Has anybody using their @vodafone.net email address noticed a hike in their on account bill? I have been using the text notifications for my emails since the end of last year and they have been great.  The only reference to applicable charges for notifications that i could see when signing up was a small footer "Please note that charges may apply for notifications to be sent to your Vodafone mobile phone"

Since signing up all the notifications have been listed on by bill but at $0.00, so i assumed that they were coming off my text bundle. Not an unreasonable assumption after 9 months? However last bill I got stung for $50 odd dollars for text notifications and noticed that the billing reference had changed slightly. It seems that right up to 31 Aug they were charged at $0.00, but as of 1 Sep they started charging 20c (incl GST) for each message! Nice of them to warn us of a change in their system.

To add insult to injury, i then received two of the most appalling customer service experiences regarding my complaint! But sadly, that seems to be what we have come to expect from vodafone CSR’s these days. What on earth is happening with their CSR’s?!

The first CSR couldn’t see any reference to text notifications on my previous bills (despite them appearing every 4-5 lines). The second CSR maintained for 25 odd minutes that the notifications from the Vodafone mail system were not originating from Vodafone (?!?!) and then, after my continued venting of frustration and complaint, the smarmy CSR kindly offered to go back and charge for all the notifications that I apparently should have been charged for, as a solution to the problem. Great way to keep customers vodafone! Unbelievable!