Ipswich: Vodafone customers in IP1 vent frustration over lack of service

Judith Gunion, a self employed sports massage therapist, was one of the many Vodafone customers with service complaints.

Angry mobile phone users have vented frustration at their service provider after claiming to have been left without signal for nearly a fortnight.

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Vodafone customers in the IP1 area of Ipswich say they have been unable to make or receive calls since Wednesday, December 18, despite receiving repeated assurances that the problem does not exist.

Judith Gunion, a self-employed sports massage therapist, says she relies on being accessible to her clients and is “incredibly frustrated” at having been cut off for so long.

“My clients can’t get in touch, every day I have to walk into town to check my messages and I’m missing so many calls - it’s becoming very frustrating,” she said.

Vodafone has confirmed it is investigating the issue and hoped to have it resolved “as soon as possible” - but said it was only affecting 3G services.

However, Ms Gunion, and many more disgruntled IP1 customers, insist the problem affects the entire service - not just 3G.

They also claim Vodafone has repeatedly failed to act on their complaints and refused to give assurances of when their service might be restored

“It’s the stonewalling that gets to you,” Ms Gunion said.

“I’ve been told that no provider can guarantee complete coverage.

“But they’re missing the point - it’s not as if we’re asking for something we didn’t have before - we had perfect coverage before 10am on December 18.”

The Ipswich Star’s Facebook site received a torrent of complaints from angry Vodafone customers in IP1 over the weekend.

Sheila Lee-Pegg, a senior citizen with disabilities, said she relied on her mobile to contact people for help in case of accidents or emergencies and found the lack of service “very annoying”.

“Why couldn’t Vodafone inform customers through other means instead of doing nothing?” she wrote.

Gemma Coote, another IP1 resident who commented with criticisms of the company’s service to customers said it was “really starting to annoy (her)”

“I can’t even send or receive messages and I’m still made to pay my phone bill,” she wrote.

More messages of frustration came from Melissa Reid who said she’d contacted Vodafone “many times” only to be told there was no problem or it was being looked into.

“I hope they don’t expect me to pay a line rental for a service I can’t get,” she commented.

A spokesman for the company said: “We’re investigating an issue with the IP1 4 postcode area - which is affecting the 3G service.

“Engineers have been sent to the location and we hope to have this resolved as soon as possible.

“We’d like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience cause.”