My father passed away in September and my mother contacted Vodafone to inform them of this and to close the account. I faxed through the death certificate and a letter informing them of his passing hoping that this would be it. No, the very next month my mother received a bill for $23. Again I faxed through the death certificate after they told us that there was a discrpancy on it as on the account my father's initials were JL instead of LJ. Fair enought I thought, but that fax sat on someone's desk with the account and contact details on it yet nobody bothered to contact us regarding any discrepancy. My mother's stress soared again when yet another letter arrived saying that there was $23 on the account accrued after his death and after she informed them of his passing. I rang Vodafone only to be left on hold for ages before speaking to an Indian call centre operator. She informed me that she could not access his account without his pin number. I did not know it, neither did my elderly mother, why would we? She persisted in asking me again and again only for me to demand to speak to a supervisor. Finally after me losing my temper and telling her short of exhuming him and raising him from the dead there was no way to provide a pin number. I then spoke to a supervisor who lo and behold unlocked the account details without me knowing the pin! After much berating from me and threatening to contact the ombudsman and A Current Affair he told me it would be rectified. Thankfully this was the end of it, but it was a lot of emotional stress and needless pain for my mother to endure. A local call centre or point of contact could have saved my mother and me the stress of dealing with such incompetent staff.