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

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20608 Someone from ACT thinks vodafone is not as bad as everyone thinks at 15 Jan 2012 12:07:14 PM
hi, I am a vodafone staff member.
Before you all get angry at me, remember that I am just someone who needs to work to make a living. When working I often get customers who come in asking to be released from their contract, or threatening to go to the TIO, or yelling about "those F**ing indians" or the "delhi ditzes", or asking for a credit just because they want one. Whilst sometimes (albeit rarely) these customers have serious issues, the only resolution for which is cancellation of their contract, a lot of the time its because they just don't realise what a contract means, and they want to be able to do whatever they want.

For starters, A contract is a legal document binding you to pay a minimum amount over a set period. it also binds Vodafone to provide you a service. What gets a lot of people is the idea that if the coverage is not always there, every moment, no matter where they are, then they should be released from their contract. That is not the case, and no carrier needs to release someone from a contract because they cant get service everywhere. Vodafone doesn't have as strong a network as telstra, and maybe not as strong as optus, but it is also on the whole cheaper. What vodafone promises to do when you sign a contract is to provide you a sim card and access to their network, and to charge you at the rates agreed to in your contract. if they charge you at rates different to that agreed, or stop you from accessing the network (unless its a bar because of billing issues etc) then that could be seen as repudiation (the legal term for not fulfilling your half of a contract such that the contract can be considered cancelled) and that is grounds for cancelling a contract. But before any customer is signed up they are shown the coverage checker, and it is freely available on the website.

Complaining that the network isn't as good as telstra, is like buying cheap crap and complaining when it breaks. think back five or ten years. Then the best telco wouldn't be as good as the worst one today, we as a society (and as evidenced here) have become impatient, demanding everything all the time. if you want the best, then pay for it, but don't take the cheapest option, and then complain that it isn't as good as the best.

As a Staff member, I see a lot of people come in with genuine problems, system errors, or problems with their handsets that we in store really try to fix, and i know that the people on the customer care line genuinely want to help (most of the time). but coming in and shouting about cancelling a contract, or trying to get the TIO involved when something is delayed (an iphone or a migration are recent examples) is not helpful to anyone. and I understand that sometimes people get frustrated and i have gotten frustrated too, both with Vodafone and with Telstra, because sometimes they don't understand what your problem is. but if you go looking to get your contract cancelled, you are more likely to frustrate everyone and waste everyones time, rather than just going in looking for a resolution.
15 Jan 2012 03:52:21 PM: Very honest post.

Vodafone need to seriously stop talking and start doing. These guys always over promise and hopelessly under deliver. This is the cardinal sin of Marketing 101.

A wise man once said, you can never get something that is good, cheap and fast. You can only have a combination of the two at any given point in time.

Good and fast = not cheap
Fast and cheap = not good
Cheap and good = not fast
15 Jan 2012 06:09:00 PM: very dishonest post. Firstly, vodafone does not merely promise to provide a sim and access, according to law they also contract to provide a a product of mercantable quality ie. useable. Second, most people do check coverage before signing up only to find out later that it was misleading. As to the implication some that people are asking for more than what they are entitled to why isnt this a problem with other telcos? I,ve been with 3mobile for years with very few problems. Six months ago I took out a plan with voda, they fall short in just about every area. I do conceed, however, that they have improved in my area Geelong.
15 Jan 2012 10:10:25 PM: original poster
and there is a difference between what is contracted, i.e. a useable service, and what people complain about not having reception everywhere (inside some buildings, in suburbs without reception towers etc.)
The point i was getting at was that people suggesting that cancelling your contract is the best way to fix a problem just leads to customers walking into stores demanding contract cancellation without any good reason, legal or otherwise. It just leads to customers and staff being frustrated because there is nothing we can do.
and the thing with three, in my experience working in the store we have more people with billing or reception or roaming problems from 3 than we do from VF.
What i was getting at with the post is that by gathering a large portion of the people who have had issues with a particular company you amplify the issues and the anger by unifying their dissatisfaction.
Undoubtedly VF have had more issues than most of late, but in my opinion this site does more harm than good.
17 Jan 2012 02:43:01 PM: I've only had problems with Vodafone today, and once before. I've not yet had a call drop out from a fault with my end (my fiance lives in an area with terrible reception, and she's on Telstra), they've always treated me well through customer support (allowing me to choose an easier payment plan when my funds were low over Christmas). I'll be sticking with them (only came on here to check if anyone else was having connectivity issues today), but I can see why some people feel the need to complain. Anyhow, enjoy your new contract, for those of you leaving, and I can't wait to see you all on another website, complaining about Telstra or Optus (who have the same problems, in my experience) see ya!
17 Jan 2012 08:43:33 PM: To the Vodafone employee,
I have been a vodafone customer for the last 10 years and only in the last 8 months have i really been getting frustrated with the network coverage. Even then i waited for 6 months (and after countless emails to say that vodafone was updating their network to provide better coverage) before i finally complained. Tell me why, in your opinion people, who experience a serious reduction in coverage/accessibility should continue to be tied to a contract with a service provider that is not providing a usable service?

I also fail to see how the solutions that are offered to fix said problems are of any use. I was told that i should turn off 3g on my iphone if i was getting poor coverage. Now if i sign up for a contract that states that it will provide me with a voice and data service, i expect to be able to use these services most of the time. Granted there will be areas where I cannot, but i openly accept that. Turning off my 3g is, in my opinion, a cop out by vodafone and an admission that they are unable to offer me the stated data service.

Vodafone, appear to be very quick to point the blame elsewhere when troubleshooting. Its always the fault of the firmware, or your iphone version is not the latest. when will vodafone just admit that they got in too deep and their network cannot handle the capacity they are trying to push through it?

As to working out a resolution, what other option do i have, than to cancel my contract and move to another provider? discounting my bill wont help the network coverage, neither will offering me sweeteners to entice me to stay on.

And another thing, vodafone pricing is not much cheaper than either telstra or optus, and in fact i will save money moving to telstra, get a new phone and still receive the same cap limit and data usage (at better call rates too)
20 Jan 2012 05:19:19 PM: I've saved money on alcohol by switching away. I got suspended 3 months in a row for a service that should've been on a 24 month $5 plan. Instead for a 6 month $150. Not a big mistake, but apparently completely impossible to fix. The TIO eventually had to stop in for me to break contract because I wasn't getting anywhere after spending hours in their store and on hold to India like a chump. Fuck Vodafone, they will get what's coming to them within 18 months when everyone's contract is up. We just have to ensure that the truth remains out there and potential customers are warned of the dangers of such a bad company, masquerading in a shadow of its former self.