VLBI is a field that relies on the combination of data collected by multiple radio telescopes or observatories, each of which my vary dramatically in hardware and behaviour. Data consistency between sources is critical, so a set of new standards were developed for the recording, storage, and transmission of VLBI data. The resulting VLBI Data Interchange Format (VDIF) has a high rate of adoption among the global radio telescope community, but compatibility issues remain. Anecdotal evidence suggests that undocumented systemic errors, non-compliance with format specifications, and institution-specific workarounds are commonplace. This creates an entirely new challenge for those looking to work with VLBI data: when historical data or data from other institutions is analysed, there is no guarantee that the required contextual knowledge to accurately interpret the data will be retained. To ensure the integrity of future research that may make use of VLBI data, these internal issues and workarounds must be exposed, documented, versioned, and then stored in a way that allows researchers to efficiently gain this required context, in perpetuity. A survey was conducted among radio telescope operators who have adopted the VDIF standard, asking respondents to share their experiences as both producers and consumers of VDIF data—and requested that each upload samples of data they produced. This identified several key issues among even large and influential producers of VLBI data, which may impact the work being done with this data around the world.