I live in Broadbeach, Gold coast, Qld and have had various problems with my Vodafone pre-paid mobile phone account for the past couple of months. I have been with Vodafone for about 4 years but I am going to change carriers. Some of the problems I am having are: Not receiving calls, several attempts to make calls (call failed), no reception (emergency only), calls dropping out, phone freezing up or tuning off, battery dying quickly, occassionally not receiving sms.

I have been having problems with my bills for months, i was using my phone last month and the customer care free text message to get your balance was stuffing up it wasnt giving me a proper balance, so come to get my bill they said i owed them $130 but before this i was $122 in credit on my account so they have wipped my credit and said i owe them, so once I argued with them they realised it was there mistake they have only credited me the money they over charged me and now I am on hold for over 30 minutes to speak to someone to get back 63 dollars as the next bill has come in on my 49 cap with $9 insurance.

data plans...dont they charge exhorbitantly and then fleece you by wrong billings. Check this..I am subscribed to vodafone live 1 GB plan, Iphone plan and another vodafone live plan. and i have used a total of 200 MB data, going by my plans i should not be charged anything extra but amazingly they charge me additional for 100MB of data for no joy while the customer executive is trying to convince me that the bills 200,000 kb is actually 2GB of data

vodafone sucks! rubbish reception, bad data connection, indian call centre which i cant understand what they are saying half the time, rubbish plans, billing is a complete mess, VODAFONE SUCKS

Poor coverage, drop outs, incorrect billing, delayed text messages that are sent and received, absolutely shocking customer service if you can term it service. It caused me an argument with my ex boyfriend, he claimed he was ringing me, I didn't get any missed calls, he said he was sending me messages that I did not receive, we argued over whose phone was at fault. But it had nothing to do with our phones, it was the dysfunctional network!!

My billing cycle os from 15th to 14 th and upto now it shows i have $7.68& 255 mbps outstading as of 4.30 pm today and the bill shows I owe them $1.65
How on earth this is possible. I have problems with getting sms and people calling my no coming as a voice mail. Really have got no clue wht to do with it. Every time I call the customer service minimum waiting time is 45 mins and most of the time they r simply clueless.

After transferring the title of my mums mobile to my name, fought with vodafone for MONTHS n MONTHS to transfer $150.00 of money i'd paid previously onto my mums account to my account. they stuffed me around n around n around, told me 7 times they'd sent a cheque out, told me 12 times they money was being put into my bank account, still NOTHING... finally reamed them soo hard i got my money back and a new phone but now the coverage is worse than ever, texts are delays, apparently my phone is switched off all the time so people get my voicemail, when a text goes thru, it sends once off my phone but ther person i sent it to is receiving it multiple times... i want out of vodafone but they dont listen. i have 2 young kids and cant afford for vodafone to keep stuffing up!!

I'm with three/3, live in SE Melbourne - and i don't have an bloody coverage!!!!!!!!!!!!! not even to check my account!!!!!!! far out! AND I'M ON A FRIGGIN CONTRACT!

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN,

PLEASE IF YOU NEED TO CALL VODAFONE:

WHEN YOU GET ONTO LARA JUST SAY "ACCOUNT ACTIVATION". FOLLOWING THIS JUST SAY "COMPLETE REGISTRATION".

The average wait time is between 30-45 seconds. Longest I've ever waited was 2 minutes. Now for the tricky party...

In order to get your problem addressed, make a fuss, be annoying, create problems, be demanding, don't take no for an answer, demand supervisors etc... I'm sure by now you've all had lots of practice with this. Following this, demand that the relevant department call you back or they put you straight across. It'll save you the average wait time of 30-45 minutes for any other department. Don't let them dictate how we should get customer care. Screw their inept policies, procedures and simplistic problem solving/delegation.

I have been overseas for 8 weeks and I haven't received any notice of the due payment. I just got back and my phone has been cut off without ant warning. I wet to one of the stores in Bondi and the staff referred m eto call a number ( as always). They still keep adding dollars to my account even though they are not supplying the service. This morning I have been 25 minutes on waiting to get to someone that was going to put me to a voicemail system!!! I got very upset. to top it all the coverage in Bondi is really bad. I have been complaining for months they have changed my sim card but still many times the coverage is really bad. I have been with vodafone for more than 4 years and I haven't get any compensation what so ever. VERY VERY FRUSTRATEDDDDDDDDDD

I have just received my bill via email and when I opened the pdf attachment it was for another customers account. Full name, address, mobile number and call records laid out in front of me. I tried ringing Vodafone and we all know where that ended up. I think I might ring the girl on the invoice and just let her know.

This is my Vodafone story...

I received a call from Vodafone('s computer) 2 days ago saying that 2 months of bills were overdue and they would cut me off next week if i didn't pay them. Fair enough. So i logged in to my email to see my bills, but they had not sent either of them to me. They did however send me an email that said my bills were overdue. In this email there was a link to view my bills. I clicked on the link but, of course, that just lead to an error saying they were unable to open that bill.

So, I tried logging into my MyVodafone account online. Not ever really using this before I did not know my password so I answered the secret question instead, which was my father middle name. They told me the answer to the question was wrong 3 times before they locked me out for 24hours. I know my fathers middle name.

I decided to try and call them instead, but found that even though they had told me only a few hours earlier that my service would not be cut until at least next week, they had cut my service.

I walked into a Vodafone store yesterday and asked the sales rep to bring up my bills for me. After looking at the overdue bills, I decided it was fair enough to just pay the money.

On my way home from work (before I was able to pay the bills) my phone was reconnected and a million messages came through, one from Vodafone. The message told me that for the current month (not the overdue ones) I owed almost $100 over my cap for services that the cap does not cover. I am 100% sure that I did not use any such services.

I went home and called them again from my recently usable mobile phone. After dialing 3 times to 3 different Vodafone customer service numbers which all quite literally hung up on me every time I tried to get through to a customer service representative, I was finally put on hold the forth time.

After over an hour on hold, someone finally answered. To compensate for their shitty service, he is (apparently) giving me $20 off my next phone bill - which may I add, does still not even nearly equal the amount of money they are trying to overcharge me for for my current bill.

He put me through to the billing service to assist me with my issues and told me there will be a 7-10 minute wait on hold. 2 hours later, some one finally picked up. He said that Vodafone cant even view my bills and that they have to investigate which will take up to 5 business days, however they assured me that my service would not be cut before that time and he would personally call me on the 21st of January.

Today my service was cut again...

We have terrible signal at home. The only place we can get a signal is at the end of the driveway. Fat load of good that does if its raining. In the House or in the back yard, virtually nothing. Definately not good enough to call with. This doesnt happen with other carriers. Other problem is I had to go over seas for work, asked what the call rates were, then when the bill came at the end of the month the rate was almost double what i had been told. called Vodafone "customer service" and said that thats what rates were and had to pay the bill. They also called my wife 10 days into my trip (i was uncontactable for big parts of the trip)and said the system had picked up on an unusually large increase in spending on the account and had to pay at least half or they would cut the service. I had rung them though before i left to inform them of the international usage. i have been with Vodafone for a bit over ten years and its the only company i can think of that as technology gets better, the product and service gets worse

I have been with Vodafone for over 2 years and in that time every month there has been over charges on my account, they have charged my partner for excess data when his phone does not have the ability to use data, and they are completely impossible to deal with when you can actually get a hold of them. I have not been able to ring customer care off my mobile ever and get cut off nearly every time i get through on another phone!!!!! BIG FAIL

I went to get a mobile broadband plan with Vodafone in November last year. Service was alright until I had 1 bar 3G signal, incredibly crap speeds, & it has stayed that way since beginning of January 2011. So much for a network maintenance, which some foreign customer service guy claimed would not take longer than a week. Must be some lying generic response, just an Indian version of Lara. The towers seem to be unable to handle the amount of users they are constantly attracting and taking in using their misleading marketing. Vodafone emphasizes their 'good' coverage and 'speed', which is so abysmal that even a snail can travel faster than the data that reaches my usb modem. Im living in a suburb with 3G coverage, but the connection dropouts are just appalling. It happens every few minutes. There is no point in using GPRS mode, since it's even slower than the oldest person alive. These days I seem to be paying monthly fees for nothing. You get several GB of usage and you can't even use it. This is seriously epic fail. It all started with me reading Vodafone's ad clustered site for technical information regarding coverage, speed, & service. They claimed to cover metropolitan areas, which included the suburb I live in. They claimed a reasonable speed range that most other telcos quote and boasted about their service. Then I waited an hour at the store to be served, the dealers seem to rather enjoy chatting with one customer at a time very slowly until their shift is over. To me, it felt like days. Finally I got my plan set up. After sorting out the VMC software problems, the product worked (yes I know strange as it may seem, it actually worked for a few glorious weeks) until it struggled again. Here I am, poor signal for weeks, 0-20Kbps 3G, & almost non-existent service. Even if the network tower is not far away & there is nothing major blocking the signal. Heres where the pain begins that customers have endured. I called Vodafone technical support 35 times, 30 of them were Lara transfer problems leading to call cut offs. WTF is the point of Lara's telemaze if it leads to cut offs. It's like having to solve a f*d up maze only to reach a dead end. The other 5 times led to horrid patchy musical hold up times equivalent to a theatrical length film. Finally I got to a foreign guy who told me these lame responses, which I, a pc expert, would have already tried. He still insisted me to try his troubleshooting even though I told him 10 times I've already done it. Ranging from reinstalling the device & software to deleting browsing history. Lame. Still got crap speed & signal. I really need to 'troubleshoot' someone in the head. Then he rambles on about a network upgrade in my area. Another generic response in their agenda. AND they always say there is no deadline for these upgrades. I hope people don't have to wait a lifetime's journey to get full signal again. Knowing their call centres are foreign these days, I gave up because even maintaining a call with them (that is prone to dropouts) will take blood, sweat, & tears. Now we have 12000+ Australians lobbying for a lawsuit against Vodafone, for reasons similar to my woes. I wouldn't be very surprised. We also have a recent issue involving customer data security breaches over the web. All Vodafone does is tell us that everything is fine. IT IS NOT. Whirlpool forums is packed daily with unheard complaints of Vodafone's services. In fact the threads are so vast it could form a large encyclopedia or a Lord of The Rings novel. As for the Vodafone staff seeking sympathy, think again. You are the cratered face of the company, so you must deal with the aggressive amount of recent customer woes. It is us customers that have all the power in the end. We can choose, in the extreme case, to do a mass exodus rather than put up with Vodafone's recent incompetences. We suffering customers (which seems to be a majority of Vodafone's customers in Australia, looking at how many complaints have plagued across the net) could all leave Vodafone & go to Telstra, Optus, etc. That will leave Vodafone Australia dying out of business, which will mean the Vodafone staff will lose their jobs. But then heres another issue. When customers attempt to cancel their plan & account, the customer service person attempts to hold on to the already dissatified customer for dear life like a leech, offering lame discounts & bartering. We shouldn't have to pay the remaining cost of the plan if we get slow unusable 3G net for weeks on end. We shouldn't have to rely on TIO and other full blown agencies to get our word across. This Vodafail site clearly indicates the last straw for the telco. It's just ridiculous, seeing that 'Vodafone' is an international business. If Vodafone doesn't fix these customer & network services, then too bad for the future. There won't be much for the telco to fix once its over. Not to mention the irony of 'gain sharing', I can barely post this using my Vodafone mobile broadband.

The saga continues, this is my 5th day, 3 times a dya 15 minutes at least...and still couldn't make it through to customer care!!! the only one i spoke to is Lara which makes me feel like a fool!!! I just want to close my account, I cant take it no more ... even closing the account is not that easy

At end of billing cycle there was a random $40 amount owing which suddenly increased to $50 overnight, during my sleep...

Dodgy bill. Totals billed do not add up.

Continous inconsistent billing

Ive been with vodafone for over 11years and ive never hated them more!!
Your speech recognition has got to be the most useless in the world. Not to meantion the fact that you speak to someone that barely understands a word that you say and when they tell you that they have helped they have done nothing more than mess up your whole account. You call for help and instead they do you over! Useless Useless USELESS!

Advice to anyone considering joining the vodafone family... DONT!!

Was overcharged on my bill over a period of 4 months to a total of $900. Tried ringing them on numerous occasions to try and retrieve the credit that was sitting in my account. finally get through and 2.5hrs on hold and the bloke tries to convince me to leave it in my account so I won't have to worry about paying future bills. After it was clear that I wanted my money back I was told that I would receive a check within 10 working days. Waited just over 4 weeks before I reachieved it in the mail + another couple of days for the check to clear. All this and not to mention the crap service and constant lose of reception.

Since nov 2010 my email bills arrive as an amount owing and date when payment due. Phone calls go unanswered,emails answered by a machine. Have been to the ombudsman, vodafone tas rang me and asked me not to contact him again, that my billing details would come thru fully this month. Guess what?

I accidently made 3 payments via online banking to an old, closed account BPAY Customer ID.
After months of making seemingly double payments, I finally worked out where the extra $160 had gone.
When I explained this to Vodafone after hours and hours of phone calls and sitting on hold, they could not locat the money and would not credit my current account.
They basically stole that money and made it so difficult for me to get a refund that I gave up and paid out my plan.
Stupidly I went to Crazy Johns and when I recently updated my phone to iPhone I was moved back to the vodafone.
I havent had problems with calls but web browsing and email barely works.
I'm in Sydneys North.

Without any prior notice I received a final demand from a Debt collection agency. After one hour in store I found out a Vodafone employee in India had incorrectly renewed my contract. Very annoyed they hadn't sent an account to me before sending account to debt collector. Vodafone cannot explain why the action was taken.

I constantly lose reception, messages are always delayed, or do not send/receive at all. I have been incorrectly billed for at least the past 6 months. It is too hard to try and correct any problems as it takes up to and exceeding an hour to get thru to call centre staff. It is simply not good enough and I want out of my contract. I have been a customer since 2001.

I waited on hold for an hour and 10 mins before vodafail hanging up on me. I then ring back again wait for another 58 minutes, to finally get through to someone who spoke over the top of me, told me I was not listening and would not understand. Once I had finally got through to him to tell me exactly what was wrong, he said that yes they had been over billing me because my phone was not sending text messages properly so were sending more than once so I went over my cap....

So how is this MY fault?

Then i explain i am not receiving texts or phone calls - his response "yes well i have given you back that credit. - REALLY?! what about the calls and texts?

Not only was i on hold to wait for the "great" customer service but i also had to listen to them promoting their non-exsistant "great" plans and deals!

After receiving the worst customer service attempting to solve an unresolved data issue, Vodafone said they'd refund 2 months service, then billed me for it.

Customer service, I think not. Let's sue these suckers!

call fail to connect, calls that don't even ring go to message bank, calls drop out in the middle of conversation & being charged to make the same call, SMS taking 2 to 3 days to reach destination. Spending 40 minutes on the phone to discuss over charged bill & not being answered.shared billing & not being able to utilize unused credits!!!!
over it!!!

I had to ring vodafone customer support about three weeks ago. I had an issue with recharching my pre paid account. When I attempted to recharge over the phone, the lara lady told me sorry, we have some technical issues.
So I had to ring customer support. 40 minutes later I FINALLY got to talk to a rude vodafone guy. I asked why I was experiancing this problem and WHAT WAS THE TECHNICAL issue? He said he doesnt know. I was left feeling angry and fustrated by the poor quality of customer service.

Upgraded two handsets to smart phones, supposedly changed plans to Infinite plans on same day (8 Dec). On 23 Dec phones stop working - unable to even call Vodafone! Call Vodafone on landline to be told we have a $1700+ bill and that is why we have been cut off (even though the bill hadn't been issued yet and therefore wasn't due!). Phone service reinstated by attending orginal Vodafone store where we upgraded handsets. Another hour passes in the store while we wait for the store manager to get through on the 'priority' line for Vodafone resellers. Vodafone never put us on Infinite plans so we were placed on deafult (and extremely expensive!) plans. Assured by Vodafone store that all was resolved. Rang in early January to confirm plans were correct and new bill would be issued. No! Plans still not correct! Customer service then ask me to attend store again to rectify. After explaining that there was no way I was wasting my time to rectify an internal Vodafone problem, the customer service person contacted the store (only because I had retained a piece of paper with the store manager's mobile number!). Vodafone then advised that store manager would rectify the problem within 36-48 hours and new bill would be issued. Tonight I have received text asking me to contact them to urgently discuss last month's account...WTF!!!

I am almoast ashamed to admit I have put up with this comapny since 1995, having said that they changed their data base about 8-10 years ago and have me registered from then only, however i have bills that will date back under my old comapny. I have notice a sharp decline in their services over the past 30 months approx where I now encounter poor service, offshore at that, no apologies, no recognition of length of loyalty to the carrier, poor service in local suburbs, dandenong road between Glenferrie and Orrong, Monash freeway Endevour hills section and again Pakenham Bipass, I travel these roads twice a day 5 days a week, as do tens of thousands of others comuters. The latest gaff if from my home where service shuts off for up to 2 hours at time. The phone aquired visa vodaphone arrived to my desk, 3 times faulty and they would not let me change phone type, this was very aggitating as again my loyalty to this carrier and high cll plan meant very little. I know longer have any faith and upon completion of my plan will leave Vodaphone, possibly they are owned by one of the big 4 banks as they have similar behavior issues towards customer care. Kind regards consistently disgruntled.

I read with interest all the Vodafail issuesand I thought I would wait in the hope that they would work it out. What a poor choice.

Poor 3G internet performance, 3-6 hour delays in receiving some voicemails and SMS.

Its just not good eneough.

Vodafail should be stopped from adding new accounts until they fix the issue

A longtime Vodafone customer, I ordered a brand-spanking new HTC Desire online contract. Lovely. I receive it in the mail and discover a new SIM. Um, okay, I didn't need a replacment, but okay. Then I hop online, and discover I've been assigned a new number for the new plan. My old number has NOT been cancelled. I'm effectively paying for two accounts now.

Customer service explains I must not have specified that I wanted the new contract assigned to my existing account when I ordered the phone. This is possible. I don't actually remember seeing an option to do this. I *do* remember looking, although I also remember getting extremely frustrated at the fact that Vodafone's braindead orderform refuses to accept the address I give it as valid after 5 attempts. I might have been a little less than attentive to all the options when I finally managed to put the order from through on the 6th attempt.

So I get called back the next day and Vodafone's happy enough to make it so that the new contract is tied to my old number. So far, so good.

I'm providing the information that the accounts person is asking for. Then I get told something to the effect of "please hold for 2 minutes while we organise things here". Part-way through being on hold, the call ends abruptly. A line dropout? Irritating, but not serious - or so I think. I try to call back. I can't. In fact I can't call anyone at all. I restart my phone in the vague hope it might help. I get the message "Limited Service: Emergency Calls only". Whatever they did to my account to try to fix it has made it impossible for me to use it at all.

Of course this would happen right when I have no access to any other phone. I'm at home now, and guess who's spent the past 4 years happily thinking how smart they were becausing they were saving $20 to $30 a month by not having a landline?

I must now wait for my partner to come home so I can call customer support on his phone. From my previous experience trying to sort this out, I know that the accounts department, the department they tell me I need to talk to, will be closed. So I'm stuck until at least tomorrow with no phone access.

The phone itself, by the way, is lovely. Which just makes it all the more frustrating that I am currently completely unable to use it any capacity at all.

I am trying to simply access my account online. Due to the recent media saga they have blocked me. They provide a number to call to unblock the problem -however every time I call it, as soon as I am ready to be transferred to a person to talk to, it says there has been a techinical problem and I will need to phone back. They then hang up on you! I tried again twice. I am very busy at work and don't have time for this rubbish!
My plan runs out in 1-2 months (I was simply trying to find out when this date is exactly) and I will have NO HESITATATION to leave vodafone for good. And I will NEVER go back! VODAFAIL indeed....

My bill arrived with an extra $150.00 on it???
I never go over my data limit (1GB), i average 500mb and have done nothing different for this billing period yet my vodafone bill claims my data is up to 1.3GB.
Trying to call Vodafone but huge delays at the moment, (as usual).
Tried to view previous bills online but surprise surprise, this is not working...
Would love to know how I get out of my contract as I am sick of this crap...

Their security has been breached and are constantly sending me bills which show unpaid which have been paid via direct debit. Every month I visit Vodafone in Mosman and he says it will be fixed but it never is. Billing methods and systems need updating and reviewing. Constant hassle I don't need and I want out of my contract due to incompetence.

Wrong text message on bills and incorrect billing system

Totally incorrect billing. Have been on $49 month plan... never come close to the call, text etc usage this allows but all of a sudden now I somehow have gone $344 over my normal monthly usage... I DONT THINK SO VODAFONE!!!!!

I'm on prepaid with vodafone after a nasty experience a few years ago whilst on a plan. Poor customer service and over billing, hidden fees and taxes etc. This was a few years ago and in Nov last year I needed a new phone, and fast as I cracked the screen on my old phone. Didnt have much cash so thought why not, I'll give them another go. Signed up in store (took over an hour mind you) and got a brand new Sony Ericsson X10 Experia! I wanted to keep the same # so I was given a new sim, which I was told would activate in a few hours and the old sim would cease working. To this day, i'm still using the prepaid sim. I went in store to inquire about it and was advised that I am still listed as a prepaid customer! YOU IDIOTS!!!! Me - 1 Vodafone - 0... THANKS VODAFONE YOU TWITS!!

C'mon Vodafone ! You make massive profits - pump some of that money into proper training programs, better accounting systems (which was my issue - an incorrect bill), and staff who can articulate properly.

I am a new customer and they double billed me for my first month. I paid my bill manually after they assured me that there wasn't a auto payment set up on my account. After paying, they direct debited me and for the next three months claimed that I had only paid once. 8 Calls (and 8 different 'Customer Service' representatives) later, the issue was resolved without so much as a 'We're sorry'. At one point (3rd call) they even claimed that they couldn't transfer me to their manager and that they didn't have a complaint department. What a joke.

i was paying for a broadband stick but was not connecting so went back and was told i would not have to pay the cancelation fee and signed out then 6 months latter i got a letter from a debt collector this has happened for 3 accounts now all cos i was given wrong information by staff and someone down the line has stuffed up the paperwork

sick of not getting voicemail or getting them 3 days late, closed my account and went to optus.

I have been using the same password for the password 2 years and now it wont log me into my account, call there helpdesk and tell em my details and they wont accept it, I use to work on a service desk and they are the most useless people i have ever had to deal with

I'm sick of missing calls due to shit reception or the network completely going down in my area for hours at a time. How can the reception in one area just crash and then magically resolve itself?? No warning and no apologies. Especially when it comes to 150 pic messages that I sent and re-sent that were never received....I was still billed for these! Sick of it and I want OUT but my contract isnt up till end of 2011!!! NOT HAPPY JAN!

Just got sent a reminder text that my bill has been sent to my email account ... the bill I paid a week ago. Useless

I signed up for a 24 month contract for a vodafone usb stick 5mb which I paid $39.95 a month.It broke down after4 months of use.The whole situation has been a complete joke I was studying at the time at uni,and everytime I was in the middle of an assignment it wouldn't connect or breakdown.Try and explain that to my uni lecturer about my assignments not being completed..
I tried to get a replacement,and the consultant was going to charge me $80 for another usb stick also I was told that my contract would be cancelled.I asked to speak to the Manager that didn't happen.SoI was told to call the customer care phone number,as they don't deal with any technical difficulties.What do they do then.When I called,my call sent to egypt of all places.I was told my contract can be cancelled ut bit would cost me a further $25 to get out of the contract,and then I was told my contract was finished and I won't be paying anything furher in payments.
I was told that it was,it didn't happen and I am still getting sms and email saying that the direct debit is still coming out of my bank account.This isn't good enough,I thought I was dealing with a proffessional company,I was so wrong!!!I hope we all get some justice finally!!!

not only do i hate speaking to someone who barely speaks english and sounds like a robot reading from a script, my favourite would have to be recieving my bill with international calls of zero to 3 secs and getting sharged 2-3 dollars which add up in the end to a significant account. i understand you get charged by the minuter but zero seconds .....wtf!!!!

Am currrently on the phone trying to get through after being told to redial multiple times!

Have had issues with Vodafone for over 2 years. My blackberry curve was playing up, which took forever for them to acknowledged was faulty and I was getting charged ridiculous amounts for multiple messages being sent and vodafone's particularly laggy balance updater. I.e. It would tell me I had $200 of credit on my $49 cap plan when i had far less or it "couldn't provide a balance at this time". This would lead to my account going over, how can i manage my account if they can't tell me how much i got to spend? What? Spend less so they can have more of my money for less work? How many telco providers can't even provide you a normal account balance? I understand that it's not live, but be at least 1-2 days up to date.

Lara....oh Lara...How i wish you could actually understand a word i say. I've tried in futile to get Voda to fix issues, but this is just plain useless when you can't even get from point A to point B. I personally believe it is designed to just stall customers so they don't need to hire as many customer service operators on the other end in India.

Lastly, I for the love of god was reluctant to sign up, but have just signed up to Vodafone in December as my partner was also on the network (free calls voda to voda). First off, network signal has been shotty to say the least. I get calls that are patchy and I am on a new phone. My new blackberry torch 9800 (yes it's only just come out) sometimes losses reception and even rejects my sim. WTF? Yes Vodafone sucks and now i am stuck with them for another 24 months. Why can't you just work?

As i finish writing this...guess what? I'm stil waiting for a voda rep to answer my call...30 minutes in. Oh did i forget to mention that they are sending multiple bills for 2 different accounts? Which was what my call was regarding... And here comes the patchy reception from their own call center!

Voda I hope you get sued for every cent you've cost us loyal customers.

Issue 1: Poor customer service? Maybe not super poor, but less than ideal for sure.
Once my previous contract ended just midway through last year, I bought myself a handset from online (a Nexus One shipped from the States) and changed myself to a Sim-only cap which included 3G data allowance.
3G didn't work. The Vodafone dealer/reseller told me I needed a new sim (er... ok) so I go to the official brand store and wait in line forever (at least the chick who served me was polite enough) and I told them my problem and that I was told to get a new sim. No questions, suggestions, second opinions, just an "ah, ok" response and they gave me a new sim. Still no 3G. I thought my phone was faulty, but then I swapped sims with a friend with the same phone and that magically worked (although my sim f**ked his phone up momentarily). So I succumb to calling the call centre where the very helpful individual on the other end of the line informed me that data wasn't enabled on my account. They helped switch it on for me but they couldn't answer why it was disabled in the first place, despite my probing and cajoling. Although what I -really- enjoy is the fact that the staff in-store couldn't even take the initiative to solve the problem properly by checking my account options to see whether data was enabled in the first place.

Issue #2: Reception issues
I've had audio quality issues in the past (others not being able to hear me) and chalked it up to my handset (an original 1st gen iPhone). I changed my phone and plan, but since moving to my new place I've noticed a brand new set of reception issues. Nowadays, my phone calls often consist of the other person's voice cutting in and out such that I can't even follow what words they're saying, let alone piecing together a sentence, and eventually the call just drops out. The other person can hear everything I say, I just can't seem to hear them. In my unit this seems to happen 99.99% of the time. I play the walk-around-the-unit-repeating-"hello? hello? are you there?" game until I find a spot where I can start to hear them. It's not my handset, because it doesn't happen everywhere in the world/Sydney. It's not my unit, because everyone else who passes through my unit (including my housemates) are fine. I have to admit I was in denial at first, but now I'm pretty sure I'm a victim of sh*t poor service.
My family's mobile plans are all through the one Vodafone account which I manage. I can only hope that they aren't experiencing the same issues as I am because I loathe to think that our family is funding this freaking circus freak show that is Vodafone AU.

Issue #3: Security breach
Seriously. WTF. How stupid can you freaking be? Any and all breaches should be traceable because every single staff member should have a unique friggen login ID (amongst other authentication protocols). And high-turnover/low-level staffers should have the most limited access to personal information possible (if a mere dealer is responsible for such a serious breach, then it is most -definitely- the fault of Vodafone AU and its poor business/IT practices).
If there are indeed instances of "communal" login IDs in place at Vodafone branches/resellers/whatever, I don't see how changing the passwords every 24hrs is helping to track/isolate an offending employee/dealer who is using a login that is also used by n individuals (where n is > 1).

Issue #4: Lara
I hate automated phone menus which ask for verbal responses/cues. But my goodness, Lara is the ONLY one who makes me swear like a sailor within 20 seconds every freaking time I call. I feel very sorry for the individual behind Lara's voice. I just know that if I heard her on the street I'd instantly think of Lara and be like "F*ck f*ckity f*ck aarrrggghhhh!" and want to punch her in the face.

I called Vodafone on Thursday morning to talk to someone about cancelling my account, the first time the signal cut out just as it connected! And I'm using 2G not 3G as it simply doesn't work in WA. Anyway, 2nd time I got through and was told that the cancellation department was busy but that she'd fill out a form and get someone to call me back in 24-48 hours. Well it's now Tuesday afternoon and still nothing, so I tried calling them, got all the way through to putting my pin in and a recorded message says "there has been a technical error, please hang up and try again" well I did try again but got the same thing even though I selected a different option. The stores say they can't do anything, so I'm left with no options!

on hold for over 1 hr 40 mins to correct billing AGAIN

Dropped calls, VERY slow internet connection, incorrect and conflicting information from different vodafone staff, call centre is USELESS, billing inconsistencies, texts that never arrive- or arrive a day late. ARGHH!!! I want out! Only 23 months to go:(

Back on the 4th of September 2010 I upgraded my phone contract and as a result, became a vodafone customer.

The short version of the ever so long saga is...
I was told my iphone 4 would take 1 week to arrive, after 3 weeks still waiting, and several lenghty, on hold, phone calls I was told it was due to the large volume of customers. The phone then got delivered to the wrong address (somewhere in Sydney,I live in Melbourne) and signed for after now waiting over 4 weeks total.

This was when the real problems began. Vodafone started the new service on the new contract despite me informing them I didn't have the phone, I didn't even have a sim card for this new service...hence I was now not able to receive or make calls on my current phone. As I was heading overseas this was an issue, one they said they couldn't fix until I had posession of my iphone 4.

Instead of prioritising my case and sending me a new iphone, they tried to recover and resend the original one. This was such poor and inefficient service, too ridiculous to even justify. 2 more weeks went by and despite my attempts to with the customer service line, I kept getting different representatives who I had to go over every detail with again and again. My longest time on hold was 88minutes! Each time I was promised 2-3 more business days and my phone would arrive. 2 more weeks passed so we are up to 8 weeks waiting for my iphone 4 to be delivered and battling with a 1990 loan phone... I had had enough! I wanted the contract dissolved and wanted to be done with voadafone forever! When I demanded this be done I was put on hold for another 40 odd minutes before a new "supervisor" came onto the phone and told me I could go into a shop (4kms from where I live)and pick up a handset, pay for it and get them to connect it on the spot. Hooray was my intial reaction as in the coming two weeks I was sending 200 staff and students overseas to four different destinations and I was the emergency contact! I left the shop and was told by morning, my service would be connected.

Of course it wasn't and being a long weekend apparently there was nothing that could be done. MORE WAITING!! In the new week, again, several lengthy times spent on hold to the call centre occured and I was told that during the transfer of my number to the new service, there was a data error/computer glitch and my number got "stuck". I was told it would take 2 business days to sort out.

By now my job performance and reliability had been affected and the personal stress was totally absurd. It took 2 more weeks for them to "un-stick"/recover my number and finally on the 11th of Novemeber (10 weeks after signing up) and two crappy laon phones later, I had my phone in my hand and my serivce connected.

As the whole saga was just absolutely appauling, unprofessional etc I asked vodafone how they intended to compensate my for the trouble they had put me through. They offered me 3 months free, which I accepted. But of course I am now battling with them now as they are billing me, charging me for the iphone that I have already paid for and due to the incompetent notes on my file I am having to explain it all again. My last correspondance with them was through a vodafone store where the real life service agent and I spent 79 minutes on hold with them trying to get my billing issues sorted. Not even going into a shop gives you the right to quality customer service...what a joke of a company!

How anyone can operate a business like this is beyond me, I can't wait til my contract is done, I have told all of my friends to steer away from vodafone or any voafone carrier and I myself will never have anything to do with them again!

Lu (Melbourne)

Very poor coverage, email accessible accounts from the phone all had passwords removed, date and time were reset 4 days and roughly 4 hours ahead of real time on Jan 3rd 2011, as of today email contact from vodafone.au is 'not currently available'
cheers
greg brown

We are a building company and vodafone does not provide coverage for the suburb that we are working in for the next 14 months...vodafone (after many frustrating efforts) agreed back in November 2010 to cancel our mobile broadband plan and guess what? We are still being charged for it. Have contacted their "customer care" dept via email (attaching their email confirmation that the account is to be cancelled) and no response 5 days later...HELP!!!

Veryt poor covereage, email accessable accounts from the fone all had passwords removed, date and time were reset 4 days and roughly 4 hours ahead of real time on Jan 3rd 2011, as of today email contact from vodafone.au is 'not currently avaiable'
cheers
greg brown

Was complaining about 4 phones which I have and how text messages were duplicated over a dozen times for four days. All phones ran out of credit in 6 days from purchase, which would normally see us through an entire month. When speaking to a Representative from BOMBAY or wherever the hell in India she was, I was asked to document EVERY SINGLE TEXT ON EVERY SINGLE HANDSET AND HOW MANY CHARACTERS WERE INVOLVED. For god sake, can ANYONE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD DO THIS while on prepaid with no itemised billing????? And even with a bill and logged dates and times, could you seriously be expected to remember word for word everything you spoke about over a 4 day period. It was an obvious 'Brush Off'. The end result, an offer of $10 credit. Considering you spend $49 for a few hindred dollars credit, worked back it was approx an offer of around $1.50 - $2.00 from there DEEP DEEP POCKETS. You genourous P*****

My account has always been paid in full, yesterday I only had access to call out for emergency purposes, WTF???

I cancelled an iphone plan and was let out with no trouble due to lack of reception. However, they required me to return the phone to them using the express post parcel bag provided, which was fine. Except that the bag didn't come. about a week later, I had to call to chase this up, apparently the bag was never sent, so they said they would mail a new one that afternoon, I checked they had the correct address, which they did and everything seemed fine. However, I then started receiving bills from vodafone trying to charge me for the iphone handset that I was meant to be returning to the value of almost $1900. I called them back. This time I was told not to pay the bill and that a bag would be express posted to me. This went on for over 3 months. THREE MONTHS! to the point where it has affected my credit rating and I had letters from debt collectors trying to get the $1900 from me. I called vodafone several times during this period, and was told repeatedly to wait for the bag they were once again going to send out. I asked if I could pay to send the bag myself, they said no. I asked if I could return the phone to a retail vodafone store, they said no. I didn't want the iphone, I wasn't using the iphone, yet they were still trying to charge me while they were the ones delaying sending me the bag to return the phone.
I ended up calling the ombudsmun.
Eventually the bag arrived, I returned the phone, yet I was still being harrassed by vodafone and a debt collector because vodafone had failed to put a note on the account.
The service I received was absolutely terrible, and I now have a tarnished credit history due to their negligence. I will never ever be dealing with vodafone again and am encouraging all my friends to leave vodafone also.
VERY UNIMPRESSED!

Vodafone opened someone elses IPhone 4 contract under my details and the billing details were all coming to me. It took 3 months of my time numerous stat dec's by me to clear my name yet i still have the account details and all the other persons call history in my account ....your hopeless Vodafone

Found out yesterday at VF store level 1 Westfield Carindale that my account which I have trouble accessing online appears to be hacked. Their record looks different from the one I retrieved at some stage.

They took a large amount OUT of my usage figure for 22 Dec 2010, then put a lot ~$400 back in the next day, and billed me on the same day for three amounts,
$.14c, $1.07, $20,09c. But since I was under my limit, I should not have to pay for these shenanigans but I was debited for all three. Usage after these dates were not billed against me and I ended the period with ~2G still unused.

Similarly payments I had made for excess usage etc were not credited to my online account. Tried to sort this out with them, but got nowhere.

No.1 - I never receive spam texts and I have received two since yesterday. I wonder if this has anything to do with the privacy breach???
Anyone else experiencing the same problem?
No.2 - Vodafone's total performance is absolute crap. I tried to send them an email yesterday only to be informed on their site that the email page was unavailable, couldnt even get into my account details!!!

Oh well whats new, same old service we have come to expect and I think its about time we all stopped talking and started to take the only action available. Talk with your feet and find another provider, Vodafone does not deserve our business.
Totally fed up to the back teeth!!!

I have had a number of billing issues. I was 12 months into a 24 month $49 Cap and got a bill for $400. I called the lovely people at VF India and I was told that my cap was exceeded due to numbers which were not included in the cap. I told her that I hadn't had problems with these numbers over the past 12 months (my usage showed $49 per month consistently then an incredible jump in usage to $400 despite no changes on my part to my usage etc). She told me that numbers which were previously included in my cap were no longer included due to changes to my plan and that my previous $49 cap plan no longer existed.

She suggested that if I changed to a $59 cap (which was actually $69 with $10 credit per month applied to the account...I won't hold my breath!) that my calls which I am complaining about would be included and I wouldn't get the big bills anymore. I reluctanly agreed after being assured that a recalculation of my bill meant that I wouldn't have to pay the outstanding $400. She told me that I can change back to my $49 per month cap at any time and that the end date of my contract would remain the same (ie. I wouldn't be entering into a new 24mth $59 cap plan).

All seemed good until the next month... I received another huge bill.

I called again and basically was told that I had to pay the balance of the bills and that the $59 plan started at my next billing cycle and also included extra as pro-rata for starting plan part way through the month....didn't they say I began $59 at beginning of cycle...anyone confused yet?

Anyway...I asked them to cancel my contract and was told that I'd have to pay out my contract for the 23 months left (apparently I had agreed to another 24mth plan on $59 per month. I told the guy that I had been reassured in my last call and had names and numbers to confirm contact that my contract wouldn't be extended due to changing the cap amount. He apologised and in an uncomfortable manner told me that my original date of exit would still apply. Nice to catch them out occasionally...

Anyway, I have had many hours of discussing my issues with people from VF while extending the knowledge of their indian employees (informing the guy that no, I would not be going to Bondi Beach for xmas as I lived in QLD....)

I must admit that while I find my problems frustrating, they could be much worse. I am counting down the months til I can jump ship and eagerly awaiting my monthly calls to india via 1555... NOT

In my experience so far... document everything said and take any names and numbers you can get. Don't accept what customer care tell you as it always conflicts with the previous information provided (sometimes in the same conversation).

Be assertive and don't give in to their crap.

I've been trying to resolve a faulty handset with Vodafone for over a year now with no success. After a lengthy email dispute i finally took the issue up with the Ombudsman and over night i got an email from Vodafone admitting that they did not cover my area (i live twenty minutes from the CBD of Sydney!) and that my contract was wiped. I thought this was all to good to be true so i rang customer service and asked when / how i cancelled my account and they denied any such email had been sent. I've cancelled my payments to them and told them that if my phone is not unlocked i will take it up with Ombudsman ASAP.

DONT BE NICE WITH VODAFONE PLAY HARD BALL. AFTER THREE EMAILS IF YOUR PROBLEMS NOT FIXED GO TO THE OMBUDSMAN.

I am waiting for my iphone to arrive, I am being billed for it, I have been told everyday since last Friday, and I am on hold with Lara for 2-4 hours everyday and then it cuts out! What Can I do??? I am being billed but no phone, and cant contact them? My bill goes out of my account for $100 monthly?

I became a new member of Vodafone and paid my first bill on last Dec online and the payment sucessfully went through on 22nd Dec. However, my account summary still shows that i did not pay my bill. I have talked to the staff, called vodafone line and they told me my payment was missing and they will investigate this issue and call back. Since now, I haven't got any call from vodafone. My bill due date is tomorrow and my payment option is direct debit. I'm afraid i need to go to the vodafone shop again. I really hate to do this....

I decided approx 6mths ago to sign on for another contract, as all previous ones were as good as any other supplier offered. I was told by the person I was signing with, I can get back on my original plan once I signed up again. All I had to do was contact the call center & change back. {I had to sign on for a different plan to get a new phone}

After going through everything & signing on for another 24mths, I was told "sorry your old plan doesn't exsist anymore". I explained this was unexceptable & wanted out of the contract, I was then advised bad luck you have signed the contract {this would of sent my bill through the roof}. After about a week of trying to resolve through the Vodafone call center. I contacted the telephone ombudsman to get it resolved, Vodafone mysteriously found a way to put me back on my original cap, they claim does not exsist anymore!

They still find a way of stuffing my monthly budget by not billing one month, then twice the next. I'm definitley gone when my contract is up! This privacy issue is the icing on the cake.

Vodafail took money out of my account when they weren't supposed to. When I finally got hold of a staff member they admitted it was their mistake and to get my financial institution to reverse the debit from my account. This didn't make sense to me but I jumped through the hoops - not surprisingly my bank said it was Vodafail's responsibility to get the money back into my account. I called Vodafail back and was told money would be put back in but it would take 5 business days. Even after I said my mortgage comes out of the same account that week and needed that money they said nothing could be done about this but they could give me text credit!! Am taking it further but seriously can't believe the drama. And I have the other problems of calls dropping out, slow or no web access and hours waiting for a staff member to call back. I want out Vodafail!!

I am a long vodafone customer and really never had any problems with them so I decided to upgrade my current plan last week. However I had a changed of mine and wanted a different phone than the one I originally asked. The accounts department said thats ok but upgrades department refused and they would only do so if I reject the delivery of the phone.

So I rejected the delivery today and thought I should call them to get the phone I wanted. Waited 1 1/2hrs for upgrades team, spoke for 10s (I havent even finished yet) then the lady transferred me somewhere. Surprisingly, the line dropped out. I tried recalling upgrading department to be told they are closed for the day.

I then decided to ring complaints.... waited another 1 hr, only for a dude at billing to pick up my call.... he wasn't helpful at all and instead said I should call back tomorrow and he was going to give me the upgrades teams direct number. After I hanged up, I realised that number is the same number as 1555 (so its not the direct number).... I just felt cheated out of 2 1/2 hrs of my life and been played like an idiot

is there anyway i can get out of the upgrade (ie. cooling period as I have not yet receive their phone since I rejected the delivery).... after what happened tonight, I want to go to Telstra

Does anyone know the answer?

Whats with calling another country to get customer service in Australia. I cant stand your operators, they are worse than your voice recognition software. Im moving to telstra and guess what, im cancelling my contract, keeping my phone and not paying my bills. My bank account was cancelled today. Ill just assume its compensation for all the crap ive been through to make a phone call. Good bye Vodafail.

after the news story about stolen info and such i go to check my account only to find it LOCKED try to call customer service enter pin ...after that i get OOPS we have encountered a technical difficulty Hang up and call again then it auto hung up 15 times IM tired of vodafone doing this they need to get it together fast

Can't access my current bill details. They want me to pay my account but I can't get a copy of my current bill for the last 3 days. Tried to call the customer service number and call drops out "due to a technical problem" This company needs a good wake up call!!

Having absolutely no reception for my usb modem at all, unable to even connect and still being charged normal amount for this stupid service!!! wasting money on the 30 min + phone calls i was making every week to speak to someone i couldn't understand, being put on hold and then being told "someone will call you back mam" too many times i have waited and waited for someone to call back and no one ever does! its completely obvious that i have had connection problems as one of the operators told me that he could see no usage on my account for 4 months!!! its a joke! THEN....they try and make me pay a cancelation fee for wanting to cancel my contract!!! and they wonder why a totally genius website like this has been created!!!

Not receiving sms messages until three days later, as I am a courier driver this has cost me $2,400.00 in not picking up parcels on time. I rang customer care and just got the run around, when i finally did get someone after 2 hours there computer systems were down and couldn't get into my account. They dont really care. I have had it see you later and hello Telstra.

In short: for the last month (and for some time before that but not to
the same extent), I have experienced terrible service from Vodafone.
Calls dropping out repeatedly, text and voicemail messages not arriving
or being very delayed, network dropping out completely and needing
repeated reboots of the phone, and extremely slow data. This is in every
location, not just at my home.

My experience of calling Vodafone has been:
1. The network team telling me it's a problem with my phone (iphone 3GS)
2. The iphone team telling me it's a problem with the network
3. The network team telling me that it is a problem with the network at
my house but that I then needed to talk to the iphone team
4. The iphone team telling me that is incorrect and I have to deal with
the network team to troubleshoot
5. Call dropped out
6. Spoke to the technical department who told me there was no problem
with the network at my house
7. Asked to speak to the disconnections department after being sick of
waiting and getting shuffled around
8. Disconnections department telling me that there is a well documented
issue with the vodafone network in Melbourne due to the 3 merger but
they could only disconnect me without a fee if I spoke to the network
team
9. I informed her I didn't want to wait another 45 min on hold so could
she have network call me back
10. Waited for call back, never happened
11. Called back and spoke to technical team who said they could only
escalate me to network if I troubleshooted with them which I couldn't at
the time as only phone around was my mobile which I was using
12. Called back later on my partner's phone, kept waiting over 45 min
only for the call to cut out
13. Next day spoke to technical team again, troubleshooted but this did
not help
14. Advised that could only escalate further if I could document 3 drop
outs at my house over 72 hour period, and if claiming a widespread
problem it must be 3 drop outs in each of 3 different documented
locations
15. Over weekend have had repeated delayed texts, call drop outs and
ridiculously slow data but in widespread locations including my home.


I emailled this to Vodafone customer help because i couldn't bear to deal with Lara and her mega wait time and this is the reply I received:

"RESPONSE:
Question: Why is there an unusual or unexpected charge on my current bill?
Answer:
View our online Bill Explainer here

If you notice unusual or unexpected charges on your bill, this may be due to the following reasons:

1. If this is your first bill since connecting to Vodafone, all standard charges for new accounts are charged from the date of connection until the start of the next bill cycle, plus one month of access charged in advance. This monthly fee charged in advanced will cover the next billing period. On your second bill, there will only be one monthly access charge. This is for your next billing period and is paid in advance. If you change plans, part of the monthly access charge that you have paid in advance wil be credited on a pro-rata basis................" etc. etc.

What the...?

They are arrogant, poor with billing, extremely poor with reception, hopeless when called ipon and thats when they finally take you off hold.

continuessly billing me more than what they should.. charging me for consumption that i do not use

Had to call to get my password reset to access my account online. The operator was very helpful although had to send the new password via text 3 times because the first two times it failed to arrive. The operator said "Normally it is received immediately" After the third attempt all three messages arrived together. Seems the delays do not discriminate against normal customers but also vodafail itself

Well she is the only person you get to speak with and sadly Lara's propensity to make errors is at least better than network reception.

I use vodafone on a 3G dondgle for one remote destktop. The connection drops 2-3 times a day on average, some days 10 times sometimes just 1 time.

Vodafail's helpful technical support deny any problems, suggested using 2g, and well generally leave you hold.

For my company mobiles I particularly lved their admin stuff ups. We had 2 personal and 1 corporate account. I tried to transfer 1 phone from a personal to the business account. Far too complex for Vodafail's dynamic team. Instead they opened another corporate account...in an identical company name. But the geniuses staffing vodafail decided that perhaps I needed a different type of company a small home based one. So called 'soho' for this whobdnt know small businesses get to enjoy Lara bigger ones get a different customer service phone number and (marginally) better customer service...to keep riff raff out (that would be all the other people stupid enough to use vodafail) they block normal customers phone numbers. So if you inadvertently call the (very marginally) better team it says number not available. So as the business owner the only way I could call the dynamic duffers staffing vodafail was to dial 1831 To hide my number then call customer "service" (lol.) of course the two dynamic teams don't talk to each other and after nearly an hour more of time attempting to add the soho account to my corporate one u gave up. I moved to Optus. ..... And Wow! I can get reception!!!! My calls drop about 90% less often!!!

Buy vodafail weren't finished with me. Oh no, even after moving to Optus vodafail still kept skewing up. How? Well they keep a special list of vodafone customers (ie gullible folks) so anyone calling from a vodafone sees this list, well they kept my number of the vodafone customer list but moved the account. Result anyone calling from a vodafone got 'number not available' ah can thus company get ANYTHING right. What a bunch of f-wits.

F-wits who are sooooo quick to screw customers over. Anyone travel on vodafail? Beware!!!!!! they have 2 tariffs "f^% you over" and "just really expensive". I think they call them world traveller and traveller plus. Anyway the screw you over tariff is the default and it's incredably expensive for just about everywhere you want To go, new Zealand, us, europe, Asia etc . Screw you over tariff is cheaper on popular detonations like Zimbabwe and somalia etc....get the picture. You know how thus ends a call to vodafail customer service sets you up to travel and after 2 days in new Zealand I get back with an 800 dollar bill !!! Oh and I was using vodafail nz there too. And the network is just as bad. Anyway watch out for it, their customer service folks are trained to pit you onto screw you over tariff.

Can you believe these cheaky a$$$ holes actually call me up as each of my contracts comea up to expirey. After years of f%^#*ing me over they seriously expect us to re-sign.

It's NOT just reception. The entire organization is rotten to the core with a culture of pulling the wool over customers eyes.

THANK YOU VODAFAIL

At last a place where we can tell the world the reality of being a vodafone customer.

After being a loyal Vodafone customer for over 7 years now and not really having any troubles, i had some questions i needed answered over the phone with regasrds to billing, roaming etc. I had to call up 6 times as i was hung up on everytime i was supposed to be 'transfered' through to someone - AFTER waiting over 20 minutes on hold per call!! The waiting on hold for such a long time then being disconnected was the most frustrating thing ever!

I have made the mistake of going onto a pre-paid contract. It seems as though vodafone don't take my complaints seriously as they already have my business. I ve been having problems connecting to the web-site and thus e-mails, and this is the main reason I upgraded my phone to a sony xperia. I keep getting told it either a problem with vodafone 'upgrading' or my actual phone. Frequently I can't get any coverage at all, and no 'data'.

I never really had any problems with vodafone before 3G, its like they just can't handle it.

I wish i was more of a pushy person, as i find it very hard to confront salespeople with the difficulties I'm stuck with and the 1555 is exhaustingly difficult to get to someone who can help me.
The most scary stuff has been when I have been overcharged or by the wrong amount.

Unhappy,

J

My partner and i have been customers of vodafone for nearly 5 years now and you'd think after that time that you'd be considered as a valued customer.
First major issue is the reception, i have none! I am in the middle of Sydney and had to go buy a telstra phone so i could get reception. Second issue is that i asked the nice Indian vodafone lady to change my credit card details to a new card, i gave them the details and they said they had changed it for me. 3 MONTHS had gone by and i get a text (this was the only text i had received) from vodafone saying my account is 3 months overdue and was now up to $500 with 3 dishonour fees. I rang them up straight away and found out that my credit card details were my old details, that in fact were not changed as i was told. I told the Indian guy that and in more or less words was told tough! then i was inquiring as to why it took 3 months for someone to inform my account was overdue, he's reply was "you got a text"! All he could do for me is take $20 off for 1 dishonour fee.
My partner and i have 6 months left on our contracts, it can't come soon enough! in the meanwhile, we have both bought Telstra sim cards and use the vodafone on the rare occasion when we get reception!

Hi, i went on a voda plan in 2008, i ended up paying out the contract in march 2010 because of poor coverage and constant drop out; plus the phone i got on contract broke and i labelled it just another dodgy voda product. but late last year i recieved a text saying (i kept my number and moved to a different provider) my bill had been sent to email but had bounced back so i should expect a bill in the mail and be aware of the $2 postage fee... i rang them and learned i actually had a credit, it took over 6 weeks to recive the credit back... but have just recieved another text stating i need to update my email address on the system and to expect another bill in the mail...
i havent been with them since march 2010 and my contract was due to expire in mnay/2010 anwnyway...
just another example of this corporate getting it wrong - good luck with the case.
i am a little concerned now that if they are still texting me then my contact details are still on their database, which we learned thru the media could be being onsold or stolen by fraudsters.. can anyone tell me how i can check this and have my details destroyed by voda?

(PERSONAL DETAILS REMOVED - Vodafail.com Team)

Our 24 month contract was up on Oct. 2010. Around that time, I had called to enquire about the Iphone 4. I was told it "would be available in 3 weeks". I was then contacted directly by someone in your office with an offer to renew, I again asked about the Iphone 4, "backlog, should be available in a few weeks". We waited for the next billing cycle and called again. Same story, I feel mislead. I was given specific times, relative times of Iphone 4 availability. None gave me the impression that it would be more than a few weeks away.

First week of December, I went directly into a store, enquired. They said they were available by phone. I called Anthony on Dec. 7. He confirmed they were available. My wife reminded me she made the original call to Anthony and was present when the change of plans was made. We had in effect, done the right thing and she was present. Anthony was aware of this, as we debated on whether to get my wife an Iphone 4. It was a lengthy conversation, where all aspects were discussed. Call backs were made, etc. She was present on speaker phone the entire time. She specifically came into the office to do this, as we knew she needed to be present.

Here is what we agreed upon, effective Dec. 7. I was told I would receive a pro-rata bill for the previous bus cap.

$100 unlimited plan, 24 month contract + Iphone 4
$100 unlimited plan, 24 month contract + Iphone 4

$45.00 $100 unlimited plan, no contract
$45.00 $100 unlimited plan, no contract

I was told Iphone 4 were available only 2-3 weeks AFTER all this. I had explained we wanted to change the plans and get the Iphones immediately. I had discussed we had been waiting months and told him we were excited to finally receive them. As you imagine, I was a bit surprised when he then told me 2-3 more weeks. I asked if I would receive before Xmas, and he said most likely. Mislead.

I began checking 1555 for a status update around Xmas time. I was confirmed the delivery should be week of 21/12. I contacted 1555 again on 29/12, I was told it "looks like it should arrive this week". I again contacted 1555 on Monday Jan. 3 (i believe that was you). I was told it "should arrive Mon or Tues" of that week. I then located Anthony's e-mail and contacted directly on Jan. 6. Here is a copy of his e-mail:

"Hi Robert,

I recently received an email from corporatesolutions@vodafone.com and they advised me that the order for upgrade and hardware is on hold because the person making the request is not the authorised contact on the account.

The authorised contact for your account is your wife and the request to order hardware and upgrade the plan would need to come from her. She can do this by calling or she can send in a Letter of Authority detailing this request, (company letterhead with ABN stated, physical signature of the director with the words director or CEO underneath this signature, and the request clearly stated.)

I sincerely apologise for this inconvenience Robert but can assure you that if this request is submitted by your wife then it will be handled quickly and efficiently. There is however an incredible backlog of iPhone orders and cannot confirm a delivery date."


I was then told by you after a few calls, that whole issue never happened, that Anthony had initially dropped the ball and then each successive person did not catch his initial error. I was told nothing could be done to immediately fix the problems.

Meanwhile, my iphone 3 was turned in for insurance repairs over 4 weeks ago, I was told 10 days max. Still no phone and no word from Vodafone. This is after 2 years of arguing on the phone about usage and tracking of usage. Confusing billing cost me $1,000's in overages in that time frame. How many times have I been on the phone arguing about usage being charged that I couldn't track, unless I went and physically counted usage on each bill. Smoke and Mirrors. It WAS the game, all the players know it.

So, I feel I would have changed plans when my contract was up. Other companies have Iphone 4's available, however, I was mislead that this would be happening very soon.

I have had enough of Vodafone. I have looked into other providers.

I had a prepay phone for awhile in Melbourne - when calling Vodafail I was often on hold to speak to a human (which took an eternity)only for the call to drop out when I was being transferred to the appropriate person. Since moving to Sydney both my partner and I have post paid accounts to get the new Iphone 4. My partner works in the CBD and coverage is a frequent problem - great way to impress his customers hang up on them mid-sentence?? Coverage is an even bigger problem in our unit. I had the fun job of doing the change of address calls including being on hold for many minutes to utility companies. Once again at a crucial time in the call it would drop - very frustrating.

I won't repeat all the issues everyone has aired here but rest assured, I've experienced many of 'em. My post is about another security issue that Vodfone's website has which exposes the previously logged-in user's account to a subsequent user on the same machine.

If I log into MyVodafone then log out and get my partner to log in, she will often get MY account details. Yes, it seems as if there is some kind of cookie handling problem with their site which retains the previous login details and uses it to log the next user in. Give it a try.

I advised Vodafone about this months ago - even directly to Mr Dews-Nothing - but the problem was still apparent last time I tried it a week or so ago. Maybe they'll pay a bit more attention now they're in the privacy law soup.

I have been on the phone to a friend this morning and during a 20 minute conversation, the phone dropped out three times. This happens on a regular basis! Also the 3g keeps disappearing and my internet connection is getting slower and slower. The free text to 1512 to check my account balance and the amount owing regularly comes back saying "this service is temporarily unavailable". I have had countless issues with logging on to the 'myvodafone' website. My password (the same one I have used for two years) suddenly stopped working, so I reset my password, this password worked for one day and then the next did not. This has happened regularly over the past month and Vodafone informs me that I have to re-register with myvodafone, which I have done 4 times in the past month and still no luck!! Every time my password does not work, I have to re-register again, the new password works for the first or second log-in then it fails the next time... and vodafone assures me each time that they have fixed the problem. My voicemail has failed to work on and off over the past year. I sometimes get my messages 3 days after they were left or not at all. Don't get me started on LARA!!! She gets me so worked up it is not funny..."Was that a yes or a no?" NO "sorry I didn't quite get that? Please say yes or no" NO "Sorry I didn't quite get that" - it drives me insane!!!! I have complained about Lara to Vodafone on numerous occasions. I am now concerned regarding this latest news of personal details being leaked. How do I sign up for the class action against Vodafone?

Back to work today and four out of five calls have dropped out before 10 o'clock. This a joke, I'm canceling my three phone accounts today.

1.Account woes. VF not following instructions and doing 'their own thing. Ongoing: cannot use my handset as they have inadvertently, once again, terminated the service, despite clear instructions that did not include or mention "termination of existing" but ADDING a number/servive to my plan.My God! They are hopeless!
2. Cannot try as I may, through various methods to contact VF , get to speak with anyone. Calls are terminated whilst on hold. VF obviously cannot afford decent phone facilities to handle inbound.
3. Coverage and dropouts. Numerous call drop outs and absolutely pathetic download speed - just not worthwhile bothering to use internet - its so slow.
4.Privacy breach : not able to get details as to whether my details have been compromised as I have received spam mail with specific details perhaps linked to my VF account.

Made a TIO complaint on 1 Jan 2011. (At 3.37 pm they (TIO) numbered my complaint 11/000077, ie 77 complaints by 3.37 on 1 January, mostly Vodafone I expect.) I was called by Rex of Vodafone this am. Recorded whole conversation, in which he admitted that Vodafone have severe bandwidth problems on the Central Coast where I live, and terminated two contracts, mine and my wife's, after 7 months of 24 months. I retained the HTC Magic handsets, which we like, for $100 each, bargained down from his joke 'offer' of $250. Also discussed the fact that Vodafone were effectively committing fraud by signing up suckers, at Bateau Bay Village Vodafone shop, and over the internet, as we spoke, for a service which he directly stated to me that their system could not provide in this area.
We also discussed, for the taped record, that five of the eight accounts I have received were in error, by 70% to over 400%, always in vodafone's favour, and that it took over ten hours of my $150 per hour chargeable time to get them corrected. He had the accounts in front of him, as we spoke, and agreed that they were plainly in error, and should never have been sent.
My experience indicates that there is strong circumstantial evidence that Vodafone, as currently configured, (with misleading advertising, and admitted incapable network, a disfunctional support, service, and dispute 'resolution' system), is effectively a massive fraud perpetration system aimed at extracting money from the Australian people.

Apart from the Reception Issues, I'd like to point out that they have an issue with their billing that is outrageous.
If your call is dropped, and you make the call immediately again, you are charged the minimum call charge plus the flag fall for the failed call and then obviously charged again for the second call.
Unless you are on an unlimited plan, these minimum charges sometimes push your call limits over your monthly cap!

If a call is dropped and you call back the same number within seconds, you should not have to pay the flag fall.
At the same time, if you do call back the exact same number, the times should be added so that you don't pay two lots of additional 30 second blocks at the end of the calls.
Also finally, if the call only lasts for 5 seconds (failed call) it should not be charged for at all!
We are being forced to pay for UNLIMITED plans when we really cannot afford them!

Managed to get a $174.79 credit for data charges overseas as it was explained and roaming activated at the North Sydney store in Greenwood Plaza that calls would come out of my post pay credit then once that was used I would pay on top of that but that wasn't the way it worked. You pay for ALL overseas costs on top of you regular cap.
Well that was back in Sept and the credit was meant to be applied to Oct account, then Nov account and again Dec account balances. It's a monthly process of ringing up and going through it all again and I'm readying myself for this months call.

Twice I have called, this morning, to Vodaphone, with regard to my lack of internet account access. This has been a problem that has been ongoing for nearly a month now. The consultant had me re-register and the problem was solved. The main issue though, was on both calls, they gave me personal account details, without me giving them an initial pin, via voice or keypad, and I did not have to offer any password or details to verify who I was.
This was after I had advised the operator that this had occurred, on the first call, and he said it would be escalated and fixed! Scary stuff, considering the account is also in my wife's name!!!

Continually drops out, poor network coverage, poor billing arrangements

Vodafone have sent a bill to my girlfriend which started off at around £300 to about £500 over a time period of about three months. We knew this was incorrect and decided to look at the bill and came across numbers she didn't know or even call, numbers calling for one second and also trying to say my number at 1 20 am.

I was not awake at this time in the morning nor was my girlfriend. Since she canceled her direct debit to Vodafone they have increased the bill to around £599 just because she refused to pay the bill she didn't run up and therefore has been threatened with debt collectors.

She has some evidence showing that she did not run up such a bill and even asked for a cap in front of citizens advice and they agreed to put that on and they then didn't they also canceled her contract without her approval nor did they inform her until she phoned.

Then they wanted her to pay money for re - activation she did this and then the bills started becoming like i explained earlier can anyone help me fight this as i don't know what to do.