I'm only 18, but when I got my first phone at the age of ten it was a Vodafone. When I finally turned 18 this year I was excited to own my first phone, not have it under my mums name. So I went in several days after my birthday and it was an ordeal to say the least. After being screwed around and having to go back into the store four different times- tricky, I'm a full-time student- because I didn't have enough I.D. I finally got convinced to not buy a phone outright and to go with a plan... Mistake. They didn't give me any paper work, I didn't think to ask. To be honest I was incredibly over the whole experience, since I'd just spent another two hours in two different shops- the first one refused to serve me because I didn't have enough I.D.- on top of the hours in the weeks leading up. I signed up for the $50 a month plan with an Iphone 4.

Everything seemed to be going fine for the first two weeks (June 6th-June 20th). Then on my next billing date, I received a message saying there wasn't enough money in the account and I would be charged overdue fees. I checked my account. $120. Obviously they made some sort of error, I thought, so I went into the store immediately. A female clerk checked the details and assured me they were correct. I then paid her $50 in cash and she assured me there wouldn't be any overcharge as it was now up to scratch and it was their fault.

Fast forward a month (July 30) and my phone is having serious problems with internet, with reception and with running out of credit. Despite supposedly having unlimited texts, I frequently run out my credit texting. The account the money is supposed to be taken out of is still not having money withdrawn; however I'm very busy with family issues and school so I can't do anything about it immediately. Another few weeks go past and my phone is stolen. I don't know exactly when as I left it at home (in Perth) while I visited family in Albany. As soon as I got back I went into the Vodafone store to report this.

"Hi, first of all I still haven't had any money come out of my account and I'm really worried about that; the bill is up to a few hundred dollars now."

"Oh, you must not have had enough money in the account."

"I've had $50 in there every week since I signed up."

"Don't worry, I'll sort it out." He didn't.

"Also I'd like to cancel my plan or put it on hold. I've had my phone stolen. Do I need to make a police report before I can do that?" I was loath to do one and at this stage, cared very little for the phone. It had serious issues ranging from constant static interference during calls to not receiving texts to crashing whenever I messaged mulitple people on Facebook. Which is every time.

"No it should be fine. Let me sort it out for you now."

I was surprised I didn't have to file a police report to say the least, but relieved. Finally; Vodafone are working for me, not against me! He goes into the back of the store for a few minutes and his manager comes out with him. Together they fiddle around on the computer screen.

"That's all sorted. You'll get a new handset in the mail, until then your payments are suspended."

"Thank you so much, but I don't really like the Iphone. Can I just put the plan onto another phone."

"That should be fine. Which phone?" I try and get them to transfer to a phone my mum bought me but they won't without her there to transfer it. This is somewhat annoying but I accept it and just agree to the suspended payments until this is sorted.

I hear nothing from Vodafone. There is no correspondance until 11/12/13, when they send me a bill for $1,563 in overdue payments. Considering this is more than the entire plan was supposed to be I find this somewhat shocking. They also informed me this has been refferred to ADR for recovery of the funds. I attempt to call them from my home phone but cannot get through without a two hour waiting time. I am far too busy to wait two hours for an operator. ADR called me on the morning of 14/12/13 at 7.54am. They inform me they would take legal action, then tried to pressure me into giving them my credit card details. I tried to explain the situation but the lady kept fast talking me and didn't listen.

I contact Vodafone by email since and they replied the payments were actually for $61 (I was on a plan called the $50 a month plan) and I had never made a single payment. This is despite having handed cash to a woman behind the counter. Apparently this is not store policy and thus I never did it.

So I'm at the end of my tether here. I haven't even had the phone for nearly four months. I did all I could. I even went out of my way to go into the store and make the first payments manually, but alas no matter what I did they dind't seem to be able to figure out how to get money from my account. They obviously never suspended the account and continued to charge me despite lying to my face and telling me they wouldn't. So after eight years of being a loyal customer, I am now expected to pay fees for a phone I didn't have, after they promised me I wouldn't.