Dear visitor,
Since its inception Vodafail.com has made a significant
contribution towards raising awareness of the problems and issues faced
by Vodafone customers.
Vodafone Australia customers have had the opportunity to voice their concerns, their fears and their troubles from every corner of Australia and beyond our borders.
You have gathered the courage to stand up for your rights as consumers and to make your voice heard.
Each and every person who shared their story should have a sense of pride in this achievement and the changes that have occurred since the start of Vodafail.com.
More recently, traffic to Vodafail.com has declined significantly.
Having achieved the goal of raising awareness and promoting concrete action in early 2011, we have now reached the point of closing Vodafail to new complaints.
The site will remain online for as long as possible as a
reminder and an example of what is possible when we share our experiences.
It has been a privilege to run this initiative
and I'm am forever grateful for the help and support I've received. In
particular I would like to thank Melissa, David and Travis for their
continued efforts over the past 15 months. I'm also thankful and humbled by the support of ACCAN, Choice magazine and a wide range of media outlets, blogs and websites.
You can still browse existing stories and find out how to file a complaint if you are experiencing problems.
Until next time,
Adam Brimo
Share Your Gain
| ACT (25) | Everywhere (404) | NSW (170) | NT (3) | QLD (65) | SA (16) | Somewhere else (6) | TAS (5) | VIC (86) | WA (28) |
13193 Someone from NSW thinks their gain is POOR at 21 Jan 2011 06:41:09 AM
For the past year and a half I have had network coverage problems ie: calls dropping out; no reception (generally in the heart of the Sydney cbd and at Sydney airport; message and voicemail delays or not receiving messages at all; long waits for up to and over 1hr to customer support only to be hung up on and then have to call again and wait yet another hour; no 3g signal; takes up to 10 minutes+ to log onto any website including Vodafail and these are just some of the issues I have faced.
When I first received the phone I took it back to nokia on 4 different occasions because I thought it was the phone, however I continued to have these problems and now for the past 6 months I have tried periodically to contact Vodafail regarding my ongoing problems.
Recently I had, had enough and went in to 4 different Vodafail stores to get some help as I was getting nowhere trying to call. On all occasions I was told by Vodafail staff... "we can't help you, call customer support" and despite my protests about the poor service and not being able to get through to Vodafail, the Vodafail in store staff would walk off and talk to others; talk between themselves whilst I tried to voice my concerns; or completely ignore me and walk out into the store room.
When I realised I was not going to get any sort of response from the useless in store staff I resorted back to calling the Vodafail customer support line. On Tuesday 11th Jan 2011 I had to make 3 calls to Vodafail all for and waited approx 45-1hr each as each time before I had my call answered and each time I got in contact with a Vodafail rep the line would mysteriously drop out. When I finally got through I spoke with a so called "customer service rep" who was more like a rude cleaner who stated "I can't help you and won't help you because that is not part of my job, call us back tomorrow for the right department". I then demanded to be put through to the Manager.
The manager of customer support in India who I could barely understand with the accent and also because of the bad reception had to call me back twice because the call dropped out whilst I was making my complaint. When I finally got to speak with her she informed me that the Vodafail Cancellation team will be calling me back the next day and will be releasing me from my contract immediately due to all the problems I am facing and the poor service I have received.
I received a call 3 days later from a technical support person at 7pm. The technical support person then stated they would not help me and would not put me through to cancellations and stated I would have to do their investigations before Vodafail will let me talk to the cancellations dept. I did their investigations whilst also contacting the TIO for support. I was informed by the tech support team that I would receive a result by the 18th Jan. I did not hear back from them until the 20th of Jan 2011 informing me that their investigation had revealed I had poor signal coverage.
Finally I got to speak with the cancellations department and after having to call back twice due to bad reception and call drop out and yet and hour wait each time this is what finally happened.
The cancellations department then tried to sell me everything under the sun and give me offers to keep me as a customer... I informed that staff member that I do not want any of the offers and all I wanted was for Vodafail to released me from my contract as promised and also as Vodafail have been in breach of the contract for the past year and a half in the way of poor service as well as the above mentioned problems.
I was then informed that I would need to pay my next bill and a cancellation fee and send my phone back to Vodafail before I can be released from my contract. I then informed Vodafail that this is unacceptable and I would be taking Vodafail to the ACCC and TIO and I would not be paying any bills or cancellation fees. After trying to negotiate with yet another useless Vodafail staff member who I could barely understand and was continuously making mistakes and putting me on hold I asked to be put through to a manager.
I then negotiated with the cancellations manager and had my previous bill waived and my next bill waived. I then was then also told I had to send the phone back so they could waive the cancellation fee. I decided I would send the phone back, because it wasn't worth the pain of trying to keep it. No to mention it is the worse phone I have ever had.. (also suggested by useless Vodafail staff)
I am now currently waiting for this package so I can send my phone back and was assured as soon as they receive the phone I will be out of my contract and will receive a confirmation letter of this with nothing further to pay.
As a Vodafail customer of 12 years I feel very ripped off and completely unappreciated.
1. because there is no loyalty and during this whole process I was being fobbed off and passed around to different Vodafail staff to try and get me to just go away.
2. because I am loosing out.. I have not been compensated in any way for this time wasted out of my life and money wasted. Not to mention even though I have been paying for the phone for a year and a half I still need to send it back which leaves me with nothing but a big whole in my pocket and an empty wallet with nothing to show for it.
I know I'm not the only one having these problems.... and so to anyone else out there reading my story... the best advice I can give you is don't let them push you around and push them to do something about the problems your facing... don't stop until they release you from your contract. If after contacting Vodafail a few times you get nowhere contact the TIO and the ACCC immediately!!!
Good luck!!!
When I first received the phone I took it back to nokia on 4 different occasions because I thought it was the phone, however I continued to have these problems and now for the past 6 months I have tried periodically to contact Vodafail regarding my ongoing problems.
Recently I had, had enough and went in to 4 different Vodafail stores to get some help as I was getting nowhere trying to call. On all occasions I was told by Vodafail staff... "we can't help you, call customer support" and despite my protests about the poor service and not being able to get through to Vodafail, the Vodafail in store staff would walk off and talk to others; talk between themselves whilst I tried to voice my concerns; or completely ignore me and walk out into the store room.
When I realised I was not going to get any sort of response from the useless in store staff I resorted back to calling the Vodafail customer support line. On Tuesday 11th Jan 2011 I had to make 3 calls to Vodafail all for and waited approx 45-1hr each as each time before I had my call answered and each time I got in contact with a Vodafail rep the line would mysteriously drop out. When I finally got through I spoke with a so called "customer service rep" who was more like a rude cleaner who stated "I can't help you and won't help you because that is not part of my job, call us back tomorrow for the right department". I then demanded to be put through to the Manager.
The manager of customer support in India who I could barely understand with the accent and also because of the bad reception had to call me back twice because the call dropped out whilst I was making my complaint. When I finally got to speak with her she informed me that the Vodafail Cancellation team will be calling me back the next day and will be releasing me from my contract immediately due to all the problems I am facing and the poor service I have received.
I received a call 3 days later from a technical support person at 7pm. The technical support person then stated they would not help me and would not put me through to cancellations and stated I would have to do their investigations before Vodafail will let me talk to the cancellations dept. I did their investigations whilst also contacting the TIO for support. I was informed by the tech support team that I would receive a result by the 18th Jan. I did not hear back from them until the 20th of Jan 2011 informing me that their investigation had revealed I had poor signal coverage.
Finally I got to speak with the cancellations department and after having to call back twice due to bad reception and call drop out and yet and hour wait each time this is what finally happened.
The cancellations department then tried to sell me everything under the sun and give me offers to keep me as a customer... I informed that staff member that I do not want any of the offers and all I wanted was for Vodafail to released me from my contract as promised and also as Vodafail have been in breach of the contract for the past year and a half in the way of poor service as well as the above mentioned problems.
I was then informed that I would need to pay my next bill and a cancellation fee and send my phone back to Vodafail before I can be released from my contract. I then informed Vodafail that this is unacceptable and I would be taking Vodafail to the ACCC and TIO and I would not be paying any bills or cancellation fees. After trying to negotiate with yet another useless Vodafail staff member who I could barely understand and was continuously making mistakes and putting me on hold I asked to be put through to a manager.
I then negotiated with the cancellations manager and had my previous bill waived and my next bill waived. I then was then also told I had to send the phone back so they could waive the cancellation fee. I decided I would send the phone back, because it wasn't worth the pain of trying to keep it. No to mention it is the worse phone I have ever had.. (also suggested by useless Vodafail staff)
I am now currently waiting for this package so I can send my phone back and was assured as soon as they receive the phone I will be out of my contract and will receive a confirmation letter of this with nothing further to pay.
As a Vodafail customer of 12 years I feel very ripped off and completely unappreciated.
1. because there is no loyalty and during this whole process I was being fobbed off and passed around to different Vodafail staff to try and get me to just go away.
2. because I am loosing out.. I have not been compensated in any way for this time wasted out of my life and money wasted. Not to mention even though I have been paying for the phone for a year and a half I still need to send it back which leaves me with nothing but a big whole in my pocket and an empty wallet with nothing to show for it.
I know I'm not the only one having these problems.... and so to anyone else out there reading my story... the best advice I can give you is don't let them push you around and push them to do something about the problems your facing... don't stop until they release you from your contract. If after contacting Vodafail a few times you get nowhere contact the TIO and the ACCC immediately!!!
Good luck!!!
21 Jan 2011 10:25:53 AM: Thank you for the encouragement! I am at the stage where I am waiting for the supervisors supervisor to call me back as I have waited 5days only for the tech team to announce that there is NO issue at my home address! Garbage!
22 Jan 2011 07:35:24 PM: Dont hold your breath, the supervisors supervisor will back the supervisor. What you will then need to do is lodge another complaint and hopefully for you, the supervisors supervisor will get his supervisor to check if the supervisors supervisor needs a bit of extra supervision
26 Jan 2011 07:09:39 PM: 'No' answers always suck.