Vodaphone increasingly getting worse in my area, now have to stand in the middle of the street to make a call when at home, just another thing to add to the list of problems.. Contacted the "Customer Care" service to complain, was on hold for 45 min before I got to speak to somebody, after explaining my problems was told that I have very good service coverage in my area. If this is their idea of good coverage I would hate to see it if it was bad. After further discussions with the person, who was obviously not listening to a word I was saying as I was asked the same series of questions on a number of occasions, I became rather infuriated and either my phone cut out on me, again, or I was hung up on. Either way am totally disgusted with the so called service I have been provided.

where do i begin... I have been a VF customer for about 7 years. Started on the smaller plans and gradually made my way to the higher plans with the introduction of iPhone plan. I have had constant problems with my service ever since.. My plan is the $69/month but most of the time i make a few international calls which adds about $20 to my bill which is fine by me. this is constant. Then over the last 4 months my bills have been coming in at $500 for crap that i don't even understand. I try calling VF and i'm put on hold for AT LEAST 45 mins...... then i speak to someone who I can only guess is in India or some other offshore call centre. I explain my disgruntlement and the response is pretty much cryptic. I have no idea what the result is. the last time i complained they credited me $180 and the next bill my plan had increased to $79/month.... without my knowledge. Called again... another bloody 45 - 60 mins on hold... nothing is explained. THATS JUST THE BILLING. then the actual service is disgraceful. My phone indicates full coverage but it's flat as a pancake... nothing. I can't use my data download because i takes a forthnight to open a page, my calls just drop out, i get txt messages from people 4 days later (Within this time someonme could be dying, dead and buried without me knowing) and my GPS tells my i'm in the middle of the ocean??? then when i complain... i'm told it's my handset... i have a whinge to Apple, they replace my handset... the same shite happens again... Class Action here i come.
OPOWER

OMG, where do I begin? Had a lot of problems with the 3 network due to network connection issues and was tricked by being told we could only cancel the contract if we switch to the Vodafone network. Vodafone is even worse than 3, if thats possible! Have been with Vodafone now for 3 months and phone calls are constantly dropping out with call failed coming up on the screen, regardless if I makes a call or if someone else is calling me which happens with every single phone call, text messages sent from other people both here in Australia and also Texas and Cambodia are not being recieved. I have my own business and we are losing clients due to the extreme lack of network coverage provided by Vodafone, with clients calling and the calls dropping out, me returning calls,and dropping out again and again and again... Even calling Vodafone directly is an issue. I am constantly getting call failed coming up, and it also happens when on the phone to Vodafone. Basically, Vodafone can not provide the phone service that I was promised. I have contacted Vodafone regarding the issue on several occasions, sometimes getting through to them, only when calling from my home phone though, other times not. When I do get through to them, they are frikken rude, uncooperative, unhelful, blaming the sim card or the phone, telling me to reboot etc. Yesterday, after being on the phone to them for over 3 frikken hours, they still would not allow me to be put through to disconnections as they needed technical support to tell them there is an issue, as if they dont already know there is a frikken issue as I got disconnected several times while on the phone, and have been disconnected several other times while being on the phone to them also plus the issues everyone else on here is having, bastards! I got the mega pissed with them yesterday while I was on hold and sent an email off to the TIO, and now they are looking into it, fingers crossed I can get outta my contract and go with another company who is reliable and get my business back on track!

Contacted Vodafone on 26 August 2010 because on average my wireless broadband connection is 5 kilobytes per second, a lot of the time it has 0 bytes per second. I was told to ring Vodafone, tell Lara to connect me to Data Services but when I did
a) there is no option for Data Services
b) I got transferred to someone who spoke bad English and had to shout DATA SERVICES 3 times
c) was put on hold until I had to go back to work as I called during my break.

Honestly, does anyone have any idea how I can get out of this 24-month contract? It feels like I'm giving my hard-earned money for a service I am not getting!!!!

For 3 and a half hours today there was no internet AT ALL! No laptop, no mobile - nothing at all. I was on hold for 22 mins then go disconnected. Called again, on hold 24 mins and disconected again. This is ridickulous! I am so so sick of waiting for over 20mins when I have been a loyal customer for 11 years!!! Get your act together Vodaphone!!!!!!!!

Been with them for nearly 10 years. Started noticing frequent network coverage dropouts about 6 months ago. Just put up with it. Started taking screenshots in December 2010 whenever I lost service. Now have >60 images documenting lost service since 20 December. That's almost twice per day! Sent two email complaints 18th 20th January. No response. Rang on 27th. On hold for 40 minutes. Was told someone would get back to me within 24-48 hours. Still waiting. Raised complaint to TIO 31st January. Porting to another provider on 2nd Feb irrespective of response as am completely fed up.

Apart from the call drop outs, delay in voicemail delivery and the frustration of spending numerous hours on hold, I have been dealing with outgoing email problems from my Iphone which was recommended by Vodafone to purchase in 2008. It started over 7 months ago I would receive emails from my host server but when ever I replied or sent an email from the Iphone it went into Cyber Space. It took a little while before I realised my emails were not being received. I am self employed and therefore rely heavily on what package Vodafone sales team sold to me. Vodafone firstly told me that it was my problem as no one else was experiencing these types of problems and I must have done something to cause this issue. After further waiting on the phone with Vodafone customer service representitives and being told it was not Vodafone but my host company problem, I then spent many hours with my host company trying to assist me without success. Vodafone finally admitted their fault, it was a major spam problem they had experienced causing the problem. The rep told me they were working on it and should not take to long before going back to normal. After waiting a few more weeks I went through the same old Vodafone frustrating contact process (hours and days on hold)and was told to use an alternative website to reply to my emails. This worked for about a 3 days then I started having the same problems again with their recommendations!! Please note, I have always paid my bill on time during this whole frustrating ordeal. All of my calls were naturally recorded by Vodafone, and all correspondence updated on my account, this showed a conversation I had with them stating they would contact me when this problem was rectified before the next billing cycle but they would inform me as their top international tech team were being flown into Australia to fix it. During Christmas they barred my out going calls, I was interstate on holidays and sat on the phone for 6 hours over 2 days trying to talk to someone from Vodafone. Finally spoke to a rep who understood my frustration and returned my phone to operational status as he was over the constant failure of Vodafone. Minor compensation has been offered along the way in the form of a $25 reduction in my bill!! I have not mentioned many other occassions I have been on the phone to Vodafone as this message would be longer then the Harry Potter novel. I spoke to a tech just recently who now said the problem only effects the Iphone so I should look at getting a Blackberry, when I mentioned considering it was Vodafone who told me to purchase 6 Iphones originally what could they offer given the inconvenience, his answer was "nothing as it is your choice". Ps my outgoing emails are still not operational even with all of their recommendations.



Regards



(Personal Details removed)

After being put on hold for 50 mins, I have finally given up. Vodaphone sucks for sure. So here I am with a modem on contract paying 40 dollars a month and yet it doesn't work

I have been having problems connecting to internet using vodaphone mobile broadband and believe it or not, their help desk has put me on hold for the last 40mins. Am still waiting for someone to speak to me as I write this note

I call people and I get nothing at the other end. They don't get me calling them and it just hangs with nothing. This can happen 3 or 4 times before it connects and this can happen about 20% of calls that i make.

Data? I though my slow painful data stream was the norm until I used my friends iPhone 3gs on another network and it was loading pages within seconds. It can take anything from 90 secs to 4 mins plus to load a page on the internet. On a game like bejewelled blitz i might connect once a day if i'm lucky, get connection error or no network the rest of the time. Apps or itunes is a big no no it just takes too long... all this time my battery life is dying. If i need to get emails it takes about 3 or 4 mins to download my emails. generally i use my iphone as a glorified ipod and a txt machine, so disappointing.

The trouble is calling vodafone is a joke. Lara is a nightmare and if you do manage to get put through to the right people she then tells you there is an hours plus wait. I don't have an hour to waste, I don't have an hours battery life pretty much because of the rubbish signal that i get. I rung the other day to find out how much it would cost to get out of my contract, I have been with vodafone for 5 years, 3.5 on a contract and still have 10 months left of this one, I was asked 3 times why I wanted to leave. I told him 3 times that the reception and data availability is not acceptable he acted surprised all 3 times and clearly wasn't listening.

I don't know what happened. I never had a problem until i got my iphone and i know its not that. Its almost like they didn't upgrade the infrastructure to deal with the new technology. Brand is not enough these days. I will be leaving when it doesn't cost me $680

Everytime i need to call vodafail they fail me by cutting my off after ive been on hold for bloody ages..bloody pricks

I lost coverage AGAIN from 4.00pm on Friday 28th Jan until 3.02am on Sunday 30th, after which time it continued to come and go. It's monday now, and I still don't have full reception. This company was semi-professional once but is absolutely AWFUL now!! For a few months I've been tolerating the shithouse coverage, my calls being cut off, text messages arriving 3 days late etc. but I have finally switched providers & will NEVER use Vodafail again.

After this latest "technical difficulty", I contacted the Vodafail "customer service" line and, surprisingly, I was placed on hold for a ridiculous amount of time, and then somehow I was disconnected when the girl I was speaking to tried to put me on hold while she "checked something".

I've attempted to contact the company by phone and email, - I'm always put on hold, or "accidentally" disconnected, and not one of my calls has been returned despite the recorded message assuring me I'd be contacted within 2 - 15 minutes.

I've visited retail stores in person; - staff were no help at all. In fact, I told a sales girl at the Albury store that my calls always seem to be cut off at precise times, such as 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and 25 minutes, and I asked her if this was a deliberate action by Vodafail to force customers into making five or six calls to the same person, thereby using mass amounts of phone credit. I told her three other people I know each use Vodafail as their provider and each person has the same problem with calls dropping out. It was difficult to understand what she was saying while she was blowing bubbles with chewing gum, but she assured me it couldn't possibly be related to Vodafail's service. "Nah, it just wouldn't happen darl" is what she said. Classy. I think she expected me to be happy with her answer. Someone else I know received the same expert advice & assistance at this store, - absolutely useless staff who couldn't care less about customers.

This is definitely the WORST provider in the country, - not just the terrible phone reception & other service problems, but also the way Vodafail treats it's customers. As of Saturday I am no longer one of them, - joy!! I have excellent reception! And I can make calls that last longer than 10 minutes before being cut off! And I receive text messages a few seconds after they're sent! Best of all, I won't be paying this ridiculous company for such poor service. So long Vodafail, you pathetic excuse for a service provider!!!

vodafone sent me a txt msg stating that my contract can be cancelled and I can either wait for paperwork to come through or call them and cancel today....
so obviously i called them today to cancel it and the pappadum transfered me 3 times and said I can try do a few things to see if my reception gets better !! so i said no thankyou id like to cancel my plan as the txt msg states and then she puts me on hold then drops out !!! wtf !

I called vodafone regarding my poor service. Vodafone offerd me one months free however if i still was unhappy with the service I could cancell all fees waived.
One week later I called again to cancell as I still continued to have no service on a regular basis. The new operator i was talking to said that the preivous operator was wrong and what she offerd was impossible. I had asked to speak to the preivous operator. I was then put on hold as they searched for this person. She then came back and informed me that no one in the company know's who that person is therefor cannot be contacted and cannot verify the offer that i was given.

I have been a vodafone customer for 10 years. The last 2 years my coverage has slowly but surely reduced throughout australia and europe, when I make a phone call I have to re-call the person I'm talking to 3-4 times to complete one conversation and been on hold each time I've called vodafone to complain for over an 1hour only to be transferred to someone in india who can't speak or understand me!!It's disgusting and I believe loyal customers should not have to put up with this blatant lack of commitment and obvious grab for increased dollars for company execs!

I just got out of my contract with them and as i haven't had proper service with them for over a year i said i didnt want to be charged any fees to get out of my contract which they agreed too, now i have just been hit with a bill that includes cancellation fees, ive been waiting on hold for 25mins for customer service to tell them that im not paying as i wasnt getting the service i paid for, and im still waiting, this absolutely RIDICULOUS!! Vodafail sounds about right to me!!

Dear Moderation Team

When you say "if you haven't been able to contact Vodafone without success", do you mean despite a horrid wait time people should complain to the TIO without Vodafone even having the opportunity to even hear the complaint or be given a chance to resolve it?

Around the Albury Wodonga region no one with vodafone has been able to use almost any service since 14:10 on the 28/01/2011. This problem is still current and does not appear to be being addressed and Vodafone do not seem to be providing any explanation. This is not the first time. I expect to be compensated, then I shall be changing service provider. Vodafone have been neglecting their customers for too long.

I have just moved into a house in Lennox Head, NSW 2478. Up until now I have been 'ok' with vodafone. Not the best coverage in rural areas but I knew that when I signed up on my contract. However I now have minimal to no reception in my house while living in a township of 4000 people. It means I cannot receive work calls and am unavailable at times when I am needed most. I can however walk outside, sit on the grass of the footpath and make calls. It can drop out at anytime.
As for 3G... That 1GB data package I pay for is now completely useless.
I rang to see if I could do something to my phone - add an antennae - was on hold for half an hour, spoke to someone and then my phone dropped out. Surprise surprise he didn't call back.
Thanks vodafail

We have sighned up with two Vodafone mobile Phones. One for myself who is visionly impired and one for my house mate so i can contact someone at all times for my own security and well being. I was promised 98% coverage. I have two phones witch in total cost 140$ a month on a bisiness unlimited cap. Phones are useless calls drop out. I have no security and keep getting a text book reply from over seas customer care. Placed on hold for 40 minuites at a time and can be transfured to 3 different departments just to get to someone who still does not understand me. I can not beleive this could happen. It is discusting and Vodafone should no longer be allowed to sell there services.

4.30 hours and still counting. If I ever hear John Mayer again I may feel the need to ram my phone up the closest Vodafone Customer rep's vodahole. I mean nearly FIVE hours is totally unacceptable. Imagine if I didn't pay my bill and used the excuse which I've been hearing for close to five hours now "I'm a bit flat out, hang in there, I'll pay it soon" I THINK NOT!! I can't even remember why I am calling them now. Oh that's right, I just need to change my credit card details. The first time I called them was at 4pm, I was put on hold for 41 minutes. I was told that the number I called was not the right number but the kind lady I spoke to kindly removed my credit card details from their system. I was then told to call 1555 (which I thought I had called) or to use the online service to change it. She assured me it would only take a minute to change my details. Because I was away from my computer I decided to call back......
I managed to get to my computer after half an hour and use the online facility. What a freaking joke, myvodafone is currently not working so I had to stay on hold. This is where I have been for the last several hours.
Currently I am dying, I am dying from lack of Friday night activity and listening to the one millionth John Mayer song. I may commit suicide very soon.
So Mr "to win in the marketplace you needed to create a brand that customers feel an emotional connection with; that employees want to do their best work for; and that is widely recognised as a leader for the quality of its products and services and the contribution it makes to society" CEO Vodafone.
Your customer care department sucks arse. It's not their fault, they are only following orders. Perhaps you and your customer service managers should be flipping burgers at Maccas, then again that requires too much responsibility and I personally don't think you're up to it. You would not know customer service (let alone customer care) if it crawled up your arse at night.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH! I am paying for a service I expect service. Not slack "we're flat out at the moment" service.
Vodafone you suck.

Ok I have been on hold 4 times now, each time for no less than 2.5 hours(5 hours was the max only to be hung up on when put on hold), finally was able to log onto myvodafone to check my call data and what do you know every time I try to see more than the last 7 days it disconnects me. They have been charging me for downloads I do not receive and have been charging for V2F calls.
It goes from bad to worse they sent me a email saying "recharge on the 28/1/2011 and get double bonusbank points", so I recharged and as you most probably know no extra bonus points. Been on hold now for 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Has taken well over 13 days and 10 hours on hold just to be able to log into myvodafone, but I still cannot do anything once logged in as they cut me out and I have to log in again. And I have been with VF since day one(loyalty LOL)
And I could go on and on, but hey my broadband speed hit the most ever whilst here now 750kbps YAY so much for 7mbps. Oh and my phone internet connection is that slow it times out between pages.
Thanks for putting this site up
Bob

Mobile Device (iPhone) - little or no reception. Fluctuates between "no service", "searching" and one or two bars. Limited cellular data - 3G symbol is rarely there and often receive "you have no internet connection" when trying to access the internet. Incoming and outgoing calls drop out, cannot send MMS messages and SMS messages are delayed.

Pocket Wi-Fi - very very very slow. 3G drops in and out. Takes approximately 5 minutes for each page to load when I am able to access the internet.

I have called the call centre numerous times to complain, often being on hold for over an hour. I have received technical advice from the team to no avail.

I contacted the call centre again this morning and pleaded with them to be transferred to the cancellations team. I was given the option to pay out my contract or allow Vodafone to open an investigation. I opted for the investigation and have to wait 5 - 7 working days for an update on the situation. To make matters worse my call dropped out twice whilst speaking to the call centre this morning - apparently calls to 1555 drop out regularly and cannot be taken into consideration during the investigation.

It's just not fair ...

We've had no service for 7 hours - on 2 Vodafone iphones! Have had constant problems over the past 12 months with phone calls dropping out or not calling at all (when signal is available) and cellular data only working occasionally. Have been on hold with Vodafone trying to void our contracts for well over an hour and not impressed at all.

Got charged a dishonour fee on my last bill because a direct debit didn't go through. Rang up vodafone today and after being on hold for a miraculously short four minutes advised them that I had never actually activated direct debiting on my account and that my account on vodafone.com.au reflected that fact.

Quickly received an apology and a credit for the amount of the dishonour fee on my account.

Still can't overlook the fact that four days into my current billing period, my account usage graph has not been updated and is still reflecting I have spent none of my calls or data for the month, yet the call-by-call listing shows all usage for the month so far. Weird.

Recently (About 3 weeks ago) I ordered an Iphone 4 over the phone with Vodafone. It had all been arranged and I was aware of all the details of the plan I was agreeing too, I was told it would take 5 - 10 days until my phone arrived. However, when I rang the following day so I could have my tracking number my order had somehow been cancelled, so for some unknown reason Vodafone decided to cancel my order and not notify me of this! So when I asked why the original order had been cancelled I was put on hold for 15 minutes and then the operator says to me, "Okay so I can process that order again for you," I said, "Wait, why didn't it go through in the first place? Thats what I was on hold for 15 minutes waiting to know?" So he replies "I dont know, i'll process the order again."
So thinking Vodafone would get their act together and my Iphone would actually be sent off, I agreed to process my order again - with all the exact same details to my contract. He then told me he would call me in 24 hours once it had gone through and been sent, to reassure me I am getting for what I asked.
Four days later I rang Vodafone - It still hasn't gone through, and no one can figure out why. "The investigation wil take another 24 hours" I was told!

So ringing about every second day now for 3 weeks I keep getting told 24 hours!! I finally decided to ask for the supervisor so I could hopefully get this all resolved and my Iphone be sent out. He is just as hopeless as the rest of the operators and cannot tell me WHY or WHEN this issue will be resolved. He tells me it has been escalated to the highest priority (Ive heard this about 3 times already) and he will call me in 6 working hours once he finds out what the issue is.
A day later I call back to find out what the hell is going on, and surprise surprise, I just got told they are going to figure it out and call me back in 20 minutes. It's been an hour!

It's not the fact that I even want a new phone anymore, Im so sick and tired of Vodafone fucking me around, at this point in time they have stuffed me around so much I just want to cancel my current contract and get the hell out of Vodafone and go with a new service!!!!!

Can anyone help me at all?!?!

I first started to realise that I was having problems with my phone a few weeks ago. I only had a couple of weeks to go until my contract ended but decided to stay as they offered such an attractive offer.. Too good to be true I thought so I triple checked the inclusions and went on a 24 month contract again.. BIG MISTAKE!!
I have just received my new phone today but the last week has been horrible. I have not been able to make calls, I can not text, I simply cant do anything and I feel like I am carrying a phone for no reason at all! Incoming and well as outgoing calls can not be made smoothly.

The other problem I had was when trying to upgrade my plan, I was put on hold for over 30 minutes every time I called and then of course I gave up for that day. Tried again the following and the same thing again!! And by the 3rd day, I had used my phone (without the plan that i needed to upgrade to) and they are trying to charge me over AUD$90.00 for calls I have made?? I think if they had picked up my calls and did not inconvenience me so much I probably would not have owed that to begin with as my new contract would have been processed.

Soooo annoying!!! I complained a few times and they've given me a $15.00 credit?? A lousy $15.00 is NOT enough for the time and inconvenience I have dealt with!!

Vodafone WAS a great service and over 10 years ago I went with them as the best alternative over the bigger telcos. Ever 12 months for a few years due to my spend I would get a call asking if I would like a new phone, which at the time I was out of contract and didnt have to resign just continue paying bill month to month. Happy days

Flash forward to last few years no longer speaking to those great original call centre employees, sometimes not ever speaking to a person at all....gotta love LARA who will only put you through to an operator if you swear at her. Or calling and being on hold for 50 minutes just for the privlidge of asking for international roaming to be placed on phone.

Sort it out Vodafone...yes I know I can go to other providers but fingers crossed you get your house in order

I signed up to a $49 cap with vodafone in September 2010. Ever since then, the internet connect has been pretty poor. In early Jan of this year, it became almost non existent - It now takes on average 45 seconds to download the google home page and at times it wont even do that. Forget watching any videos on you tube - 'network error' and checking emails - 'unable to load conversation'. I'm pretty reliant on email for work and study and I'm sure I'm not alone. I cant get ADSL at my home so I was hoping to supplement my Telstra wireless bigpond account with the 1.5GB (+ 1GB bonus) data allowance per month by using my phone as a portable wifi hotspot - sounded like a great idea but now I'm lucky to get 3 or 4 MB per day. I called vodafail a few times but like most of you, I dont really have the time to wait on hold for 30 - 60 mins. at a time. I eventually got through and spoke to a man in a call centre who informed me that I should try switching the phone off and on again and see if that makes a difference or try the SIM in another handset - why would I need to try another handset? I have a brand new handset provided by vodafail. He told me that a 'team' of engineers would investigate the problem and get back to me in 4 -5 days....that was 5 days ago. Just sent a complaint to the TIO. I'm tired of being ripped off and I want out.... hello Telstra.

Okay here we go. These guys are total tools. Sign up for a contract, says first 6 months are half price. Yeah cool, right. Get the bill and I am charged at the full rate. Now this is where the fun begins. Spend one hour on hold with that Lara saying "Hang in there, we will be with you soon". How damn Soon Lara??????? Then I call them back in the morning, another 30 minutes on hold before I give up. Then I send them a email. Have they responded? No. Now Im pushing about another 30 minutes on hold. FFS Voda, get it together. Heres Lara saying Hang in there, we will be with you really soon. And they want me to get a Mobile phone of them on Contract as well? Idiots, thats the only words I can use to describe them right now. Absolutely appalling customer service to spend this long on hold when there damn sales lines go straight through.

After being on hold for 3 hours , I am advised that the information that I was provided was wrong and I will have to call them within 48 hours regarding the same.

Vodafone has been messing with my bills since November 2010. The created a second account for me when i signed a new contract. Credits were not transfered over and they were about 400 worth. I was on hold about 15 times in total over 8 hours on the phone to them. Plus I was promised insurance now find out I don't have this. I thought after speaking to 3 supervisors this was sorted on December 21st December. I got a bill on my old account for the credit which was sent to new account saying I owe them 219 plus bill on my new account of 98. I called got hung up on twice then someone called me back saying we transfered the credit to your othwer account so you owe us still. Tghe service constantly drops out not sure if it is the iphone4 but Vodafone has gone downhill badly in 2010. I have sent emails to their customer care and over having to call them every month to sort out their lack of billing skills. They try to twll me I have 2 phones same number. I can't wait untilk this contract is over so i can say goodbye to Vodafone forever.

Sydney suburbs. No 3G mobile broadband coverage for over 1 week.
Can only get a crappy GPRS signal with unbelievably slowwwwwwww download speed.
Cannot get on to customer service...hold times too long.
I have paid for 3G BROADBAND not slow dial up speeds ! Voda Hoax.

Half my keypad went kaputt. This meant I couldn't dial the number to most people, or complete a comprehensible SMS. After the usual circus with Lara, her friends in the Philippines, and many other symphonies from the Vodafone and Nokia muzak selections, I took an afternoon off work to visit my local Westfield to activate my "extended warranty" at a Voda shop in person.
Instead of any attempt to help when I explained my phone's plight to the young "gentle"men in the booth, I received in return, a barrage of demands, ranging from personal ID, proof of purchase, proof of contract etc.etc...Ultimately, they issued an ultimatum - NO job number (from Lara's telephone hotline) NO repair......"but she didn't give me one...but they kept putting me on hold.....but the overseas operator wasn't authorised to issue any numbers...." I pleaded. They were adamant, and to get me off their backs, they explained that they were "only" a private contractor for Vodafone. They sell their products, but don't deal with their problems. So my only chance is to go to the Voda shop...which strangely exists in the same shopping mall only 50 metres away????
So I repeated the same performance 2 minutes later, and unsurprisingly the same unhelpful responses and denial of responsibility.
Their first response at this shop was not so much an apology for the inconveniences, but more akin to a threat: "This is gonna cost you $100 just for an inspection...."
"But isn't the extended warranty which I have unfailingly paid for the past 22 months..."
"No!" he cuts me off..."You STILL have to pay the excess"...
"Alright then", I replied and started thinking about joining my wife's new iPhone 4 plan from a rival telco. "Since I only have 2 months left, what's the cost of paying out my contract?"
He became elusive, and started typing madly, hunched over his computer as if trying to hide my own details from me. Never offering me a seat, he finally barked, "If you want a new phone, you renew your contract NOW!"
"Can I get an iPhone?" I queried.
"Yeah, but you'll have to wait 8 weeks till we're re-stocked".
"OK...." I politely retorted as I mused at the thought of keeping my gammy phone for another 8 weeks. "...So what are my plan options?"
He then snapped out a series of options, still sitting there like he was the school principal whilst I stood like a naughty customer. Not once did he offer me one of the vast library of brochures, or pen or paper whilst I tried jotting down the costs on the back of a shopping docket.
The most useful outcome from this exchange was knowing that when I got my iPhone on the spot in a neighbouring phone dealer, my new plan was considerably cheaper than any of the Voda options. My penalty for early termination of contract is consoled by the knowledge of never having to listen to that annoying Lara again........My sympathies to all my Voda victims out there, and the woman who actually provides Lara's voice.

THIS IS MY SECOND ADDRESS SINCE HAVING A VODAFONE MOBILE BOTH OF WHICH WILL ONLY ALLOW A SIGNAL WHILST STANDING EITHER IN THE GARDEN OR AT THE BACK DOOR! VODAFONE ALSO KINDLY SWITCHED MY SERVICE OFF FOR 2 DAYS AND BARRED ALL CALLS AND TEXTXS...THEY WERE UNABLE TO EXPLAIN WHY OTHER THAN "MAYBE I HAVE SOME IDEAS AS TO WHY WE HAVE SWITCHED OFF YOUR SERVICE" WELL, AFTER COUNTLESS HOURS ON HOLD TO AN INDIAN CALL CENTRE, OBVIOUSLY BLOODY NOT OTHER I WOULDNT HAVE PHONED YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE

Having issues with service at home and work. Managed after 11 months to have them perform a network investigation (as both areas show full 3G coverage on the maps). They admit to an issue at my work (which is better than at home, 95% no problems making a call or SMS, 50% of the time 3G data works - and when I have issues all other vodafail suckers have issues too so unlikely to be my phone) they say this one will be fixed within the next two months.

For the result of the home survey - they say no problems at all - 25% success rate for voice and sms (the number of red (!) next to messages on the iPhone that you need to click is phenomenal), data - don't even think about it - good thing I have WiFi!

So I complain about the situation and query why I should be spending more than $50 a month for no service, they say, Sir we will give you 3 months for free - would you like to switch plans, it's got a higher cap. I was beyond annoyed at this and suggested that the offer of a higher cap was useless given it was near impossible to use what I have now. Was offered to have handset unlocked for free and for free redirect to another number - sweet - at least I'll be able to have a number to use. Only the unlock page wants me to pay. Now this is where the pain really kicks in - I decide that an hour on hold was perhaps not the most productive use of my time, and email them, quoting a reference number which I was told to quote. The useless numbskull the other end of the email address could not even be arsed to read the email and just quoted the go here pay this.

Pissed does not even describe my current status, I hate you vodefail, I hate you so much and am hanging out for the day you close up shop in Australia. Once I was willing to forgive if you could supply service, now I want you to close down, you're obviously wasting money, energy and everyone's time!

AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

I had a simple customer care question regarding travelling overseas (roaming). Do they "care" about "customers" when you are put on hold for 2 hours?

Ships that sail in such a way must sink.

Still on hold by the way.....

Total disgrace.

Phone keeps dropping out,unable to send or receive text messages, unable to access internet, continually slow data transfer.

I have been a vodafone customer for 3 years. Around 2 months ago I started to experience continual problems with my and my partners phone, and our internet access whilst in our home which is close to Brisbane CBD. In November 2010 I complained to vodafone after a 24 hour period were we had no internet or phone coverage at all. After an hour on the phone I was told someone would call me back, which they did a couple of days later leaving a voice message that I could not understand. The problems have continued since that time and again I called vodafone to complain. After speaking with a completely useless phone operator who said the technicians had confirmed there were no problems with coverage in my area so there was nothing they could do I responded by saying there was something I could do, which was join the class action against them and complain to the ombudsmann. I also said I wanted to cancel my contract (at no cost to me). I was then told that a supervisor would call me back to discuss cancelling my contract. Suprisingly someone did call me back, and after repeating the same information and being asked the same useless questions such as are you sure it is not your handset (given it happens to 2 phones and the internet at the same time) was informed.......Yes there was a problem and it started 3 months ago when Vodafone took over 3. It had to do with the towers and they are attempting to fix this problem and hope that services will be working fine in around 2 months. They then offered to waive the monthly fees on both phones for the next 3 months ($150 per month) and if it was not fixed by the end of this period to call them back and discuss this further. For me this was a satisfactory outcome.

ok now I was on the phone with them trying to cancel my contract.

After I told him I had no interest in talking to the technical department he said "let me put you on hold"
next thing I hear is the dial tone...

Every time I call Vodafone I'm put on hold... not just for a few minutes either closer to an hour and sometimes over an hour. I don't get reception at home, at work or standing in the middle of the street most of the time! I get delayed sms msgs, as well as voice mails, my calls drop out at least 4 times a week. I call vodafone at least 3 times a week and every time i get a different response. I was told that I can cancel my contract due to not being able to get reception, i was then told I couldnt get out of my contract without paying.Everytime Vodafone has to call me back... I NEVER have reception to take the call, it just goes straight to my voicemail! PATHETIC COMPANY!

Farout I HATE THOSE FRIGGING ON-HOLD MUSIC
THEY JUST MAKE U MORE AND MORE ANGRY WHILE YOU'RE WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO ANSWER YOUR FRIGGING CALL. AND THEN THEY TELL U THEYLL TRANSFER UR CALL TO ANOTHER DEPARTMENT AND ITS BACK TO THOSE MUSIC FOR FRIGGING 1 HOUR

seriously this is crazy!
So you can sign contracts in the store? But when it comes to cancelling due to dissatisfaction, you have to call (and be put on hold for HOURS) 1555?

I just called up 1555 on my mobile to complain and cancel my contract due to really shitty reception (btw, I live on a HILL). And ironically enough, I spent 1 minute talking to the man from vodafone...AND MY CALL DROPPED OUT!!!!

after 11 years as a Vodafone customer I have finally given up. Last week I lost a contract due to the fact that I was unable to send an email with the proposal my client wanted. I drove from Manly to Newport (NSW) stopping every 1km or so to resend the email. 2 days later I deleted the email from my outbox, still not having sent. During this period I called Vodafone repeatedly. After being left on hold for 45 minutes I hung up and when I finally got through I was told "sorry" I "dropped out" to which I replied if i dropped out how come I could hear the hold music until I ended the call. I joined Vodafone knowing that regional reception was poor with them and that they concentrated on metro areas. But when I cant get reception in metro areas, when I pay for a 3G service and only get that about 15% of the time it leaves me wondering why I bother! Well I don't anymore. The only way we will let Vodafone know that it's service is substandard and that it cannot treat customers like that, is to vote with our plans and go elsewhere. After much frustration, with call centers that do not listen , reception that drops out and data that just does not work I have finally voted with my custom.

I have been with Vodafone for 15+ years. One of their original customers and you know what that counts for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!! I bought an iphone 3 11 months ago. Since that time I have not been able to send emails - the reason I bought the phone. I have waited on hold for up to an hour sometimes and given up. I have written emails - not a single response. And after 15 years of loyal, paid on time service you know what I get - oh so sorry we will give you $30 off this month and then for the next three months you can have a discount. What I want is never to have to deal with Vodafone again. They don't care about my loyalty so why should I. Man up Vodafone. Cancel my contract at a reasonable rate. YOU HAVE SOLD A PRODUCT THAT CANNOT DO WHAT IT WAS SOLD TO DO. You don't deserve my business. Last Friday as my 2 year old was in an operating theatre guess what - no service coverage. This is in a suburb 5 minutes from the city and under Vodafone relay towers. Please - enough is enough

Crap data speeds, virtually no 3G coverage in SW Brisbane, delayed messages, Delayed voicemail, dropped calls, failed text messages. I waiting 90 minutes on hold to customer care, operator answered then call dropped, like they hung up on me. Complaint now lodged with TIO as i think 90 minutes on the phone to only be disconnected is a fair and reasonable attempt to fix my problems. How come when Lara asks "is it for the number your calling on?" they cant identify my number and call me back?? Fail cant wait to get out of there

I have been in touch with Vodafone and after being on hold for 45 minutes I spoke with Two very helpful people (seriously). I explained my issues and the technicians at the help desk took my complains very seriously.

I have requested that I am released from my contract which at this point seems like a possibility, my reasoning is that for the past several months the services that I am paying for have been sub-standard, I am disappointed as Vodafone is an internationally recognized brand, one would have thought that their service would be incredibly reliable.

The Tech guy that I spoke to told me that in Australia 3 mobile and Vodafone have merged, he explained that the merge happened before the technology was updated, my response was 'why am I still paying a substantial monthly bill for poor quality service?'. Surely Vodafone customers should receive some sort of discount for our trouble.

My inquiry was left semi unresolved, I am told that technicians will check my main service areas and revert back to me in a few days, I was assured however that if there is no solution found in this time I would be free to walk away from my contract.

Vodafone seem to have been rather fair up to this point, I guess you just need to speak with them and explain your issues.

I have been with Vodafone for a number of years and have experienced illegitimate phone bills, constant disconnection of phone calls, limited reception and poor assistance from staff.

I spent 40 minutes on hold to speak to a customer service operator, when I told them my problem they then requested to transfer me to someone more appropriate and simply hung up on me. 40 minutes wasted.

There is no point trying to get help from a staff member because their stores are already full of other unhappy customers.

I currently own the Iphone 4 and am instantly regretting extending my phone with Vodafone. Close to every phone call I make is disconnected half way through due to what I assume is poor reception. No matter my location, I have one or two bars of reception. I do not receive messages, my phone rings out and doesn't display a missed call, and most of the time it connects straight to message bank.

Recently I've had two people tell me my phone has been disconnected when they have tried to contact me.

VODAFAIL!!!

I've been trying all morning to fix my password. I did get to talk to someone who had 'technical difficulties' and had me on hold for about 5 minutes. Then he said I would get a new temp password by text. I though he'd wait until I got it but he said 'Have a nice day' and hung up. It never came. Now I have been trying to get through again and I can't! I am getting dropped from the automatic service, or not getting through at all.
What has happened to these people?? I've been with them for about 1.5 years - I've never loved them but it seems they have imploded!
Grrrrrr

tried to change from post paid to pre-paid they gave me the wrong mobile number it took an hour and a half to get speak to someone on my mobile and using the usage on the mobile at the same time (its with optus)tried again with the write mobile and put me on hold for another hour before telling me i had to be put on hold again. just want to get put on pre paid so i don't get a mounting bill its that too much to ask.

Sucessfully cancelled two contracts with Vodafone, or so I thought. Yesterday received a bill for $600 due to early exit fee on my wifes phone. Rang them to get it resolved. After 40 mins on hold (not too bad considering some of the times I have had to wait) they told me that is a routine charge until they get the handset back. I asked why I was charged on that account and not the other one I cancelled if it was routine (no response).

I then stated that I was told there would be no exit fee and I wanted it reversed. She said she couldn't do it. I asked to speak to someone who could. She refused to transfer me. I told her I was not getting off the phone until the charge was reversed. She said there was nothing she could do. I then asked for all my direct debits to be cancelled. She confirmed that they were. I asked for her name and employee ID and she hung up on me.

I then tried to call back and after another 40 mins on hold was told that their system was down due to an upgrade and I should ring back tomorrow. I then asked who I could talk to to make a complaint and was told that no complaints can be taken while the system is down. Looking forward to round 3 today... NOT.

I am so sick of LARA. seriously lara, get your act together and put on somebody real when i call up about problems. on most occasion my bills are wrong and i get overcharged, charged for my 'free' calls between vodafone and 3. the people that are supposed to help are useless and most workers in the stores have no idea what they are talking about. i never have reception and i live in the cbd. my voicemails arrive hours later. im sick of you vodafone, ive been with you way too long. i cannot wait to get out of my contract! only 15 months to go :(.......

My 1st Grudge with Vodaphone pretty much started when I signed up. I was living in Perth at the time and of course can get reception anywhere. Soon after I moved home to live with the Family in Albany and of course had RECEPTION SERVICE PROBLEMS, I was able to get coverage in town but drive 10mins away from the centre and away it went! This became an ongoing issue and really got on my nerves as I was having to use my families mobile phones to text who were of course with TELSTRA or OPTUS. Lucky I moved away eventually as I still had 23 months left on the contract!! My Newest GRUDGE has been recent. I have recently started a job which intales me to fly Internationally so in the last few months without even knowing my Bill has sky rocketed to massive $1500 with out me knowing. my phone recently got barred yesterday for not paying! Now I know When a Bill is overdue of course this is there procedure BUT on more then 3 occasions I Called (ON HOLD FOR OVER 30 mins each time!!) trying to sort this issue out. I had no contact from Vodaphone on any occasion to tell me my phone bill was incresing to this substanial amount when I had been at a minimal $80 a month for the last 16months. My payments have always been on time and never overdue! It would of been nice for them as a Company to see that there was a change in billing amount and call me or notify me of this problem!! (Like the Banks)
So now My phone is barred and have tried calling them 6x 2day to get the phone put back on and see what they can do with this amount that I had not been informed of! I finally got through (its now Midnight) after being told by a friend who also had similar problems to call COMPLAINTS and they unbarred my phone till 2moro where I then have to call again and speak to Collections!! So here I am now ANGRY more then ever and want to get out of my Vodaphone Contract!! Making sure I tell everyone never to sign with then again!!

I am currently trying to register for the my vodafone website so I can check whether or not I should have had service when I was overseas recently. Each time I enter my phone number they text me a temporary password however the passwords don't work. I've tried so many times and had three passwords texted to me. They instruct you to phone customer service f you continue to have difficulty which I did however after several voice prompts I was informed that service is closed and I have to call back in the morning. I have to work tomorrow and don't have time to wait hours to wait on hold to get something so trivial sorted. I have wasted many lunchtimes on hold to them over the past 12 years and just accepted it but since this website I've realised I don't need to take this. When I do get through I will attempt to end my contract.

customer service 45mins on hold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! poor poor poor internet service

loyal vodafone customer for 15 years (my first mobile was with vodafone)

crap service - cant get any reception in my house at all!

complained to TIO in december and released from contract just days before xmas (YAY) but now cant get my final bill sorted so i can change to a functional telco. been on the phone today with 5 different people (2 put me on hold when they couldnt figure out why i had been incorrectly charged $163.62 for a "TIO Settlement"???) and one just thought it was all too hard and hung up on me.

so, now i am trying to get my CREDIT! it shouldnt take 5 staff and more than 3hrs of combined calls to get this resolved!!!

if all goes well, i'll be a telstra customer this time tomorrow (and i never thought I would say THAT)!

After having a problem with my recharge by credit card I followed recorded message instructions 4 times but to no avail. I then called vodafone's support line and was put on hold. I have been on hold for 2 and a half hours all the while being reassured by "Lara" voice to "hang in there we'll be with you really soon". I am sure it will be soon in geological terms but not in human terms. I am still on hold waiting as I type! No, At the 2 and 3/4 mark I have now been disconnected. I feel quite unfriendly toward vodafone.

End of last year, my sms's were being sent multiple times, 8 or more sometimes, and when I tried to ring the customer service, and speak to a human to rectify my dilemma.. after waiting over an hour from my land line phone, I gave up, and made a complain to the Telecommunications Ombudsman.

After a few days, someone from Vodafone eventually rang me, knowing I had made a complaint to the Ombudsman, and offered me free credit for my pain.. which was nice, until it ran out.

I went to recharge my credit, using the same credit card I had used for the past year, and it said I had no card registered? Ok, so I jumped online tried to register my card.. I entered all the details in, and it came up with some error, and to try calling 1555. So, after waiting over a year last year, I had hoped that they may answer sooner from the mobile on their network.. :( No.. I was on hold for over an hour and a half this time.. The call started at home, I packed up my gear, walked to the bus stop, was on the bus over 50 mins, and eventually lost the signal when the bus went into the underground bus station.. Quietly I think it would not have answered even if I had been there for 3 or 4 hours.. anyways. It kept sporadically telling me.. " Hang in there. We';ll be with you really soon" ... really soon??? Compared to what?

I have been unable to make calls/send text messages from my mobile for over a week and a half. I have no idea what happened to my credit card information, but I know they DID have it prior to November 2010, as I had used it to recharge ever since I'd been with Vodafone, and the card details are fine as I use it daily for my grocery shopping etc.

I have given up on Vodafone and think I'll give Virgin Mobile a go?

Vodafone Customer service 0/10 :( FAIL!

Ongoing problems with service since I originally contracted with them and service has deteriorated ever since.

1. Calls going straight to voicemail without ringing despite bars being present to indicate signal.
2. Delays in voicemail and SMS messages sometimes by 1/2 day / 1 day despite bars being present.
3. Calls dropping.
4. Calls unable to get through.
5. No signal / dropped signal on a regular basis.
6. Botched connection for overseas and 10 day response means missed calls and service for 10 days.
7. 3G network often not working, replaced by a 'o' or 'E' symbol.
8. Data packets not downloading.
9. No reception in most of my residence, and the parts with better reception aren't strong enough to hold a call, or hear the caller.
10. Entire Western Australian network down for several hours.

All of the technical issues are present regularly between Sydney and Illawarra, in my regular travels to Melbourne and also during travel in throughout Western Australia. They are equally present in metro and regional.

These have cost me lost business, lost reputation and most importantly, inability to deal with 2 family emergencies while traveling.


What appears to be deliberate stalling, and passing the buck, hours on hold, no offer of resolution or compensation.

I informed them of their potential breaches of contract, Trade Practices and Privacy Act. They were ill informed, and unable to escalate to anyone with the authority to do anything other than waste my time.

I told them to let me out of their contract because they were in breach of contract by not providing service and they told me that I would be charged if I changed providers without their technical dept getting involved. They promised to have their technical dept call me and they did not do so. I have been unable to get through since.

They have admitted fault, come up with every excuse under the sun, never apologised, offered compensation or even a token remedy.


Refund the full amount of charges since the inception of my contract and enable me to transfer my number to another provider without penalty. I am happy to return the handset upon transferring my number to another provider, provided Voda supplies a pre-paid envelope.

$xxx in wasted time which could have been spent billing clients instead of on hold to Voda.

$xxx in damages for lost business, missed opportunities and trauma caused by not being contactable by my family.

---

Looks like they've got 10 days to respond under TIO rules. Will be interested to see outcomes.

i am stuck in a 24 month contract where i never get any reception at all. i have to travel 20 minutes to get 2 bars of service and even then my calls get dropped and messages don't get sent.
i have paid my bills but they still bar my calls.
they would have known when i signed up for my contract that i wouldnt have any reception where i lived. but instead of letting me know, they have me stuck in a useless contract!
i have a 4 month old baby and today i was 50 minutes from home when i became stuck. i had no way of contacting anyone and had to walk to a service station in 34 degree heat to use a phone.
when i rang today to try get it sorted out i was on hold for 30 minutes and was then hung up on by a woman who i could hardly understand.
RIDICULOUS!!!!

aside from all the reception issues with calls and 3g i have an issue with my insurance. i had an iphone 3 stolen whilst in new york. 2 weeks after the phone was taken and i was home i went to vodafone and put in my claim and paid my excess and then had to wait 14 weeks to get another phone sent to me. in this time i was guarenteed a new phone "in two weeks". during this time is spent between 1 - 2 hours on hold on 3 seperate occasions. vodafone also kept charging me insurance each month although i had no phone to insure. i had to go and purchase another phone of much lesser quality than an iphone but was still paying $79 cap + insurance per month on a phone i purchased myself. i was very dissapointed in the service and the dissmissive attitude i gotwhen i finally got through.

So i just waited for about 25 minutes on hold then my call got answered and the first thing he said to me was there system is getting upgraded and i needed to call back in 24 hours..... UMM WHY DID YOU TELL LARA TO TELL ME THAT TO BEGIN WITH ??????

Whether I am in the middle of our local fully developed town or in the surrounding suburbs Vodafone coverage drops out - usually during a call - no matter if I'm standing still or moving around. This happens in FOUR different post codes!!!!! How much more pathetic can they get? Why do we have to suffer this?? I pay $129 per month for this RUBBISH service? I have just spent 40 minutes on hold waiting to get through to them and when I finally get to speak to someone, they are in an off shore call centre like India or something! AAAAAAAAAAAAArrrrrrrgh!

Today I needed to ring Vodafone Customer Care. I did so I was on hold waiting for someone to talk to me for 4 and a half hours. Twice the phone disconnected. I am very disappointed in Vodafone at the moment. I have been calling Vodafone numbers and in the middle of conversations the phone drops out. I am also disappointed as I want to leave Vodafone but have been notified on the phone today it will cost $25.00 to unlock my phone to go to another provider.

Sitting on hold for 45 minutes, only to talk to someone that does not speak or understand English, who are always "sorry mamm" and just never seem to have any idea. Then the website always being down - sorry for the inconvinience .... call 1555 to adhere to your query! You can't win. When my contract is up in March, I am out of there! The are shocking!!!!

Consistent drop outs are my biggest issue and finding difficulty to get coverage most of the time. I contacted Vodafone this morning and waited on hold for only 1 min before i was connected to a staff member in Mumbai. He was friendly, sympathetic, and very helpful. He has organised for my enquiry to be escalated which i know is what most say and never get results, but we will see, he said a report will be filed and i will be contacted once complete which he said should take no longer than 5 days. He credited $75 to my account for the inconvenience of the poor service over the past couple of months which doesn't sound like much, but i was honestly expecting nothing. We discussed the option of me being able to withdraw my contract if the issues with the network aren't resolved in 2 months which is when he advised it should be back to working properly. The report that will be completed will assist me in gaining the desired result, is how he worded it so will wait and see what happens from here. Just wanted to let you know my story as i am a very frustrated customer aswell but feel a little better after having spoken to them.

I've tried 5 times to call 1555 to complain and been put on hold for over 20 minutes only to have the reception fail and the phone call to be disconnected. Over the holiday period I had to set my Mobile Broadband to GPRS just to get some dial up speed connectivity. Now it's back on 3G but drops out regularly and is very slow.
I'm not paying another bill to Vodafone until I get a new iPhone 4.
Wah! Wah!

So sick to death of this pathetic fucking company. No coverage anywhere i go, cannot make calls, receive calls, send or receive texts. Absolute joke. When i want to fix the problem, i have to spend more than my lunch break on hold calling the pricks. Completely fed up Vodafail.

When i was signed in a contract with Vodafone, I was told that I will get 1st month free for two connections which I took. While I was overseas during Christmas and New Year break, I received my first bill. I opened it and found instead of 2 connections I have been charged for 3 connections. Since I was overseas, so I didn't contact customer care.

On my return I tried to access that bill but I could not. The link in email does not work and there is no copy on my account over vodafone website. I tried to contact customer care and could not talk to any one and put me on hold for several hours.

Then I received a threatening sms that if I did not pay my invoice my phones will be disconnected. So I had make the payment to keep my phone active.

I am still trying to talk to someone at vodafone to resolve the issue but no luck so far.

My reception would keep on dropping and as I run a business, it makes it difficult to get in contact with suppliers. When i call up Vodafone, i speak to Lara, which is hopeless and then am put on hold for several hours. Sometimes it even gets cut off and other times i decide to hang up instead of wasting my time. Eventually i found a forum online (not Vodafone website) that assisted me in my problem. I was very disappointed in Vodafone's service and hope it improves.

Over two hours on hold on several occasions. And the same song lyrics kept on being played, "I don't want to be lonely no more" sung by Rob Thomas. I wonder if they get the irony.

on hold all after i started at 1300 hrs and finished at 1700hrs... was hung up on twice and in the end nothing was resolved!! no happy

No service majority of the time at my home even worse now that I have a brand new Iphone 4
Cannot use internet at all on the phone due to service
Calls drop out constantly in other area
Was in the city of perth and only had one bar of reception
Had to wait over and hour on hold EVERY time I called
When I was waiting to get my phone the date they messaged me and the date I actually received the phone were a week apart
I managed to get through to them twice after being on hold and then they put me back on hold and disconnected the call!!

I first obtained A mobile broadband(pre payed)in August.From the beginning I was dropping out only occaisionally.Fair enough!I recently holidayed in Melbourne for 3 weeks(Doncaster & Torquay)No problems in Torquay,100ks from Melbourne,but absolutely no reception in Doncaster.Now that I'm home in WA,the problem seems to continue.On a Daily basis my Vodofone disconects,sometimes when i check it tells me i have been connected for a number of hours,but fails to mention that 1/2 of this time is spent reconnecting.I dont have a Vodaphone phone(thank god),but just 1 call to them cost me $63 & another $28 because of the time it takes to get through& the number of times they put you on hold.I'm an online Poker player & on 3 seperate occasions it has cost me Prize money as well as buy in money.My recharge cost me $150 for 12mnths.what a waste of time & money.LOL.its happening as i write!!!!!!

i never have reception anywhere in any location!! it drives me insane!! calls are cut out and some calls i don't even receive because apparently my phone is switched off or unavailable!! messages will not send and i cant receive messages!! i have called and complained numerous amounts of time, have been on hold for over 40 mins and all they have to say is "our service and coverage is getting better" what a load of crap if anything its getting worse!! i want my plan cancelled free of charge!! they have breached the contract i signed and i have every right to complain and have this service cancelled free of charge. vodafone has the worst service and coverage and i will never be a customer of vodafone again!!

I bought an Australian Vodafone SIM in Armidale in early 2009. I was advised in April 2009 by the local Vodafone store that G service as strong as Telstra would be available for Armidale by August. Not too long before that date, the store closed without fanfare, and users were referred to Lismore for service. I had been in the store just a week before, and one would not have known that this was going to occur.

Given that Armidale is a university town, neglect of service, is astonishing. National broadband therefore patently has a place in this town.

Dropouts of service were frequent. One would not know if and when service would be available. Texts could be received hours later. Voice calls were frequently diverted to voicemail, to the great annoyance of my callers. I thought this problem might have derived from my handset until the Vodafail article made me aware that I was not alone in this experience.

Vodafone mobile broadband also was delivered at less than dial up speed most of the time, and even at early hours of the morning (6-6.30 a.m.) or later in the evening (10 p.m. onwards) were also subject to dropouts, or lack of availability.

Certainly Vodafone staff have promised more than they can deliver, and steps should be taken by its management to markedly improve service or change descriptions of their quality of service.

I was on hold for 43 min and 27 seconds , Just to find out that I was Given wrong information by one of the Customer Service Agents @ vodafone.

I have all the same complaints as the rest of you. Ask Vodafone to stop charging you and place you account on hold. I have asked Vodafone to stop charging me until they fix the problem. So far I have not paid a bill in 3 months. Best of luck.

i live in an area where i have almost full reception on my i phone 3 and constantly experience drop outs, even trying to talk to technical support was useless because my phone would drop out when i was on hold. when calling from another phone on my many attempts to talk to technical support i was put on hold on average an hour and a half. one time i was on hold for 3/4 hour to techincal support and after the phone dying from the battery running out i called back to find out that i had been on hold after the support team had gone home.... i am now waiting to hear if i have a chance of getting out of my contract without any cost.

-Dropped calls
-Calls going straight to messagebank
-No data for hours at a time
-Long wait times when contacting Vodafone *Customer Care*

I have sent an email to network.feedback@vodafone.com.au outlining my issues and am awaiting a reply.

I bought a pre-paid vodafone as my old ph broke. Spent over 4 hours that day I bought it trying to register the phone/sim etc cos it wasnt working from the handset. When I called the call centre, because I didnt apparently have a vodafone number, the system hung up on me bout 4 times. When I finally got through to a person,their English was so bad (or they were in an Indian call centre) that she couldnt understand what I was saying and said she would get someone to call me back. She asked for my phone number to call me on...well...i gave her the number and she repeated it to me and it was wrong, tried again...wrong...tried AGAIN..wrong..tried again..WRONG!! this went on to the point where I said to her 'look, we are going to do this one more time very slowly... ' i made her repeat each number after I said it...she STILL had it wrong and i said is there someone else who I can speak to,finally i just said here is the number, shouldnt be that hard!! then she said goodbye and hung up. NO callback until the next day after I had several more hours of waiting on hold and finally giving up and going to a store...hour later and a new sim card...fixed. But now I get system alert txts 24hrs a day, saying insufficient funds when I do have credit!! arghh why oh why did i get a voda phone!!?

Every time I tried to call Customer Service, I was put on hold for over 30 minutes, listen to boring boring song on loop, and then when you think that there might at last be a living person at the other end, they cut you off. So over the last 1 month no resolution to my problem...
and trying going to their retail outlets is also hopeless... there at more 3 staff and the Q is maybe 6 to 10 people....

So it's wait, wait, wait till you drop!

I just posted this on Vodafone's blog page.... they pushed me over the edge today. I hope they burn in hell...

I have been a customer for the last 3 years. For the first 2 years, I used to tout your company as the best phone company in Australia, with the best plans and great customer service. I cannot believe how far you have fallen in the last 12 months. Continuous call drop-outs, inability to access the net almost all the time, blatant (and proven) lies from your customer service teams, massive bills despite being on a 'cap plan', reneging on insurance claims by coming up with absolute bulls--t reasons for not paying, regularly being on hold for over 30mins when trying to get someone on the phone (and then having the line drop out when they finally do answer, as somehow I've been connected to the wrong department despite pressing every button I was instructed to and they need to 'transfer me'), being cut off for unpaid bills despite the aforementioned calls being made specifically to try and pay said bills, being told by some fool in India who does not give a rats arse about customers, that there is no way they can connect me with someone in Australia to discuss my problems (bloody cowards that you are). Well I have had a gut full.... I am leaving to join one of your competitors. I am going to tell everyone I have ever known and everyone will I ever meet 'NOT' to go near your company. I am joining the class action. I am going to post this letter and many more on Vodafail.com.

YOU SUCK.....

Vodafone is the worst company i have ever dealt with. i ordered a htc desire hd 2.5 months ago and still havent recieved it, despite calling 6 times.
im currently on hold trying to cancel my order but have been passed around on hold to three different departments already.
oh, they also had no trouble in billing me each month for the phone which i havent received, depite me ringing them and telling them not to.

I have been on vodafone for nearly 2 years and have also shared the usual pain of contant dropouts and no reception. Ever since i started my service with vodafone i have experienced these problems, recently i called vodafone customer service to upgrade my plan and was on hold for a total of one hour and a half and in that hour and a half i spoke to 3 different departments. Customer Service put me on hold for 45 minutes and then I was informed that I was put through to the wrong department which was Sales and was then put on hold for a further 45 minutes to have the phone answered and to be told to please hold whilst he checked my account. All this only to be hung up on.... What a waste of my time. This is not good enough Vodafone, YOU ARE A JOKE!

Recharge problem on a prepaid 365 day plan, won`t accept my recharge, after spending 30 mins on hold end up in wrong dept, transferred, ok will fix , hang up, still not fixed, ring back after another 30 mins, told that depet is closed until Monday.

I used to be a loyal Vodafone customer. I've been with them since the 90's and i'm afraid i have to start looking for a new provider.
Here's my tale.

I picked up an iphone 3GS particularly for 3G data access and particularly liked the fact that Voda offered free tethering so i could use it as a 3G modem when i am out in the field. Data has never been particularly fast, but i wasn't concerned. Since about mid 2010 though, data access on my iphone has been extremely slow and sometimes non-existent. Complained back then, no outcome.
September, went to NZ and used data to get Ski reports. The data access was much better there, and i used a fair bit. Happy to pay the bill, but got a call after i got back telling me i had to make a part payment on my phone bill to cover the excess. The operator was rude and persistent, quoting contract clauses to me. Naturally i told them to piss off and i paid it on my normal bill date. That made me angry. I got an apologetic phone call a week later, but the guy still wanted me to pre-pay. Ha ha very funny.
A few weeks later in October, my wife had a baby. Out of 30 SMS's that i sent after the birth, 5 reached their recipients, so a lot of my closest friends were put out when "i forgot them". Data access still slow, useless most times. Missing and late voicemails, SMS's etc. Complained again, was told it was my phone.
Shortly after, i dropped the phone, it broke so i claimed on insurance. Relatively painless process, except the store refused my request for a loan phone (even when i pointed out the ACCC finding) and it took a month to come back as a refurb unit. Lucky i was able to borrow an old phone from a mate. Interestingly, i had the same problems with voicemails and data once it came back Now, the phone has failed within the 3 months insurance warranty. Won't power on. I've made calls to Marsh (Voda insurance), the Voda call centre (useless), and 3 trips to stores and everyone is bouncing me to someone else and won't take the phone. One of the stores even bounced me to another store because they had no logins to their systems due to the 24 hour password changes after the privacy leak. Not to mention i can't get my bills from the links they email me so i have no opportunity to check them. I was charged a weird amount last month and i can't see the bill to make sure that i'm not being overcharged.
Another interesting thing is that the guy at the store i was last at mentioned that if i turn 3G off on the iphone, it works better. Isn't 3G kinda the point of a decent data network these days?

So, i think the TIO is my next stop. I would rather allow vodafone to sort this out, but they don't seem to want to and i can't think of anything worse than to spend another 2 hours waiting on hold again.

coverage not so much an issue, but all ive wanted to do for 23 months out of a 24 month contract is get my F-ING phone fixed, sick of being pushed back and forward to the store and the phones, not one person accepted responcibility for it. and the lovely machine i spoke to always said that it would do everything to help me, i dont see how spending 8 hours over 3 days on hold BEFORE i got to speak to anyone is helping. feel sorry for the people on the phones a little cause the hold time just sets up an argument.
VODA couldnt organise a shag in a brothel.

I have been a Vodafone prepaid customer for around 8 years and NEVER EVER have a had such crappy service until now. My text messages are CONSTANTLY delayed to the point of not receiving things that have been sent to me days previously. I don't get texts to advise me of voicemail messages when they are left and when i do, quite frequently i'll get more than one message leading me to call again thinking someone has left another message when in fact there is nothing. What a waste of credit. My internet is unbelievably slow and more often than not, wont connect in the first place. Frequently, when i try to make a call my phone just says, Network Busy or No Network Coverage. My service drops out continually from full bars to absolutely nothing all of a sudden. This happens quite frequently when i'm on a call and ironically happened the three times i attempted to call Customer Care yesterday. When i eventually spoke to someone regarding my problems they advised there were apparently no service problems in my area (i think the reason for my call and the difficulties to even get through to a Vodafone number clearly proves that little theory incorrect but whatever you say love) and that i can change my network settings to manually search for another provider such as Telstra or Optus if i do not have Vodafone service in a particular area. I queried whether using another provider was going to cost me more money when making calls etc and the operators reply was to tell me they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't. So why wouldn't i just change to Telstra or Optus? Apparently she had no script for answering this question. I was also offered "100 free minutes" as an apology for my inconviences. As my main reason for calling was because i had lost most of my credit the previous day sitting on hold to a 13hundred number (for unrelated reasons) and continually being disconnected and having to call back, i asked if this "100 free minutes" would work for any number? 'Oh yes, yes any number maam'. So i can call a landline or 13hundred number and use these "free minutes"? i asked. Oh no it's only to mobiles. SO IT'S NOT TO ANY NUMBER THEN? I hung up from this 'Customer Care Operator' feeling more disgruntled than before i had made the call (well, technically three calls). Not only did i have no real solution to my reported problems, the only thing she could suggest was going to cost ME more money!! I have always praised Vodafone in the past on their great deals for Prepaid customers and good service. But i am so greatly dissapointed by not only the problems but the lack of service when i called regarding these problems that once my supposed "free minutes" have been used, i'll be looking for a new provider. Any recommendations?

Vodafone provides 2 gig of data every month on my plan and i hardly use it as i can't browse or download at all due to reception problem. As everyone mentioned, call dropping is not a new thing. Terrible service. Haven't called call center yet to complain but i heard upto 2 hrs wait time..?? What a Joke.

No coverage at all at my new work even though it says it is a covered area and even outside. Been on hold for 45mins twice only to hear that there was a technical issue and I'd have to call back. Sent 2 emails with no response. Still have not spoken to anyone after 25 days. Got my first email response yesterday saying that i would get contacted by their technical team soon and just added up the cost for me to cancel my contract! I pay a monthly cap yet I have probably sent a total of 3 texts only so probably spent less that $1 of my cap :( I just want to talk to someone!!! Bah!!!

I signed up for an iphone4 in October, the service staff that I dealt with were great. When the phone arrived I was not able to connect to the web, I called Vodaphone and had to deal with Lara and being placed on hold for 45 mins.
When I finally was able to speak with a human being they could not communicate properly but assured me they had fixed the connection issues and for me to turn my phone off and back on. I did and still could not connect to the web.
2 days later and at least 3 hours of Lara and being on hold I was able to speak to another rep who couldnt communicate who told me she need a 3 digit code which was on my paperwork to activate all the functions of my phone. There was no code anywhere on any of the paperwork. I relayed this info and the rep refused to help me. The next day - Lara, on hold...and I got the same rep and we had the same conversation...next day different rep and same request for 3 digit code.
Four days later and countless hours of Lara and on hold and terrible advice and customer service I get in contact with another rep who couldnt communicate. At least this one was able to fix my issue in two seconds without the imaginary 3 digit code.
Good job Vodafone, all you really achieved was me complaining to everyone that will listen about your terrible service and dissuading them from ever signing up with you.

Bought a brand new pre paid SIM in QLD. Had not had a pre pay before (always had a contract) so I didnt' realise I had to register my phone. When I tried a few months later to set up roaming I had a HUGE problem.. . My phone was registered to another person and I couldn't change any of the set up etc as I didn't know the password, secret question etc. I have tried for about 18 months to explain the situation to Vodafone. My phone was registered by someone 6 months before I even purchased the SIM. Even though I have my receipt to prove this Vodafone just state if I don't know the user details they can't help me. They suggested that perhaps someone at the shop had registered my phone and I should go back there and talk to them. I was living in WA at the time and wasn't exactly going to fly to QLD to sort it out. Phoned the shop I purchased it at, they don't register customers SIM cards.
I could just get a new SIM but the number is catchy and hey why the hell should I??? It's not my mistake. On investigation it is pretty easy to register someone elses SIM card and unwittingly create all sorts of problems for the real SIM owner.
Throughout this mess Vodafone have basically said I have stolen someones SIM card. That makes me REALLY angry!!! GGRRRR Vodafone

Another grumble....Everytime I talk to someone they call me "K- ONE"....My initials are KL and obviously a lower case L looks like a One. HILARIOUS. "Yes K-One, how can we help you today"..."OK K ONE, I'm just going to place you on hold"

Over a month ago we have contacted both VF and the TIO to get the contracts stopped. After going through the TIO we got someone from VF to cancel the contracts and at the time we were simply going to upgrade our handsets and stay with VF.... that was until they told us that as existing customers we would need to wait at least a month before those phones might be available to us. As such we called back to cancel everything. We straight out said to the rep we just want to cancel it and not speak to retention at all. The rep refused to cancel and instead (after already waiting 65mins for the initial callback, put us through to retention who after waiting 45mins on hold simply hung up on us. Took all this information to the TIO who are now going to cancel everything for us however that might take 4 weeks "Due to the volume of complaints received"

Hey Everyone, this is my first and last visit to Vodafail, being both a Telstra and Optus customer I thought I would see what all the media is about and I must say i have had a number of issues with both my Telstra and Optus services, including slow data speeds, billing issues, waiting on hold for customer service for in excess of an hour, customer service and stores recommending the wrong plan to get the sale and it keeps on going.

No matter what service you are on I think that you will have issues of some sort and that is just life, nothing is perfect, as no one is perfect. I can't believe that Vodafone is the only company that seems to be vindicated like this website has. Maybe all carriers should have a fail site, and maybe someone should independently start a "WIN" site for all companies too.

Thinking of that why is there no "Woolworthsfail" or "juliagillardfail" site, then everyone can whinge about everything.

Reading some of the messages on here really make me feel like Australians are becoming more like the Whinging Poms, be Australian and pat those who do well on the back and help things get better in a constructive way.

a year ago i got my phone unlocked which led me internetless as i had to configure my own connection settings as i did not know the details of the fancy technical details for vodafone live. eleven months later i finally took action and approached my local vodafone dealer to solve my problem. unfortunately the unenthusiastic employee advised me to call customer service. to my knowledge calling them would lead to hours being put on hold and in the end i would eventually be paying a hidden fee for the call. to my surpise i resolved my own issue by simply logging onto the vodafone website which had all my answers within seconds.

I am on a pre-paid plan and suspect I'm being charged for calls which should be free using V2V free credits. Received text message advising low credit. This surprised me because I had made very few calls. Tried to log into My Vodafone on-line account to check call history/account details etc but received error message re incorrect username/password.
First call to Vodafone Customer Service (VCS) - Was told my number wasn't on their system and I would need to re-register but can't re-register because my number doesn't exist!! Couldn't contact Vodafone by their email link as they were having 'technical problems'.
Second call to VCS - Told I'd have a temporary password texted to me - didn't happen.
Third call to VCS - Operator logged job with their technical people and advised I would hear back in 72 hours. That was over nine days ago and I'm still waiting.
Fourth call to VCS - Waited on hold for 90 mins before call answered. Operator then put me on hold while he contacted his technical people but after another 80 mins the connection dropped out.
So after four phone calls (that's the ones that actually connected to a real person) countless non-connects and many hours on hold I still cannot access my account on line, can't cancel my automatic recharge authority or even raise the issue of the phone charges.
I have been a Vodafone customer for around three years using the same phone number and the same pre-paid plan but now I don't exist - funny thing is they still charge me for the calls I make!!
Vodafone is a disgrace and their customer service is hopeless.
I'm lodging a complaint with the Telecommunications Ombudsman.

I am living in the Melbourne and I am constantly getting a message says there is no internet connection and my calls constantly drop out too. This is so frustrating and I couldn't believe that I have such a poor reception in the city.

I have tried to call Vodafone customer service which I believe in it was based in India and the wait time was ridiculous. I have called to ask a simple question and I was waited for 45 mins. Every phone calls took me 45 mins to wait as if I have no life and I would spend all my time to wait and listen to the repeated message " hang in there, and we would be there with you shortly".

I also tried to complain via internet but unfortunately the complaint eform was down too. Is anything at Vodafone is really working? I have posted a 2 page long complaint letter to them about 2 weeks ago and I heard nothing from them to date.

It's time for Vodafone to deliver a decent service and customer service.

Thanks for whoever set up this website and I hope it will bring a better outcome to all of the users in Australia

besides the usual overcharging on my bills and dodgy network coverage. i was most dissapointed with the poor customer service (took at least half an hour on hold everytime i contacted them and one time i was waiting over 1hour!!)when i finally got throught to sombody they were of no help at all, it took me at least 3 months to finally get some answers over somthing as simple as cancelling my contract! i will NEVER use this company again.