IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ANYONE CONTACTING VODAFONE:

1) BEFORE PICKING UP THE PHONE WRITE DOWN THE DETAILS OF YOUR EXPERIENCE AND PROBLEMS IN FULL, AND THINK OF A FAIR SOLUTION (I DEMANDED 12 GIG OF DATA FOR FREE TO COMPENSATE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE TO MY BROADBAND SERVICE)
2) CALL VODAFAIL
3) ANSWER SECURITY QUESTIONS AND GIVE THEM YOUR DETAILS AS REQUIRED
4) ASK FOR CALL OPERATOR'S DETAILS: NAME, CALL CENTRE LOCATION, EMPLOYEE NUMBER (THIS ENSURES THAT THEY ARE ACCOUNTABLE AND THAT THEY WON'T "ACCIDENTALLY" HANG UP ON YOU IF THINGS GET TRICKY, LET THEM KNOW YOU'LL NOTIFY VODAFAIL SHOULD THE CALL DROP OUT)
5) STATE YOUR PROBLEM IN FULL. DO NOT LET OPERATOR INTERRUPT.
6) (OPERATOR WILL NOW COMMENCE MAKING EXCUSES OR DISMISSING YOUR COMPLAINT) AT THIS STAGE YOU CAN TELL THEM THAT THEIR EXCUSES ARE NOT NECESSARY, AND THAT THEY HAVE 2 CHOICES:
OPTION 1) THEY CAN GIVE YOU COMPENSATION (MAKE A SPECIFIC DEMAND AND STICK TO IT: E.G. 2 FREE MONTH'S PHONE USAGE, OR 12 FREE GIGS OF DATA - THINK OF THIS BEFORE CALLING)
OPTION 2) YOU WILL CONTACTING THE "TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY OMBUDSMAN", "THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY", "TODAY TONIGHT" AND "YOUR LOCAL NEWS PAPER". YOU WILL JOIN THE CLASS ACTION WITH LAW FIRM "PIPER ALDEMAN" AND SUE VODAFAIL BECAUSE YOU ARE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION
7) TELL THE OPERATOR TO GO AND TALK TO HIS/HER MANAGER
8) THE OPERATOR WILL COME BACK SAYING THEY CAN GIVE YOU SOMETHING SMALL (E.G $20 OFF YOUR BILL OR 1 GIG FREE DATA). IF THAT IS NOT TO YOUR SATISFACTION TELL THEM THAT THEY ARE FORCING YOU TO TAKE OPTION 2 AND THAT YOU WON'T ACCEPT ANYTHING LESS THAN WHAT YOU STATED IN OPTION 1
9)THEY WILL GO AND TALK TO THEIR MANAGER AGAIN
10) THEY WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU ASKED FOR AND TELL YOU THEY JUST WANT TO RETAIN YOU AS A CUSTOMER
11) SAY THANK YOU AND THAT YOU APPRECIATE THEM NEGOTIATING AN AGREEMENT, AND THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO BE AN "ANGRY CUSTOMER" BUT THEIR APPAULING SERVICE CAUSED YOU TO HAVE TO CALL THEM. LET THE OPERATOR KNOW THAT YOU HOPE NOT TO HAVE TO MAKE THIS CALL AGAIN

IF THEY DON'T GIVE YOU WHAT YOU ASKED FOR IN OPTION BE PREPARED TO TAKE OPTION TWO AND FOLLOW THROUGH WITH IT.

KEEP IN MIND EVERY SINGLE COMPLAINT TO THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS OMBUDSMAN RESULTS IN VODAFAIL BEING FINDED $190, SO THEY WILL BE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU FREE STUFF TO STOP YOU FROM COMPLAINING. IF YOU RUN A BUSINESS YOUR COSTS COULD BE MUCH HIGHER THROUGH LOST BUSINESS REVENUE - IN THIS CASE DEMAND PROPORTIONAL COMPENSATION, AND IF THEY FAIL TO COMPENSATE YOU ACCORDING TO THE INVONVENIENCE CAUSED THEN JOIN THE CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT THROUGH LAW FIRM PIPER ALDEMAN

I rang them up and told them to give me a gobby for all the trauma they caused me, and the customer service operator caught the next plane from sri lanka to my place, and actually gave me a gobby! Stoked!

no mess
for the past 6 years ive been with vodafone and 3, when 3 was just new i went to them (just because they had good deals) and the 4 years i was with them, no complaints no worries, no nothing, been with vodafone now for a couple of months, again no worries, no stress, no problems, no issues..
no i lie, the only issue and problems im getting is with other people who are bagging me out, telling me im wrong and stating how the service doesnt work for them, so i must be wrong. how am i wrong, if i never had an issue??

After emails, hours on hold and "we'll get back to you" I also emailed CEO Nigel Dews at lunch time and had a phone call back at 3pm from the TIO resolutions team. The Guy I spoke did not try to talk me out of it, was from Australia and was very helpful. Both my husband and my contracts have been terminated. Both had another 11 months on them. We can keep the handsets. And we also do not have to pay December's bills on both accounts! Telstra here we come...And make sure you ask for them to email the outcome so you have proof of what they said!

Contacted TIO, released from contract.

Gain = now with Telstra and I can make calls and access data.

Call from the response team. Offered credits against all my acocunts until march. If they still have problems after this date they will organise releasing me from Conract.

Gotta agree with the comments below , Dont abuse the people on the phone , Its not thier fault this is happening.

Three things are certain in life. Death, Taxes and no vodafone coverage.


What did the Vodafail executives say when CEO Nigel Dews said he was quitting?
"you can't quit, we've got you on a 24-month contract"


One Vodafone customer calls the other. What did they say?
What does it matter they couldn't hear eachother.


Constipated? I suggest signing up with Vodafone. Their mobile coverage is guaranteed to give you the shits.

got sick of 3's patchy coverage and terrible 3G network so I decided to swap over to Vodafone as I heard it was free.
the service was just as bad so I decided to do what other were doing and jump ship.
called up vodafone on 27th Jan to complain about the service.
they said 'oh, we'll lodge a network evaluation with our technicians and get back to you in 3 days'
reading what other fellow vodafailers had posted, I knew they weren't going to get back to me so I decided to email the TIO.
got a call from a lovely girl from Vodafone today (8th Feb)allowing me to exit the contract and port to another carrier with the option of paying for my iPhone 3GS 32GB for $100 which I accepted.
so now I am free of vodafone and im going to pop into a telstra store tomorrow morning and start enjoying a good connection :)

to ANYONE who is with vodafone and wishes to get out of there contract follow these simple steps.

1. Call vodafone, complain about recepion/coverage.
2. Email/Call TIO and tell them all the details.
3. Recieve call from Vodafone resolution center.
4. THATS IT.

you're welcome,

and thanks to all that have shared their gain, has made my experience much less stressful.

My thanks & congratulation to Adam Brimo for setting up this excellent webpage, it's brilliant! The stats page is excellent - Methinks the folks at VF will be in major damage control mode, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the VF CEO's office.....
Thanks again, MB in Cairns

Walked into store with phone that had been barred for some reason, couldn't make calls, pissed as all hell, spoke to a surprisingly helpful & polite staff member who walked me through every single part of my contract, my bill and explained what happened. turned out when I started my contract online I spelt my own email address wrong and never got any bill to pay. 3 months with no bill pay, service was cancelled. #myfail. Staff were really understanding though, I thought they'd be hard to deal with, especially with all this press. But I've got to say, they were very professional.

When I have credit I cannot access many pa.rts of internet like youtube. Funny that when I am out of credit I can access YouTube and download all I want for free.wtf over20gb worthand no fee.thanks vodafone I know not to recharge unless I need fone calls but free internet I will skype

It began by a bluff. I told them I was recording them. Vodafone customer care disconnected me for recording. After that I did record almost every call without telling them.
After registering a complaint with the TIO, I informed Vodafone on the next exchange that I was done talking to them until such time as I knew the TIO had contaced them. No More. As a guess, I have some 10-20 hours of calls recorded.

Today, someone in Australia from Vodafone called me. They were ready to play ball and see the end of me.

The contact (name I failed to get. My failing there. He was everything I wished Vodafone had been the past three months.) and I reviewed the history. I explained to him, I dissect spin every day. Just cut to the chase.

I recently changed from prepaid to contract. I am two months into a 12 month contract. My remaining contract was waived, no exit fees. Plus, they had already given me two free months. Basically cancelling out everything. Last was the phone to deal with. An LG Optimus. Retail about $260. Asked to send back, or make an offer to buy. I offered $100. They took it.
I have now gone w/ iinet. Who operate on the Optus network. Not the cheapest rates. However, I have been with iinet for years with my internet. The best customer service I deal with. Always honest, even when there have been faults- which are rare. Happy to spend money with a company who wants to supply a top notch service.

The saga is not complete yet. Once my new SIM cards come (moved my wife too) and the whole shebang is complete. I will post a comment saying so.

Thanks to this website and all the troubled folks who shared tales of woe.
This shows the power of the people when focused. Thank the Flying Spag Monster for the Internets. Our Voice. Our Power!

I took my new Voda smartphone overseas in September, and made sure I read all the instructions and fine details to make sure it was switched on to Vodafone Traveller so my phone would work overseas. I even called Voda before I left & made sure I'd done it right, & they said I had. My travel partner had done the exact same thing with his Voda iPhone. Sure enough, I get to San Francisco & my phone's can't connect to any network there - its access is dead as a dodo. His worked, mine didn't, nomatter what we did (and we're no luddites). Eventually, with no other options, I hunted down an internet cafe - because you had to email them if it was a tech difficulty! My 4am query marked "Urgent - no access" was eventually responded to by a person 9 days later, who then 'activated' my account for overseas use (i.e. what we'd done back home weeks before). All up, I had a completely unusable phone for over 11 days - including through a family health crisis when I couldn't even call home. Today I asked them for an apology and a credit for the 11 days. I didn't get the apology (of course! but worth asking), but they did give me a $20 credit on the account. That's pretty close to my pro-rata monthly fee, so I figured that'd have to be good enough. It's not a massively inspiring story, but hey, it's something. Solidarity fellow Voda sufferers!! Ciao.

hey guys,

I finally called vodafone to start my process of getting out of my contract, however after talking to the technicians and then cancellations they allowed me to port my number over in the next hour.

the main hints that i can really give you is that :
1) Explain your situation clearly ! tell them what ur experiencing, i had no recpetion in my own house, and 2 bars outside, and clearly told them that im paying them for a 3g service that i dont even get in my own home !! its ridiculous that i would have to go outside just to recieve phone calls.

2) Be polite ! i myself work for a mobile carrier, and i can tell u that the people that come in yelling and screaming are the ones we end up not giving a shit about and hand balling to another department.

3) Be clear on what you want ! The Technicians offered me 25% off for the next 3 months, the cancellations team offered me 50% off for the next 3 months, but both were unacceptable, why am i paying for a service i dont get ?

4) if you don't get what u want hang up politely ! if Cancellations team refuse to Waive the ETC's for you just grab their name, and a interaction (note) number and hang up and go to TIO.

Good luck

Called Vodafail sometime back to complain about call drop outs etc and was told it would cost me $1,200 to exit from my 2 year plan. Lodged a TIO complaint online (very easy) and about 7 days later was contacted by a Vodafail Customer rep. She had called me on my mobile but as the call was dropping out she called on my landline. She then had the audacity to say - we don't have any evidence of your call issues - I asked her why she was speaking to me on my landline and she said...Oh yeah...! Anyway, she told me an engineer would have to assess my line etc etc - I told her that this wasStep 1 of the Vodafail strategy and that instead we would be proceeding to Step 4 - that is, exit the contract (due to unilateral failure on Vodafail's part) and no exit fees. She said, Oh OK. Next I went into Telstra and signed up on the $49 plan - but my SIM wouldn't work. Telstra efficiently troubleshot the issue to my handset being locked to Vodafail, despite me paying to retain the handset. A call to Vodafail's call centre came up with a beauty. Yes, my mobile was locked to Vodafail and No I couldn't unlock it via their website because Apple (yep that's right) hadn't uploaded the IMIE number of phone and this would take 4 working days!! Next morning I called Apple who not surprisingly dismissed the Vodafail excuse as utter nonsense - in fact, the helpful guy I spoke to looked up my mobile's number and said Yeah I can see you are locked to Vodafail. Another call to Vodafail wherein I told then about their bogus excuse and surprise, surprise, my mobile could now magically be unlocked. Since switching to Telstra - 100% coverage, no call dropouts and texts actually send and are received within seconds - so long Vodafail - you truly are a useless company. I feel sorry for the very friendly staff at Vodafail. Key tip - remain friendly throughout your dealing with Vodafail but firm. Good luck!