This article is more than 1 year old

Lady Gaga helps ease the Vodafail pain

Parody vid goes viral

The customer backlash over Vodafone and 3’s extensive network outage issues has given rise to dedicated blogs, Facebook pages, websites, and now – wait for it – a Lady Gaga music video parody.

The clip – featuring an Australian comedy duo called TV Live on Stage – was recently posted to YouTube. It's called Vodafail The Musical Telephone - A Tribute to 3 & Vodafone Australia. At the time of writing, the clip had generated close to 30,000 views.

Vodafone has stoically taken the flak and has yet to request a takedown of the content, which opens with a disgruntled VHA customer watching an apology video from CEO Nigel Dews.

Earlier this week, research consultancy AMR released its annual corporate reputation survey, in which Vodafone dropped from 35th place to 59th because of its network and customer care woes.

Last month, the founder of a website dedicated to consumer rage against VHA network and customer service issues – also called "Vodafail" – secured the CHOICE magazine Consumer Champion Award.

Adam Brimo, a 23-year-old software engineering graduate, created the Vodafail site out of his own network service frustrations, but turned into a consumer vigilante. The website quickly morphed into a hybrid "agony aunt" site for disgruntled customers, but it also provided information on network outages and consumer help. The site has attracted postings from 15,000 VHA complainants so far.

The site also mobilized a class action against the carrier, which includes over 22,000 customers. Brimo has also submitted a report to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Australian Communications and Media Authority based on the experiences of irate customers posted on his site. ®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like