I bought a new vodafone phone for my daughter to use after checking the vodafone website to see that Albany in WA has reception. We found there was no recption from our home and pretty much everywhere except the centre of town even though we are situated in what is considered the middle of the city. After numerous calls to vodafone to get an unlocking code so we could at least use the phone with another provider we were told it costs $25 to do it online plus an extra $50 because the phone is less than 6 months old. I was quite prepared to pay the $25 but not the $50 as it wasn't my fault we couldnt use the phone. Every time I spoke to someone about the issue they told me they couldnt help me but would refer me to their supervisor who would contact me. I told them not to call the vodafone number as we get no reception and as a consequence our credit also expired as we couldnt use it in time before it expired. Receiving messages is the same problem as we had no credit to retrieve them. They never replied and so I had to keep ringing them and telling the same story to someone new with the same result - I'll get someone to call you. It wasnt until I threatened in an email to report them to the TIO that I was sent an unlocking code which did not work and so I had to continue making calls until I set a time limit on contacting the TIO. That is when I at last got someone sensible on the phone who told me that obviously I needed a new unlocking code and that when she receives it she will call me on my other mobile and walk me through the unlocking process with the code. It finally worked and we havent looked back. I will never use vodafone again and have also told anyone who will listen in Albany that vodafone has no reception here so DO NOT BUY VODAFONE.
Now there is this problem of leaked personal info - I wonder about identity theft and who knows what transactions on my credit card. Where does this leave us???