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 Pain
| ACT (1140) | Everywhere (19206) | NSW (7557) | NT (170) | QLD (3578) | SA (987) | Somewhere else (224) | TAS (242) | VIC (3573) | WA (1735) |
15491 Someone from VIC thinks vodafone is ridiculous promotion fail at 11 Feb 2011 02:18:03 PM
Have been with 3 for a number of years, and off contract for a few months. Just moved house and 3 reception was consistently poor to non-existent. Tested a friend's Vodafone sim and got much better reception, and despite my better judgement (being well aware of Vodafone's "issues"), went into a 3 store to migrate to Vodafone. I signed up for a SIM only $35 cap with 500MB data (month-to-month, not a contract). The salesman tried to select this plan which appears on the current brochure and the Vodafone website, but could only see one called "SIM Only $35 Cap 6Mths". He checked the details and it said 0 month term, but said to come into the store if there was a problem.
First problem, I tried to register for the My Vodafone online portal. Entered my phone number and was told a temporary password had been sent by SMS to my phone to confirm my identity. The password SMS arrived sure enough... 32 hours later. Obviously it had expired by then. I tried about 5-6 times before I finally got it within a minute and successfully registered.
Once logged into My Vodafone, I checked my data usage, and was surprised to see that I had 250MB data quota on the account. I assumed it was a pro rata amount based on my remaining quota from 3 and waited for the billing cycle to roll over. Nope, 250MB again. I rang VF Customer Care, told a very bored sounding woman my details and the problem twice, and was then told that the call centre did not have access to the plan and that I was on a 6 month contract plan with 250MB data.
So I went back to the store, and spoke to a very helpful staff member. He said the call centre have more access then them so being told to go back to the store was rubbish, but he called Customer Care on my behalf. He actually had to scan the brochure to show the call centre that 500MB was part of the plan. After being on hold for ages, he was told that the "6Mths" on the plan name was part of a "promotion", where I pay half-price for six months. That's the good news. The bad news is for those six months my data quota is also halved. I said, "That's a pretty shithouse "promotion". If I wanted to pay less for less data, I would have gone on a lower plan, don't you think? And also, for a "promotion", it wasn't actually promoted any where!" He reckoned the plan shouldn't have been on the system, and I shouldn't have been put on it. Luckily I'm not on contract so I can cancel this plan or change to a different one if needed (or go to a decent carrier), but seriously, what is the point of advertising a particular plan and then putting users on a lesser plan than the one they asked for? How is that in any way an incentive? Nice to pay less but if I want 500MB I wanted 500MB, not to arbitrarily halve it and charge me less!
First problem, I tried to register for the My Vodafone online portal. Entered my phone number and was told a temporary password had been sent by SMS to my phone to confirm my identity. The password SMS arrived sure enough... 32 hours later. Obviously it had expired by then. I tried about 5-6 times before I finally got it within a minute and successfully registered.
Once logged into My Vodafone, I checked my data usage, and was surprised to see that I had 250MB data quota on the account. I assumed it was a pro rata amount based on my remaining quota from 3 and waited for the billing cycle to roll over. Nope, 250MB again. I rang VF Customer Care, told a very bored sounding woman my details and the problem twice, and was then told that the call centre did not have access to the plan and that I was on a 6 month contract plan with 250MB data.
So I went back to the store, and spoke to a very helpful staff member. He said the call centre have more access then them so being told to go back to the store was rubbish, but he called Customer Care on my behalf. He actually had to scan the brochure to show the call centre that 500MB was part of the plan. After being on hold for ages, he was told that the "6Mths" on the plan name was part of a "promotion", where I pay half-price for six months. That's the good news. The bad news is for those six months my data quota is also halved. I said, "That's a pretty shithouse "promotion". If I wanted to pay less for less data, I would have gone on a lower plan, don't you think? And also, for a "promotion", it wasn't actually promoted any where!" He reckoned the plan shouldn't have been on the system, and I shouldn't have been put on it. Luckily I'm not on contract so I can cancel this plan or change to a different one if needed (or go to a decent carrier), but seriously, what is the point of advertising a particular plan and then putting users on a lesser plan than the one they asked for? How is that in any way an incentive? Nice to pay less but if I want 500MB I wanted 500MB, not to arbitrarily halve it and charge me less!
21 Feb 2011 10:07:45 AM: Just a follow up on this: I got my bill and of course it wasn't "half price" at all. I've called Customer Care three times about this issue and was told something completely different each time. One of the operators thanked me for being so calm and polite, as she was used to copping abuse from angry customers all day! The last CSR I spoke to said it was a "system error" due to Vodafone increasing the quota in their plans recently (doubtful as they've had this plan for ages), and she said she would increase the quota on my plan to 500MB. She didn't. It seems like they'll tell you anything to get you off the phone! It's also annoying that the CSRs never seem to leave memos/notes on your account about previous calls or complaints - every time you call, you have to tell them the whole story again, and they seem to have no clue what others have told you as none of it seems to be logged. It reminded me of that episode of "The Simpsons" where Chief Wiggum was saying to a caller "Yes, Mr Jackass, I'll just type it up on my invisible typewriter..."
20 Aug 2011 02:16:25 PM: Hi - very similar story for me. I rang a while ago to upgrade my data usage from the measly 50MB I was on. I was upgraded to the $35 SIM only Cap, having been told this included 250MB - plenty for me. Lately I have had some larger bills, and on closer inspection my data plan is still only 50MB! When I called the operator told me that a 50MB plan was the only plan available at the time! Bollocks!