Spain's rules
The company won't let me cancel my subscription, or charges me to cancel
The official steps, and a place to count your complaint.
Who this covers
Subscriptions and recurring memberships (streaming, software, apps, gyms) where cancelling is blocked, hidden, only allowed through a different channel, or carries a fee. Not charges taken after a cancellation was already made (es-subscription-charged-after-cancel), or telecom contracts (es-telecom-cancellation).
Add your complaint
Rantr counts your complaint and shows you others who have it.
No promise of a fix or refund. Do not name private people or include private details. This does not send a complaint to the company.
Your official route
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Cancel the same way you signed up, and keep proof
If you signed up online, you can cancel online; the company cannot demand other formalities, a penalty, or payment for services not provided. Ask for the reference code and a written receipt.
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Write to the company and keep proof
Deadline: The consumer law, as amended with effect from 28 December 2025, sets a maximum of 15 days from your complaint for the company to answer.
If they block or ignore you, send your cancellation in writing, with the date, and say you want it to take effect now. Since 28 December 2025 the consumer law requires the ways a company offers for complaints to include at least the channel you signed up with, post, phone and one electronic means. Ask for the complaint's reference code and a written receipt.
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Signed up online in the last 14 days? Withdraw instead
Deadline: 14 calendar days from the day the contract was made.
For contracts made online, by phone or away from the business premises, you can withdraw without reasons and without penalty. The company must refund all payments by the same method.
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Stop the payments at your bank as well
Revoke the direct debit order with a dated, signed document; it only affects a debit if the bank gets it before the end of the working day before that debit. Do this as well as cancelling: the law requires your wish to end the contract to be stated unequivocally to the company.
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No answer or no fix: go to a consumer office
File a complaint with your town's consumer office (OMIC) or your region's consumer authority. If the company is based in another EU country, Iceland or Norway, the European Consumer Centre in Spain can help, provided you complained to the company in writing first and have not gone to court or consumer arbitration.
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Consumer arbitration, if the company accepts it
A Junta Arbitral de Consumo can decide the dispute for free, with a decision as binding as a court ruling. Both sides must agree to it: check whether the company is adhered to the system.
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Last resort: court
Before suing you must have tried to negotiate, and you need written proof of that attempt: for example, proof that the company received your request to negotiate or your proposal. If it does not reply within 30 calendar days of receiving it, the attempt counts as ended without agreement.
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Your written complaint
To: The company's customer service (the channel you signed up with, or post, phone or email)
Must include
- Your name and the email, username or membership number
- The plan and how you signed up (web, app, in person, phone)
- When and how you tried to cancel, and what stopped you
- That you cancel the subscription with effect from the date of your first attempt
- What you ask for: written confirmation of the cancellation, no cancellation fee, and a refund of anything charged after that date
Keep
- The complaint's reference code and written receipt
- A copy of everything you sent, with the date
- Screenshots of the sign-up and cancellation pages and of your account
- Emails, confirmations and the terms you accepted
- Bank or card statements showing each charge
Your rights
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You can end a subscription the same way you signed up, with no penalty or disproportionate burden such as losing prepaid amounts or paying for services not actually provided.
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Subscription contracts must state the procedure for ending them.
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Clauses that obstruct ending the contract, require formalities different from those for signing up, or keep money for services not provided are abusive.
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A clause that auto-renews a fixed-term contract with a deadline that does not effectively let you refuse the renewal is abusive.
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If you break a minimum-stay commitment, the penalty must be proportional to the days of the commitment not completed.
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Customer service must give you a reference code and a written receipt for complaints, offer direct personal attention when it works by phone or online, and a phone line for your contract cannot cost more than a standard call.
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Since 28 December 2025 the consumer law says businesses must answer complaints as soon as possible and in any case within 15 days of receiving them.
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The customer-service law (Ley 10/2025) sets stricter limits only for companies in its scope, which for subscriptions means companies selling mainly to consumers that had 250 or more staff, more than 50 million euros of turnover or more than 43 million euros of balance sheet in the previous year: five days for complaints about billing or undue charges and 15 working days for others, unless sector rules set a different time. Those companies have 12 months from 28 December 2025, that is until 28 December 2026, to adapt their customer service to the law.
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In consumer contracts your will to end the contract must be stated unequivocally.
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In court claims of up to 2,000 euros you can act yourself, without a lawyer or a procurador.
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