One Tauranga's man trouble with the phone company is a timely reminder to make sure the name on your phone account is up to date.

The problem started for Mike Harman when he rang up Vodafone to try and sort out a problem with his mother's phone connection.

'My mother has a St John emergency alarm, which was hooked in through the phone. St John called me on Saturday morning and said they weren't able to make contact with the phone in one of their 24-hour checks.”

It turned out the phone line was dead. So he phoned Vodafone on behalf of his mother, who is in her 90s, to try and sort it out.

But there's a catch – the account was still in his deceased father's name.

'They used to have their phone with TelstraClear, who were taken over by Vodafone. When my dad died, I rang up TelstraClear and asked what we had to do regarding changing the account name, and they said not to worry, as long as the account was paid.”

But when he phoned Vodafone, they wouldn't tell him anything.

'They put me through to someone overseas, who got in touch with the techs, who wouldn't do anything because I wasn't my father. I told them my mother's living on her own and needs her phone, especially for her St John's alarm, but it didn't change their minds.”

He then went to Vodafone at Bayfair, but they were unable to help until he produced his father's death certificate for them to cite.

'It's just not good enough, all this PC s***. I wasn't asking for any information on the phone, I just needed them to fix the bloody thing,” says Mike.

Vodafone eventually got back to him saying the phone line was ‘live' at their end, suggesting the problem lay with the house. Mike got an electrician in to take a look – but even so, it took several days before he could get any information.

Vodafone external communications manager Kiri Coughlan says in the event of a customer's service being disrupted – for example through a fault or relocation – customer service representatives will first look to assist with the issue.

'When the reporting of a fault identifies a change of account ownership is also required, the customer will be called back by a specialist team to arrange the change of ownership. This is to ensure there is no delay in resolving a disrupted service.

'Vodafone is sorry that, for the Harman family, the process was not correctly followed, and a reminder has been issued to the frontline team of the proper process.”

She says for Vodafone customers, it's important to note the customer service representatives are able to work with families at any time, when it becomes apparent a change of ownership is, or may be, required.

'While the customer service representative will not be able to discuss any personal information with anyone other than the account holder, the system does enable family members to assist with relocations and fault reporting.”