First of all, thank you for setting up this website!

I had heard that Vodafone is relatively poor in terms of national coverage. Yet, because they seemed to offer the best value for money and the fact that I live in central Sydney, I decided to at least give them a go. In June last year I went to a Crazy John's shop (only sells Vodafone deals) and enquired about Vodafone's coverage. I was shown a map (same map that is available on Vodafone's homepage), where it showed that there was 100% coverage of the area where I lived. Just in case, I asked what would happen if their map turned out to be "wrong" in terms of coverage. I was told that all I needed to do was to bring the phone back in store and it would be cancelled. As soon as I got near our house in Watsons Bay in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney the reception got worse and worse... eventually, there was NO reception at all. Disappointed I drove back to the shop but was told that the cancellation process was a bit complicated... They sent me home and asked me to call Vodafone's engineers from my landline and explain my situation to them and only then Crazy John's could refund me. I spoke to three or four different people and no one really had a desire to help out. In fact, they were adamant that I was wrong...For instance, one guy said "No, you must be wrong, our maps show that there is perfect reception where you are". I gave up, went back to the shop and told them that I was not keen on spending the rest of the day on hold with Vodafone's customer service or with their engineers who did not want to help out anyway. Eventually, we agreed that Crazy John's would make the calls for me. About two weeks later, I still had not heard anything and I checked with Crazy John's and was told that they had "forgotten" to make the call... They did make the call and Vodafone eventually sent out a satchel for me to return the phone to them in. In the instructions it said in bold text and capital letters: make sure you remove the battery before you return the phone. I had bought an iPhone and was a bit perplexed as getting the battery out is not that straightforward. I found some youtube videos on how to remove the battery but the whole process seemed a bit dodgy. By accident I happened to read the instruction booklet and in the small print I found that if you remove the battery you cannot return the phone. I phoned Vodafone again and asked them what I should do. I was told not to remove the battery after all. I went to Australia post the next day thinking that finally I could get this whole thing out of the way. They asked me if I had removed the battery from the phone that I was sending to Vodafone. I told them what I was told by Vodafone. Australia Post refused to accept the satchel as it is against their safety rules to send phones with batteries inside. I went back home, called Vodafone again but was told that I needed to use the satchel they had sent me if I wanted to cancel the contract. The next day I went to a (different) Australia Post office and I actually lied about the content of the satchel... It did not feel good, particularly as I had to put my signature on the paperwork. It was sent away to Vodafone and I was very relieved when, a few days later, I found out that Vodafone had received it. Then, about two weeks later, I received a bill for the full amount of a month's usage. I can see how things get wrong when everything is automated so I simply called them and asked what the bill was for. They apologised and were actually surprisingly helpful that time. They told me that I did not have to pay anything as it was cancelled and that they were going to send a new bill that stated that I owed them zero dollars. The next bill, however, showed a new amount which was even higher than the first one :-)...It took another two weeks before everything was sorted out.

This was a something that should have been a very simple process. I am convinced that a lot of people would have given up half way through, which I guess, is how Vodafone makes a fair bit of money at the end of the day. I spent so much time both on the phone, by e-mail and in the store that I have become completely turned off by Vodafone forever. I will never, ever go near Vodafone's products again and I will continue to recommend friends not to have anything to do with them.

1) They use false advertising by saying they have full coverage of areas where they clearly don't. This is a serious offence that ACCC should look into.

2) They advertise a simple cancellation process, which is nothing but an administrative headache, which you need to spend several hours on to get to the bottom with.

3) Some of their customer service reps were nice and helpful (including staff at Crazy John's) while others were completely uninterested in taking any accountability.

I find it amazing that Vodafone spends so much money on advertising and sponsorship (e.g. the Ashes) instead of spending it on a good product and customer services!? Word of mouth travels far.