I was going to get one as part of a new contract, wish I could buy one outright though.

Mine was through a contract...they sign you up with Telstra. As well as Wow, the Apple store can do it too + Telstra owned and franchised T-Shops + maybe other places I don't know?

Ah I see, I thought you meant buy outright, I am trying to get through to customer service now but I cant

Just found this thread from a search - how did you get on with customer services, PP?

I've had so many problems with dropped service in the last few weeks that The Geek said I must need a new phone (my beloved HTC is about 19 months old) but I read about Vodafail so guessed it was their fault.

It seemed to right itself for a while so it took me a few days to realise that I've hardly had any service over the holidays - people assumed we were away so got me on Facebook, and I make most of my calls to The Geek, who I was with 24/7. Every time I've picked up my handset, I've had to search for the network and then texts have come in. When I've tried to reply, it's killed the service again.

I can't go on like this - what if I'm out and my sister is trying to reach me in an emergency? Geekboy is currently on the phone to Telstra, switching me over.

I had one last patronising chat with the Indian call centre last week, the guy had shit English and told me that my suburb 'is the best in Australia' and he then admitted it will be AT LEAST until the end of January before issues start to resolve and then offered me a new simm card with free number divert for 1 month - what ******* use is that when their signal is shite!!!!

I have had dropped calls, poor/non existent internet and sometimes just not being contactable.

So I told him that I will leave things with the TIO and if necessarry I will take them to court, he offered to get me out of my contract for $1,000. I told him I will let the TIO fight this and I will see him in court and he replied 'That is very nice madam' and that was that, he put the phone down.

I have joined the class action against them, I will take them to court and be released from my contract and I wont pay them a cent either. I would not care if they offered me 10 new phones, they are shit and the service in my area is 'not the best in Australia', it is crap and the guys at work have all been having problems so I know it isnt just me.

If a fight is what they want, then a fight is what they will get and I will rip them a new arsehole, they have already said they will not under any circumstances release me even though they have told me the issues will be ongoing and they admitted that yes, it is a breach of contract.

I am waiting until 10 January, if I have had no reply from the email that the TIO sent to them, then I shall call them and take it to the next stage. No way do I pay what I pay for that kind of service. I know I had issues with Telstra but at least they have better coverage.

Dont pay to be released, please dont pay them.

I've always thought they were crap here in Oz; I only went with them because The Geek's business line was Vodafone (is no longer) and I had such trouble when I was travelling that I don't know why I stuck with them. Also when we lived in the cottage (about a km from the harbour bridge, so not exactly in the sticks) I mostly only had service in one room in the house - the smallest

Geek says I'm out of contract but I assure you I would not be paying a grand to get out of it.

I TOLD THE PEOPLE IN QUESTION I HAD KEPT A LOG,of all the times i had tried to call them,they had not contacted me as promised and how long i had sat in queue after queue being transferred ..
they told me i was free to get out of contract with no charges...

may i also add that life without that frickin bitch lara is a much happier one...

by the way can i just ask,who is Wodafone?

Good idea about taking note, I have a few dates recorded but not all of them - do you still think its worthwhile telling them?

Their attitude has been so arrogant and patronising, I told them about a client who had tried to call me about a snake in her shed but couldnt get through to me and all they said was how noble I was for doing snake catching.

I might tell them about how long I have waited in the queue and how many times I get transferred each time I call.

It was funny at the cricket in Melbourne as Vodafone are the main sponsor and there advertising was everywhere but i couldn't get any reception the 4 days i was at the MCG.

I was on a complaints website yesterday and there were thousands of vodafone complaints, one woman was saying that one cheeky shit at Vodafone said 'Madame, take us to TIO, we look forward to receiving you' - seriously, dreadful English and communication/customer skills.

Then Vodafone called her on her landline and said the TIO case must be dropped as they had tried to get her on her mobile but couldnt get through as there was no signal.

Its not the fault of the Indian call centre staff but I am afraid when they have poor English which depending on what they say, can come across as quite rude and patronising, it doesnt help the cause.

One guy has been waiting 9 months for a resolution, the TIO are involved but he has still been waiting 9 months, how the hell does that work - I am wondering if there is any point in involving the TIO and what sort of 'clout' do they have?

if your in a low coverage area or have problems getting a signal,wodafone have no choice they have to let you out of the contract...end of...you may have to wait a week for them to check out what you already know but after the week your outa there!!!

The call centre staff will have been given a script and will struggle if they have to deviate from it. One would hope they've been given the official line on dealing with this particular problem but who knows, they'll be scared to say much for fear of getting into trouble * or in case it gets litigious and they're paid jackshit so our anger should be directed at Vodafone.

It would be a better PR stance for them to set up a local response centre and re-route the calls for a while, but that would cost a bomb so it ain't happening.

Well my Telstra SIM is due to be delivered on Tuesday. Until then? I've reset my network so many times this morning that I've now given up; every time it finds service and I send an sms, it crashes. I can't say for certain that it's not my phone but it was perfect until a few weeks ago so I'll see how it is when I switch over.

* A Sydney friend called a call centre and realised the person on the other end was Filipino (as they increasingly are), so asked if they could converse in Tagalong as he is Filipino too and would find it easier; he was told no, it wasn't allowed. No initiative or discretion is allowed in these call centres.

I shall give them the allotted time that the TIO recommend and I will call them again but they keep transferring me and I waited nearly 50 mins on one occasion, its so hard and other times I have given up waiting.

From a friend at Telstra.. the TIO doesn't often follow a single complaint, they more compile them together and when it is deemed that the telco is failing it's customers then it will impose hefty fines. So it's more a case of quantity than quality of complaints.

I've had two problems now with the Vodafone signal, but it is not very easy to understand, as each time, I have used my other Vodafone sim which was getting a signal even though one wasn't. I have two sims in the one phone.

My daughter is on a Vodafone carrier, and complains about them quite often, but still racks a lot of calls and messages...