i had two days of no service i thought it was my phone i put an optus sim card in the iphone... full service..... vodafone after nearly 2 hours wait basically said not our problem... seriously HOPELESS!!! and its sad they used to be excellent until they joined forces with 3

On hold for 30 mins. Then when i get through they asked me to call back in four hours due to system issues!! Totally rubbish

I paid many many many many many months of UNUSED mobile broadband because I could NOT use it. Not because I didnt want to use it.

Many attempted calls, went in circles at call centres - they make it too hard so you just give up.

They just kept taking my direct debit each month. 24 months of DEAD MONEY gifted to vodafone.

As soon as my phone contract finishes this month I will go to another provider. Im not even going to start on the reception of my phone. Somewhat usable however compared to unable to be used internet for 2 years.

I just bought 20 bux worth of credit to recharge my pre paid balance. Even though i was told the recharge wasr successful for some reason I am still unable to call or text anyone. Was on hold for a very long time too when trying to fix the issue...very annoying. I hope they can fix this otherwise i have just wasted 20 dollars worth of credit for nothing!

Our small business was told by the Vodafone sales guy that their coverage was 98% of the country's population and Telstra's was 99%. We went with Vodafone because they were cheaper. We soon found out that they were literally cheaper. In the last 12 months or so the dropouts and poor service has been a complete and utter nightmare and it is even worse for our Victorian manager. Dropouts in inner suburban areas is just not on. We have complained several times but like everybody else you just get nowhere. Now we find ourselves stuck in a contract with them for another 12 months and another 12 months of sheer frustration. Any suggestions for a solution to our predicament would be greatly appreciated.
PW. Gold Coast

I have a two year mobile internet contract with TRANSACT which uses vodafone network. In the past few months, the drop out rate is sometimes every few minutes and when it is on it's so slow that it's practically useless. Hello TRANSACT, are you going to do something about it or do I have to go outside the ACT to get a decent service???

Recently I went on a trip with some mates around Victoria. We were all with different providers.

Friend1 was with Telstra and had reception most of the time.
Friend2 was with Virgin and reception was not much different to Telstra
Friend3 was with Three and when '3' reception was unavailable it would go to the next available provider (e.g.Telstra)

Me - Vodafone had extremely poor reception. Why can't Vodafone set up there network to go to another available network when theirs is unavailable or unreachable? This would then probably provide regular logs for issues as they would have to pay the other providers when connections occur.

Another interesting point was that when I returned from traveling I checked the Vodafone coverage map and most of the areas that I had reception issues were apparently supposed to have coverage. It would appear that someone is not telling the truth about coverage and maybe it is time the TIO or the Federal Communications Minister stepped in to Audit Vodafone and ensure that they are telling the truth. The fact that a CEO can claim in the Apology that 'recent intermittent network issues that have impacted some of our Vodafone customers' indicates to me that they have no idea what lack of service has really been provided to their customers over a long period of time.

I'm on a business 69 cap and pretty much if I want to use the service at all I have to run my phone in 2g mode. If I enabled 3g on the HTC magic I get dropped calls, SMS's don't make it, or arrive! 2G web surfing is not possible so I am constantly switching between the 2 services. I have pretty much stopped using the phone for out going its completely unreliable. The only good thing is that we're now running froyo but nothing has really changed at all. 3g still drops out constantly. This makes me very sad. I've been with Vodafone for over 3 years. I'd switch carriers but its a company phone.

An observation about Vodafone (VF) coverage and peformance - we have been with VF for nearly 4 years and during that time we have observed that coverage has unquestionably and noticeably degraded. This despite the promises made by the staff when we re-signed after the 1st 2yr contract period. We are a business with 12 phones and we work throughout Victoria so we often experience no service/dropped calls and have several Telstra pre-paids which we use when working in these "no-go" areas. These "No-Go" zones are not diminishing - we still have the same problems today we had 4 years ago - what's worse is that we are experiencing more drop outs in local areas where we work and live - not to mention the 1 and 2 day old messages which lead to unhappy clients who you fear are thinking you might be fibbing when you tell them you didn't get their message for 2 days. We left Telstra after 10 years because they were incapable of stringing the words customer and service into the one sentence and were completely infexible to small business - we voted with our feet. Its nearing the time to vote again and we warming up the running shoes to make a fast getaway from VF - but where to go? The thought of going back to Telstra (despite their superior network) really chaps my hide and it seems from other peoples feedback that Optus is no better - Yuk!

Every so often I look at my phone and there is no metwork reception. I am in a known area (my home) that has worked without any issues for years. Lately I don't know why but the network keeps dropping out.

I phoned today to recieve some help in regards to International SMS. I am unable to send or recieve International SMS from my BB. I rang at 10:00am to wait for 1hr and be diverted to 3 different departments. When i FINALLY got to the last one - it cut out. Now i intially thought this was my fault. So i phone back and was made to wait 2hrs and be diverted to 3 departments again to be HUNG UP on a 2nd time. What is this pathetic level of customer service? I'd like to not only speak to someone from Australia, but i'd like them to actually HELP!! And to add to this, i sent a message to my brother yesterday and he did not recieve it until 2hrs later!! This is clearly not acceptable and is making me HIGHLY consider changing networks!!

For the past monht I've been trying to contact them to find out what on earth is going on. Calls drop out, no data available, calls just don't connect. The last time I actually managed to be on hold for over 25 minutes before the call dropped out... again.

Regular drop outs - unfair roaming charges, terrible customer service, atleast half an hour wait to get connected, and service staff cant speak english well.
I could go on and on and on... I am utterly dissapointed with Vodaphone!

New phone...been back for repairs(again)...still same problems...not happy with sending it again to be re-repaired. Went to close account and can't get through to customer support! Been told over and over again to hang up and try again.
Signal strength is crap!

You call Vodafone to ask how much is owing on a phone account that never works to start with, you wait 45 minutes to speak to someone that is in India, you have to get them to repeat themselves 4 times before you understand what they have just said. Then they tell you the system is down and I'll have to call back in 4 hours to ask again. If I charged vodafone my hourly rate for having to wait on their stupid call waiting system, they would owe me money. Your stuffed if you do and your screwed if you don't!!!!!

I use my mobile for work and If anyone tries to call my phone it says it has reception but my phone doesnt ring. and i never receive my messages until hours later.

I WANT MY ACCOUNT TO BE CANCELLED SO I DONT HAVE ANY PROBLEMS AND HAVE NO CHARGES SO I CAN MOVE TO ANOTHER NETWORK WHO CAN EFFECTIVELY SERVICE MY NEEDS

Vodafone put a default on my credit file after I had agreed with their collection agency on a repayment plan. A year after the bill was completely paid and the account cancelled, I had another call from them saying I hadn't paid my vodafone monthly bill - which was not possible at the time since I no longer had a contract with vodafone. I'm now wondering how I can get that default off. Anyone with suggestions?

my bills have doubled for two months and now the last bill has actually tripled....and i do not use my phone any more than normal.

Vodafone/3 network coverage map says that my new home is in an area with a full service. I'm lucky if I get to use the internet for 10 mins. My mobile phone drops out almost as regularly. I have just been to see the people in the shop and the assistant who dealt with me was super supportive and really fought on my behalf. As opposed to their technical help who told me that I needed a new pc operating system! I'm prepared to keep my mobile but I would like to have an internet connection. They have refused to cancel my 2 year contract which is only 10 months elapsed. Now I have to go through the hoops of switching to Vodafone to prove that that doesn't work, spend more money on monthly fees and getting more and more frustrated that I have no internet. Why can't they see that if I were getting a decent service, I wouldn't be in there complaining in the first place.

There is no 'best' network. A good network to one person may be the worst for another. It depends on where you live and the type of service you demand.

It's a good thing we live in a civilised country other most of the people here would be locked up.

Time for some balance to the discussion.

I have been on Vodafone pretty much since they started in Australia, using both voice and data, travelled overseas, and used vodafone in my business, as well for my family - (corporate and private).

Overall - i find them good - but not great - but honestly are the others any better??

So - first -The good.

1. 99% of the time i can make a call or use data when i need to.

2. Vodafone Business Support (and we only have six handsets - so we are not corporate by any stretch) - has never let me down. 'Consumer' assistance - 'Lara' is useful, but the rest is - in a word - a frustration.

I will also assume for the best part that Vodafone in Australia - unlike Telstra - have been able to optimally locate their Cell tower locations, unlike Telstra who needed to make use of their analog locations - which where sub-optimal for GSM.


But the not so Good.

1. i don't think i have ever - in more than 15 years - had good reception in any of the homes i have lived in - and others have shared similar stories - conclusion: Vodafone need to increase their output power somewhat.

2. Cell handover issues - as a regular - hands free whilst driving - user I can say that Vodafone have issues (and other may also) when a cell handover occurrs from 2G to 3G - with the result - dropped call.

3. Data on my phone - in some situations has been - just like the Telstra advert describes for 'other' networks.... hopeless.

Of late:

4. i have experienced the - delayed time to start call issues - that other have described.

5. Bitsy data - with my phone switching from HSDPA to 3G and back constantly - for some reason, and in most cases no traffic on 3G, only on the HSDPA - ??? Why did it need to change!


So in balance, i am not entirely happy with Vodafone, but choosing to stay with them out of loyalty, and better the devil you know that the one you don't. The comments of other Vodafail respondents having ill considered rants - are not helping - unless they are fact based, and constructive (having said that, i understand and relate to the frustration - but then changing providers is probably what you need to do.)

So, this has only made me less loyal, but not enough to change - yet! Who knows once everyone leaves vodafone, and they fix the network - they'll be the best network in Australia with very few using it.... food for thought.

I work for a retailer and am expected to be able to sell Vodafone along with other networks and have been having all sorts of bizarre issues like calling to activate a sim card and even after 3 days it not being activated.
I find it hard to even get decent service myself I have been with Vodafone and about 3 years ago switched to Virgin and their service is almost as bad, random outages, customer service treating me like the issues are my fault, not being able to send or receive SMS.

I see this happening with every one of the networks.
What the hell is going on with the Telco's in Australia I pay my bill every month how hard is it to provide me the service to send messages and to be able to make calls.

Not only did it take me four days to receive a picture via txt, even though I was in the same house as the person who sent it to me but the coverage continually drops and my phone can take up to 30 mins when playing a 'share game' to send the update. I NEVER had any of this trouble with 3. I hope when Vodaphone and 3 merge that we get 3's coverage.

i finally got through to them after 29 mins and then surprise!!! the phone got disconnected... can i swear on this web site?! f&#% .. piece of sh*%

I am a freelance designer and run my own graphic/web business from home. My iphone is my personal and buseinss phone and without it I would not be able to run my business as well as I do. I have had the same mobile number and have been with Vodafone for going on about 12 years!!

About 2 years ago I joined the iphone gang and upgraded to my first iphone 3. Towards the last 6 months of my 24 month contract all my friends refused to phone me because of the hastle of having to call me back 3-4 times for a simple 10min conversation. Stupid me thinking it was my outdated iphone, 1 month before my contract ended I pleaded with Vodafone to let me get out of my contract a little early and upgrade me to an iphone 4 thinking it would fix the issue!!.

HOW WRONG I WAS!! It dropped out just as much, if not more, even with the approved cover on the Apple Arial flawed phone.

When I rang Vodafone to sort it all out, I was on hold for 30mins with no direction as to they were busy, when I would be answered or anything at all.

After having even more disastrous experiences with Optus and Telstra, it seems as though that we are all destined to be screwed by every single available source of Telecommunications companies available to us.

Something needs to be done asap otherwise I will have to change carriers as I will not be able to run my business!

I live in Berwick and on the train not only does data drop out but also voice recepetion several times. Every second call i make they can't here me and I need to redial. So 2 connection fees. Thanks! And why, when I ring Customer Service, do I feel that they either don't get it or just don't care!

called vodafone to cancel a postpaid contract, it's taken over 25 mins on the phone and still no one pick up!

vodaphone is useless i thought it was only happing to my phone, having no recpetion in mitchell street and in parap is lucky to have one bar of reception. Ppl send me picture msg and i never recieve them or they come 2 days late! They say u have roaming when u go away and demand it from the shop and u find u go overseas and it actually doesnt work.. Telstra is the way to go at least u have full recpetion all the time and there plans are getting better. Nothing but problems with vodaphone

outgoing calls regularly failing to connect. very frustration trying multiply times to make an outgoing call.

I live in a suburb where a Vodafone sales person assured me also that I would receive coverage with no issues. Once I got home I had no bars. I went back in and they told me that it was because the iPhones didn't receive signals as good as other phones. I didn't immediately rule this possibility out, although I was skeptical, so I tried a different handset that they advised me was far better. I got home and still no bars. I swapped back to the iPhone because it was my initial preference and the different handset made no difference. I discovered that if I stood at the end of my driveway I could achieve the success of receiving 1 bar worth of signal, but only for short periods.

I tried desperately soon after the purchase of the contract to get Vodafone to see that the product I was sold did not meet the specifications it claimed and that THEIR end of the contract had not been fulfilled yet I was still paying for a product I could not use to to my being mislead to generate a sale.

Several months ago my 16 month old daughter had an anaphalactic reaction to something in some food and I was home alone with her. I tried the driveway and got 000 but the call dropped out. I ran to my neighbor to use their phone who, thank god was home sick from work. An ambulance arrived in time and everything turned out ok.

Whether it was the sales person or if it was wrong information provided to them by Vodafone, I was lied to. I have since been told by THE SAME sales person that there was a "mistake made" regarding the availability of service in my area, however, the coverage map that is shown on the website and in the brochures found in store still regard my area as a high reception area 7 months on from the 000 incident. I, and EVERY other person that comes to my area who use the Vodafone network still have either no reception, or such little reception that a sustained phone call is impossible.

I live in Dunsborough in the South West of Western Australia in a holiday town that can get an influx of 10000+ people per year. Over the past 3 weeks I have had phone conversations drop up to 4 times per call, people tell me that they have sent me SMSs which I have never received and that sometimes my phone is completely unreachable. All the while I am 1km from one of the most popular holiday destinations in the state.

I hate to think of the work and social opportunities I am missing due to Vodafone's inability to consistently provide the basic service expected of a mobile phone company. Frankly it is unacceptable.

besides the fact that it the whole process of ordering a iphone took me over 12 hrs on the phone to them and then, they send me a wrong sim to a completely different number. Then they once i have sent them a msg to check my accout on 1512, one day it said i owed $11 then 2 days later $940....??

i called up 2 weeks ago to find out what was wrong and the operator took 40 mins to figure out the charges... which were actually incorrect and i only really had to pay $110... i was promised a credit of $50 ....

i just received my bill and its not $110 that i owe but $289 and no credit.....

are these guys for real???

o and now its been .... let me check .... 29 mins that i have been on hold to get connected to the billing department to try to resolve this issue again hmmmm i think its about the 15th time i call..

stuck in a contract with no service despite paying my bills, they provide none or occasionally little service. constant data spinning....searching...Lara is NO help..3+ hours waiting for the Indians to answer then told 'we'll get back to you'..never happens, meanwhile the bill continues to arrive..or the service drops out before they answer...back to the beginning.
who knows how much business ive lost because of this. the facebook page for vodaphone is just some guy with placating answers too...useless.

i dont think they care.

utterly frustrated.

joined the class action..Dec '10.

i want out! lets just call it quits.

vodaphone = vodafail.

Spent new years in byron and didn't get reception for about a week while i was there.. there were a few times in town when there was reception but that was about it.

Also have no reception in my work office in the city (Sydney) which is frustrating when people call me and always go to voicemail. Calls are dropped all the time and often you just can;t call out when in the city or Bondi.

Vodafone has not delivered on its service which it continues to charge me for month on end.

I like everyone else is having the "drop out,poor reception,delayed txt & no Internet".
I have had a problem getting through to customer service....why? because me phone call drops out.oh the irony.
don't bother trying to make sense of the staff locatedin India.they have no idea what is going on. don't expect them to admit to their network having problems.the down-low on it.all of this has stemmed from a programming code that wasn't done correctly the first place.
don't expect it to be fixed anytime soon either.
essentially,either get your account credited or get out of your contract.
if you don't get anywhere go to the telecommunications ombudsman.
vodafone should be harshley reprimanded for the so called "service" they provide.
WHAT A JOKE VODAFONE!!!!!

Currently on hold for over 25 mins to pay a bill!!!
There is an error with the automated system so I am still waiting to pay a bill or maybe they do not want my money..
Goodbye Vodafone never ever will use them or recommend them to anyone..

My family live on a farm in Diamond Beach which is in the Forster/Tuncurry area of NSW.

They have no landline, and they are out and about most of the day. When I visit the farm, I have no coverage what so ever.

As I spent Xmas Day there, I was unable to contact family and friends for Xmas wishes.

More worrying, if I was on the farm on my own, any should any emergencies occur, I would not be able to call for help with using my Vodafone mobile, as it has never had reception out there.

The combination of these two, and the complaints on this site mirror the absolute scam that is the Vodafone telco.

Everything from there customer service Lara, to the Indian customer service makes the whole experience a disgrace to the way Customer Service is being conducted in Australia.

there is so many problems with vodafone! Firstly the reception. My mum has the crappiest phone ever and I have a nice touch phone and she gets better reception than me. Even in high reception areas my bar is on zero and i cannot make any calls or any texts. The staff never want to help when i go into any vodafone store, one time they just gave me a brochure and sent me on my way. My phone pooped itself while I was paying insurance, yet they insisted that insurance does not cover it, even though it wasnt myself. Was gunna charge me 200 dollars to fix the phone, so i went and bought a new one from elsewhere instead. I was on hold for an hour the other day waiting for someone to get me off hold.

Also, I have been missing calls from work due to my alarm stuffing up and the sound on my phone stuffing up, or the lack of reception! I am not happy with vodafone at all!! As soon as my contract runs out, I am switching to Telstra.

wireless internet drops out many times a day, only hope I have it long enought to complete this email.
My phone is with crazyjohns which uses vodaphone as its carrier, the phone just drops out several times a week, always have to dial again, and I live 3kms from cbd as the crow flies

In Aug 2009 when Vodafone switched over to 3G network, I was working in the NSW Snowy Mountains region. From Cooma through to Jindabyne, there was no Vodafone coverage at all.

I rang Vodafone, got through to their local Indian customer service centre, and was told that they had no issues reported in that area.

I then rang the local radio station, and there was widespread outage and complaints coming into the radio station about the coverage.

When I rang Vodafone back and advised that there was a local issue, again got told that the they had no reported outage.

As I was running a business which relied on my Vodafone phone, I was forced to get a pre-paid phone with another company.

Coverage in this area having just visited the area Jan 2011, is still limited from Cooma through to Jindabyne. Several call drop outs and no coverage experienced.

I feel your pain vodafail users... I have all the same problemos in Brisbane, brand new Nokia's latest phone and still all the same problems as am sstill with vodafone... not happy.

I'm texting all these chicks and only getting some of the messages back. The only reason could be Vodafail.

Any complaint made with Vodafone I think needs to be then lodged with the TIO. So when they call back with their weak answer I have a TIO complaint number for them and if I am not happy with what I get from Vodafone in terms of a reply or course of action then I can escalate it with the TIO. Vodafone is required by law to respond to a TIO complaint within 10 days of it being made. The TIO said 90% of complaints are solved at this level. Fingers crossed.

Constant drop outs, call sent straight to voice-mail, text arriving hours after it has been sent! (while I am in metropolitan coverage)

i am generally not unhappy with my 17 year experience with vodafone apart from the appalling lack of customer service by phone. lara is the most annoying and unhelpful voice on the planet. the voice recognition software does not work and getting to speak to a person is impossible. i currently have a query re my account and can't even contemplate ringing. my appeal is that vodafone ditch lara and replace her with people who can direct you to the right section to a person who can deal with the inquiry. for my landlines and internet i use westnet (iinet) and not only can you speak to someone but if they are too busy you leave a message and they ring back. amazing but obviously it is something that can be done.

I have purchased on contract 2 mobile and 1 internet plan, after being assured it would work in my area, to date I have no internet covereage, and can use my mobiles when I am on the road, some 200 metres from my home, rediculous.
Today i sent my wife to get telstra plans, so we can talk to friends and use the internet

When I was in Perth I had problems with Vodafone wireless internet. At the store I was told that my suburb had good coverage, however it turned out to be really poor. I complained to the store and they said it all depended on the positioning of my house and the locality of the transmitting towers... I then moved back to Canberra and coverage wasn't any better. I was annoyed but just waited until my contract finished and went with another provider (which incidentally provides better internet, more GB of downloads and is cheaper).
I now have an iPhone and so does my hubby. We frequently get people trying to call us but they are unable to get through to us. We often don't get notice of a missed call and/or a voicemail. Sometimes it takes a couple of minutes before a call connects. Pretty frustrating really. Now I'm on a month by month contract I might just switch to another provider...

ive been with vodafail for over 12 years and always loved it until a year ago when it really got harder and harder to do simple things like call or sms, i run a small bussiness with 4 mobile employees and when i cant contct them or them me it makes me lose business which in turn costs me alot of money.

It frustrates the hell out of me when i would have spent tens of thousands of dollars and all i get is an overseas call centre that leaves me on hold and ignores my very real problems.

Not to mention that they wrongly put a credit default against my name because some of the details matched mine!!!!!! Took three months of HARRASMENT for them to even hear what i was trying to tell them and then when they realised it wasnt me (mind you i was in the middle of trying to get finance for a home loan) the asked me to pay for it anyway!!!! I refused and a month later they then removed it after i had PAID for my own legal team to go after them!!!!

Hello, my broadband service never worked...they eventually told me to buy a sharing doc to improve signal strenth - didn't work. They told me they would deduct the cost of the sharing doc from my bill - they didn't do that. They told me I lived in an area with excellent coverage - what a joke! Now I am fighting them over the bill. I hate Vodafone more than anyone else.

I am eighteen months into a two year contract and have had nothing but trouble from the time I joined. The shop stuffed me around so much when I started with them, they had me out of service for over two weeks, then rang me to say I'd 'won' some kind of competition which entitled me to about $250 and that I could attend a ceremony of some kind in Sydney for Vodafone (BS!!!) think it was a sweetener as I'd contacted the ombudsmen. Now want out. Have had enough. No reception, call drop outs and messages not arriving for days. WTF?! Not happy at all!

I am 18 months into my 24 month contract, and it has been problems from day one.

I was supplied with a phone that had already been used - there were text messages saved onto the phone and the phone did not work properly, it was clearly a demo phone. After days of speaking to vodafone, and getting nowhere I went to the TIO. Only then did my issues become important enough to be resolved and my phone replace.

I have had terrible signal since the begining, my phone drops out calls constantly, I cannot connect to the internet, I have people telling me they call me but my phone does not work - This happened as recently as christmas 2010! I also have mobile broadband with vodafone - waste of time all it does is drop out constantly!
your right..vodafone is a massive fail. Impossible to get out of their contracts - as soon as mine is up I am connecting to another provider.

Firstly let me say that I have been a big supporter of Vodafone for quite a few years, even converted my partner and 3 brothers to join up.
I have had an ad listed on trading post for 3 weeks with my mobile as the contact number and not one person has actually gotten through to me. Even though I have been in areas with full reception and my phone shows the same.
Everytime I try to make a call I cannot get through to anyone. I switch my phone off and on and then all these voicemail msgs come through from people trying to contact me for the ad. I am losing a lot of potential customers and sales Vodafone!!!!

My far better half is very unwell in hospital, this morning I have tried to contact the good lady several times, only to be told by Lara 'The mobile service you have called is currently unavailable'on a constant loop.

I have contacted the ward and spoken to their staff who have assured me my ladies phone is on and fully charged.

Disgraceful and shame on you Vodafone, your inefficiency is now preventing communication to the sick.........and reading through these entries I am not alone!!

Initially had trouble getting my first account from them. After numerous calls to people who don't speak or understand english very well finally got my account 2 months after I initially signed up. Since then have not received calls or messages on occasions and had people complain to me that I haven't returned their calls after they have left numerous messages. Bit hard to return calls or reply to messages when you don't get them!!!! Calls also drop out and reception is bad. Don't bother using my partner's computer at home (on vodafone) as continually drops out, is slower than dial-up and that's if you can get on at all. When signed up asked about coverage in our location and was told that it was very good, reality is that it is very BAD. My partner tried numerous times over the last couple of weeks to get onto this site and eventually did, but had to give it a number of goes to get his pain posting in as it dropped out all the time. NOT HAPPY VODAFONE. Would like to be released from my contract so that I can sign up with somebody who cares about their customers and their business.

Firstly let me say I have in the past been a supporter of Vodafone but of late, the last 12 months, I am sick of the amount of calls that drop out for seemingly no reason and also those that drop out when receptin is lost. I travel regularly and am constantly frustrated at the amount of calls that drop out when i am discussing business. If you travel anywhere outside of the major cities you don't have much hope of keeping coverage, and even within the cities it is less than satisfactory.
Additionally, I have very limited coverage inside my house, and yes in a capital city. When I answer a call inside, the calls more often than not, drop out.
Quite often SMS don't come through until I make a call and I get a couple at once.
I recently queried why my account did not show that I had paid my last bill. I was on the phone for 22 minutes before I was forced to hang up. I then thought I would query via the customer support email system. I received an automated response that did not help. I then replied to that email through the manner written in the automated response to which I got another automated response. I still have not received any service from the customer support area.
Overall I am getting more and more unhappy with the service that Vodafone provide.

To anyone who is thinking of signing with voda. Go to toyworld and get a wiggles toy phone, much cuter and just as usefull and only a one off payment. I just don't use my phone anymore, definatly not for calls, no point. How have they got away with this for so long. Thanks for making us aware of how huge this is.

Purchased a 2 year contract with an iphone 3gs, from Day 1 poor reception or no coverage in certain parts of Sydney, No coverage in my home Sydney west or in my office Blacktown. The phone worked extremely well while traveling-roaming the VFONE Eu network. full reception at all times. After 8 months of heartache, I wrote to the communication ombusman, made contact with a VFONE representative"David" greatest customer service ever experienced. The Phone/acc where returned to the Tasmanian office and all was over so I thought.
I have contacted the billing dept on many occasions to resolve an invoice. ($59 plan costing over $200 for the month). No one returns my calls,On one call previously an operator told me all the history and calls where on record
then today, no history or anything.
Stop sponcering the major sporting functions and supported the users Vodafone

I have been with Vodafone for a year now. When I first got my iPhone with them in January last year it had screen issues, so I took it back to them and they sent it away telling me it will take 6-8 wks, and they had no replacement phones so I borrowed a friends and almost 6 wks later after I had contacted them to see what was going on, they informed me that the phone was at the shop waiting (thanks for letting me know). Oh and the upside I go in and pick up the 'new' phone only to realise they have given me back my old one which is still not working. So I took it back and they said they would send it back and I would get the new one this time, however this was all too hard as the shop assistant said it would take two wks and I went back exactly two wks later to see if my phone had arrived to be told by another assistant that the phone had never been sent off and the paperwork not processed, so I had to do it all again. Finally 10 days later I receive the new phone. Coverage is always pretty poor with vodafone.. but the phone is not the only problem.. I also unfortunately purchased broadband with vodafone, and WOW is what I have to say, as I was a F/T student an F/T worker for all of last year, so I needed the internet (considering my Grad Dip was soley ONLINE) mainly from 5-10pm at night and on weekends, however I either never had any service or if I did it would take approx 20min to download one page if not longer. I just didnt have the time to waste, so I relied heavily on using the internet at work and also a friend's, as I complained to vodafone numerous times to both the customer service centre and instore and they said they could do nothing, yay for me huh!!! Also my complaints were about the USB which would not register quite frequently, so that coupled with the fact that I for the most part could never access the internet, and never at the times I needed to (so PEAK times) meant that I was and still am paying for a service to which I do not receive. The last time I complained to the customer service was in November as I had taken the day off from work to study and of course my internet wouldnt even work during so called non-peak time, and the operator said that his supervisor had authorised for me to receive free of charge a wireless modem to assist internet activity, he told me I would receive it in 10 business days, funny that I needed it that day and the fact that my studies ended on Nov 12 so yeah kind of a bit too late, but I accepted it anyway..and I am still waiting for it. Oh and I just got internet back on my laptop, as when it would say no device I would uninstall and reinstall the program and it would work typically so I could access the internet on an infitiseminal scale every so often, but the last time I did it which was early Nov whilst on the phone to the vodafone operator, it would not register the device at all..and the guy said it is a problem with my laptop, well I disagree as the usb and internet very rarely work, so I consider that a problem with the service and usb itself. I finally got the device to register on Jan 2 this year so that was 2mths of paying for a service I did not receive and myself having to actually fix the problem caused by their device. Great Customer Satisfaction vodafone does not have, nor are they concerned with satisfying customers sufficiently, and we are not all naive to think that other TELCOs do not have problems, because we all know they do, however I have not encountered one until vodafone that had no regard whatsover for trying to provide a service adequately at minimum to its customers. Vodafone needs a more customer focussed approach wherein customer satsifaction is a priority!!

I have very poor reception at home and at work. The two locations I frequent regularly. In QLD, a few weeks ago, the internet was unbrearably slow on my iphone, so much that i didnt bother using it. my mobile broadband card (also on vodafone) wasnt much better.

It appears in highly populated areas Vodafone lack bandwidth. Its a shame my contract is only 3 months in.

Where do I beginning with this pathetic service provider! I stupidly thought that they were a great company as I had been with them for years on Prepaid, boy did I make a fatal mistake! Have had nothing but problems.... as soon as I signed up starting making payments to the bill as I was told that it would register on my account... HA! Missing payment which took feb all the way to October 2010 to get fixed up, I havent had proper reception where I work and data reception at home since i signed up, My iphone freezes when i hang up on calls, when i ring people takes me 5 times to actually hear anything on the other side as it just doesnt connect.. the list goes on. And im paying ahead for wat? No point me in ringing as they never do anything and blame it on me or the phone and that its got nothing to do with them not the mention the useless help from these overseas call centres that have a 10 sec delay when your speaking to them!WHAT A JOKE! As soon as I finish my contract thats the end of the vodafone! HELLO OPTUS, TELSTRA... hell anything but them!

I dont not have home phone or internet so my mobile phone is my life line. I also run a business with my phone. I am constantly having to call clients - family back as my calls constantly drop out. Most recently I had no service for days although my phone showed full service bars. Not being able to contact anyone was frsuatrating and I do not pay top dollar for a a service which include data services IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. When I spent all day last week trying to call vodafone as the local branch near my home closed down.... I was on hold for hours - called back, call dropped out - was going to have them call me back within 30mins (try 5 hours) to have a rude man tell me I was not the only person will issues. All I want is to terminate my contact - I will pay for the damn phone (just want my vodafone phone number disconnected) and they wouldnt listen to me.

i am almost finished on my 2 year contract and have had many problems over the time. when i first signed up i was told i would pay my first "post paid" bill within days at an estimated cost for the month, i found this unusal though paid up and will be interested to see what happens when i switch providers in march.

since then i have had constant cut calls, been unable to send/recieve messages at times when my phone shows i have full coverage. over 6 days during christmas in 2009 i could not make or recieve any phone calls. i went to a vodafone store and was told i would need a new sim card but would have to go to the store i signed up with; an hours travel as i had moved. i had to do this twice on two seperate ocassions before i was told there had been upgrades on the network and services had been down. quite frustrating during the xmas period with family living overseas. when i returned to a store to complain they told me it wouldnt be any use as nothing would be done. i called the complaint line and was told i would not receive any compensation or notice of other network upgrades.

my mobile internet is constantly slow and cuts out all the time and i cannot access many websites. my phone often frezzes and needs to be turned off and back on again at least once a fortnight and the battery runs out within a couple of days.

i'll be extremely happy to return to my previous provider (i switched only for the slightly cheaper call rates) in 3 months!

I was trying to get my daughter to the Nowra hospital with a temp. of over 40 degrees. We tried calling 000 to locate the hospital quickly as we could not get a signal to find it using the internet. Unbelievably we were disconnected! What a situation it was to be stuck in! Thankfully when we called 112 the call did not drop out. Your a DISGRACE vodafone!!!!!!

I have bad and slow 3G Internet for months. It tells me I'm roaming in Melbourne city. I also have a black spot in my room in Toorak, and spend days without reception over Christmas.

Having worked for Telstra billing though, I can safely say 90% of the comments here are exactly the same type of complaints I got every single day on the phone, and think it's just part and parcel of modern telecommunications.

Hopefully this page, the reports to the TIO, and the media reports make ALL the providers wake up and hopefully even see a change in the law so people unhappy with the service can disconnect from the networks without paying ridiculous exit fees.

Have received 10+ voicemails and even more SMS all in one go... Problem is.... Messages were left 2-10 days earlier.....

Service was disconnected twice due to vodafone dropping my direct debit info.

Have spent many hours over the last 15 months inshore, many more hours on the service/help (sic) line with operators disconnecting me when unable to assist or answer questions, so they 'transfer' me to no-one.

And to top it off, I even have 2 text messages from vodafone asking me to call them because....wait for it.... 'we can't get hold of you on your mobile'!!!!!

If they can't call me, how in the heck am I supposed to call them?!?!?!? My other phone (tin cans and string) don't reach Mumbai.....

And on more than a number of occasions I was told it is apples fault.... ..... And this was after 7 months of dramas and vodafone told me it would take up to 3 weeks to fix/swap the phone, so I waited for new software (which made no difference to the crap network service), finally got fed up enough to travel half a day to the Apple store and they swapped it over in less than 10 minutes... And guess what PROBLEM IS STILL HAPPENING ON THE NEW PHONE

VODAFONE YOU SUCK, you have cost me hundreds in lost business revenue, countless hours on hold (or 'try this try that' reset, reboot, oh and don't forget NAP TIME), and more than a couple of nights lost sleep due to stress and frustration!!!!

And yes vodafone, all this is logged in your crm system.

Oh, and get rid of Lara - she is as useless as udders on a frog.

it is likely turning the clock back to dial-up eras when it took ages to log onto the internet. This is definately not the type of service and quality consumers expect from a multi-national corporation like Vodafone.

I can't get reception in my flat, I can get it in 1 corner of the bedroom, not on the couch, not in the kitchen... it's so frustrating. My USB is pointless! I called them over and over and never got through, I refused to pay my bill, they cut me off, I told them Im not paying for something I cant use, they told me I had to pay it, and they they would see if it worked, they never rang back when they said they would! Im not paying it again!

Quite unacceptable service and access to the internet in Adelaide generally

eastern suburbs only 2 km from the centre of adelaide absolutely no service what so ever.I have to leave my house and walk 100m to get even 1 bar of signal, as you can imagine this can be very inconvenient not to mention that i can't use the internet through my mobile from the comfort of my home. Very slow access to the internet even if i have full service. I am paying a very high cap and what a waste of money. Once my contract is complete i will never use vodash*t again!

I am an international student and i bought a 24 month cap plan 3 months ago. Unfortunatly all my friends and family from various network in Kenya are not able to text and call me. My mother sends me texts through my brother's 3 line and my friends reply my texts through facebook. Its a nightmare and the 30 minutes wait with no solution is painfull. I hardly make domestic calls hence this line is absoluty useless to me!

I have had my phone replaced due to bad reception that has been costing me thousands of dollars in missed client appointments....the new phone did exactly the same thing so when i went into vodaphone the woman who runs the office said it was the networks problem then and if i was trying to use the phone inside then it would not work because vodaphone does not work inside....????? Ok no worries i will set up my office in the middle of a park then ..?? wonder if they use that in their advertising campaign????

Calls have been coming through and going directly to voicemail. A missed call has not been registering. My phone doesn't even ring and on some occasions I won't receive notification of the voicemail until the following day.

I have little to no reception where I live (Dunlop). The 3G internet is very slow and several times a day my Iphone registers no internet connection at all.

Further to this, I waited on hold for 50 minutes on 14th of December to order a new Iphone which I was advised would take anywhere up to 3 weeks. I called last week and was on hold for 70 minutes and hung up out of sheer frustration. I then called back on the 31st December and waited on hold for 20 minutes to be put through to a call centre in which I was told that I would receive the handset by the 6th of January... I am still awaiting the new handset at this stage.

I am in a city but get drop outs and times that can last for hours with no reception. I also find they often send texts more than once that im billed for when i asked about them crediting for this they said ok but only for me i said not good enough should be all people that it effects not just the ones with the time to call (took 40 mins to get any where with them). I hung up as i was getting very stressed with them.

I know my case isn't as bad as anyone elses, but my phone will say i have full reception and when I go to send a text message it can't send. This has never happened before. More often than not the phones reception will fluctuate wildly from full reception to no reception.

No less than 10 complaints to 1555 to try to cancel contract, 7 times they've actually called back, everytime the call dropping out after about 2 mins, with no other call backs... I could not be more over Vodafone...

I was an avid user of Vodafone in the UK for approximately 10 years with not a single problem. I moved to Australia 5years ago and continued with the Vodafone network thinking that it was one i could trust.
Whilst in the city for the first 3 years it was great.
As soon as i left the city it was shocking and through the last 2 years has gradually worsened - to the point now where:

- My calls cut out
- Some dont even connect
- Outside Melbourne is pretty much a no go zone
- Sometimes even in the city i dont have signal now
- some texts dont even make their way to me
- voicemails are sometimes received up to a week later
- And 'Lara' never puts me through to the right department without me having to try 4/5 times or more...

I know Australia is far bigger than the UK but seriously, did they not realise that when they tried to take on the beast!!?? Who is operating their strategic management of network coverage/issue resolution/customer care...
These people need to be either sacked for being incompetent or given the right amount of resource to be able to do their jobs effectively!

I'm sorry Vodafone, this loyal customer is unfortunately slipping away to one of your competitors, those who shalt not be named 'Telstra'.

I phoned Vodafone on 3/12/10 to change my direct debit account details, as I have commenced maternity leave ( ihave a newborn bub), and the account will now be paid by my husband via DD from his account.
On 31/12/10 we noticed that Vodafone had taken my Dec bill amount ($72.29) from my OLD account - which I cancelled as previously stated. On the same day they DD my husbands account for $275.63!!!!
I know EXACTLY what Vodafone has done:
When I phoned on the 3/12/10 to change my DD account details, the Vodafone call centre staff has updated this info to SOMEONE ELSES ACCOUNT. This is WHY my Dec 2010 bill has been DD from my OLD account - Then my NEW account details have been used to pay SOMEONE ELSES ACCOUNT! UNBELIEVABLE!

Since I identified this problem 3 days ago...I have contacted Vodafone via phone: 7 times- without any resolution, as the call centre staff couldn't understand my problem. Attempts to fax information as requested by a "supervisor": 9 times unsuccessfully. I have now also had 4 x txt msgs, 1 x voicemail (the line kept dropping out) and have submitted my complaint 2 x via online form on Vodafone website to "billing" & "legal", and have also emailed it to a "supervisor" from @3globalservices.com??
Words cannot describe how angry I am at this situation...I have been a loyal customer since 1996. I wonder how many weeks this will take to be resolved? What about overdrawing our account? leaving us with no money over the NY weekend/pub hol? Yep nice work!
Vodafone = A FAIL OF EPIC PROPORTIONS

p.s. have notified banks of "unauthorised direct debits"

I received an email from Vodafone advising me my bill was attached.
When I clicked to open the email, I noticed it was not addressed to me but to another customer in another state!

I signed up with vodafone only 3 months ago and ever since then I have had nothing but trouble. Extremely slow internet/no internet, one bar of coverage at my house! (I live in a city and have NEVER had only one bar at home), my calls drop out, my call fails, text messages and pictures messages always fail, I recieve friends messages and picture messages FOUR DAYS later... the list goes on.
The worst part is I have only just signed up and i'm stuck in this contract for at least another year and a half. How is it fair to be paying $90 a month and not getting the service i signed up for?

I've been a vodafone for approx 5 years and have lived in Marrickville/enmore for most of that time. Over the past 6mths it has become increasingly difficult to get network coverage at home. Now I need to get in my car and drive a few blocks away before I will recieve or be able to take calls. I first complained in Sep last year and went through several steps with the customer service people to try & improve network coverage (yes and waited up to 20-30 minutes at times for assistance). In spite of being told again and again and again that my issue was being escalated, nothing has happened. I'm now in email correspondance with vodafone, begging to be released from my contract so I can source an alternative telco provider. I simply want to be able to make and receive calls on my phone in my own home. I have contacted TIO and notified vodafone of this contact. Vodafone responded by saying I now need to take it up with TIO and follow their process. Basically they know I have no network coverage yet they are willing to drag this out as long as they can. I believe what they are doing is unethical. I am so angry with the way they are stringing me along. I'm frustrated and feel powerless.

Was promised perfect 3G access for mobile broadband with a usb dongle. Never got so much as a signal, canceled the contract the next day and am still receiving bills about 6 months later. I ignore them, after all what are they gonna do? cut off my service? ha ha.

I have had my new apple iphone with vodafone for 6 months. i have had nothing but trouble. Constant Drop outs, Loss of Network, No reception, receiving pxt messages sometimes takes 3-4 days from when they are sent to me and that is if i receive them at all! I have delayed voicemail normally approx by 8 hours! It is absolutely ridiculous. I contacted Vodafone in October last year and they told me that all of the trouble was because they were merging with another provider and that it would take some time to amalgamate all of the towers but that once it had happened it would all be better! I'm still waiting!!!!!!! Worst frustration is that being up the river over xmas and new year i had no phone reception what so ever, yet all of my family who are with numerous other providers had full recepion from each of the providers! Vodafone are supposed to be one of the biggest phone companies in Australia and yet all these dramas just never seem to get fixed. I AM OVER IT! I will be changing as soon as my contract is up! I'm counting down the days.

Apart from the all day drop out that my 15 phones had to endure, constant drop out and garbled voice reception in some areas of Perth it's average to say the least. I jumped from the frying pan (3Mobile) into the fire (Vodafone), wish I had nothing to do with anything that 3Mobile has a part of.....

Haven't been able to make phone calls out from Manly NSW area for last 2 days. Text are getting through. . frustrated..

The service is fine wherever I go - but not where I live - Turramurra!

I live in Newtown NSW and the drop out rate of calls is enourmous, also every month I have been over charged by anywhere from $40 to $100 I have two services on one bill, one is my sons mobile and his is even worse than my coverage and half the time I can not get hold of him, I am a single full time working mother and if I can not get hold of my son I stress. If there was an emergency more times than not he would not be able to ring or recieve calls. I can not wait for my plan to be up so I can change networks.

Finally after 17 hrs i think i have service on my HTC DEsire but via the E (Edge i think)

Because of unbelivable poor coverage or drop outs, it is becomong increasingly difficult to work at home anymore. I have not got a land line(who does these days)but have to eother now go into the ofice to make calls or gop outside, where it sometimes works. It is adisgrace. I have GPS and have been on trip driving through NSW and to Victoria and back, and I used to LOL witha friend about when I could get a call through. The problem is, is that it seems to be getting a lot worse. If I could get out of the vontarct today and swap to Optus or Telstra I would do immediately. But this always seems too hard to do

the stupid web site always has a tech difficulty when trying to log in to view my usage.
the last time i recharged it also double charged me cause it such a heap of shit,
pissed off!!!

Renewed my contract on line before all this blew up.NOw i have a new phone a new contract.And as of 5pm Monday 3/1/11 untill 9.58am 4/1/11 i have not had any service on my phone. Thats almost 17 hrs of No service>Not what i signed up for.

Now, according to media reports, Vodafone is blaming complaints on their customers. Apparently we are all whining so that we can get free iphones. ACCC, please take notice. These unscrupulous operators will stop at nothing to mislead the public and yourselves.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/vodafone-says-customers-tried-to-whinge-their-way-to-free-iphone-4/story-e6frfro0-1225932587861

I have had terrible 3G speeds (similar to dialup speeds if it is working) in the Ryde area in Sydney metropolitan since before Christmas. I have just been told by Vodafone that they are upgrading in this area, and they expect to have completed in 4th week of January. I am paying $75 per month ($69 dollar bundle with USB modem) for this terrible service, and they offer a $10 credit!

3 months of service failure, followed by a month trying to get out of contract. Once I took my number to another provider they said I will have to payout the remaining 20 months of the contract.

when ever you ring vodafone, the hold music is horrible, its like there isnt enough bandwith to play the music as it cuts out and plays in a terrible sound quality, as its struggling to make a sound...

just pathetic!!

I have been unable to send outgoing emails for over a month now from my newly aquired Window's Phone (HTC Trophy 7). Have been told by Vodafone support that the outgoing mail server is down due to merge with 3 network failure with NO set time of solution. Am I the only one?

In the last six months Vodafone have turned down there transmission power giving poor to very poor signal strength.