Stricter customer service law approved in Spain: companies must answer calls within three minutes maximum

Spain's Congreso definitively approved on Thursday the law that will revolutionise customer services. Just to give one example, the law puts an end to long waiting times on the phone: companies will have to attend to the caller within a maximum of three minutes.

Only two parties (PP and Vox) opposed the new law. The opposition had presented 50 or so amendments to the law on customer care, but they were rejected and the lower house approved it as promoted by the Ministry of Social Rights. The law will come into force in a few days, with its publication in the official state gazette (Boe).

The law, in the words of minister Pablo Bustinduy, seeks to guarantee the right to quality, fast and personalised customer service and bring order to a service that is often chaotic and with which one in five users of electricity, gas, telephone and internet companies are unhappy. The regulation also includes measures to curb unwanted commercial calls and protect minors from online gambling advertising. These are some of the main new features it introduces:

All companies that provide customer service or utilities (gas, water, electricity, telephone, internet, transport, mail and financial services), as well as all companies with more than 250 employees or a turnover of more than 50 million euros, must comply with the new law.

Phone calls must be available in at least all official languages in Spain - Castellano and the other regional languages.

The new law obliges companies to ensure that 95% of telephone calls are answered within three minutes. At the moment, there is no time limit. Moreover, they will no longer be able to cut off the customer's call on the grounds of long waits.

Companies must provide a free telephone line dedicated to customer service during their working hours. If the customer is unhappy with the service provided, they have the right to ask to speak to a supervisor. In addition, all water, gas, electricity and communications companies must offer a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year customer service for urgent assistance.

The regulation bans companies from handling calls exclusively through automated responses. Customers must be able to ask to speak directly to a specialised operator at any stage of the enquiry or complaint.

Companies must resolve any claim or complaint within 15 days of receiving it, instead of the current 30-day deadline. Additionally, they must assign a customer or complaint number to facilitate the follow-up and send written proof with date, time and reason for the complaint. The conversation must be recorded and kept until the case is resolved. Moreover, if supply or a service have been cut, an explanation and an estimated time for fixing it must be provided within a maximum of two hours.

The new law will require a personalised service for elderly people (face-to-face) or people with a hearing disability (video interpretation in sign language or instant written messages).

Customer services may not take advantage of the call to offer commercial products or services.

An external audit must regularly ensure that the company complies with the law and conduct customer satisfaction surveys once a query, complaint or incident has been resolved. Non-compliance will be punishable by fines of up to 100,000 euros.

The law will put an end to so-called 'spam', annoying unsolicited commercial calls. Companies will be obliged to use an identifiable prefix and telephone operators must block those that do not have one. Commercial calls without prior consent are banned and any contracts resulting from such calls will be voided.

The gambling law is also being amended to limit advertising for online gambling, ban the participation of celebrities or public figures in such promotions and require that payments for these services be made only through accounts held in the player's own name. Advertising for online gambling will only be allowed on the operators' own websites or on specialised platforms or social media with age verification controls.

Companies will only be able to send marketing communications to individuals who have explicitly authorised them to do so. Most of these measures are aimed at protecting minors.