they can only release me from the service part of the contract,not the phone payments. Ported my number to Telstra last Friday. YESTERDAY (Thursday) I get a call from Vodafone customer retention, asking how they can keep my business! HAHAHAHHAHAHA too late.

Delayed Sms, voicemail and regular dropped calls. Today I had a phone interview for a job and the call dropped out, they were not able to call back!!

Constant data issues, my phone shows service and people cant get through, the network is obviously not what it used to be. I can not be bothered waiting on hold anymore, that LARA service they have is absolute rubbish, get some people on the line to assist your customers!!! I have cal;led previously and was told there was no network issues, do you think we are that stupid!! anyway if there is no resolution I will be changing to another carrier as many have already!!

We are a small business with 26 connections. I am not able to speak to my account manager to sort the billing issues for the last one year, services issues as well. If i send him 10 emails he sends me one email saying that they are workign on it. But it is more than a year and still working on it. I am not sure how this company is still operating we have to 24 months contract and 12 months have gone. We will never go back to them again.

I am with vodafone on a 12 month contract. My contract expires in march. My partner is with vodafone on a 24 month contract. We have poor coverage most times, drop outs and delayed text messages. The record for a delayed message was 3 days, where i asked him to pick me up from the train station. This has occurred countless times. i had a job interview call which never called and went straight to voicemail ( where i check it had full bars of reception) I also text my friend to let her know i would be late for a lecture, where she received it 1 day later. There are times where the vodafone reception just disappears and doesnt come back for minutes. Total disgrace. i will be switching carriers to optus when my contract expires in March.

they have got poor customer service and poor call quality ...have to wait for more than 1 hour to be able to speak with them....call dropped so often .......i was on three before that and was amazing ......i wish i could have time machine ..still got 22 months to go....help me god!!

Im a new customer to vodafone and unfortunately im on a contract, i was sent a faulty phone and spent all up about 5 hours on hold with their customer service line, being put through from technical to the next ludicrous area they could pawn me off to. After putting through my complaint for what seemed like the hundreth time they finally emailed my the receipt for the phone so I could take it in to get fixed. One month later I still haven't heard from them as to the whereabouts of my phone, I call them only to be told that there is liquid in my phone most liekly from the battery leaking due to intense humidity and that I will have to pay $352 to get this fixed. How ridiculous is this? Not only am I paying $75 dollars a month for no network coverage and a phone that constantly turned off, I had to pay for the weather? Not only is customer service horrible, their policy is absolutely ridiculous!

Alright so I thought it was just my fam that got a dodgy network and could out dial out of our "full bar" phones. Initially I thought it might be an issue with the iPhone. Right until it happened on much older phone and then on a htc as well. Now if we didn go anywhere and remained within shouting distance thus wouldn't be a problem but because my gran - while extraordinary for her age is still 96 and we like to be in constant contact with her. On numerous occasions we have been unable to contact her and her us because of poor network that leVes us receiving messages like the handset is off or is unavailable or similar nonsense. We just all keep hoping that this doesn't occur in an emergency situation ..

After a 2 year contract with vodafone for mobile internet they sent me a deal to go in anew contract with a new usb modem.i called thm to discuss the deal and told the of the problem i was having ith reception etc vodafone assured me that the ne usb didnt have these isues it wuld be fine so i signed back up had the same issues but worse this time so i called back up had a hell of fight to get out of the contract(which they assured me wouldnt happen) but after i got out of the contract i recieved a bill that said i had gone over my allocated amountof usage by 5 gig and they were charging me $100 per gig??? after many attempts to sort this out with many promises of the right section calling me back(which never happened) i now have a credit default and & $2000 bill because they wouldnt seperate my phone and internet account, they disconnected my phone and want to charge me $1500 for the 6 months that were let on the contract..Bad customer service Vodafone!!Shame on you!!

Very poor to nil network coverage in rural NSW. Long delays receiving txt and voicemail.

I have delayed voicemail, no network coverage at times even when I am in CBD, my calls regularly drop out or last no longer than 2 mins and when I complained to Vodafone, after waiting for 6 hours for them to call me back, my mobile dropped out just after I launched into my complaint! Customer service of course did not bother to ring back. So not only do I have numerous Vodafone problems, I can't even contact them to complain about it. We recently moved and have no home line and I am so dependent on my mobile, yet everyday, it fails me. Driving me to have high blood pressure!

The phone reception at Asquith is crap. There a black holes everywhere there hill. All other phone companies have no problems with their reception !!! When i get home (live in a dip) i am without coverage for up to 10hrs some times !!!

No coverage in my house except when lying on the couch in a awkward position!

After waiting the 5working days while the 'technical team' can assess if there is an issue in my local area I have been told that there is no issue & that I cannot cancel my contract without penalty.

I use my phone for business & am suffering income loss due to this pathetic service!!!!!

really bad reception with iphones. voicemail on iphone is very slow. it will take about a day for it to tell me that i have voicemail.

i have 2 numbers with vodafone (one being a pre-paid), the funny thing is i lose receiption in one phone at time while the full network coverage on the second number. When i spoke to Vodafone they said the problem will be my handset and so i changed the sims around but still the same issue.

i have 2 numbers with vodafone (one being a pre-paid), the funny thing is i lose receiption in one phone at time while the full network coverage on the second number. When i spoke to Vodafone they said the problem will be my handset and so i changed the sims around but still the same issue.

worst network coverage ever.
My phone no longer can access the 3G network.

JUNE 2010: I called Vodafone in June to turn on global roaming while I was overseas for 1 week. I gave the dates to the customer service assistant that I would be abroad and when to switch global roaming off... "No worries, thats like totally super easy! I've set up so global roaming switches off when you return to Australia, and I've also put a not on your file to guarantee it gets done!"....

OCTOBER 2010: My phone is disconnected because the bill is $1500 and I can't pay it... WHY??? Because for the last 3 and a half months I've been back in Australia, I have been charged for every call and every SMS at international charge rates because my global roaming DID NOT get turned off... - even though I called 3 times... AND was guaranteed this would be done automatically 'no worries!'.....

DECEMBER 2010: New bill... Monthly charges $700!!!! My phone has been completely cut off since October... how on earth are there $700 worth of charges...

= UberVodafail!!!

My work phone is now on Vodafone !? It used to be on Telstra, which didn't miss a beat. Now I have late msg, droped calls and/or no calls! It doesn't work at home, around town, travelling, not anywhere except funny enough, at work! So Im probably the only one to say a very very very small thank you to vodafone as work can no longer contact me at home! Aren't we in 2011? We can talk to some-one on the moon but I can't send a msg from home to a friend in the same suburb! Wake up VODAFONE, people need their phones to work! Or should we call you VODAFONEY.

Have lost count of the number of times Vodafone just drops my call. It happens at least 50% of the time and usually after about 10 minutes. The call just drops. It nearly always happens when making Vodafone to Vodafone calls, which are free excpet for 20c flagfall. I used to think it was a deliberate move to make some sort of money from these calls by making me call again, therefore paying another 20c!!!!!

My office is in the heart of Ultimo.
I am lucky to get 1 bar on my brand new smart phone.

Usual story - locked out of my vodafone, sent a new password which didn't work. Phoned customer service and gave up after waiting for 35minutes. Sorted by email after 3 days. Still haven't received $50 credit as advertised when I started my new plan in spite of being told it had been applied to my account a month ago.

A few months ago, my sister lost her phone (contract under my name), we go through the procedure Vodafone website, called the "free" number given. The wait was very long, around 30 minutes, and when finally someone took our call, it was another 20 minutes to block the lost handset.
To my dismay, that "free" number turns out to be not free at all. I can't recall precisely how much I was charged, but it was more than $20, which pissed me off considering that the monthly contract is only $29.

To their defence, the staff taking our call is polite and professional. The charge for calling "free" number is not. That's thievery. I considered about complaining, but then cancelled it. They will charge me more for complaining, I don't trust them.

Spend over 2 hours on hold to speak to someone then phone cut out. Had to wait another hour to get through to someone and while speaking to them the call dropped again. I was told they would call me back at a specific time the next morning. 4 hours after the agreed time they had still not called. Phoned the TIO.

Guess what? I got a call back from Vodafail, albeit 2 days later!

just the other day i was trying to call my ken ken (my bf <3) and i couldn't get through so i started crying and my heart started to pound. i thought i was gonna have a heart attack omg. after leaving him 45 voicemails and sending like 32 text i then remembered there was a thing called LAN line! so i went to buy a phone card from the local convienient store and they said "look mate get a mobile phone, we don't sell that sh*t nomore.." then i threw green tea at his face and said "I DONT NEED YOU JERK, I DONT NEED YOU JERK.."

at this stage i was heartbroken and in desperate need to hear my ken ken's voice so i drove to his house. i knocked on the door banging it, throwing stones at his windows...

i cant believe vodafone is so unreliable, we need to stand up against these terrorist!!

unsatisfied customer
Van

I'm no longer a customer of Vodafone and I'm so glad that I left.

For 18 months of a 24 month contract they were fine, sure i would recieve voicemails and sms' late but i never thought much of it and everytime i spoke to Lara I would avoid her by speaking gibberish.

However, when my email bills weren't arriving and i was getting threats to be taken to court for not paying, which i took up with customer service who stated it was my junk email filter (i don't have a Junk filter) i started to find them rather frustrating.

When i decided to get an iPhone 4 through vodafone i was told that a 2 week wait is standard. I was fine with that.

8 weeks later i still hadn't recieved the iPhone and everytime i called they said it was getting dealt with.

9 weeks later i cancelled my plan and changed carrier.

I think back on all the issues i had with vodafone and realised that the hold times are insane, i was often told different information from different departments and Lara is the most infuriating attempt at customer service i have encountered.

I couldn't be happier with my new carrier.

coud not log into my acount ,aparantely my password which i have had for 2 years was wrong ...fail.. once i finally got to my vodafone i was unable to pay my bill ....fail ...

Hi,
My main issue with Vodafone is the difficulty I had trying to set up direct debit facilities to pay my bills automatically. I advised Vodafone of my credit card details and was assured that direct debit had been set up on my account. Approx 2 months later I noticed that I had not been billed. I rang up Vodafone again and again gave them my credit card details. They assured me that on the next billing date my credit card would be charged for the 'overdue' amount and the next bill.

Next month I experienced the same problem. Vodafone did not bill me the outstanding amount nor the current bill. I again rang Vodafone to again give them my credit card details.

Next month I had the same problem, except the way I learnt about it was because Vodafone had disabled my account - due to non-payment.

I again rang Vodafone (please not that EACH time I rang Vodafone I was on hold for an average of 30 mins)and complained. After much back and forth with an extremely unhelpful foreign call centre operator (I do not blame them, they are the frontline to Vodafone's issues and don't deserve the anger they receive). In the end they gave me a $50 credit on my account and assured me that they reversed all 'late payment' fees - I had been charged 1 per month.

The next month I get a rather nasty automated sms from Vodafone telling me that my account wasn't paid and to please pay it or my account would be disabled. I range them back (another long wait on hold) and paid my bill over the phone. At the same time I decided to remove my credit card details from my account and I would pay my bills manually from now on.

I got online some time after this to check and see if my credit card details had been removed from my account. They had not.

For the next 3 months I went to their website and manually removed my credit card details. None of these attempts worked. Finally (last month) I rang them again (another long wait on hold) and had the call centre operator remove my credit card details. They have now been removed.

At the same time I told them that I had had enough of Vodafone and told them that I wanted to break my contract and move to another provider. They told me that they could arrange that for me, however I would be charged an early cancellation fee. I decided to stay as my contract expires on 24 April 2011.

My other issues with Vodafone are the same as those I hear in the media. I have poor coverage, even in my home and I live 5km from Sydney City, delayed SMS's and call drop outs.

I am completely over Vodafone and will NEVER sign up with them again.

poor coverage and slow data for months, delayed voicemail and delayed sms (this caused me lotgs of heaqdaches for my work)services limited even though bill paid and still limited, cant log on to website anymore. not going to be bother ringing customer service. As soon as my contract is over in a few months I am outta there and NEVER to be back again. Best way to complain.

95% of phone call drops out.
Receive texts 6 days after they were sent.
No 3G reception in 0% - 25% reception around Sydney.
2G reception just as shocking.

It happened again last night. The called dropped three times. I lost signal on my phone and I was in the CBD where the reception is always good. Rebooting my phone didn't work. I just hope this gets resolved pretty soon. My personal phone is also my work phone. Unfortunately I have just signed a 24 month contract but if it continues like that I will cchange it back to Optus. I never had this problem with Optus and am sure Telstra is a anotehr good option.

Oh where to begin!
I've been with Vodafone for over five years and here are a few gems...
1. Originally on a $79 cap plan I had exceeded my limit a few months in a row due to friends and family moving interstate and OS so I rang Vodafone and they suggested I change to a different cap, so I changed to the $99 cap which was more cost effective. I was worried about my contract so actually recorded conversations to ensure my contract would stay the same - no problem I was told. After 3 months on the $99 cap I changed back to the $79 cap. THEN - when I called to double check when my 24month contract expired I was told the year - 2014!! Because I had changed my original cap plan they added 24months with each change! And so began a drama that lasted over a week while the problem was fixed to prove that I could change cap plans freely (as stated in my contract which was meant to expire in 2008!)
2. COUNTLESS MMS and SMS messages that never get recieved and STILL charged for (upon calling the call centre I was told there was no way to actually prove that messages were not recieved so I was to be charged regardless - this was said by an Australian call operator).
3. EXTREME waiting times to speak to a customer SERVICE operator for Vodafone and this is AFTER their call centres have been outsourced to Asia.
4. Call service operators who NEVER understand the problems as they can only help with information on their computer - this leads to repetitive conversations of them reading from a screen and not actually resolving the issue OR understanding the issue.
5. Poor, poor, poor reception all over Sydney for iPhone.

I drop out on every second call no matter where I am. My sms take about half a day to even 9 hours to go through sometimes. It is especially frustrating when preparing for a business meeting to have the calls drop out.

I live on the Northern Beaches and often have dropouts or no reception Vodaphone to Vodaphone with my Son who is only two suburbs away. My phone also records the time and date of all text messages received in my 'Inbox' as being 12 hours ahead of time. A friend with a 3G phone drops out every single call and can phone half a dozen times when it should have only needed to be one call.

Data throughput is embarrasing - see following speedtest.net results

Telstra SIM in Iphone 3
Test Date: 21 January 2011 11:21 AM
Connection Type: Cellular
Server: Sydney
Download: 5.54 Mbps
Upload: 3.51 Mbps
Ping: 139 ms

Vodafone SIM in Iphone 3
Test Date: 21 January 2011 4:21 PM
Connection Type: Cellular
Server: Sydney
Download: 1.17 Mbps
Upload: 13 Kbps
Ping: 489 ms

Complete crap basically and I've been with vodafone for 15 years without a problem until now.

I signed a 2 year USB contract with vodaphone. I was told I would have full 3g coverage at home and at my university. I had a best dial up speed when it didn't drop out at home and no coverage at uni. I rang 4-5 times on hold from 30 minutes to over an hour which involved a sim card replacement and testing spanning a few months. I was also promised 2 months free which didn't occur. Finally I was allow out of the contract after 5 months, costing me $200-300 and disrupting my thesis.

my mobile has said no service for two days now. i cannot recieve calls only sms...weird!!! i am so over it plus the amount of times when my phone does work only to have it drop out 1000 times during a 5 minute conversation which ends up taking an hour!!! DONE!

Constant wait times of over 40 mins to speak to someone that is very hard to understand to be told they can't help and need to transfer you to someone else with another 40min wait for them to tell me there is nothing they can do. 1 month into a 24 month contract and already spent over 7 hours on hold.

I changed to vodafail in early December and was told because of where I live/ worked I would be fine coverage wise!!!! What a lie I don't get any reception in my work building and I get hardly any at home. and talk about call drop outs i don't think Ive ever had a full conversation to someone that I haven't had to call back. They lied. When I went to a Vodafone store to speak to someone to get some help they told me it wasn't their problem and to call customer service. I told him that it was upto a 3 hour wait and didn't have that kind of time and he told me "They are the Breaks" I will never use them again as soon as my contract is up which is in 2 years unfortunately I will be going to Telstra. I should have listened in the first place and gone with them what a mistake!!!!!

I signed up for iPhone 4. The 3G network reception is extremely poor. I don't get 3G coverage at many places. Why do I need an iPhone if I can only connect to fast 3G occasionally? The voice call signals are also getting poorer and poorer recently. I lost reception sometimes even at my office in Westmead.

I live on the lower north shore and work in Sydney CBD. In both areas i am plagued continuously by call drop outs. The signal will be full strength one minute and no signal the next. Other phones in my household have the same difficulties so it is not a handset issue.

I'm just over it and am going to cancel my contract. My 3gs calls drop out or I need to dial 4 times before it goes through . If I see 1 more call failed screen I'll smash the phone. Plus after comparign the 3g internet service its night and day. downloading a page or checking emails honeslty takes 3 times as long as my make on oputs .

for all vodphone's commitment to service I called and they dont give a crap . No word that it will even be better ever . not good enough

Their decision to go offshore with their call centre was a mistake.
The amount of time it takes to:
1. Get through to a consultant
2. Break through the communication barrier with the consultant
3. Organize simple requests such as global roaming (this took 15 mins)
4. Constantly drop off the call then go through the process of the the call queue again.
Ridiculous!

I get mobile internet drop outs at least 20 times a day. I get NO coverage at least 2 times every day. I called vodafone and got disconnected - 3 times consecutively!!! I emailed them - four days ago - and got no response. What a joke.

I had all sorts of problems when I switched to vodafone from another provider (prepaid).I asked to have my number ported, instead they gave it to another customer! After 4 days of complaints and calls I finally got my number back.The city shop that signed me to vodafone prepaid were useless when it came to any hep over this matter. They simply said to contact my previous provider. The vodafone call center was quite poor at times regarding customer service. A few times I was cycled through the queue and hanged up on. Luckily I had a few helpful call center operators to assist me. My recent issue is recharging my prepaid which I was unable to do so using the 1511 number. My number was not recognised. Then I tried calling their 1300 support number but it was not available. So I called support using the 1555 number. I explained my situation to the call center person and they recharged my phone using my voucher's details. However, when I asked her to why the recharge option didnt work via the 1511 option, she ignored my question and after I repeated my question she said that my line was noisy and that she had to go. I will be switching to another provider after this prepaid expires.

Was in a call with customer service, was on hold for over 2 hours. Once I got through they hanged up!!!

Is locking customers out of their own web login some sort of ridiculous attempt at 'fixing' Voda's security issues? Or are they keeping people out of their account logins so that they can't see what sort of mess may have been made of their billing history? On 14-01-2011 discovered that my well memorized password had mysteriously changed, considerable time on hold later Voda managed to (temporarily) restore my password and I was able to login to myvodafone.com.au, but NOT see my account usage details. On 20-01-2001 discovered that my password had stopped working again. Still unable to log in, and see calling them again to resolve prob as a waste of my time.

Suffered long term poor network reception in inner Sydney suburbs and I'm hardly ever more than 6km from Sydney CBD and wonder how many people think I intentionally gave them a wrong number when they've tried to call only to receive a 'not in service' message? :(

So glad I'm only a pre-pay customer (or I'd be seriously worried about what is happening to my account!) it's going to be easy to jump this sinking ship as soon as my credit expires. My commiseration to those who have suffered more than me through Voda's lack of performance, especially those on contracts - good luck in seeking fair compensation!

Calls get dropped out a lot, reception is bad in certain areas. 3G doesn't always work and making international calls is a pain.

Messages not being received for hours. poor reception in many areas.

My problems are:

1) delayed messages and voicemail even to other vodafone phones sometimes days late. As well as receiving messages all at once instead of throughout the day when they were sent.

2) poor service and call drop outs especially within my house. I've tested this besides other phones with other providers who have full coverage and watched my service decline to zero. My previous telco had no problems with call drops outs or service within my house.

3)fluctuating 3G coverage especially within the city.

4)unhelpful staff when contacted either through the call centre or within a shop.

5) Question really - has anyone questioned the amount of information collected when applying for a contract?? I didn't have to supply as much information for a mortgage.

Thanks for organising the website! I now know I too am not alone and will consider other telcos as this seems ....are there equivalent websites for them???

Messages not being received for hours. poor reception in many areas.

Messages not being received for hours. poor reception in many areas.

I JUST SUGGEST EVERYONE GET ONTO THE TIO WEBSITE AND LODGE YOUR FREE COMPLAIN ONLINE- IT COST VODAFONE $190 FOR EVERY COMPLAINT RECEIVED.

I HAD VODAFONE CONTACT ME WITHIN A FEW DAYS - THEY WILL WAIVE ANYTHING AND DO EXACTLY WHAT U WANT , THEY ARE IN DAMAGE CONTROL.
I GOT A $450 BILL CANCELLED AND A AUSSIE APOLOGY AND NICE AS COULD BE

Still waiting for sms's!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had wireless internet for 2 years with Vodafone and it was an absolute disgrace. Constant internet dropouts and failure to log on to the network. The wireless dongle was a useless piece of garbage. We have 5 computers in the house ranging from laptops, Mac's, and PC's, and no matter what hardware was used, the same issues were always there: dropouts, failure to log on to the network. I will never go with Vodafone for anything ever again, and im only 30 years old, so that means they won't get a cent from me ever again, neither will they ever see business from my wife, or any of my future children. Keep doing this to people Vodafone, and your days will be numbered. People get locked into contracts for 2 years at a time, but like me they will leave once the contract is over and will never come back and will slander your name at every opportunity. My complaints were never taken seriously as I was always instructed by "technical support" to do the same thing that the previous drongo told me to do. Eventually I gave up and got another internet contract that has none of these problems, paid my monthly bills with Vodafone until my contract ran out. Vodafone never again!

My iPhone 4 was on a plan, but after two months of use, I was told I needed a prepaid recharge! After getting this issue fixed with a new sim card, my phone no longer receives or send MMS, cannot connect with the internet and refuses to recognise the cellular data network! What's the point of having an iPhone if vodafone can't get it do do anything it's supposed to?

No reception in Mid-North Coast (i.e. South West Rocks) even after disabling 3G (like I was advised to do if i wanted to make calls). I own an iPhone 3GS (I don't know if that's a good thing or not) had a friend with same phone but on the 3 network (which is owned by Vodafone) and he had full reception. How is this possible?

I think it's just vodafone australia that absolutely sux! NZ Voda was fantastic! The only reason I'm even still with them, is that I've yet to find another provider for my parents who offer an actual pre-pay service, rather than a direct debit one...as soon as I find that, and my 12 month contract is up, I'm gone. I have random reception issues that they can't explain, and they can't even follow simple delivery instructions. I also had to argue with a customer service rep to convince them my address existed! official complaints laid and nothing done about it...apart from an "apology" GRRRRRRRR

a 24 month contract for an iPhone 4, which:
* call drop outs on every other call,
* where it is generally quicker to walk from my room to the lounge room,turn on my pc, load windows, start firefox, google something - than it is to load safari from where I am... somedays I can even make a pot of tea before safari manages to load google let alone search.
* everytime I call I get "lara" who ALWAYS sends me to the wrong place... that is unless I swear at her. and HOW hard is it to have customer service that actually know how to provide customer service

Frustrated by continued poor coverage, drop outs and slow SMS/email messaging I emailed Vodaphone with a very detailed list of my concerns and a request for advice on how best to deal with these concerns and what options were available - in return I received a standard form response full of jargon and not the least helpful. I replied with words to this effect 3 days ago and have heard nothing back. Here's the form response I was given - can you decipher it? Does it help ease your pain?

Vodafone's GSM (2G) network covers up to 94.52%* of the Australian population. Our GPRS (2.5G) network covers 92% of the places you live and work in Australia. 3G available to 94% of the Australian population. Capital cities and larger regional centres operate on UMTS 2100MHz and smaller regional centres on UMTS 900MHz. 3G services are available in Vodafone's 3G areas - compatible device required. In metropolitan and some regional areas, Vodafone's 3G network operates on UMTS 2100Mhz. In smaller regional areas with Vodafone coverage, Vodafone's 3G network operates on UMTS 900Mhz. All 3G 900Mhz devices available from Vodafone are 2100Mhz compatible. However, not all 2100Mhz devices are 900Mhz compatible. Customers with 2100Mhz devices that are not 900Mhz compatible will experience GPRS (or Edge, where available) coverage in 3G 900Mhz areas. Slower speeds can be expected outside Vodafone's Mobile Broadband areas. Individual customer experience may vary - many factors affect access, capacity and speed. See www.vodafone.com.au/coverage for more details.

Important: While the highest standards are applied in preparing coverage maps, 100% mapping accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

Frustrated by continued poor coverage, drop outs and slow SMS/email messaging I emailed Vodaphone with a very detailed list of my concerns and a request for advice on how best to deal with these concerns and what options were available - in return I received a standard form response full of jargon and not the least helpful. I replied with words to this effect 3 days ago and have heard nothing back. Here's the form response I was given - can you decipher it? Does it help ease your pain?

Vodafone's GSM (2G) network covers up to 94.52%* of the Australian population. Our GPRS (2.5G) network covers 92% of the places you live and work in Australia. 3G available to 94% of the Australian population. Capital cities and larger regional centres operate on UMTS 2100MHz and smaller regional centres on UMTS 900MHz. 3G services are available in Vodafone's 3G areas - compatible device required. In metropolitan and some regional areas, Vodafone's 3G network operates on UMTS 2100Mhz. In smaller regional areas with Vodafone coverage, Vodafone's 3G network operates on UMTS 900Mhz. All 3G 900Mhz devices available from Vodafone are 2100Mhz compatible. However, not all 2100Mhz devices are 900Mhz compatible. Customers with 2100Mhz devices that are not 900Mhz compatible will experience GPRS (or Edge, where available) coverage in 3G 900Mhz areas. Slower speeds can be expected outside Vodafone's Mobile Broadband areas. Individual customer experience may vary - many factors affect access, capacity and speed. See www.vodafone.com.au/coverage for more details.

Important: While the highest standards are applied in preparing coverage maps, 100% mapping accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

After being a vodafone customer for several years starting with a work mobile (that I did not pay the bills for) and then moving onto being a direct customer I have had my fair share of network problems. That is not what I want to post about.

When I decided to leave Vodafone, I contacted their call centre. After around an hour in various queues I finally got to speak to someone and requested that they terminate my service and contract. As I still had around two weeks before my contract was up I was told that I couldnt forward date the cancellation so would need to call back once the contract had finished. This was quite annoying as I really didnt want to have to go through the pain again.

Roll forward two weeks. I called again to request that I cancel the contract. This time I waited in excess of an hour to talk to someone and when I finally did they would not terminate the contract for me. I had to answer a whole bunch of questions about why i was leaving and then get put through to someone else who had some "great offers" to talk to me about - despite my protestations I went back on hold, this time for another 45 minutes (at least).

The next person eventually cancelled the contract.

Roll forward 1 month - I got a bill. Not for the phone service but for two video packages that I had on the phone. APparently termination of the phone contract so the phone no longer works does not automatically cancel these services.

As the bill is only $7 per month, I think I will just pay this for the rest of my life to avoid the need to ever have to deal with Vodafone again!

I have a mobile broadband connection. They seem unable to direct me how to check my usage online.
Login they say. Great. They will send my password to my phone. I don't have a Voda mobile I say. Oh!
Here we hit the problem. They can't/won't email the password. The email they sent me with the login link takes me back to the page where I need my password. 2 hours on hold for this unsatisfactory outcome. Still unable to login and check my usage.
Kathy

I have a mobile broadband connection. They seem unable to direct me how to check my usage online.
Login they say. Great. They will send my password to my phone. I don't have a Voda mobile I say. Oh!
Here we hit the problem. They can't/won't email the password. The email they sent me with the login link takes me back to the page where I need my password. 2 hours on hold for this unsatisfactory outcome. Still unable to login and check my usage.
Kathy

I tried to pay off my Vodafail bill of $9. It would not accept an online payment. I called Vodafail and was on hold for half hour, finally put through, then transferred to 5 different people. Each time they asked me to repeat my personal information and why I was calling. Each time they said they could not take payment and assured they would transfer me to someone who would.

After the fifth transfer I told the Vodafail staff I have spent the past half hour trying to give them money which nobody seemed to take. She assured me multiple times she would transfer me to the right person. Then...she HUNG UP ON ME. I called again and was on hold for about 40 minutes before I hung up.

Vodafail sucks.

I have been with vodafone for many years now! Originally pre-paid i was comfortable with my choice of carrier. I then chose to go over to a contract. I have had reception problems for the last year & 6 months, & i was told the exact same thing with every call. Its your phone.. I had by this time changed my phone three different times. I then rang up to cancel my contract & sat on the phone for 1 hour. After i was put through i could not understand the lady. & asked to be put through to the manager. After another further ten minutes on hold i was told that i could have 50% off my cancellation fee. Again i asked to be put through to the manager. Another further ten minute hold before i was put through to the manager. Vodafone's service is unbelievable. You should not have to be on hold for an hour before speaking to someone. I have since changed carriers & havent had a problem. Thanks vodafone for being a FAIL!

It takes ages every time before I can speak to an operator. It's a shame and an example at the same time of what poor supervision of such giants in telecommunication could result into.

Another year and then I am done with Vodafone FOREVER!!!

I have delays in receiving text messages & voicemail messages. The other day I received a txt message from my brother 6 hours after he sent it and we are BOTH with Vodafone. The worst thing is my coverage has got worse since I renewed my contract in November. I should have gone with my initial instincts and signed with Optus instead. Goes to show what you get when you get sucked in by being offered a free iPhone 4!!!!!!!!!
Now all i want is to get out of this contract and go with a telco that gives a stuff and provides a decent service. PLEASE GET ME OUT !!!!!!

I HAVE BEEN USING VODAFONE FOR LAST 10 YEATS AND NOT ITS TIME TO THINK ABOUT OTHER AVENUES. AT LEAST EVERY 5 MINUTES I WILL GET DATA LOST MESSAGES.THIS IS SOO IRRITATING AND MOST OF THE TIME I WILL NOT HAVE RECEPTION FOR EITHER CALL OR SMS.I AM USING THIS CRAP FOR MY OFFICE WORK AND CLIENT HANDLING.BUT I WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR SIGNAL OR LOOSE MY CONVERSATION.THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS WHEN I GO AND ASK VODAFONE RETAIL SHOP THEY PRETEND LIKE THEY DON'NT KNOW ANYTHING AND WONT DO ANYTHING AND ASK US TO CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE WHICH IS NEVER BEEN ANSWERED.IS THIS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE?THIS IS FULL OF CRAP.NEVER BUY VODAFONE OR NEVER RECOMENT TO ANY ONE.

Here is a list of the issues I have had in the past 3 week I have been a customer.

1 - Multiple dropped calls when calling another Voda customer less the 1 km away with the CBD.

2 - Failure to set up a new pre paid sim x2. Firstly after completing 90% of the process I got transferred and needed to go through the entire process again with an actual person. Secondly after completing the entire set up process and waiting for my number to come through for 6 hours, I called and was told nothing had been recorded and needed to do it all again with the customer service rep.

3 - After setting up my vodafone online, i then needed to reset the password, entered my number and was then told i had failed to answer my security question 3 times and was locked out for 24 hours.

4 - Tried to register my Credit card online, never used it before ever, but was told i had tried to register it too many times and could not complete.

5 - after being told by a CSR that the amount i topped up would determine which prepaid plan i could go on, i had to call customer services to change plans.

This is all within 3 weeks, after 3 years living in the UK i cannot believe how backward and prehistoric the vodafone network is in Australia. It is extremely expensive and incredibly hard to do anything involving changes to your account.

Oh and i forgot, after picking up a my new sims from a vodafone shop telling them i needed micro sims for a iphone 4, he gave me normal sims. I returned to the shop and then cut them down, but i still needed to trim the smaller sim to phone the phone.

Joke. Is Telstra any good?

I have just cancelled my contract with vodafone after nearly 2 years, after having reception problems for nearly 1 month, customer service told me they would look into it and get back to me in a week, after 1.5 hours on the phone i took the next step and went through to cancellations and got out of my contract without any fees which was the only possitive thing about the whole situation

Calls drop out all the time, ongoing lack of signal, voicemail and text messages not being sent through. Zero customer service, zero reliability and it seems to be getting worse and worse as the weeks progress.

Very slow and sometimes unable to browse at all on an Iphone and an Ipad. I also recall losing the service completely in Northmead. On calling them, I got told to reboot devices, etc even though i repeated several times that both my mobile and my wireless broadband stick showed no service. The indian CS insisted that there were no network issues, and I insisted in turn to be put through to someone in Australia, whereupon I told them what the issue was. Coverage was restored several hours later... why not tell the truth , Vodafone?

Sosa suffers from loss of reception and call drop out causing frustration

Signed up in November on a plan. Was not advised that the Infinity plans (which would have suited my requirements a lot better) were being released the following day! Exceeded the cap I signed up to but was not informed. Called Vodafone and upgraded to an Infinity plan (more expensive per month than original plan but suited me better). Sales rep agreed that the cost of the calls over and above my previous cap would be credited as I had agreed to sign up to a new more expensive plan. Bill arrived - credit not applied! Emailed Vodafone 3 times and got an autoresponse each time. Tried calling 3 times but was on hold for 15 mins or more each time. Vodafone then barred my calls. That day I eventually got through and spent 1 hour 10 mins on phone with agent who struggled to understand the issue. With respect to the agent, she was new to the job and clearly did not have the appropriate training. However this was extrememly frustrating as there was no supervisor available for me to talk to but she could not help me. Eventually persuaded her to unbarr the phone and give me a commitment to have a call back from somebody that could help within 24 hours. No callback! Received a text 5 days later saying that my "billing issue had been resolved". Also received an email to tell me my account was overdue - again with an amount that was overcharged! Phoned Vodafone again and got through to an agent after 20mins on hold. After 30 mins call he eventually agreed to credit the charges as was originally agreed 7 weeks earlier. What a struggle and ultimately I am listed as the customer who did not pay on time!

Signal mostly at one bar, but cannot receive make calls. 3G just doesn't exist as internet mostly doesn't work and when it does it goes after loading half a page. Even when there is 3G coverage, the Internet connection cannot be established and I have to put my iPhone in aeroplane mode 3-4 times for the connection to be established.

I have both my mobile (which I stupidly recontracted myself for another 2 years in Nov) and mobile broadband with Vodafone. My mobile - drops in and out all day every day, I work in Sydney CBD so you'd think there would be AT LEAST 3 bars of coverage, nope. I travel on the train from West Sydney through Parramatta every day and there is barely any coverage any time along my daily commute. Mobile broadband - The last 4 months I have had the mobile broadband nightmare of nightmares, barely 2 bars of reception, I connect only to be disconnected within a minute or so sometimes within a matter of seconds. Each session I spend on the net is filled with me reconnecting at least 50 times in every half hour. Seriously.

After numerous times waiting on hold for up to 45 mins at a time I got through to the "technical" department (after actually getting through to someone twice previously that morning but due to no call drops outs had to call back again and again). Their solution to my coverage problem was to get into my car, put my laptop on my lap and drive around till I found coverage in a nearby street and then call them back!!! So they expect me to drive around continually looking at the coverage bars on my laptop screen to see when it picks up then pull over, call them back abnd sit on hold for another 45 odd minutes.... wow how has this guy not been made the president with his ingenious solutions! I let him know what I thought about that idea and asked to be put through to someone to disconnect my broadband as as far as Im concerned I am not getting what I am paying for, excellent! No, not really as I was on hold to the disconnection dept for another 30mins and hung up. Fumming, I attempted this fun excercise in the morning. This time asking right off the bat to be disconnected and again told I had to be put through to the disconnect dept "NO WAY!" told the cust service girl to get them to call me, Im not playing this game every day. Was told they would call me within 48 hrs. 5 days later, I get a call, saying that i am in contract for another 3 months and I would be charged a cancellation fee and that I had the option to fix my coverage problem but had "declined" the tech persons offer to resolve it. How is it acceptable to send a person driving around with a laptop in hand surely at the risk of having an accident or getting a fine for using a laptop while driving! There solution was a joke! After an hour of agruing with this guy and getting no where, I hung up. I wish to god that I had never reconnected my mobile phone with them or got mobile broadband, compensate your customer vodafone, we are paying for a service we are nto receiving, they are not holding up their end of the contract! oh btw, even if u sign with them and have coverage issues, bad luck. Coverage is not guaranteed, even in the middle of Sydney CBD! What a joke.
I now yell out "Vodafone Sucks" each time I walk past any Vodafone outlet, hoping the new customers will listen to my warning and stear clear! God help us all.

I will be on the phone and it suddenly drops out- all the time! I rang Vodafone and spoke to them about it and then they said- the address that I had my phone registered at- this area will be checked, and if it comes back that there are network issues- i will be able to get out of my contract free of charges. If not, it will cost me about $450! They can't just investigate the area the phone was registered at- as THIS IS A MOBILE-- SO I AM MOBILE- and so the network issues are happening everywhere i go!

DOES ANYONE THINK IS THIS TOTALYL UNFAIR?

Like most at the moment, go from 5 bars to drop out in no time flat. Have been with Vodafone since inception in the belief that if all they do is cellular, it will be the best. Sadly after so many years, I am very wrong. Their care factor is zero. Substantial refunds is the only applicable penalty for this lot.

3 used to roam on telstra which sort of worked. Since 3 linked to Vodafone roaming I can't even get reception in parts of Glebe let alone rural NSW where i often work eg the New England Highway, Hunter Valley. I feel I will have to get myself 2 mobiles which is ridiculous! I gave up on the call centre but vodaphone shop staff were polite even if unable to assist.

V exing
O bstructive
D egenerative
A nnoying
F lippant
O bstructive
N eandrathal
E gregious (if you dont know what this means, look it up while on hold to Vodafone. You will have plenty of time. I did.)

I have been with VF for over 10 years with no problems until the recent ssytem upgrade.

Now, I get no service inside my house. I need to go outside to make and recieve calls. Quite painful giving the recent rains!

I also do not get any service in my office, which is in Wollongong CBD.

I get my text messages hours late, if at all...

When I have tried to contact VF, they put on hold for an hour, then I get a message stating there has been an error and the call is ended.

I have tried to email them, with no success.

I have attended the local store, to be told that the staff have my full sympathy, and that the staff member uses Telstra and is much happier with them...

what can one do?

Loss of reception/SOS/ issues with internet connections/need to reboot my handset an average 2-4 times a week.

The biggest problem I had is customer service center. Last year November before we went to holiday, we need to set up internal roaming, however, every time when you call customer service center, at least 30 minutes waiting time, even worse, the call will be automatically dropped sometime, we tried to three or four times, finally we got there. It is very frustrated experience. Once my contract finish, I will never go back Vodafone.

I've been on a $49/month plan (postpay) since 2007. My last to bills have been $84 and $93, as they are charging me for Vodafail to Vodafail calls, Vodafail to 3 calls, and txting, when they are all meant to be included. Customer service in India (after 4 calls) finally revealed that my old plan had been discontinued and I'd been swapped to another plan WITHOUT ANY CONSULTATION with me, the consumer. I await my next bill with interest .......

Over the last few months, there have been countless - AND I MEAN COUNTLESS - times when I have not received text messages from my Vodafone friends and they have not received mine. I have rebooted my phone so many times - on one occasion, one of my friends received my messages several hours later! It's appalling.

I have had my contract cancelled with voda, now they are still sending me txt's saying i have been sent bills for access that i havnt used. When I try to download the bill from their website I cant because im not registed. I try to ring them to get it, but after going thru the menu's it says "Sorry an error has occured" and hangs up. No matter what menu i use, it still happens. i try to go into the voda store and they say they cant help me. This I understand, Most of the voda shops are privatly owned by people trying to make a living, its not their fault but Voda's. I email voda and dont get a clear answer only one saying "You had the chance to cancel your contract, but didnt" All I want is my last bill to be cancelled, because I didnt even have the phone on! Great work Voda!

Purchased a prepaid SIM yesterday afternoon.

Tried to activate it via their website three times using different browsers because every time I tried it crashed at the last step. I had the same problem with activating mobile broadband a few months back too.

I eventually relented and called 1555 to talk to the automated thingie and was told that I would be SMS'd my mobile number within 1/2 hour but it could take up to three hours. This morning the service was still not connected and the website still would not work and still no SMS with my new mobile number.

I tried finding an option on their phone service that suited my problem (You had to enter a mobile phone number for everything but I didn't have one yet!) and ended up having to choose something else so that I could be transferred. I could then be connected although the service was not working instantly as I was told. It took half an hour.

I'm glad it's a prepaid SIM so I can opt out anytime.

All the time my phone drops out in middele conversation . This i beleive is on purpous as calls are payed for and timed.

So i complained to Vodafone. who fobbed me off to thier customer service representatives, who said there weren't any known network issues and the problems that i was experiencing were related to my brand new Mobile phone or my old SIM card.

So i took the phone in to NOkia services center as vodafone reps suggested. After much testing, supprise.... Nokia found nothing wrong with new phone.In most cases they too suggested to reboot the phone or get a new SIM card does not solve the problem. catch 22.

Nokia told me it was the sim card or the network services. A Catch 22 since, back and forth from Vodafone and Nokia. I used my old phone to see if its the new phone or the newtork. Yes its the vodafone network. Im so lokcked into a 2 year phone contract that is so bad.

My work requires me to msg in if sick. I msged the night before, took the next day off, came in the next day and got in trouble for not informing the staff on time. Unfortunately they did not got the msg until that afternoon.

While my two-year mobile phone was expired three years ago, I had porting/transferred my mobile phone to another company. My new mobile phone and confirmed the porting before the expiry of the two-year contact. However, Vodafone still keep on charging me and my wife monthly and asked debt collector to issue warning letter and threaten to take legal action against us. The amount is talking $50. Having complained to their customer service several times, They repeatedly admitted the mistakes but final reminders and warning letters from debt collector kept on coming. I repeatedly sent e-mail enclosing their admission of wrong doing for several few months, finally they stop issuing warning letter.

Their behaivour and threatening letter was very frustrating and intolerant

i am on iphone 3G $69 plan, 2G Data+ $650 worth of calls...

I am overchaged $17 for my current bill!! Rang vodafone , was told i exceeded 600M data.. which is completely bullshit...i always check usage on my phone and use 1512 , even up to the last day of the circle i checked and was told i have 150M remaining... and now suddenly i am 600M over... the informaion on vodafone website also showed that i did not exceed max usage at all..i dont even use the internet that much anyways!

when i rang vodafone, they could not even tell why...the customer service is awful , could not understand his english and the connection was rubbish..

very angry right now!

Constant call dropouts followed by phone freezings. Have to reboot phone to get any call signal again.