Vodafone Australia to face class action lawsuit

Not content with the knowledge that Vodafone's poor network performance in 2010 has seen an exodus of more than 800,000 of the company's customers, law firm Piper Alderman has announced it is launching a class-action lawsuit against the mobile network.

The law firm, which has said that it hopes to to win tens of millions of dollars in damages from the network, is planning on launching the class action case in May so as to enable more disgruntled customers to join in.

The lawsuit follows a two year investigation from the law firm into the viability of the class action case.

Nobody on board... Yet

Piper Alderman has claimed that 23,000 Vodafone customers registered their interest in joining the class action when it was first pitched back in late 2010.

But those 23,000 aren't technically registered in the class action yet. Piper Alderman is in the process of emailing those who displayed interest in suing Vodafone with a survey to discover how much they were paying during the network's disastrous 2010-11 period, and how badly their service was effected.

Given that time has moved on and many of the disgruntled customers have left Vodafone, there's no guarantee that the law firm will get the full 23,000 signed up to take part in suing the telco.

Which is why the lawsuit won't be filed until May, so that Piper Alderman can get as many people as possible on board.

No backing from ACCAN

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, a Telecommunications consumer group, has warned that there's no guarantee of a payoff for customers who join the class action suit. They've also warned that any resolution is likely to take a very long time.

Instead of signing up, ACCAN suggests contacting the TIO to voice disapproval with the Telco. It also warns of the dangers of Vodafone Hutchison pulling out of the Australian market altogether, which would leave us with a mobile duopoly, a potentially disastrous situation for consumers.

Since the infamous Vodafail period, Vodafone has spend significant amounts of money upgrading its troubled network, and recently beginning trials for its upcoming 4G network as well.

Via: CRN/Gizmodo/ACCAN