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) |
20508 Someone from VIC thinks vodafone is Escaping contract on death... at 2 Jan 2012 01:16:18 PM
My Father passed away on the 31st of October 2011, he had just signed up with Vodafone 1 month before his untimely passing on a dual contract with 2 phones, one for him and one for my mother.
I rang 'customer support' a fortnight after his passing after dealing with his death and going through the funeral etc to try and get the contract changed to my mothers name and find out what we could do about returning one of the phones as my mother can no longer afford or need to be paying a bill for two phones and contract(which isn't in her name as it stands). After going through 5 different people over a 2 hour period and having to explain the situation to each and every one of them, you can imagine the anguish I went through having to explain that I had just lost my father over and over again, I thought we had it under control....how wrong I was.
Mums phone was immediately disconnected as along the lines somewhere they had taken the wrong number as the one that needed to be disconnected. So back on the phone the next day and back through the same scenario of explaining over and over again to numerous call center staff. Mums phone was reconnected again.
2 weeks later a bill arrives for 2 phones and contract still in Dads name and Mums phone is disconnected again as the bill is now over due. Back on the phone again same as above and trying to keep calm through it all and not throw my phone at the wall....phone is reconnected once again.
A week or so later once again Mums phone is disconnected again, so at this stage I had enough of the 'customer support' and went down to one of their stores, living in a small rural town this is a 1/2 hour drive each way. When I first walked in the staff were all busy dealing with other customers both in the store and on the phone with their own problems so I waited the 15 minutes till one of them was free. Immediately knowing from the dumbfound look I was getting from the juniors that this was going straight over her head I was passed onto a more senior staff member and had to again explain the problem. So now she has to get on the phone to 'customer support' and goes through the same dance as I did. It was taking was taking a fair amount of time so the girl took down my number and told me she would call and let me know what was happening when she had it all 'sorted' and that we shouldn't need to return the other phone.
A week before Christmas Mum gets an SMS from Vodafone saying that she will be receiving a bill for $2500 and it is now passed due so her phone is once again disconnected. So I jump on the phone to the girl at the shop to try to get it sorted and she tells me Mum may have to come into the store to view her license to get the contract in her name but to give it a couple of days for it all to go through. 4 days later no call and Mums phone is disconnected again. I ring the store once more but the girl is off sick so I tell them I will call back after Christmas as we were going away anyway. Wednesday last week I call back and the girl is still off sick and will be for the rest of the week and is then going on 2 weeks leave....
I left details with the girl I spoke to and she got in contact with the first girl and they were going to look into it. Friday I get a call that its still being looked into by the first girl and being that its coming up on New Years it probably wont go through till Monday. Monday (today) still disconnected so I ring the store again and they are still waiting to hear from the first girl so here we stand still waiting 2 months after for it all to be sorted out.
I hope your having a giggle Dad.RIP.
I rang 'customer support' a fortnight after his passing after dealing with his death and going through the funeral etc to try and get the contract changed to my mothers name and find out what we could do about returning one of the phones as my mother can no longer afford or need to be paying a bill for two phones and contract(which isn't in her name as it stands). After going through 5 different people over a 2 hour period and having to explain the situation to each and every one of them, you can imagine the anguish I went through having to explain that I had just lost my father over and over again, I thought we had it under control....how wrong I was.
Mums phone was immediately disconnected as along the lines somewhere they had taken the wrong number as the one that needed to be disconnected. So back on the phone the next day and back through the same scenario of explaining over and over again to numerous call center staff. Mums phone was reconnected again.
2 weeks later a bill arrives for 2 phones and contract still in Dads name and Mums phone is disconnected again as the bill is now over due. Back on the phone again same as above and trying to keep calm through it all and not throw my phone at the wall....phone is reconnected once again.
A week or so later once again Mums phone is disconnected again, so at this stage I had enough of the 'customer support' and went down to one of their stores, living in a small rural town this is a 1/2 hour drive each way. When I first walked in the staff were all busy dealing with other customers both in the store and on the phone with their own problems so I waited the 15 minutes till one of them was free. Immediately knowing from the dumbfound look I was getting from the juniors that this was going straight over her head I was passed onto a more senior staff member and had to again explain the problem. So now she has to get on the phone to 'customer support' and goes through the same dance as I did. It was taking was taking a fair amount of time so the girl took down my number and told me she would call and let me know what was happening when she had it all 'sorted' and that we shouldn't need to return the other phone.
A week before Christmas Mum gets an SMS from Vodafone saying that she will be receiving a bill for $2500 and it is now passed due so her phone is once again disconnected. So I jump on the phone to the girl at the shop to try to get it sorted and she tells me Mum may have to come into the store to view her license to get the contract in her name but to give it a couple of days for it all to go through. 4 days later no call and Mums phone is disconnected again. I ring the store once more but the girl is off sick so I tell them I will call back after Christmas as we were going away anyway. Wednesday last week I call back and the girl is still off sick and will be for the rest of the week and is then going on 2 weeks leave....
I left details with the girl I spoke to and she got in contact with the first girl and they were going to look into it. Friday I get a call that its still being looked into by the first girl and being that its coming up on New Years it probably wont go through till Monday. Monday (today) still disconnected so I ring the store again and they are still waiting to hear from the first girl so here we stand still waiting 2 months after for it all to be sorted out.
I hope your having a giggle Dad.RIP.
To the issue with your phones and your late fathers contract, from what you have said it certainly appears to me that VF have yet again failed in their duty of care to their customers.
Your solution however is very simple - - - - contact the TIO and tell them what you have told us, simple copy and paste of your post will suffice.
I think you have given VF a very fair crack of the whip with the resulting unnecessary and insensitive emotional trauma to both your mother and yourself.
It should be a clear cut process.
TIO details found at the top of the page under the How To Complain tab.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Vodafail.com Moderation Team
I forwarded the information on to the TIO via a link to this post as it would not fit into their 1200 character box, received an email back saying they needed it to be sent via email or fax but I didn't worry about it as I foolishly gave Vodafone the benefit of doubt after receiving a call from the girls in the shop saying that the transfer staff would be contacting us within the week to get this sorted out.
We received a call from Vodafone Thursday last week from the transfer staff to get the account in Mums name all went well phone was reconnected again within 5 minutes all outstanding fees were waved second phone doesn't need to be returned and mum placed on a single account on the 50 a month plan.
Thought all was good and this was the end of it all until I received a call from mum on the land line this morning (Monday) saying she was back on call restrictions....
Email has now been sent to the TIO.
Vodafail.com Moderation Team