I've renewed my contract with vodafail twice and have always been with themn. It wasn't until recently that I realised the service I was paying for was supposed to be better than it is.

At least for the last 3 years I've experienced dropped calls, poor reception, inability to connect to 3G data and I always assumed it was the phone or just normal. It takes me anywhere between several minutes to an hour (if I leave it that long) to get my iPhone 4 to connect to the internet in order to retrieve emails or for an app (that's if it'll even connect at all).
Sometimes even if I restart my phone it still won't connect. Meanwhile my friends on other networks have no or little problems with any of this. I've missed calls due to poor reception and haven't got the voicemail until over 24 hours later. The funniest thing is when my phone is in my pocket with reception, a call doesn't come through but a text message from the person does come through moments later saying they tried to call and I haven't moved! WTF?!

So I've reported this to vodafone and haven't heard anything in over 7 days... If I don't get some kind of resolution I'll be requesting my contract be terminated due to a breach under the Trade Practices Act 1974 subsection 58(b) whereby: "a company shall not... accept payment or other consideration for goods or services where, at the time of acceptance... the corporation will not be able to supply the goods or services within the period specified."

I've also joined the Class Action suit to try recoup the money spent on a service not provided to me as promised under contract.

I was sent two sim cards by Vodafone for my new iphone 4. Both sim cards were activated, causing the correct sim card that fits in to the phone to deactivate. I was told they can't just reactivate the sim card and I would need to get a new sim card. This was on Monday. Monday afternoon I went in to a Vodafone store where all the staff were very helpful (in Belconnen). However when they rang Vodafone to do a sim swap they were told it hadn't yet clicked over to 'completed' and therefore it couldn't be done. We were told maximum 4 hours..

4 hours later it still wasn't completed and we were then told by Vodafone it would take 2 days...

2 days later I went back to the store and it STILL hadn't clicked over to completed meaning still no sim card. I spent 2 hours in the store, we rang 7 times to try get someone who knew what they were doing and had the authority to just press a button to move the status to completed. Still no luck.

I ended up getting through to an apparent manager who hung up on me because I was yelling.

How hard can it be to give a new sim card? Very hard apparently.

4 days later and still I am paying for a phone I haven't been able to use.

Vodafone - FAIL!!!

I would like to share my story with you all in the hope that someone else might also get to escapt this nightmare. Since October last year, my coveage has declined to almost nothing, and I have been dealing the voice mails without the phone ringing, the late SMSs, the time outs on 3G etc. But I did not realise that other people were having the same trouble.
After hearing about this site I decided to stop putting up with the lack of coverage I was experiencing. First I emailed Vodafone with full detials of all the places and times where I could not get cover (I nave no cover during the day and I am nor able to spend hours on hold on the work phone!).
I got an email back from them asking for more info and because of the way it was set up you can only really complain about one location. So I chose my work location as I am within sight of Parliament House in Canberrra but my phone is only useful as an ipod all day.
About a week later I received an SMS giving me a Ref No. and saying that my issues were being investigated.
When I had not hear within another week I then lodged a complaint with the TIO. Yesterday well within the 10 days for response, I received an SMS from Vodafone saying that I can cancel as of today and a letter will follow. I know that there is every chance that the letter will not arrive (given others' experiences) but escape now feels that much closer.
So people don't put up with this dismal excuse for a service provider. Be firm but polite, work through the process and hopefully you too will be able to get out of this VODAHOLE.

Not receiving calls from my girlfriend, goes straight through message bank. Now she thinks I'm having an affair because I never answer my phone. When I do get notified that I have a voice mail and I try to call her back it wont call at all, drops out straight away. I tried to explain that its Vodafone, but she gave me 'the look'.

on my phone i can have full "coverage" on 3g and yet the internet still has no response and connection interrupted errors almost every-time.

Had an $800 phone bill.... my partners was $100.... There is NO WAY on earth I could have used that much over my cap as ive just moved INTERSTATE to be closer to my man. I only call/txt him!
So i called up........ they tell me its correct its all DATA USAGE.. BULL SHT! Everytime for the past month I was txting 1512 to get my FREE bill balance and it was using the data allocated.. NO EXTRA CHARGES were on there EVER.

I told them this and that frankly I didnt believe it and i was extremely unhappy... he put me on hold to come back and tell me they ACCIDENTLY charged me $700 and he would credit it.

LIKE WTF SERIOUSLY? ACCIDENTLY OVERCHARGED BY $700

AS SOON AS I CAN IM FCKING VODAFONE OFF, NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN!

Oh....... and i also tell EVERYONE i possibly know how SH!T House vodafone are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vodafone, after relaesing me fully from my contracts with no penalty and removing all charges have decied that they will list me with veda advantage for defaulting on payments. I am glad that i received everything ih writing. This has now thrown my whole life into the air as i was to pay for my wedding this week and now have been advised that I cant get a loan to pay for it.

I must start with saying that the customer service staff at the new Pitt street mall Vodaphone store were very good and this in no way is an issue with them.
After recieving my HTC Desire HD(Vodaphone) on boxing day i have had nothing but problems with the network . Constant dropped calls in the Sydney CDB,Hurstville & Pennant hills areas.
To add to this the 3G network works when it feels like , my phone constantly either drops calls or has such poor reception that i can barely make out what the person is saying .
I have started highlighting my bill with the dropped calls and noting the times that my 3G fails & the sms's dont send however i am not sure what to do next . I also have a Telstra Iphone 4 ( Work phone ) which works at all times and is super quick while the Vodaphone network is down which makes the issue even worse

If i have two more years of this i

Here is where our money went!

http://news.domain.com.au/domain/real-estate-news/couple-list-tama-glamour-20110128-1a7v5.html

18 hours to receive Voice Mail yesterday 11 SMS took 14hours to get to my mobile hoping my partner was OK after they had been in surgery most of the night before. Wish you could claim mental angish. Lets play today watch the magic 3G here one for a second and then gone again goes on all day. FIX YOUR PROBLEMS PLEASE. Can't afford at present to payout contract!

Well thought I was free and clear. Wifes phone recieves an SMS saying you owe $650 contract cancellation. Another horrible time on hold to sort that out. All good in the end.

Today I get another SMS saying I owe $1100 for my phone contract cancellation. Not managed to get through yet.

Honestly I don't feel bad giving the guys on the phone a hard time. They are the ones I deal with and they are the ones that constantly tell me that its sorted. For that string of bulls%$t they deserve all they get.

I get continuous fail to send or indeed receive text messages & very rarely can I receive MMS.
The reception is so poor I even if in a populated area.

Every time I try to update a website or download a small file on my phone, the download will constantly drop out and I am told I do not have an internet connection. Most of my data usage on my bill is from restarting a download after if fails 2 minutes in, sometimes over 10 times. This is incredibly frustrating!

I live in Palmerston 15mins drive from Canberra and I experience constaint drop outs using vodafones blackberry 3g service and have to revert to 2g services.

Cheers

Billing problem for the past 6 months!

Vodafone, "let me put you on hold."
A few minutes later, "beep...beep...beep"
THREE VODAFUCKING TIMES!!!

Vodafone last month, "we'll give you $173 credit for overcharging you for the past 6 months"
Vodafone next bill arrived today, "lets start overcharging you again because you're fucking dumb client"

Ordered a mobile broadband in Nov 2010. Yhis was suppose to be a 2year contract at $39/month. Upon arrival of the modem, my laptop registered software problem and the modem would not work. After calling up their technical support numerous times, the best they could do was to tell me to go to the nearest shopfront to get the lastest updated software and download it into my laptop.

The software didn't work; so my problem is stalled. I decided to call them up to have my account terminated and was told that someone would call me back within 72hours to help me with my request. I waited for more than two weeks before I decided to send an email to complain about the return call they promised(that did not happen) and that I have been charged by them for services I could not use and problems they can't solve for me with they software.

Another 2 weeks passed and my complain email was ignored.

So just 2 hours ago, I decided to call them up to request for a cancellation of my account and a refund of the money they have charged me. But they kept offering new deals and new modem for me eventhough my problem was with their software and not with their device. Only this time, I spent more time being put on-hold than talking to someone. The operator kept putting me on hold while she needs to speak with the manager and finally I just told her to put the manager on to speak with me. The final outcome was that either I get a refund and be charged $160 for temination fee or they can waive the termination fee but I don't get my refund.

What a load of rubbish! I'll never deal with them in any way again and I'll tell as many people of how "great" and "fantastic" their services are!

Oh, and the last thing the manager told me was, "And there will be a last direct debit charge on the 15th of this month."
Well, go ahead, I've just called up my back to have their direct debit cancelled.

Do not ever join Vodafone the service is Rubbish.

When will the government get involved? How can these criminals carry on business and have prolonged on going problems!

It's a complete disgrace!

Was thinking that they had started to fix there ways, However for most of the weekend I was unable to load a basic webpage on my smartphone, and this USB mobile broadband has only been marginally better.. been shithouse for 3 months

Very poor coverage in Ngunnawal (northern suburb). Keeps dropping out in our house.

3 was better than this. LARA sucks! What does customer support do btw? can they only answer the phone every 5 hours or what? Or maybe it's a certain amount of calls they can take a day. Maybe like 1 per hour. Signal is worse than 3 ever was, and I'm aware that 3 had roaming fees, but at least then you knew the call would work!!! Vodafone fix these problems and stop saying "it will be fixed" because nothing has changed.

No 3G coverage at home in Griffith (line of sight to Parliament House), at none at the caffs in Manuka, none at my office in Phillip, none at my mum's in Lyneham.

Frequent drop outs and/or no signal. No signal when I'm riding to work. Epic fail.

Just got moved across from 3 to finish up my contract (because of crap coverage and being hit with massive 'roaming' charges every time the network dropped out). I wasn't prepared for just how appalling this would be. Apart from when I'm on wifi networks, I don't think I've actually been able to use the smartphone capabilities of my phone at all. Hopeless.

I would like to bring to your notice the billing fraud committed by 3 on a daily basis. Since Vodafail bought 3 couple of months ago...3 is going the vodafail way.

I have had two connections from 3. One is a mobile phone service and the other is a mobile broadband service. Last month (24th Jan 2011) I decided to disconnect the mobile broadband phone service. I was charged an extra $119.25 ! They told me that I used extra data. I already have a 6GB limit which I am sure I have not used as I was in the process of moving houses. When I asked for a detailed data usage report they refused to give me. They used planned confusing words such as pro rata billing etc.

Yesterday I received another bill for my mobile phone which is coming up to $93.02. This includes $49 which is the monthly rental. The remainder is $44.02 which they say is from my old disconnected broadband service. They claim that the billing cycle is responsible for this. How come I get charged for the mobile broadband service when I have already disconnected and had been forcefully charged? The disputed amount from January bill is $80. And disputed amount for the February bill is $44.02. So the total bill amount dispute is $124.02.

The provider does not want to give a proper breakup of the data usage of the mobile broadband service where I have incurred an extra $80. And also practises evading tactics using confusing words like pro-rata and billing cycles etc when discussing the disputed amount ($44.02) for the February bill. The call centre gentleman who I spoke to had a name called Sadik and I think is based in India.

I am not new to the mobile phone service bills. This is the first time I have experienced this and only from 3.


Please understand that I am not a opportunist who is taking advantage. I have been cheated and all I ask is Justice to be served.

I have just bought vodafone iphone cap just a month ago & it gives me alot of problems like no reception,take plenty of time to open one website,no proper billing.for hrs my phone will go on no service that to be when i am very well in the city..i never get more than 1 reception tower whether i am at work in fyshiwick or at home in woden. When complaining about the same to their customer officer they said we have very good range sir...then why this f...phones on no service. No proper reply from them.

Well today I sent my email to TIO to get my phone sorted

Poor receiption to 2G and 3G, droped calls and calls just not comming through.

Talk to Vodaphone cancelation department today, they offered me 2 months free service while they do "Upgrades to the Network" told them no.

The Tec reports done to my area show that I "should" have decent reception outside. Had to laugh at that one

So hopefully I can get out of my contract and go to a better provider

Still 3 weeks waiting for Tec reports and more time wasted on the phone and driving to get a sim swap....don't really understand how or why they still think that I should waste more of my time and money waiting for them to sort there network. I am sure if I was late for a payment and told them give me 2 months while I am sorting it out, that they proberly just get the courts involved.

After weeks of issues with my vodafone modem (which are still not resolved) I am now experienceing issues with service to my mobile. I have spoken with so many people in the vodafone call centre I reckon I could tell you who I am speaking to before they say their name.

I had decent coverage on my mobile up until December 2010 but more recently I have issues with phone service in my office (in the CBD)as soon as it hits midday. I swear to you, I can make and recieve calls up until midday.

The thing that gets me the most is that Vodafone are saying it is an issue with my handset - what the? It works in the morning!!! The other frustrating thing is that when I try to call it from my office phone, it doesn't even go to my voicemail. It either has an engaged signal or says that the area you are trying to call is out of service - Vodafone swear to me that there are no network outages in the Canberra CBD at the moment - I beg to differ! I know 3 other people in the building who are experiencing the same thing and are with Vodafone.

I am awaiting a call about a job and also news about my ill Grandmother. Vodafone - you are just plain cruel. You should not even be allowed to operate as a company. You lie to new customers whilst cheating the ones who you have firmly in your grasp.

I have been on hold for TWO AND A HALF HOURS after telling Lara that I wanted to speak to someone about a billing inquiry. I originally just wanted to have my last 2 bills wiped because of crappy service (calls dropping out, voicemails and texts coming late or not at all, cruddy internet reception and 'no service' in areas like Manuka, Civic, Kingston and in Sydney). How do i get to place my number on the 'call back' list because this is just ridiculous! I'm now at the point of just wanting to cancel my contract on iphone although I have about a year to go, however am worried I won't be able to port my number as I am waiting to hear back about job interviews.

Can someone direct me as to how I get vodafail to call me back, or should i just call again and say i want to talk to someone in complaints? Eeep!

In my line of work, I need to make on average about 100 calls a day to local small businesses: of which I personally know almost all of the owners and contacts. How embarrassing for me then, when scheduled phone calls are over two to three hours late because i need to dial a number over 20 times in order to be connected, only then to have the call drop out. How can I as a business-man earn an income, when that income is dependent on something as simple as network reception. Vodafone: YOU FAIL!

Dear Vodafail.com Moderation Team
Do you know if vodafone monitor your wonderful site and / or do anything about the tens of thousands of complaints you have gathered here??? I'm very curious as although it is a wonderful place to vent, I'm wondering if that is all it is as I'm seeing no change in service (actually, it's getting continually worse so I guess that is a change). Also, is there a service provided your recommend over vodafone as I've had poor service from optus (and virgin who use their lines) and we all know of the terrible reputation telstra has. I have less than 6 months before my contract finishes and I can tell vodafone where to shove their service (well, if I could actually reach them in under 2 hours that is...) - and yes, I am counting the days until that wonderful moment arrives!!! thanks for the site - and keeping my blood pressure down...

Again I am having troubles making/receiving calls. Confirmed on my colleagues phone and another phone.

Nothing on the Vodafone site

so i have to admit for the last couple of weeks i've actually managed alright services.. i'm one of the lucky few. Had a couple of hiccups with the 3g and push msging.
and prior to that i put another complaint here about the fact that i can't call or receive calls from 4 different handsets that all show full bars of reception.
anyway so today i was sitting in a training seminar for the whole day... no 3g reception at all despite the fun telling me otherwise...
i've now been trying to use my 3g for the last ... 90 minutes but still nothing...

i reckon that we should define vodafail as:
failures that cross state or national boundaries, kinda like epic fails -.-

I just joined vodafone last week, and got my new iphone 4 and vodafone sim in the mail yesterday.. All excited I opened it up. popped the sim in and turned it on to give it a run!
my previous phone was a iphone 3gs with telstra prepaid which has FULL bars and reception at my house on the Gold coast.

Once the phone booted I was shocked to see that I had between 1 bar and no service anywhere in my house!! so i started browsing the web and found out the truth!
I also catch the train to work and cannot use the internet at all while on the train, its just dead with mostly no service. :(

This is not what i signed a 24 month contract for, not at all.
is there a way i can cancel the contract?? like some sort of grace period?

Thanks

Ryan

i've had coverage and network problems for about 7 months now, i've had my phone repaired and replaced. nothing helps and again i'm stuck in suburbia with no coverage and work hassling me over not answering my phone. i was billed back in december for using the gps on my phone in which i need coverage to use to the extent of $80! i know with no shadow of a doubt that i had no coverage during the day that i was billed for.
now i have to pay that to get out of my contract. Vodafone is crap and i'm sick of their excuses.

Dear Moderation Team

When you say "if you haven't been able to contact Vodafone without success", do you mean despite a horrid wait time people should complain to the TIO without Vodafone even having the opportunity to even hear the complaint or be given a chance to resolve it?

very interesting reading in the media coverage section regarding The Optus networks almost identical problems, this is actually the second time round for me on this stuff!

Learning to grin and bear it: Vodafone's bad month

capacity issues with Iphone and Android devices being on networks is a big and obvious problem!

All thats happening is thats it's Voda's turn right now, they'll get it fixed just like Optus did.

I encourage everyone to please read this article, maybe have a re-think about the fact that this can happen on other networks, it's a mobile phone thing, not a provider thing!

indecently moved from the Optus network in 2008 cause of the exact same problems, went to Vodafone and it was great, now its crap so gonna go back to Optus cause they have fixed it all now, but when i finish there gonna prolly go back to Vodafone case they'll have it fixed by then, and i did much prefer Vodafone until all these problems happened.

I have just moved into a house in Lennox Head, NSW 2478. Up until now I have been 'ok' with vodafone. Not the best coverage in rural areas but I knew that when I signed up on my contract. However I now have minimal to no reception in my house while living in a township of 4000 people. It means I cannot receive work calls and am unavailable at times when I am needed most. I can however walk outside, sit on the grass of the footpath and make calls. It can drop out at anytime.
As for 3G... That 1GB data package I pay for is now completely useless.
I rang to see if I could do something to my phone - add an antennae - was on hold for half an hour, spoke to someone and then my phone dropped out. Surprise surprise he didn't call back.
Thanks vodafail

I used to work for vodafone during this network issue and i left because i couldnt sell a product because i knew how bad it was. i rely on my phone having coverage in CBD areas or even at home in gungahlin and i dont have reception... off to telstra i go

2G drop outs constantly in Manuka.

Got charged a dishonour fee on my last bill because a direct debit didn't go through. Rang up vodafone today and after being on hold for a miraculously short four minutes advised them that I had never actually activated direct debiting on my account and that my account on vodafone.com.au reflected that fact.

Quickly received an apology and a credit for the amount of the dishonour fee on my account.

Still can't overlook the fact that four days into my current billing period, my account usage graph has not been updated and is still reflecting I have spent none of my calls or data for the month, yet the call-by-call listing shows all usage for the month so far. Weird.

Been with them for about 4 months,absolute rubbish. No reception, delayed voicemails didn't receive my $100 credit. So want out of this contract. Can we get out of them since they dont provide the service that they advertised?

Currently working in the Parlimentry Triangle with limited or no mobile or internet coverage!
This is a joke

My 3G signal is forever dropping out. I can be sitting in the exact same place and have full 3G bars just to have it switch to roaming in a matter of seconds. Whilst I did have some problems with the signal with 3 mobile it was nothing close to the 5 times at least problems I have now. This is ridiculous. If I didn't still have a year and a half on my contract I would be switching immediatley.

Continously drops phone calls. I can not have a reception for longer then 20mins without my reception droping

In Gungahlin, i have to attempt to call someone atleast 3 times before i am able to get a line out

I always get Sms late.

I just wish i had a service provider who actually gave me a phone service and not just something that works occassionally

HALF MY SUBURB does not have ANY 3G reception. It had 3G+HSDPA full bars a few months back (of course it dropped out all the time despite maximum signal). Fail network. Now I have $100+ of credit expiring next month and NO WAY to use it.

no good network,too much charge

My phone continues to lose reception in my HOUSE!!! Thats right, in the middle of the suburbs in my lounge room I can't get reception. And it is getting worse. I used to be able to get reception upstairs, now there is no knowing. I also can't send MMS pictures anymore. I really hate Vodafone, how can I get out of my contract??

Half an hour on the phone to customer care, 10 customer service operators, one call disconnect all to sort out an iPad prepaid recharge.

Limited reception and sudden drop in phones battery life.

Having issues with service at home and work. Managed after 11 months to have them perform a network investigation (as both areas show full 3G coverage on the maps). They admit to an issue at my work (which is better than at home, 95% no problems making a call or SMS, 50% of the time 3G data works - and when I have issues all other vodafail suckers have issues too so unlikely to be my phone) they say this one will be fixed within the next two months.

For the result of the home survey - they say no problems at all - 25% success rate for voice and sms (the number of red (!) next to messages on the iPhone that you need to click is phenomenal), data - don't even think about it - good thing I have WiFi!

So I complain about the situation and query why I should be spending more than $50 a month for no service, they say, Sir we will give you 3 months for free - would you like to switch plans, it's got a higher cap. I was beyond annoyed at this and suggested that the offer of a higher cap was useless given it was near impossible to use what I have now. Was offered to have handset unlocked for free and for free redirect to another number - sweet - at least I'll be able to have a number to use. Only the unlock page wants me to pay. Now this is where the pain really kicks in - I decide that an hour on hold was perhaps not the most productive use of my time, and email them, quoting a reference number which I was told to quote. The useless numbskull the other end of the email address could not even be arsed to read the email and just quoted the go here pay this.

Pissed does not even describe my current status, I hate you vodefail, I hate you so much and am hanging out for the day you close up shop in Australia. Once I was willing to forgive if you could supply service, now I want you to close down, you're obviously wasting money, energy and everyone's time!

AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

When I was off in Thailand, my iphone has the Vodafone sim and whenever a voicemail called. Lara said in english that we can't understand it and it is annoying us

I'm trying to cancel my mobile braodband internet. Just cant as 3 Customer Care just doenst pick up any of my calls. In addition the call back function is just not available....probably because they are scared that all complaints are being recorded.

Trying to cancel my mobile braodband connection after 2 years of using it.

Nobody ever picks up ! I want my money back. Going to the TIO for justice.

Sucessfully cancelled two contracts with Vodafone, or so I thought. Yesterday received a bill for $600 due to early exit fee on my wifes phone. Rang them to get it resolved. After 40 mins on hold (not too bad considering some of the times I have had to wait) they told me that is a routine charge until they get the handset back. I asked why I was charged on that account and not the other one I cancelled if it was routine (no response).

I then stated that I was told there would be no exit fee and I wanted it reversed. She said she couldn't do it. I asked to speak to someone who could. She refused to transfer me. I told her I was not getting off the phone until the charge was reversed. She said there was nothing she could do. I then asked for all my direct debits to be cancelled. She confirmed that they were. I asked for her name and employee ID and she hung up on me.

I then tried to call back and after another 40 mins on hold was told that their system was down due to an upgrade and I should ring back tomorrow. I then asked who I could talk to to make a complaint and was told that no complaints can be taken while the system is down. Looking forward to round 3 today... NOT.

I travel to Canberra about 3 times a month. Last night and the whole of the 24th January I had fluctuating reception in Manuka varying between one bar of 3G on my iPhone 4 which then turned to GPRS then to Edge and again to 1 useless bar of 3G causing tmeouts to NO SERVICE AND SEARCHING. WTF!!!
This was in and around Manuka. Called Vodafone and all they said is they were doing upgrade works. This is the latest excuse. I thought it was my phone but back in Perth tonight reception is good again. So it is Vodafail.

Whomever is in charge of the company is quite simply an idiot...
Business 101.... it cost 7 times more to find a new customer than keep the old one!?!?!

It was quite liberating to call vodafone and cancel 2 phones and a mobile broadband package...
Why they asked... and i said are you fucking kidding me?

Stranded on the other side of town unable to pay for parking as I am unable to get money out as I am unable to connect to the INTERNET on my VODAFONE iPhone (despite full reception and 3G network!). Internet banking taking 30 MINUTES to load and then timing out. Stranded for two hours without connection in the middle of the city. HOW CAN YOU NOT HAVE INTERNET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY. LSDKFJSL;DKFJSLDKFJD;LFKJ;ASLDFKJ

PHONE CALLS dropping out! People trying to call me whilst my phone is on a receiving "this person is currently unavailable" then receiving NO missed calls! Me being unable to call people/send MMS successfully. Brand new iPhone with vodafone signed contract for 2 years (BIG MISTAKE). FAAARK.

WORST.COMPANY.EVER.

I just want to say the "moderator" of this site is a hypocrite! The how to complain section is a farce and up until today he has been advising people to escalate to the TIO without contacting the customer care department first. Please note that if there is no record of you contacting the customer care department then the TIO's hands are tied.

3 dropped calls while at canberra hospital
Poor data down load while at canberra hospital
poor coverage
Rang customer tec, told me they would ring back in 1 min, 45 mins later still waiting!
Poor reception at home address in middle of Canberra.

I have been with Vodafone now for almost 10 years and have never had a problem with them until last year.

In July last year I decided to get an iPhone, as you do. The store I went through (in Sydney) stuffed up my upgrade and didn't put it through properly, resulting in me getting an automated message saying that my usage was up to $600. I went into a shop front in the ACT to discuss this and they told me that I would have to ring the Sydney store as there was no record of my upgrade in their system. He said I basically got a free iPhone out of that, yeah except my bill was up to $600 so not really. The problem was resolved and I didn't have to pay the extra charges.

Since about September last year I have had extremely poor data performance. I can hardly access the internet on my phone, the Facebook app never works, not to mention continual service drop outs and messages extremely delayed coming through. I have sent them a request via their website as I wasn't able to get through to them on the phone. Someone was supposed to get back to me within 5 business days. I'm still waiting.

To make matters even worse, I now have a crack in my iPhone. I've been told that Apple won't cover it under warranty. I thought no problem I'll just put it through insurance. Oh wait! They never put my insurance through when I upgraded. This is partly my fault for not realising I wasn't paying insurance, I just pay the bill each month. I had assumed it was on there. I ring customer service and ask for a call back. They actually rang me back within 15mins. They tell me that because the insurance wasn't put on when I first purchased the phone that it can't be put on now because it needs to be done on the day of purchase. I'm now the one left out of pocket for expenses to get my phone fixed. I don't see how that is fair when I said yes to the insurance and its their fault for not putting it through.

Is there any way that people have been getting out of their contracts without having to pay the exit fees?

I was having issues where my phone would play my message tone and there was no message, every 5 minutes, really really annoying, when I rang customer service I was told that it was probably my phone that was causing the problem. I watched my phone as the GPRS icon would change and become active, then I would receive "not really a message" tone. This was very frustrating as it would happen at all hours, I ended up turning my phone off when I went to bed at night. Went on for over a week, so eventually started using an old simple phone for a while and got no false messages on it (was a basic GSM phone). Checked back on my regular mobile after a couple of weeks and the problem seemed to have been fixed up.

Vodafone call centres do not pick up the phone

I have lived here in far northern Sydney for 12 years. 12 years ago, I signed up with Vodafone and my service worked well in all parts of the house (for sveral years). I moved across to Telstra many years ago but my wife is still with Voda. Her phone only works upstairs. Vodafone's coverage has gone *backwards* in 12 years. Vodafone are not "failing gracefully" from 3G to 2G. Thats a serious engineering problem which needs to be fixed (I should know).

I bought an iphone with the express purpose of using it in a business context for email (and old fashioned phone calls), in my shop in metro melbourne and my reception is less than one bar 4 days out of five. I have called 3mobile three times and explained to somebody on the Asian subcontinent about the details of melbourne geography and got a total of "sorry. here's $10 off your bill". once. AND they charge me for roaming in METRO melbourne.
Thanks. That feels vaguely better.

Originally lived in brisbane, joined vodafone 5years ago. No reception issues however furthest I ever went was sunshine/gold coasts.

Moved to Wagga Wagga for work for 24months where reception was rather pathetic unless I was in the town centre. Since moving back to my wife, in the ACT (12months ago) had similar problems of dropouts, no connections, delayed sms and overall rudeness from the call centre when I queried them about a bill issue.

For these issues to be in the aust capital city..... rather amusing i thought.

However chose to continue using but drop my cap from $99 to a lower one. Spoke to a hard to understand however extremely polite call centre girl. She informed me it was policy that you had to exit the contract, costing around $800 and they would be happy to start me on a new 24month contract. After 'enquiring' with her supervisor, this fee would not be waved for any reason. This was explained to me when i signed the contract....apparently.... i wouldnt have signed if they told me this policy.

All this after my wifes carrier (optus) charged her an admin fee of $33.95 and gladly changed it down with NO extension to time in contract. They did this INSTORE aswell.

Subsequentally I laughed it off, cancelled my contract and am now an optus customer.... Only fault there was choosing the samsung 'tradie phone'.... more fragile than a house of cards but anyway.

Vodafone network was good this year but over December Xmas 2010 it was and still is atrocious.
I have experienced (and when I say "I" I mean my corporate group plan which consists of 4users who have experienced the exact same issues), call failures, call drop outs, and slow voicemail or no voicemail.

I use my mobile for business 90% of the time so it is vital for me, I a, a builder and I need it to order materials contact trades and organize jobs. Without this my business suffers and I have to constantly ring people back as the calls have been failing.

In summation I am thinking of changing carrier, and joining the class action against vodafone.
If everyone with the same problems joins then we can make a change..

I will be honest, It use to be pretty good for me. I have been with them for 12 years.

Now, the reception is poor in multiple different handsets, txts can take an extended time to be received by a recipient, 1555 Customer service has shockingly bad waiting times.

Recently I called to find out when my contract ends, which was Feb (one month away). I told them I will likely lower my contract at the end of the month, not really interested in another handset or go as far as canceling and porting my number to a new carrier. The customer service operator didn't even talk about it or offer anything to me or suggest talking to sales, just said "is that all you wanted to know?".

In my opinion they obviously don't want my business anymore or at least provide a deal to longer term customers or attempt to pursue me to stay.

Do you think Vodafone can survive this storm??

Please reply and answer seriously.

I recieved a text MSG from them saying your bill is going to be $179 (from a $69 cap) due to usage outside of your cap MSG **** for more information. So I MSG that number and recieve a text saying this number is currently unavailable please try again later (I wonder if they'll charge for both msgs...) so I call the number and recieve a detailed outline of my cap which says I have $393 of $400 'credit' available! So I call information for a WTF and get told 'sorry we cannot access that information as we are generating a bill for you, please call back in 7 days' WTF PEOPLE??!! 7 days to explain what you are doing?! Apparantly there is NO ONE within the company that could answer my question! ALSO I have the typical reception issues, i do have to say that my reception was fine up until a few months ago just after my son was born now it only works if I disable my 3G connection and only sometimes. I have people recieving msgs at 3am that I sent at 3pm - some only recieve half the MSG and some not at all. The icing on the cake was tonight, I had a car issue and was too scared of risking driving it home just in case I couldn't use my phone that I left it at a friends and she drove me home - at midnight! Now this was just movies with a mate - what if I was out with my 4month old son and I broke down in the 30 degree heat? It scares me, the whole purpose of my phone is redundant. END RANT! thank you website for letting me get this out!

my partner and i got interested in vodafone deal of unlimited txt and calls i was bit execptical about how can a company make those claims im sure there was a hidden fee but no there wasnt i was confident moving from optus to vodafone will be better for the pocket i was wrong. first day was ok but i notice that the bar on my signal keep dropping sometime is full and sometime is just one bar and when do make a call the other person cant hear me or my voice is cut out and i have to repeat it. i never had any problem with optus line always was clear and realible. i will wait for 3month if vodafone doesnt change then i will try to leave on the ground that they cant provide a good service.

Where do I start?!

I am attempting to run a small business and made the critical mistake of choosing Vodafone when I moved to Sydney, for my internet and mobile. BAD MOVE, and one which I will NEVER EVER make again - once the last contract runs out in March I will never ever use Vodafone ever again for anything at all, ever.

ISSUE 1: Hardware
In I 2008 bought a Vodafone-brand phone for $60 to use with vodafone prepay. Within 3 months it simply stopped working - it would start vibrating for no reason at all (even with vibrate set to "off") - no call or sms, just vibration; it turned itself off for no reason - particularly when the battery was fully charged (when it was low it was more reliable). I moved to Sydney in 2009 and immediately got an iPhone with vodafone for $80/month, plus a USB modem for Vodafone roaming wireless internet, thinking I'd be sorted, living as I do IN THE MIDDLE (2000) OF THE BUSIEST CITY IN AUSTRALIA. Think again...

ISSUE 2: VODAFONE
I live in The Rocks, next to Circular Quay, in the CBD of Sydney, a city with millions of people. Since moving here I have not had a single conversation on my BRAND NEW IPHONE at or anywhere near my home which has not dropped out several times. I'll be on a bus on George Street, just down from Central Station, and the signal will drop out. I'll be in bloody HYDE PARK and the signal cuts out. I'll be somewhere and it shows five bars of signal - so I'll call and then within minutes it will drop to no bars for NO REASON AT ALL as I haven't moved.

My "VODAFONE USB roaming wireless" was so crap - i.e. non-existent - that they actually ended up refunding me the money I'd paid for that particular contract and cancelled it. I LIVE IN THE SYDNEY CBD!!!! Hello!!! You can't provide bloody wireless internet in the densest suburb of the country! FAIL!



Oh, and then we have issue #3:
VOICEMAIL IS DOWN (but we won't bother telling you, nor tell you when it is working again) issue:

I have an iphone.

Towards the middle of 2010, I kept getting calls from people asking whether I'd got the message they left two weeks ago. I hadn't. After a few of these I called VF and told them of the problem. They then told me it was my fault (!) for not checking my messages, that yes, there were messages waiting to be heard. But I had set everything to "download" (or whatever) the voicemail messages automatically onto the phone itself so I could keep them, and replay them later without making any calls to a voicemail number. They said "Oh, that's called 'visual voicemail'. Yes, we've been having problems with that lately".

"How lately?" I asked, and then, for her benefit, also answered "about two weeks?" and she agreed. "Yes, about two weeks".

I insisted she make sure this conversation was being recorded and that it be played to a supervisor as soon as possible.

"So you are telling me your voicemail service, part of what I'm paying for, has stopped working, I've been getting calls and not notified of them due to this fault in your system, and you couldn't so much as send a text message to warn me to check via dialling the voicemail number so I don't miss vital information?"

"Do you realise I've been attempting to run a small business with this phone? Why didn't you notify me when -or before- you knew there was going to be a problem?" I asked.

"Calm down" she said, "you're not alone, there are presently more than 420,000 customers with the same issue".

"Oh, that makes it all okay then!! That makes me feel so much more kindly towards your company" I said, in radically different words. "You've just kept half a million people from getting any messages without telling them, for half a month!", I said.

"Do you have ANY IDEA how impossibly cretinous this situation is? I have known hardened criminals (well, I haven't, but the rhetoric was quite good) who would faint at the suggestion of something of this degree of obliviousness to your contractual terms and duty of care towards a client base."

It was eventually fixed - or so I found out in August, but I had to call them to find out, didn't I.

VODAFONE ARE BEYOND INCOMPETENT

Maleny Q.4552 - have to travel 300M to get mobile internet signal, even if 3 bars showing at home, it's not enough for download. Now downloading via my Bigpond W-lan - I would change supplier there if not for reliability, Telstra cost a bomb.

I rarely can use mobile internet at home, i have to move my handset (iPhone 3GS) around sometimes hold my arm in the air. But more importantly, there is a confirmed problem with the Vodafone network that does not allow it to connect to Optusnet mail servers. I cannot send mail at all from my phone, and rarely can I receive mail. Error message "Cannot get Mail The mail server mail.optusnet.com.au is not responding. verify that you have entered the correct account info in mail settings." You can see this problem recorded on whirlpool forums. It has been going for months. I want out of my contract, my iPhone is useless with vodafone. I have reported this issue and continually told they are working on it and I will be informed when fixed.

after being released from my contract, and being told that i could keep my handset i inserted a pre paid sim only to find the handset is still locked.

I am now on hold with my third call to vodafone after two unsuccessful unlock attempts. how hard can it be? very frustrating, i just want to be able to call again!

I received an 'overdue' notice, on the Mrs postPay phone, for $16.38 (not much in the scheme of things) but assumed someone (Mrs, kids) downloaded something or otherwise exceeded the cap ($29) so I went to try to download the appropriate bill (2nd most recent) to check what the extra charge was for, but alas it wasn't available (response: 70112: This bill is no longer available), but funnily enough, previous bills *are* available. Hmmmmm, sounds suspicious. Oh well, caveat emptor.

I woke up just before 5am every morning for 3 consecutive days to attempt to contact Customer Services. Here's a pic of me waiting and listening to that stupid John Mayer music at around the 4 hour 40 min mark. I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who works there who simultaneously was able to work out a solution from his end.

<a href="http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/evilpetzoo/?action=view&amp;current=IMG_0132_2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/evilpetzoo/IMG_0132_2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Problem? After explaining to in-store staff at Morley Galleria that I wanted to purchase a recharge voucher for a SIM for my car alarm, they quickly sold me the SIM then told me that they weren't able to assist me with the recharge and that I had to contact Customer Care.

This is where the real issue started. Unable to contact them for a few days during the day and waiting on hold for over an hour I decided to try and call when their call centre opens 8am (5am Perth Time).

At around 10am, my friend who works at another Vodafone store contacted me to advise that he was able to sort out the issue from his store.

I am on prepaid and sometimes I cant make any phone calls due to no reception. Sometimes its there and sometimes it ain't.

I have noticed for some time that when I pick up my mobile to answer a call (before enough time has lapsed that it's transferred to voicemail) the call would disconnect at hello. At other times when I make a call I can hear the ring tone but I cannot get through, the call disconnecting itself before reaching the other person. Because I don't use my mobile as much as other people do, I've just put up with the problem because I can't be bothered to switch to another telco. It was only after I read several SMH articles about Vodafone issues that I came to realize that this problem I was experiencing and still do is widespread in the Vodafone network. It's truly disappointing, Vodafone comes off as being unprofessional and not trustworthy.

Having used to work for Vodafone in Geelong, I had an incentive to put up with their terrible coverage because they were paying half my bill for me. Even still, I made complaints to their customer care line with no luck. Now, I live in Melbourne and work in the CBD and my coverage is worse than ever! Driving down Russell Street the other day, my phone was SEARCHING... this is unacceptable! I never have internet coverage (always having to use WIFI) and at my house the phone drops in and out of coverage constantly. I have checked with retail staff and the online coverage maps and I should have FULL 3G reception everywhere.
I rang Vodafone to complain AGAIN about this on Tuesday. After sitting on hold for 30 minutes, I was told I needed to be transferred to a different department. After 30 minutes on hold for the second time, my service dropped out before I could speak to someone. I called back again, asked to be put through the the Network department, and after 30 minutes on hold AGAIN finally got to speak to someone. I explained all my issues and they said "you need to speak to the network department". I said "Didn't I come through to them?" they said "no, this is the billing department and the network department closed at 8 so you will call them tomorrow." You can imagine how annoyed I was with this situation! This was at 8.10. If they had answered my call in the first place and put me through to the right department, it may have been sorted. SO! I call back on Wednesday, speak to someone from Network and they say they can't do anything about canceling contracts so I'm out through to the Collections department. I'm getting more and more pissed every second with this! I tell them my story AGAIN and they say that because I've moved addresses, they will not cancel my contract without a fee because my network is checked to the address where the phone is provisioned. I told them that it was a MOBILE phone and should work everywhere. If I wanted a home phone, I would've got a landline! They then said they would do me a deal because I used to work for them and let me cancel the contract without a fee however I have to pay for the phone. Good work Vodafone! We all know why you do that! Because the phones are where you make your money! Not only that but what good is a iPhone 4 to me that is locked to Vodafone?! Last time I checked you couldn't unlock the iPhones because it voided your warranty! So you now want me to PAY for I phone I don't even want to use on your network when I'm getting it for free! I told them I would send them back the phone (because they just refurbish them and give them to you when you're phone is replaced under repair anyway) and they told me that was not an option and I was given my option and if I didn't like it, to take it to the Ombudsman. Thanks for the advice, that is exactly what I did! They say that the success rates for mergers are only at about 30%... well, look out! I'm pretty sure that unless they pull their fingers out, this one with 3 is SURE to fail!

my biggest issue with VF is lack of coverage. Whenever we leave the Canberra urban area, I enter a "no reception zone" while my daughter who is on Otus has full covergae. I lose coverage in Muurambateman, Yass, Young, Captains Flat, Braidwood, Gunning, etc etc. As I ride a motorbike, the lack of service is a real issue in the event of an emergency.

If you're using an iPhone then look no further for your problems. Devices that try to do everything usually do none of them well and your voice, dropouts and other varied reception problems are directly attributable to that device.

I have taken up vodafone contract recently and was given some data to use internet from my mobile but mostly the phone says internet connection unavailable or the connection drops out when i doing something and does'nt connect again for a while.I was with three earlier and did'nt have this kind of problems and now i regret my decision to come to Vodafone from Three.Is there a way that i can sort this out with vodafone ?

I live just outside Canberra of a major highway and drive in and out every day and over the last 2 months the coverage has reduced and it now has major black spots. I know there is a prob with one of the transmittors but they do not listen.

Every couple of months I discover that my auto payment is cancelled by vodafone. I usually find out when I'm told I don't have credit for a call rather than any notification from Vodafone. In Dec 2010 I did get a text stating my account was overdue and when I rang to find out why they aren't debiting money for i each month, I discovered that it had not been paid for 3 months and I was in fact now liable for late payment fees. After liaising with a customer service rep & her manager in India, the overdue charges where dropped. However I find this constant failure on Vodafone part to keep their payment system operational tedious and an serious contemplating changing suppliers.

Having been on hold last night for 36 minutes before fianlly speaking with a tech and explaining my story, the tech said he would have to put me on hold for a little while to discuss with a supervisor. 10 more minutes later he returned and i ask simply for him to call me in the morning asd now my battery was about to die due to the length of the call. Now waiting again to get through 20 minutes in so far and no call back from the tech this morning as promised. No 3g coverage. Unable to view the web or send a picture txt. Phone is 3 weeks old. Whats the excuse this time vodafone.

Venting your tough talkin spleen at the Customer service agent is pathetic in the extreme. They didn't build the network, they don't maintain the network, nor can they do anything to make the network better.

If you really want to make a difference, then you should all call the CEO's phone lines or head office switchboard instead.

No reception at home.We have to walk up the street to make calls.

Black berry Storm - Never Get it with vodafone. Poor Coverage, Drop outs. Worst phone you can get.

Mobile broad band internet. i work in the parliamentary triangle in the heart of Canberra and the coverage with the internet is like you're in a regional town! Drops out every 5 minutes, have to disconnect and reconnect about 12 times a day! EPIC FAIL!

Get rid of vodafone. We're paying for a service they promised, which they cannot provide... Its more of a scam then anything else

R

they don't have enough coverage in the area i need most... thats where i live and thats where i keep my phone most of the time, i have to always go to a corner to make a phone call. also last time they didn't even send me a bill. and the next month they said my bill is overdue as i didn't even pay it.

Nearly every call drops out. I feel this is deliberatly done to make us pay extra connection fee's. it all adds up, plus it is extremely annoying.
also after coming out of train tunnels i have to restart my phone to get reception back. very frustrating. vodafone need to take a long hard look at themselves

NRMA Promo: 3 months free + 10% discount every month thereafter. So, I sign up 2 mobiles. Big mistake.

Absolutely shocking coverage.

Then, my first bill is $205!!!! What happened to the 3 months free?!!

Get on to customer service...no there was no such deal. Told him I have an email confirmation...got told I was lying!!!!!

Dropped calls, atrocious - mostly unusable 3G Mobile BroadBand, robotic voice on calls when they do get through. Some SMSs don't arrive till the next day.

I called Vodafail and after 45 minutes on the phone, I got told I can terminate my contract!

My wife and I live in Canberra, we are both on the Voda network, I get very bad 3G reception at work sometimes it works other times not, and even then sometimes I may be browsing the internet on 3G and i'll be sat in the same place and it will drop network altogether and then say searching for a network; if it does manage to get back on the network it may only be on edge. Further more My wife and I will be sat for example in a cafe and we will both be browsing the internet she will be on 3G and i maybe on edge or i maybe on 3G and her phone will say searching for a network; all just really random. This has been going on for around 3-4 months now.

I can not make calls, when I finally do my reception cuts out, Every time people call it gos to vooicemail without ringing, I called up to complain waited on hold for 50 mins till my phone cut out, called again got through to someone and they put me on silent hold for 40 mins, thats when I realised they had forgot about me finally got to talk to someone and they put my account on investigation for me, 3 days later got an sms from vodaphone telling me to call them I waited on hold for 40 mins, when the opperator picked up she told me the department that needed me was closed, but she would call me back the next day, she didnt call me back so I called back only waited 20mins, not to bad considering, and all it was about was telling me that they had started the investigation, 20 mins later I got another message telling me to call them, I so dont think so they can get stuffed!

I signed up for a 2 year contract for internet coverage to assist with my PhD and its just rubbish. It take about 15 minutes to warm up and then to load any page with a few images I can be waiting for up to 20/30 minutes. Forget youtube etc, that just wont open. My field is art history so I need to look up images - and I cant afford to get out of this useless contract. I am so ANGRY. What can I do??!