Scam or misunderstanding?

Marina Neighbourly Lead from Fernside

I had a bit of a scare today. I called Vodafone because my Gmail was no longer showing up on my iphone mail app since I had changed the password. The Vodafone rep could not help me so they told me to call Google for help and gave me an Auckland phone number. I called and the heavily accented man asked me for similar information as Vodafone did (birth date, address, phone number, full name and type of phone) then told me because it was a free gmail account that I was using that I would have to pay $99 to have them correct the problem! This didn't sound right. I consulted my partner and he said it sounded unnecessary and could be a scam. I discontinued the conversation with Google man.
It was a bit of a worry, like a reverse version of those annoying dinner time calls on the landline that insist you have a computer problem, only this was a referral from a Vodafone rep. I spent the next hour checking in with my bank (due to personal info shared), police and netsafe. I also called back Vodafone to report what had happened. In the end they stood by their rep and said it was legitimate, however this time the Vodafone tech said to contact Apple for support. I am sharing this because I would like to know if anyone else has had this issue, not getting their email to come up on their mail App on their iPhone and how they resolved the issue?