26 Mar 2012 - Update Highest Rated Pain Stories Highest Rated Gain Stories Vodafail Local Facebook Page
Dear visitor,

Since its inception Vodafail.com has made a significant contribution towards raising awareness of the problems and issues faced by Vodafone customers.

Vodafone Australia customers have had the opportunity to voice their concerns, their fears and their troubles from every corner of Australia and beyond our borders. You have gathered the courage to stand up for your rights as consumers and to make your voice heard.

Each and every person who shared their story should have a sense of pride in this achievement and the changes that have occurred since the start of Vodafail.com.

More recently, traffic to Vodafail.com has declined significantly. Having achieved the goal of raising awareness and promoting concrete action in early 2011, we have now reached the point of closing Vodafail to new complaints. The site will remain online for as long as possible as a reminder and an example of what is possible when we share our experiences.

It has been a privilege to run this initiative and I'm am forever grateful for the help and support I've received. In particular I would like to thank Melissa, David and Travis for their continued efforts over the past 15 months. I'm also thankful and humbled by the support of ACCAN, Choice magazine and a wide range of media outlets, blogs and websites.

You can still browse existing stories and find out how to file a complaint if you are experiencing problems.

Until next time,

Adam Brimo

Share Your Pain


ACT (1140)Everywhere (19206)NSW (7557)NT (170)QLD (3578)SA (987)Somewhere else (224)TAS (242)VIC (3573)WA (1735)
0%
Share on facebook
19052 Someone from NSW thinks vodafone is where do you start? at 3 Aug 2011 09:18:07 PM
It's reassuring, in a way to read i'm not the only person dealing with sub-standard service.

I'm on a $49/month cap for my mobile phone (iPhone 3) which has some data usage allowance - i'm not sure exactly how much because i hardly ever access the net over the mobile and, since my billing dramas started 2 weeks ago, no one at vodafone has been able to tell me !!

Vodafone sent me a letter on 27/6/11 telling me of a 'correction' to it's billing system which would see some types of internet usage attract a fee. I also have a wireless broadband account with them, and because of this wrote back to them asking them;
why they were doing this?, at what specific rate where they going charge these services at? and how they were planning to differentiate between the 'regular' and 'newly charged' types of usage.

I aslo asked for a copy of my contract (that contians my signature) with them to be sent to me ASAP.

My reply answered none of my questions. They stated a link on the MyVodafone site that i should visit, the Standard Terms of Service page. I checked it out, and there's 3 different versions of it - which one is applicable to me? I don't know, because they didn't/haven't sent me a copy of the contract as requested!!

Anyway, I then received my July account to find i'd been charged $286.65 for data usage - from my PHONE, not the wireless b/b!(My normal total for both is $90) Like i said earlier, i hardly ever use my phone for net access. I rang 'customer service' to ask what was going on, explained my situation, only to be told that i must have used the data because it's on the record and that's pretty much it.

When i asked for details, they couldn't provide any specifics because the bill hadn't been generated yet. "Really?", I asked, "then how can tell me the exact total if you don't have all the details of the charges, then?" "Um, err I'm sorry, but that's how the system works... etc."

I hit the roof when the bill was finally generated two days later.
According to Vodafone, i'd used 14mb of data and at some point went past my limit (whatever it is) and have been charged $286 as a result. Interestingly, the rate i was charged before the 'billing correction' they wrote to me about and after it is almost 4 fold. eg: before - 123kb = $3.60, after - 193kb = $12.60.

In one instance, for daily usage that i wasn't aware of, i was charged $73.80 FOR 69KB !!!!!!!!!

I've looked at my daily usage since, and there's a pattern - every 30-40 minutes, even with ALL my apps removed and me not touching my phone, i'm being charged $0.90 for 6kb of usage over 5:01 mins. Every time - $0.90,6kb, 5:01 up to twenty times a day. I can assure you, it's not me doing this!!

I'm getting my info and documents together and will be writing back to Vodafone and to the TIO to get results, because this is just plain ridiculous.

I'll take responsablity and pay for services i've used, but when you're dealing with a company that wont tell you what your entitlements are, won't answer genuine quieries to thier billing system, and charges you inconsistant and stupid costs for services you haven't used or received any benefit from, then something's gotta give..... and it won't be me!

Thanks to all who've shared thier experiences here ( amazed at the sheer number!) and to the creators of this site!!
All the best.
4 Aug 2011 07:24:17 AM: This also happened to me . refer to my post below (19034), I am being charged $250 for this months bill for data usage as well, apart from the facebook fiasco in my post below, i looked back at my records and I was charged $61 for using 132 MB data at 4AM in the morning and charged $30 for another time at 5AM a few days later. I'm sleeping at that time, and have wifi at home too so why would it use their, they tried to get out of this and stated I might have some 'auto updates'with iPhone applications, this is ridiculous.
5 Aug 2011 09:52:42 PM: question? Did you download the apps from vodaphone???? this may be why you keep getting charged even though you not using them...the system keeps the apps open...I have found many faults in their system and they ignore what I tell them...told the TIO the same thing....they are taking notice...