Disgraceful Conduct by Vodafone

[nugge t]

Can not believe what Vodafone have done in changing Crazy Johns customers over to Vodafone.

I had 4 mobiles with Crazy Johns and was contacted by Vodafone saying the company was being closed and we had to change over to Vodafone. They GUARANTEED that there would be no additional charges and the services would be the same. I confirmed 3 times that the costs/services would be the same and they even sent a letter confirming it in writing.

They said the new SIM cards would take 5 days...took 5 weeks. When we activated them the operator apparently "lost" the information so she phoned back the next day and we had do the whole routine again.

2 weeks after changing over I get an email saying, sorry, we made a mistake and the plans are not the same but we can give you a 4 month 50% discount on the extra $20/month cost, or you can go to another carrier without penalty.

This was obviously a deliberate strategy by Vodafone. If they could not work out that the plans were not the same, how the hell were customers supposed to work it out? They made a special point of GUARANTEEING that everything would be the same.

The kicker is when I phoned the Telecommunications Ombudsman they refused to accept a complaint because Vodafone had offered for us to change to another carrier without penalty. Talk about the Industry protecting the industry.

I think it is an absolute disgrace. I now have to waste my time hunting around and inevitably it is going to cost. If they had been upfront, fair enough, but to swap you over and then suddenly “realise they have made and error”, obviously hoping that most people will just fall in line is company behaviour at its worst.

Rant over..I have to go and find a new mobile carrier…

[Redback]

Go with Telstra, yes they are a pain, but they are the best of all the pains in the arse carriers:mad:

Baz.

[redrovertdi]

Go to amaysim, uses optus towers. ive been with them fo a year now and great, only catch is credit card required for debit monthly.

[incisor]

they don't call them vodafail for no reason

i am surprised the TIO wouldn't accept a complaint.

that said, the TIO was john howard's way of pushing all the small players out of the market to improve telstra's value and were / are a law unto themselves so it shouldnt surprise me i suppose.....

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Go to amaysim, uses optus towers. ive been with them fo a year now and great, only catch is credit card required for debit monthly.I've been on all three of the large carriers, their customer service is all pretty generic and lacking in customer satisfaction. Unlike when the company at the head of this thread first started in Oz and they were fantastic.

To me the important factor is coverage and Telstra beats the others hands down in regional areas.

I was quite dismayed when I dumped V and went to another carrier, places on the Hume highway where I had virtually full V coverage were blackspots and anything out of regional main cities were also black.

I'm now with T and satisfied with the coverage, but wouldn't say happy when I remember the coverage I had on the old analogue phone network.

[weeds]

I don't reckon I have had the need to call Telstra 5+ years, I guess if I haven't needed to call them than I haven't experienced there customer service or lack of it.

when does one really need to ring Telstra?

[nugge t]

they don't call them vodafail for no reason

i am surprised the TIO wouldn't accept a complaint.

that said, the TIO was john howard's way of pushing all the small players out of the market to improve telstra's value and were / are a law unto themselves so it shouldnt surprise me i suppose.....

I'll pass on the Howard jibe this time as it is the Telecommunication INDUSTRY Ombusdman so I guess they protect their own, not just Telstra.

I was very surprised. Clearly I wasn't the first person to call but as long as they offered to release you from the contract with out penalty, that "is the conduct they would expect and as such there is no action to take".

Apparently they will only act if the company refuses to honour and doesn't give an alternative. From what I can see it basically condones any behaviour from the Telco's as long as they offer you a release. Probably legal but the way Vodafone have acted would be in the morally corrupt section for mine.

Redback I left Telstra as they were way too expensive and these phones don't need coverage inland or far from the Brisbane in fact. My mobile is still with Telstra for coverage but it costs me more than the other 3 combined did with CJ's.

redrovertdi..thanks for the tip..i'll give em a call.

[incisor]

not a jibe, is documented fact old mate...

i got out of the industry along with many other small / medium players when the TIO was created because of bias built in to their operating brief.

[nugge t]

Looks like they have expanded their brief old mate as they are protecting Vodafone as well now.

[Roverlord off road spares]

Been with vodafone and trying to leave them was like extracting an abessed tooth with tin snips! And the INDIAN call centre, NO THANKS, NEVER AGAIN

[incisor]

Looks like they have expanded their brief old mate as they are protecting Vodafone as well now.
they always did....

the TIO guidelines always ensured only the big players could afford to stay in the industry

that is why all the small players vanished and the industry consolidated into a dozen major players from the 220+ players that were in it in those days.

if you didn't get a complaint against you then you were fine but the moment you did you got the pleasure of paying for the big players lack of customer service to the tune of many thousands of dollars in some cases for 1 complaint justified or not....

small / medium players simply couldnt take the gamble

luckily i never had to face it but i know many that did and lost everything...

[Hoges]

Been with vodafone and trying to leave them was like extracting an abessed tooth with tin snips! And the INDIAN call centre, NO THANKS, NEVER AGAIN

Give you curry did they?:eek:

[Ferret]

Been with vodafone and trying to leave them was like extracting an abessed tooth with tin snips! And the INDIAN call centre, NO THANKS, NEVER AGAIN

You reckon Telstra's Indian call centre is any better? :D :D :D

Can't imagine that myself.

[Ancient Mariner]

Had a call from Telstra couple months ago. Pleasant Australian lady enquired if we were happy with there service and could she help us with anything.I asked about the lack of indian accent. Just laughed and said she was calling from Sydney .Left me in shock for a while:o

[bee utey]

As a (very) small business owner I'm with Telstra Business and I must say it's a whole lot different to dealing with Telstra Residential, which runs with foreign call centres. With Business you still get people who speak English as their first language and the local Business office is an actual street address where customers can visit and work with actual competent humans. I don't care about the cost much as its reliable service I want and I indeed get that.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

You reckon Telstra's Indian call centre is any better? :D :D :D

Can't imagine that myself.Don't assume that call-centres are in the Phillippines, Pakistan or India. :mad:

My neice works in a Telstra call centre in Wollongong NSW. This centre is a multi-lingual centre where non-English speaking background customers can talk to an operator in their own language. When the CALD* operator is not taking calls in their own language they take regular calls. They are frequently abused for being in some foreign country and the caller wants to be transferred to Australia.

Diana

* CALD = Culturally and Linguistically Diverse.

[PhilipA]

I have a Telstra mobile and my wife has an Amaysim.

Amaysim are terrific with 7c per minute calls, but the coverage is as per Optus. Kununurra has no Optus signal! which I found amazing but apparantly they were there but bailed out when they lost a mine contract.

Telstra is very expensive at $1 a minute on my $20 plan , but has great coverage, almost all the way across the Nullarbor and they are spending $20Million this and next year up the WA coast.

So I just keep the Telstra as my phone with few calls and buy a data pack while in the outback and wifi the Ipad. Take incomings with Telstra and call on Optus when in a town.
BTW you can do just about everything now on Telstra 24/7 so no need to call them to buy a data pack etc.

In any case I find the Phillipina ladies lovely to deal with and they speak perfect amerenglish and are on the ball. It makes one want to visit Manila.
Regards Philip A

[Landover]

I put my wife on an Aldi plan after being on Telsra for years. You still get the same coverage as Telstra as it uses the same network but a lot cheaper.

[frantic]

We found virgin to be good, and they use the Optus network.
Sometimes coverage is not just location but which brand phone. My sister was with Optus and could not get reception unless outside on her property, I had 2-3 out of 5 bars inside , same network but different phone.
Some of the other phone companies like iinet will do mobiles as well.

[Bigbjorn]

I have been on Virgin for 12 years. No problems except with digital phones in the outback. Little coverage outside towns at that time.

I now have a 6 year old Nokia ($20 at an insurance auction) and am on a $29 per month cap plan. They give me $600 credit each month when I pay the $29 and never go near using it. Currently got about $2500 accumulated credit.

[Geedublya]

Vaya is better again and use Optus. Just don't expect customer service over the phone. Use the net for questions.

[sheerluck]

We ditched Vodafone about 18 months ago at the end of our contract. It was sold to us as having really good reception at home......wrong. Couldn't use the phone in the house, every time it rang you had to run out to the verandah.

Ditched them, and now with Aldi - much, much, much better.

[rar110]

Ive been using Boost mobile for a while. They use the Telstra network (not 4G). Its been trouble free but is no frills, at $40/mth is ok. Boost now do automatic payments each month, so no getting on the phone to pay another month prepaid.

I wish I'd heard about Crazy John going broke. I would have signed up for a new iPhone then gone and picked my own carrier.

[DiscoMick]

We had a similar thing happen with our two mobiles.
V guaranteed there would be no extra charges, but my sharp-eyed wife spotted that V had charged us for a month which we had already paid to Crazy Johns.
So she rang up and, after being shunted around 4 people, they offered us either a credit on our accounts or a cash payment, so it should be OK in the end.
Far as I know our plans haven't changed.

[nugge t]

Signed up with Virgin on the Optus network on SIM only plans. Turned out cheaper then Crazy Johns or Vodafone and the coverage is more than adequate for the usage of the phones/their application.


I still run mine on Telstra for bush coverage but it costs me more than the other 3 combined. Jeez I hate telecommunications companies and everything that goes with them!

[Meken]

Can not believe what Vodafone have done in changing Crazy Johns customers over to Vodafone.

I had 4 mobiles with Crazy Johns and was contacted by Vodafone saying the company was being closed and we had to change over to Vodafone. They GUARANTEED that there would be no additional charges and the services would be the same. I confirmed 3 times that the costs/services would be the same and they even sent a letter confirming it in writing.

They said the new SIM cards would take 5 days...took 5 weeks. When we activated them the operator apparently "lost" the information so she phoned back the next day and we had do the whole routine again.

2 weeks after changing over I get an email saying, sorry, we made a mistake and the plans are not the same but we can give you a 4 month 50% discount on the extra $20/month cost, or you can go to another carrier without penalty.

This was obviously a deliberate strategy by Vodafone. If they could not work out that the plans were not the same, how the hell were customers supposed to work it out? They made a special point of GUARANTEEING that everything would be the same.

The kicker is when I phoned the Telecommunications Ombudsman they refused to accept a complaint because Vodafone had offered for us to change to another carrier without penalty. Talk about the Industry protecting the industry.

I think it is an absolute disgrace. I now have to waste my time hunting around and inevitably it is going to cost. If they had been upfront, fair enough, but to swap you over and then suddenly “realise they have made and error”, obviously hoping that most people will just fall in line is company behaviour at its worst.

Rant over..I have to go and find a new mobile carrier…


You should google unconscionable conduct and report it to ASIC

[London Boy]

I still run mine on Telstra for bush coverage but it costs me more than the other 3 combined. Jeez I hate telecommunications companies and everything that goes with them!
All you have to do is give up your phone.

Or just admit you don't really hate them, you just get irritated that they do not do everything your way. Just like the rest of us...