On your alternatives page, you cross off Thinkmobile as being Voda wholesale. This is only half true - Half their plans are Voda (what they call the "Swift" network plans) and the other half are on Telstra 2G (the "classic" network plans).

I was on Voda pre-paid in 2008 (awful - dropped calls, delayed smss, atrocious customer service) before switching to Thinkmobile Classic (Telstra 2G network). Thinkmobile's network was great for domestic usage but I had some issues sending international smss (their international SMS provider didn't have a service to Taiwan). For the price, Think were great and their call centre is in Australia.

For at least a year now I have received voicemails sometimes several days late, sometimes almost a week late. I initially was told this was to do with my phone being on global roaming. That was changed. Then I thought it was to do with the poor mobile reception in my workplace but that still doesn't explain receiving messages often several days late as I leave the building every night.

I have contacted Voodaphone customer service (unfortunately India call centre I think) a number of times to resolve my broadband issues, and despite the fact that voodaphone representatives hardly speak any understandable English they are also horrible at their jobs as they are not familiar with the system they support.

Voodaphone, this is very poor effort and I am really disappointed.

I've been with Voda for 6 years now, and three times has terrible service presented itself. Dropped Calls is common, data for me is usually fine (Live in rural NSW). But traveling to Sydney CBD I experience issues.

Anyway, I tried logging into Vodafones Customer Area on their website, and attempting to access my usage or bill resulted in error after error. Now, this lasted for over a week. That's unacceptable especially considering Voda does not send me paper bills and they don't email me anything either.

Useless! Phone is 50% useful as the rest it's out of reception. Damn u voda. And damn ur children and childrens children !

Been with voda for the last 12 years...! Spent the last two weeks in an email battle with them due all the problems that everyone else here is having. Finally got out of my contract this morning free of any early termination fees. Telstra here I come! Can't wait, voda's service has just all gone to sh!t...

I have wireless internet service with Vodafail. I moved across from ADSL service from Iprimus, as it was impossible to connect to from about 3pm till 9pm. Anytime when school kids got home home till bed time it was shocking.
Vodafail had great advertizing, I went from unlimited download for $69.95 pm with Iprimus, to 6GB per month for $59.95 , BUT The first 6 months were half price.
The service was average from the start, would often drop out- and then the software would not reconnect. You would need to reboot before you connect. Other friends of mine have the same issue. I wondered if it were an Apple thing seeing I am a Mac user. Friends who use Windows have the same experience.
I started to phone or email with complaints. Spoke to lots of people in India - or should I say I tried to speak to them, but got spoken down to and spoken over most of the time. The Indian Call Centre staff are very good at following a script BUT crap at listening.
So lots of comments - like you dont have 3G coverage - you should not be out customer - well my answer to that - was when I signed up online - I was living here too. So if I could not access the network with enough signal - why did you allow me to become a customer, AND why do your coverage maps say I have enough coverage,
Then they send me out a Sharing Dock. After 6 weeks finally got it to work, but I only get EDGE coverage on it. However its more stable.
Complaints got me a 50% discount for 3 months, and the offer I could leave my contract. Signed up for Telstra 3G wireless broadband. Shocking customer service, got the dongle thing USB Stick - but could never connect. The device said I had network, but could never get it to work. Lots of phone calls, to Manilla, same sort of crap as Vodafail, its a faulty stick, its a faulty sim - repacements sent out. No difference.
Meanwhile my Optus mobile phones are struggling to connect, yet when we built this house in 1995 the coverage was fantastic.
Not sure how we will go with the NBN - or the costs that are going to be involved. But from what I can see - its Telstra - 0 Vodafail 1 (purely because you can connect) and Optus 1 .
PS when I speak to someone they always want to call me on a landline - which I dont have anymore - as the call keeps dropping in and out. Whattha??

I've been a loyal Vodafone customer for the past 15 years. These days the service/signal is lousy. In Collaroy full service and 3.5G HSPDA access. In Blacktown barely able to get EDGE/3G Access at times. At Annangrove absolutely dead. Wake your ideas up Vodafone, or you'll lose another client in 12 months.

My iPhone has been dropping calls, missing calls and basically unable to access the internet for the last few months. Complained to VF - they said it was the handset, after having me reset the phone, take out the sim and sorts of other useless technical support they deciced to take my handset for repair rather than just tell me it was their network. I bet theyll find the handset fine and want me to pay for that as well.

i live in glebe which is only a few km from the sydney cbd. coverage is terrible,no connection much of the time and even going outside it's hard to find a sweet spot. stayed on line for almost 20 minutes got someone who after a while tried to tell me it was corrected. it isn't and i just can go through that again.

Vodafone wireless broadband here in the inner city (Sydney) is unreliable - the connection drops out for long periods. Tried to download a software update of about 40MB for three days - time remaining to download showed 17 hours at one point. I now get up in the middle of the night in an attempt to get some work done. Absolutely pathetic.

Constant dropouts, pour reception, late text messages, worst vodafone has ever been

I Agree... hope we have enough weight to get someone to do something about it

I was a customer of Digicall the predecessor of Vodafone back in the early 1990's and now Vodafone. The company has deteriorated very rapidly in the last 3 years.

Their biggest failing is their Indian call centre. When you are a prepaid customer with a problem you are on hold forever - I'm talking 20 minutes, before someone in India answers your call. Then they are overly deferential - must be part of the culture while they keep putting you on hold and saying bear with me while they try and solve your problem... but then don't resolve it. You end up hanging up.

Whoever Vodafone Australia's head of Customer service is, the moron who came up with the idea of the Indian Call centre to save the company money - should be sacked.

Vodafone in Australia is a company on the pathway to ruin. In England they still have their act together - just not the Australian operation. The entire Australian management team should be sacked, and bring in new people from overseas.

The bad service extends to the stores. Staff - who look like they are on the minimum wage - aren't properly trained and trash the company to the customers.

I live on the North shore in Sydney and calls drop out every day at particular spots on my journey from Roseville to the City. I know where the spots are and warn my mother when I'm talking to her that the call will drop out in about 1 minutes time when I know I'm approaching the vodafone blackout spot.

Vodafone is a company in freefall due to its totally incompetent Australian management team.

The company is worse now than Digicall was when it was first set up back in 1995.

I am currently contemplating switching to Optus or Telstra and I am a customer who spends $100 a month.

After months of troubles with an old unlocked Telstra 3g phone on the Vodafone network my partner relented and got a SE Experia X10. And we thought we had problems before... The fun only just began. 90% of all calls in either direction end in dropouts, terrible conversations due to dropouts, late messages, and general frustration. Useless customer service over the phone. Useless customer service in the stores. It doesn't end. I am also on Vodafone and don't have as many issues on my old GSM phone thankfully. Never again...

I can NEVER get reception. It continually drops out. Every time I call I wait for 40 - 60 mins and I have my phone logs to prove this. Whenever I e-mail, I never get the response I need. My contract is ending next month and I am out as soon as this happens!!

1. No signal or full signal and no response;
2. Variable call quality. Establish call and then have signal strength vary wildly even within a very small suburban (5k out of CBD) area e,g, Randwick Shops
3. Just Hate LARA and the automated voice system that VF uses.

Tried phoning them from my vodafone mobile to complain they had cut my wife's vodafone mobile service. Waited on hold. Put phone down and went to loudspeaker. Battery running low, plugged into charger. Still waited. And waited. And waited. Gave up after 4 hours and 29 minutes because I was worried my charger would melt or catch fire!

Hey vodafone show us your dongle. Your a joke

bloody disconnects every time i call almost, cant do anything!
worst desision ever when i switched to vodafail

Ive been in contract since Jan when I signed up for an iphone and broadband for my laptop. The coverage has gradually gotten worse since I signed up. I live and work in the CBD/Surry Hills/Bondi Junction, yet I am constantly without service, with calls dropping, going directly to voicemail, unable to make calls, data will not work, and text messages do not come through/send. The broadband for my laptop only works 50% of the time so I am unable to do the things I need to as GPRS is too slow.
I have been complaining for months, and all I have heard is excuse after excuse, and lies after lies. I have even caught call centre staff out on things that have been untrue. I was told it was because I lived in a brick building!!! Well if my friends Telstra phones work fine in my apartment, then why can't my Vodafone phone??? Finally I found out who to speak to at the head office in Australia, who promised an investigation, and depending on the outcome I could terminate my contract early with no exit fees. After several weeks I still had not been prvided with answers. I emailed them one final time telling them I wanted a resolution within 48 hours or I would esculate my concerns to the ombudsman. I was contacted 2 days later and let out of my contract with 14 months remaining provided I give my phone back. Thats fine... Telstra have free ones if you sign up with them, along with a reliable network.
What i am most annoyed about, after readng the recent media coverage, is that Vodafone were aware of the issues from the start, yet still keeping signing people onto their network. They lied to me about the issues and made me spend hours on hold, to try and get some answers instead of being upfront and doing the right thing. Vodafone is a disgusting excuse for a company, and they should not be able to operate in such a way.

Tried to set up global roaming before going Os. Was on hold for 55 min and the the Indian customer service officer picked up and call went blank. My calls keep dropping out and when I text customer service for a balance of my usage half the time they don't reply back. Can't wait for plan to be up I will be going to telstra at least you get what u pay for and better coverage

For 6 months I haven't been able to send emails. Each time I call the help line I get some new story about how it is a network problem they are working on, or it's not our fault but its the mail server company we are contracted to, or some other story. Nothing is ever done, I can't understand how they can get away with such a blatant failure to provide a basic service. Anyway, my contract is up next week and I'm off and never to return. Of course I will spread the word to everyone I meet.

I don't think I've been able to use data type services a single time I've been to the Sydney Football stadium. Will be funny when they are sponsoring during the final Ashes game at the SCG and I'll be there with no functioning internet.

I have to use another phone not on Vodafone anytime I need to access any data on my mobile. My data quota on my phone is useless. I have not been able to access it at all. I don't know why I am paying for this service. I might as well be on a no frills pre paid.

I signed up to a 24 month contract and for the past couple of months I've not been able to use the service properly. I tried to make a few calls today and kept getting 'Call Failed'. It worked when I reverted back to 2G on an iPhone. Data is worthless and I can't use it at all. Trust me, I've tried.

mail.vodafone.com.au and smtp.vodafone.com.au act and sound as if they're sending mail, but in fact emails don't get sent. been broken for over six months. never announced, aknowledged or fixed... uncool.

This website should be moderated by the person who published it. The obscene and threatening comments are really offensive and will ensure the ACCC, TIO and Vodafone don't take the site seriously. The website is a clever idea, but you need to take responsibility for it.

Vodafail blamed the poor service on the fact that I "live in a unit with brick walls". WTF? Works perfect since I switched to telstra. Get out people!!!

after months of no cellular service,dropped calls, texts that don't send, and being fed complete BS from Vodafone customer service, I finally got out of my two year contract. call vodafail
, wait an hour on hold and ask for cancellations. Or call the TIO and tell them your not getting the service you are paying for. I went to Optus and its bliss. They even answer customer service calls! Don't get mad, get out of your Vodafail contract !!!!!

I'm horrified by the good service I've received. Not a problem for four years. F-o-u-r y-e-a-r-s! I didn't have a clue there was a major network issue going on until the likes you made it known. Thanks, I would've been in the dark forever!

I was on Vodafone literally three months ago, however - following a month long TIO case, was released from my contract for free (the only plus point) and immediately signed up to Telstra's $99 iPhone 4 Cap.

Where I'd previously had one bar at home, I now have four. While I frequently used to get massive data roaming charges, even within the 3G zone, now I get none as Telstra covers EVERYWHERE. I just can't even describe how much better Telstra is.. SO MUCH F@%$ING BETTER, SO GLAD I MOVED@!!$@#!%@$

Someone from QLD thinks vodafone is AWESOME! at 17 Dec 2010 10:41:35 PM
"Someone from NSW thinks vodafone is SACK THE CEO at 17 Dec 2010 09:24:36 PM
The CEO Nigel Dewes MUST be terminated. Class action should be considered against Vodafone. Customers must be refunded. Let's see how the Telecom Authority conducts itself with this issue - or are they glorified fools who won't do anything because they can't do anything because they and nothing are the just the same. What about the responsible Minister stepping in and doing something about this and restore some faith with you bloody jokers! ps. How long before the heads begin to roll. Sooner the better starting with the top. The fish rots from the top!"

perhaps you should do your research.. Nigel Dewes holds no CEO position in VHA, the merger with vodafone saw his rights removed as a CEO of 3 a now iradicated company under the Vodafone's wing.
He now works as an ambassador for VHA nothing more nothing less.

Where's Nigel? A game for all the family. Great Christmas present.

Crows Nest - continued.....Oh yes, forgot to mention I would get text messages and voice messages the next day, and had no 3G network coverage.....5km from the Sydney CBD!

I live in Crows Nest - 5km from Sydney CBD - my phone stopped working in the back half of my house! I spent HOURS on hold and getting through to people overseas who claimed they 'understood my frustration' then spouted mumbo jumbo about no recorded problems in my area, they would have to run an engineers report that would take a few months then they would get back to me.....total rort!! And to make matter worse my cr*p phone would drop out half the time, making me have to call again and wait in the queue forever....grrr!! Finally went to the ombudsman and surprise surprise...got a call from someone from Vodafone not in an offshore call centre saying since I was 'such a valued customer' they would let me out of my contract. Now with Telstra and have never had a call drop. The TIO should really crack down on these guys....they are signing customers up to a service they can not deliver and making it almost impossible to get out of the contract

Also a customer near George St in Sydney CBD
Constant call drop out. Messages and calls days late.

Zero coverage or service in the sydney CBD, or anywhere for that matter. I have been in situations where people have been trying to reach me and it goes straight to my voicemail. Messages take forever to send, it is beyond a joke. I called wishing to cancel my contract. I called - and after being hold for 1 hour and 30 minutes i was transferred to another department. She then said i had to go into the shop to get a new sim card. I did. It still didnt work. I was told i would get a call back at 1pm. That never happened. I then called THEM back and was on hold for another hour, to be transferred, then told that the system wasnt working and they couldnt access my account details. I then called back again after they had tried to reach me, but due to the fact i get zero coverage, couldnt get through (funny that). I called back again, to be told that despite vodafone being open "24/7 for contract customers" they the disputes department and contract department was only open 9-6 and to call back tomorrow. The woman in the vodafone shop said she understood and just to call up and get them to approve the transfer of the phone number to another carrier so i could start using my new phone etc. I tried that, vodafone wouldn't help and said ...again... to call back tomorrow. I've emailed the ombudsman and this is getting beyond a joke.

unable to terminate my vodafone service. Unable to contact the cancellation dept. hopeless vodafone.

I am a corporate customer in the Sydney CBD, cnr Bridge and George. Calls drop continuously, calls fail and the phone freezes, sometimes the phones does not ring and messages can take 12 hours. This is affecting my business. Not happy....

I am lucky if I can get more than 24M out of my 1024M monthly data quota - not for want of trying! Searching... for another network!

My sms takes AGES to arrive to my wife's vodafone handset. When I send sms to my brother's telstra he receives the sms much faster. Also the signal strenghth is mostly very poor. Am not impressed after only 3 months with this company!

Ported to VF only to find areawhere I work is non existant to Vodafone. 7 colleagues at work can't even see the newwork at all. Sometimes I get 3G signal but no phone reception (if anything) Customer service wants me to phone from another handet to show it's not my phone. Hey I got 7 people who can prove it isn't my phone.
Customer help ?? An offshore unit who have no idea where Sydney is. Apparently It's in Bathurst. Well Same state anyway.

My iPhone cannot read the MyVodaphone website, so I can't see what my account is doing.

Might have to port out after only being in less that two weeks

Have been cut of constantly for the last few weeks. three attempts at a one minute onversation the other day. Just needed an address and it took three dials to work. Then there is the way they advertise to you when you call to recharge.... I JUST BOUGHT YOUR STUPID PRODUCT NOW STOP ADVERTSING TO ME AND LET ME MAKE MY CALL....

in third world countries ive been to such as syria and lebanon they have a system where you recharge by sms in much less time... but apparently that technology isn't here yet... because it would mean that they wouldn't have a chance to force their sh*tty products down our throats... thank you for creatin this site... i needed that.

45 mins on hold to get to vodafone, then a referral to Blackberry, cos it must be "a Blackberry issue". 45 mins there. No resolution. Who paid for that and for the hour and a half of my life I want back? Me. Shouldn't have got either the handset or the service contract. This is a freakin radio network. I thought we'd sorted out radio comm's in the 1950's?

Live in the Illawarra and work at Hebersham (Mount Druitt )in Western Sydney. There are 17 spots along the 1hr 15 min journey where there is no coverage & the line drops out & many others where it sounds like I am talking underwater like a chipmunk. One of those lasts for six minutes! Vodaphone won't allow calls to Telstra's Directory Assistance line even though this has been the national phone inquiry line for decades. It diverts the call to the Vodaphone 123 line (should be called the Oh Deary Me line!) and which is slow while they google a number because their database is inadequate. At least 5 out of 10 inquiries can't be satisfied and I often give up in disgust, many times after three and four minutes of waiting. After I was so disillusioned about not being able to get a phone number for Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney for at least seven minutes of waiting and three separate phone calls, I rang the Customer Service line (long wait & the phone kept dropping out)and someone did call me back the next day and they promised to look into it and get back to me....that was five months ago and I have heard nothing. Also unable to dial 1900 lines (for competitions). Great disappointment with the Customer Service Centre for help being run out other countries. I am offended at the odd hours they SMS me with their tripe marketing & I am over not receiving texts promptly from my teenagers who we bought phones for in case of emergencies. Receiving them 2 days late hardly helps a crisis. It is not good enough and I am leaving, never to return. The website has been ridiculously slow & convuluted to get answers from over the years and I feel like we the customers are just the cash cows. The management & corporate handling of this has been laughable to those of us who work in companies who do care out their customers and work hard to improve services and keep clients informed. It's an emabarassment. Bye Bye

What does womens breast have to do with this website?

I left in August after 11 years with them. My phone kept failing and each time I had to take it to the store to have it reset and each time I was told there was nothing wrong with it after the store boy or girl had reset something on their screen. Since I left I get monthly SMS from Vodafone telling me -$40.57 will be deducted from my credit card. It never is (nor is anything added). So yesterday I rang to ask what this was about. I spent 10 minutes getting passed Lara, then was told I'd have to wait 30 minutes to talk to an operator. So I hung up, searched the website for an email address (took a while to find), then sent them an email telling them everything I've just written above. Two minutes later I had an automated reply with instructions on how to detail with Lara. I send a reply back asking how this might be related to my billing problems (remember above, the -$40.57)? Still haven't heard back. I'm wondering, are there any people working at Vodafone or is it the world's first robotic company?

For years I've been convinced that the regularity of dropped calls is to charge more connection fees (i beleive this applies to all providers), when you're on a CAP initially it's not a big loss but over a month it really starts to add up and becomes a good revenue raiser for VF.

Website performance has always been dreadfully slow and I've noticed the recent revamp to the look and feel of the site but I think they have the wrong priorities as there has been zero improvement to performance. For the last two months I've been sent a bill for 'actual' calls made including international, the bill was $300 when I'm on a $69 CAP. They reversed the charge after calling on two occasions and waiting in the IVR queue for an unacceptable amount of time. I also logged a complaint by email (which wasn't easy to find) which was acknowledged by an automatic reply but I never received any further communication. Now I have to go thru the process all over again this month. Basically VF and their offers are pretty good only when something doesn't go wrong because they don't seem to have the processes or resources in place to service exceptions. Unfortunately when you're in a contract your hands are tied and they know it.

I also signed for two years, for the first time and I'll probably be gone when the contracts up. The reception is middling to say the least - and yes I work and live in an urban area. I'm forced to make short calls and/or repeatedly recall clients, friends and family during most attempted calls. The drop out rate is the worst Ive experienced with Telstra, Optus and now Vfone. It was better with Optus in the early-mid 90's. That would be a joke, in 2010, if it wasn't costing me money.

For 6 months I have been fighting overcharging - where despite asking for data plans for 2 new phones for my team I was charged as if I didn't have them. Try $39,000 overcharge. They recently offered me a $32,000 credit, so now I'm still fighting over the remaining $7,000. All this for a service that regularly drops out multiple times trip on the short trip from annandale to north sydney...

The CEO Nigel Dewes MUST be terminated. Class action should be considered against Vodafone. Customers must be refunded. Let's see how the Telecom Authority conducts itself with this issue - or are they glorified fools who won't do anything because they can't do anything because they and nothing are the just the same. What about the responsible Minister stepping in and doing something about this and restore some faith with you bloody jokers! ps. How long before the heads begin to roll. Sooner the better starting with the top. The fish rots from the top!

I heart Vodafone

Glad to see this site is up as i've been meaning too put a complaint through the last couple of days. apart from the USUAL bull i have to put up with what really ticked me was that i sent a picture message to a friend and my phone has confirmed that it was sent. My friend never recieved it and i've been charged a dollar for no service! Now how bloody often has this happened all up!

Nearly at the point of having to to transfer 4 business phones to the evil empire (OUCH!) Constant drop outs, network busy messages, sms taking hours to arrive, rang Vodafone and was told I should switch carriers if I want reception. Been with them since analogue days and until now no major problems

Vodafone is saying that the problem is only in Sydney CBD. That is not true. I have had a 3 usb modem, iphone 3GS which didn't experience dropouts, slow internet. But during the last 4 months i have noticed that the dropouts have been happening many times both day and night, connecting and downloading data have become very slow. I paid extra for data for my iphone but never use much coz i cannot connect to the internet.3 was ok before until the merger with Vodafone. I only realised this when i took out another smartphone plan with Vodafone, and they offered more data but now wondering how i can use them considering their worsening network issues. Yes, when i called, i also experience long wait, 1 hour for only a short conversation then i was transferred to another section, but i decided to hang up coz i was being made to wait for at least 40 minutes again. I live and work outside Sydney CBD and i cannot connect to anything when im at work, that is for 8 hours of my day. 3G always goes down, and turn to GPRS or Edge, which become impossible to enjoy the expensive smartphone plans we signed up for. They should be banned from offering services until they fix their network. In the meantime, they should cancel subscriptions too and let customers move to other network/s.Vodafone is just ripping us off.

Spin doctors take new approach.Fair shake of the sause bottle!
"Come on guys they try their hardest'
You can do better than that!

94% Australasian coverage!!!!! THEY ARE JOKES!! i operate in the Shoalhaven area NSW, Kaima to Ulladulla. If i got 50% i would be happy! so what the ;F; does that do to the national average ???, and this is on the populated eastern seaboard!! THEY ARE KIDDING!! cannot wait to be shod of this contract!! they wank around in their corporate cocoon. try making your website a bit more user(complaint) friendly, and you would be snowed under!! WAKE UP and SMELL THE MANURE !

Love voda, stop with ur complaining & whining optus isnt any better and getting ripped off by arrogant telstra go right ahead !!!!

I was on a pre-paid broadband service provided by 3 on their 3G network for more than 2 years and was a happy customer. Recently it was absolutely not usable for vodafail. I started using Telstra pre-paid broadband.

I have never had a problem

Spin doctors on $300 hour.
"I have never had a problem"
Keep it coming!

I am actually holding on to vodafone now and have been for over 40 mins, just to query a bill. Still holding.
I too have problems with my mobile phone dropping out.
Difficulties connecting to the internet.
By the way I am still holding.
If I hear hang in there we'll be with you real soon one more time I will scream.
Do I hang up. After 45 mins I do not think so.
Still hanging on.

Either my text messages stay for 3 hours in "sending" status or they are displayed as "sent" but the receiver actually receives them LATE!!!! I have no reception in the city???? AND "LARA" is a useless piece of crap!

I have a business with five blackberry handsets that don't work on a network that can't support basic telephony that is slowing destroying my business. Vodafone's solution: remove and reinsert the battery and all will be better!!!

Either zero reception or 1bar wherever I go. What's the point of going mobile if you can't be in contact with people!!! You would think being their main service offering they would actually do it well! Very frustrating and pathetic!!!

I wish that tard would stop spamming 'vodafone has always been great for me'. It's pretty clear from other people's experiences that Vodafone is overwhelmingly shit and disappointing. I always thought it was just me having problems. Someone just reminded me that Vodafone also sent multiple messages to people from my phone for ages. People would write back saying 'Yes, you said that.' It was really fucking inconvenient. Fuck you Vodafail, corporate cancer.

Vodafone do a good job of making people wait on hold if you need help. When I complained to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, Vodafone finally agreed to allowing me to exit my contract (which had 9 months remaining) with no charge. Be sure to complain to the TIO. It is a simple online process.

I had a bizarre experience with Vodafone. All of a sudden they extracted about 4 times the usual monthly amount from my account(about $260)- with no explanation. Then someone rang me from a private mobile number claiming to be a VF representative and offering to update my contract. He asked for my details and I told him he could shove it- I asked for him to verify to me he was actually from VF but he was not allowed to ... or something. The impass ended when I rang their usual customer service number and had to wait the average about 45 minutes for an answer(the OS call centre worker confirmed the last guys was actually from VF). I went on to express my disappointed at being charged such a ludicrous amount, and he seemed to explain it was because of some change in the contract.. It was never really clear- but - and this is the killer- He offered to update my contract and retrospectivly apply this update so I wouldnt get charged as much. Of course I agreed. I was shanghai'd. When this was done he claimed I was $170 in credit, which VF would kindly hold onto for me. They still have my money(each month I use up some of this excess credit). They are a corporate cancer.

I'm in for a class action. Step up Slater and Gordon. From the level of dissatisfaction there looks like there might be a good earner in it for you good fokes! Set up a direct like from this site! Ease the pain.

I have only noticed that reception drops out while on the phone between lidcombe and newtown from 3G, to 2G then E for Egdge theen back all over again. Also in western Sydney, this issues of reception remain just as crap. very little 3G coverage for mobile broadband or mobile calls and in blacktown station, just forget about even trying to update your facebook status, twetter or anything alike because it will take you until seven hills to even update anything and even then between seven hills and blacktown the reception drops dramatically to E........so Vodafone, isn't the power to me to make you change your dodgy ways????

Recently took a family driving holiday to FNQ from Sydney. Vodafone signal dropped out on Sydney's North Shore and didn't return for the 6 weeks of the trip. My wife's Telstra reception however was fantastic.Beyond expectation! A message via Carrier Pigeon or Cobb and Co coach would have got to its destination faster than one via Vodafone. Their network is as useless as 'tits on a bull". Can't wait to change to Telstra.

Telcos to me are all much the same, and all out to make money not happy customers. I will avoid calling Vodafone's help line as each time I bothered to waste time I usually have sat for up to 45 mins before getting to speak to someone. I've had the same with Optus so sure the rest are the same. Their website help is no better unless you enjoy chasing a tail around and aroun in circles forever. All Telcos need a massive kick up the back side

Calls dropping all the time...

Appalling customer service. Terrible coverage. Pack of money grabbers.

i did a search for "lara" on facebook.. it returned 17 of my friends had abusive comments towards Lara.. the computerised female voice who answers the phone.

I was with Vodafail for almost 14 years, but when the service went crap, I called to report and was on hold for 3 hours and 42 minutes without speaking to a single person, then they promised to call back as there was no one there who could deal with my issues. The next day, I was on hold for 5 different calls for over 6 hours all togther. I am disgusted by their complete disdain and utter lack of remorse or empathy for the issues the customers had to deal with. After they wouldn't do anything but off a lousy $20 one of credit, I complained to the Ombudsman and Vodafail finally agreed to let me out of my contract. They are a pathetic bunch of losers who believe that because you are in contract, they can treat you how they like and get away with it. The worst customer service in the world.

my galaxy s is top class, but useless with vodafone connection,ACCC should have listen more why people crying........

I was with '3 mobile' and when time to upgrade my handset, I was told '3' was merging with Vodaphone so therefore I had no choice but to change to them also. I was also told at the time that Vodaphone had better coverage, which now seems very doubtful as my phone often has poor or no signal in the middle of Sydneys CDB or in my home in the Southern suburbs of Sydney (which was never a problem with 3)

Since changing over, i have had nothing but problems. see following:

The handset took approx. 3 weeks to deliver (not 3 days as told).
Vodaphone canceled my '3' sim card without notification to me so i was left without my business phone for 2 days.
Trying to set up voicemail was a nightmare - it took more than 30 minutes as i kept being redirected back to the top menu with the recorded message not being saved.
my plan (supporting 2 gig of data) would not let me connect to the internet.
phone calls break up or contain static or do not connect. When speaking to customer (NO)service there is a contact distracting echo over the line.
Wait times for customer support are absolutely horrendous on the many times i have had to call. Often to the point that i just give up as i run out of time on my lunch break.
When i politely asked customer service if i could lodge an official complaint i was told that Vodaphone did not have any customer feedback lines.
my phone did not arrive with a user guide. (not sure if this is vodaphone or phone co) i had to search for one online.

I used Vodaphone 10 years ago and the service was horrendous then also. I remember them charging me for months after finalizing my account with them and it was a nightmare trying to sort it out. Them at one point threatning legal action. In the end i just paid for months i didn't use as i felt i wouldn't be able to afford the legal fees. Obviously things haven't improved since then.

Action needs to be taken

You WON'T be stung with a 'breaking the contract' fee because THEY have already broken the bloody contract. A contract works two ways. They have failed to hold up their end of the bargain, which is to provide a phone service. It hasn't just been one day, or a week, it's been MONTHS of no service, therefore THEY should be paying YOU, not the other way round.

its like a conspiracy where the might be looking to get that extra flag fall every time you make a call because i will get a droput every 5 minutes or so for the last few months and have been counting down the months i have left to be able to switch provider

Yeah, I've had terrible network and phone problems over the past few months like everyone else.

But add this in. Vodafone texted me yesterday to announce a deal at 'my nearest store', which happens to be in another State.

At 10:45pm I received a new text from them saying 'Oops, we realised we sent you the wrong store' then proceeded to direct me to a store in yet a different State.

Get it together Vodafone. Nearly 11pm is too late to be texting customers and twice sending grossly inaccurate information is just incompetent.

Connections have been dropping a lot in a the last 3 weeks. I couldn't work from home on Tuesday because my blackberry kept on cutting out and my usb internet kept on failing.

6 days no 3G internet.
Spent 57 minutes on mobile phone (telstra) effectively paying 60 dollars for level 1 investigations and then escalation to engineering.

The customer service is a joke - some third rate call centre out of mumbai where a person reads from a screen and has no idea what is going on.

The reception is some bad it is not funny. Dropped calls, no net, just ridiculous.

The lies of the customer service reps, the false tests and the utmost waste of time is just mind boggling.

They cannot possibly continue to offer service contracts when the network cant even handle it!

They should be suspended from taking on new customers until such time as the network issues are resolved satisfactorily!

If you are with them get out... If you are not run...

I'm with 3. Identical issues to everyone else here. For the past three months basically have not had a phone service: 'Network Lost' and 'Cellular data' messages popping up ever 5 seconds, text messages gone AWOL for hours, not able to connect to the Internet at all, and basically gave up even trying to make a call as it would drop out without fail even though I live 5km from the CBD.

Bit the bullet and moved to Telstra yesterday. Feels sooooooo good! I'd forgotten what it's like to actually have a working phone. Not once in all the hours I spent trying to resolve my issue with 3 customer service did anyone admit it might be a network issue. They had me restore my carrier settings, restore the factory settings (I lost all my photos and videos of my 2 month old baby - irreplaceable), new SIM card, had the Apple Store run checks on the phone... They wasted so much of my time (which I very little of with a new baby).

I talked and talked til I was blue in the face, and they finally agreed to let me off my contract on the proviso I return the handset that I've been paying off for 14 months. I'm going to do it just cos I want this over (but there is still a threat of charging me $500+ if the find a fault with the handset! I don't think so, Tim). Anyway...

Class Action, people!!!! Is all I can say.

middle of Sydney CBD.. no reception. Sydney harbour?? forget it! North Shore? you must be joking! but if I dare to "opt out" of my contract... i get blacklisted. Vodafone should be blacklisted in the same way

have an extremely smart phone on an extremely stupid network.
I was ripped off.. this is plain fraud.

The connection keeps dropping off even in sydney cbd. My mobile has become so unreliable that I am thinking of getting a second standby mobile. I am repenting my decision to switch to vodafone from optus.

What is going on with their service (lack of)???? For the last 3-4 months, I have been experiencing 'unable to connect' messages when I am literally standing on the street in Sydney CBD. If you can't get reception in the heart of Sydney, where else are you going to be able to use your phone???? My latest phone bill was $500 - when I enquired why it was so high, the service rep told me alot of it was due to voicemail. What do you expect when for the last few months, my phone doesn't connect when people try to call through and are automatically switched over to voicemail....??? Not only that, messages (both voice and text) can be delayed for hours. Calls drop-out so I am constantly calling people back. My husband who is also on Vodafone contract has been experiencing the exact same problems. What a joke!

I am no longer in this mess, I used my feet and moved to telstra. The only real way to complain in capatilist society. It's your choice.

I've been dealing with VodaFAIL's customer support for the past 2 months. All started when i was in Spain and i got a text message saying that my bill has reached $850 and i need to pay or call them asap or my account will be suspended. Tried calling them but got a closed of business hours. I received the same message at least 5 times a day. Then i get a call from someone (in the middle of the night) telling me i need to pay my bill knowing that i had Intl roaming on. Then when i got my phone stolen, i had to buy an international phone card to call customer care but was on hold for 1hr, until my card ran out of credits. Asked my sister in OZ to call on my behalf, but she was on hold for 1hr and gave up. Returned to OZ and tried calling customer care again, was on hold for 1hr15mins until it hung out. Emailed support centre to ask for somebody to call me but was told they can't do that coz it's against policy...yet they didn't have any issues with calling me in Spain and making me pay!!! After my complaint, they were willing to decrease the bill to $300. Then i asked if they can provide any special deals coz i still have 13months on the contract with no iphone. First agent told me she can offer to put me on a new contract but i have buy a new phone and pay the exit fee, which i asked her how is that special goodwill deal? Hung up and then called back and spoke to another agent who were able to do something for me (probably only agent who did something right). During this time i had to go to the VF store everyday to see if they have the iPhone 4 in stock; every store gave me same rude generic response 'no'. 2wks later they tell me they can put me on a waitlist if i call their customer care. so i did, after another 30min wait. Spoke to another failed customer service agent who did not even read his notes before assisting me and made assumptions that were completely wrong. i had to escalate to a manager who then was able to put me up the waitlist and waived the delivery fee which this agent told me he couldn't do. TOTAL CRAP! And yesterday i got a letter saying that a delivery was attempted but no answer so need to pick up at the postal office. Went to work late today just so i can pick up the phone...they only delivered the micro sim!!!! WTF!!!!

This is just the customer service side so don't get me started with the constant bad reception and slow internet speed and i live within 4kms of Sydney CBD!

asked for roaming for my phone as needed it for business whilst in Asia, tripple checked with them, they promised it would work, got there, and no roaming, tried sorting it out online, said it couldnt help and to call a australian number tried and waited for1/2 hour at my expense from a hotel phone, tried callingto complain when i got back, was told i couldnt mke a complaint over the phoe and told to go online and write an email, that was three days ago still no response, chances are if they are trying to call me from a vodafone phone then their calls keep failing. Vodafone your service isthe worst!

Dropped calls, messages received hours after they were sent, voice mails appearing without ever having the phone ring, delayed voice mails. No 3G reception in major metropolitan areas such as the Sydney CBD.

The list just goes on and on... I've been relying on Vodafone as a business customer and it's become so ridiculous I've signed up for Telstra to get any decent connection service - yet I still have to pay these Vodafone clowns money for a service that doesn't work!

I've been with Vodafone for 3 months now on a new iPhone 4. I work in the middle of the Sydney CBD, and live in a suburb 7kms from the CBD. I get at least 5-10 dropped calls a day. The mobile internet works some of the time only. This all happens when I have FULL 3G coverage noted on my phone. Crazy.

I've been through 2 iPhones now as Vodafone insist it's Apple. The last time I went into the apple store they ran a diagnostic tool which told them how many call dropouts I have been having (date and time included). They changed it for the last time stating to me quite clearly that it is not the iPhone that is at fault; it is a network issue.

The icing on the cake is i have to wait for at least an hour on the phone on 1555 to speak to a real person. Just crazy, especially when you've been at work for 10 hours.

Years ago I was on the 3 network and left them becasue (a) it didn't work and (b) the customer service was non existant. Vodafone bought 3 over this year and inherited 300,000+ customers. This is obviously the problem as 3 did not have their own proprietary network; Vodafone's network now have to deal with these extra customers on the existing infrastructure.

Seems to me that 3 acuired Vodafone and not the vice versa!

I was told Vodaphone was the only one that did a $150 annual charge card for ipads. Telstra now does it. I bought Vodaphone and it's hopeless. I want a refund and will buy the Telstra sim card and credit.

I've been with them since I got my first 5110, had small issues along the way, but, my biggest problem - my current one, doesn't lie in reception/coverage issues, it lies in the fact that I called them to change to their $69 cap from the $49 cap, and then when I got my bill it had $1,034 on it.
ONE FUCKING THOUSAND DOLLARS! The stupid c's had re-contracted me. I have had that amount changed twice after numerous phonecalls, and now it's down to $68 or so... Fucking retards.
I'm on the phone to them again right now, waiting, so I can cancel my direct debit, as 1512 is still telling me I owe the fucks 1k.
Oh and to also check that my contract was restored back to before they recontracted me, cause they couldn't even do it when I was on the phone that time due to system errors.
What country do those backwards donkeys who answer their phones come from?
I need a gun.

I am a new customer, PAYING for 500MB per month (says so in the contract). Vodafone will only allocate 250MB to me. My suggested solution to this problem is: Vodafone should deliver its aggreed product. Customer service...I'm not sure I've had any yet (7 phone calls is my attempt to bridge the gap).
Upon examining call drop out, cost, flag fall and coverage, it is very likley (circumstance dependant) that the other networks offer a superier deal, despite less "call credit". Thanks Vodafail.

Can anyone get through "Customer Service" ??? They are an innovative company though. Rather than being on hold for 50mins, they now kick you off after 5... that way their stats look good

Vodafone has the audacity to throw millions of dollars on marketing and advertising at top tier sports events and yet provides a cheap and unreliable service. I can honestly say mobile reception is better in remote area's of Mozambique than it is in central Sydney with Vodapain.

ACCC. AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT. ANYONE ! PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THESE CROOKS. THEY ARE THIEVES. HOW ARE THESE COMPANIES ABLE TO CONTINUE OPERATE AND STEAL MONEY WITH NO CONSEQUENCES ?

Important work messages that come 1 day later, lost work, lost Clients, dropped calls, unable to make calls, no service. 3 hour wait times to speak to someone.

The worst phone company in the world.