Spain's rules
My phone or internet company charged me wrongly or twice
The official steps, and a place to count your complaint.
Who this covers
Wrong, duplicate or unexplained charges on a mobile, landline, home internet or bundled pay-TV bill from a Spanish operator, including third-party or premium-rate charges. Not charges after cancelling (es-telecom-cancellation), outages (es-telecom-outage) or early-exit penalties (es-telecom-permanence).
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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Find the wrong lines on your bill
You have the right to a detailed, clear bill without errors. Charges for services that are not telecoms (for example premium-rate services or a device) must appear separately.
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Complain to your operator in writing and get a reference number
Deadline: Within one month from when you learned of the problem; complaining to the operator in that time is required before you can go to the OAUT.
Say which lines are wrong, the amount, and ask for a corrected bill and a refund. Use the channel you used to sign up, or phone: the operator must accept both. It must give you a reference number for your complaint. If you complain by phone, ask for a document that proves you filed it and what it said.
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If there is no answer within a month, or you disagree, complain to the OAUT
Deadline: Within three months from the operator's answer, or from the end of its one-month period to answer.
The Oficina de Atención al Usuario de Telecomunicaciones (Ministry) handles complaints from individuals, self-employed people and microenterprises. File online (with a digital certificate) or on paper, and attach the operator's reference number, bills and contract. Billing disputes are one of the matters it resolves. It has six months to decide, and the operator must comply with its decision.
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Instead of the OAUT: consumer arbitration, if your operator accepts it
Deadline: To keep the OAUT open, ask for arbitration within the same three months.
You can take the dispute to a Junta Arbitral de Consumo; it only works if the operator submits to it. If the operator refuses arbitration, your three months to go to the OAUT count again from that refusal.
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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: Your operator's customer service (the channel you used to sign up, or phone)
Must include
- Your full name and the account holder's ID (DNI/NIE)
- Customer or contract number and the affected line
- Bill number, date and billing period
- Each wrong charge and its exact amount
- Why each charge is wrong
- What you ask for: a corrected bill and a refund of the amount, by the payment method you used
- How you want to receive the answer
Keep
- The reference number the operator gave you
- A copy of your complaint, with the date and channel used
- The bills involved
- Your contract or contract summary
- Bank statements showing the payments
- Screenshots of your usage or account area
Your rights
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You have the right to detailed, clear and error-free billing.
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The operator must give you a reference number for every complaint or request, and accept complaints through the channel you used to sign up and by phone.
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Complaining does not stop the operator from trying to collect. If a bill stays unpaid for more than one month, it can suspend the service temporarily after warning you.
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If a bill mixes telecom and non-telecom charges, you can ask for separate bills; if you pay the telecom part, your telecom service cannot be suspended for the unpaid rest.
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You can ask to block international calls and premium-rate numbers. The operator must do it within 10 days; if it does not, the cost of those services is on the operator.
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You have the right to stop third-party providers from charging their products to your phone or internet bill.
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If the bill was paid by SEPA direct debit, you can ask your bank to refund it within eight weeks of the debit.
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In its decision the OAUT can cancel bills, order refunds of amounts billed wrongly and take other measures to restore your rights.
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If a consumer arbitration board has started a procedure, you cannot use the OAUT unless the request is closed without a decision on the merits or the parties withdraw from arbitration.
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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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