About 16 months ago I made the biggest mistake of my life. I was no longer happy with my phone provider so decided to look into who was able to give me good service at an affordable price.
I decided to go with Vodafone Online, I'd spent about 2 weeks researching it all and the deal they had seemed the best. The sales team where fantastic at selling me a package including a phone and contract for 12 months.
I received my phone 2 days later and upon inspecting it realized there where 3 things missing from the phone - a micro SD card, the stylus and case. (The Micro SD card was vital for the phone operation).
I immediately rang Vodafone who gave me Nokia's number saying I would have to follow up the problem myself. I did so the long of the short of it is, after 3 MONTHS of going back and forth between Nokia and Vodafone I was told many different things - Both informed me that a new phone was on the way about 5 times and would arrive the next day, Both informed me that there was no issue raised about 3 times and despite having a list of call logs of who i'd spoken to and reference numbers for the complaints would have to start again, Nokia informed me twice that the issue was to be dealt with by Vodafone and not me, Vodafone themselves rang Nokia after I ended up INSISTING on them doing so and the Vodafone customer service agent was shocked at the treatment he himself received from Nokia.
I received bills for them and thankfully I hadn't actually actioned the phone yet and I had free 3 months on the contract (which by the end of the 3 months due to the fact I still had not got anywhere with getting a complete phone was upped to 6 months free usage)
I spoke to managers at Vodafone who laughed in my face and when I informed them I was going to take it to the ACCC told me I would have to get a complaint form from them which would cost me $20 and in her own words 'Good Luck, No one cares what you have to complain about cos at the end of the day you are just one person and you can do nothing'.
I contacted the ACCC who informed me to communicate via email to them so I would have written records. Guess what, they NEVER replied via email to me.... actually they never replied at all.
This whole time I had no phone at all, I was working nearly everyday and relied on a phone yet because I am also a single parent and on a government pension for it the rules are that you can only have 1 phone contract in your name and I didn't have the funds to pay for a pre-paid mobile... I was trapped.
Finally after 3 months of being lied to, passed around and not listened to, laughed at openly by the staff and managers and getting no where, I ended up snapping.
(Because I had bought it from the online store, I was not able to go into a store and have a human help me - trust me I tried numerously - all I could do was call their inhuman customer support numbers)
So I snapped and FINALLY after 3 months they sent me an envelope to send the phone back with and was told once they received the phone back and it was checked over by the 'tech team' I MAY have the chance to exit my contact.
So I received the envelope 3 days later, posted it within 5 minutes of getting it (I paid express post to send it) - 2 weeks later I rang, and it still wasn't processed, I rang everyday for another week and finally was told that, yes the phone had in fact arrived 2 weeks earlier and was processed and was now in the hands of the manager that had told me I was just one person and she didn't care about my complaint and the manager had in fact gone on holidays for 2 weeks and nothing could be done until she returned.
So I asked to be put through to another person who I had been dealing with and 2 days later I removed from the contract... So I thought.
I went down to my local shopping center to take on a new contract with a different provider and was not allowed to take it out as they had that I had unpaid bills with Vodafone and a current contract.
After 3 days of calls I finally received an email stating I was no longer a Vodafone customer and was able to present it to the new provider as proof.
I continued to receive bills for another 2 months (all 0 balance) and each time I contacted them and each time was told more crap.
Finally about 6 months after it all started, I was clear...
I will NEVER EVER touch Vodafone or Nokia again... the one piece of justice for me... I informed everyone I came in contact with over the 6 months who complained about me not having a mobile or being able to contact me sufficiently about Vodafone and what was occurring at the time, and I smile when I know because of my turmoil at least 300 people will now not touch them either!