fionamw

As usual, something in another thread got me to wondering. There's a tendency to dismiss taking action over dodgy dealings, 'strange' Spanish ways, etc., just because it's Spain and the system's been like this forever (ish). Yet businesses all* have the libro de hojas de reclamaciones for us to use to complain. What good does it do if we do? Where do they go? Who reads them? Are records kept? etc etc


*is it only a certain size business? Anyone know?

busters mum

You know those big bonfires ?

fionamw

Sad but potentially true?

bxpuser24710519

I did a search of my favourites as I was sure I had added a page with the info ...http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/info...mplaint-forms/

Domino

I have seen the signs in bars and restaurants but never needed to fill one in

has anyone filled one in ?

jackytoo

They can have a bit of clout. I filled one in over a car repair. There are 3 copies one for the company, one for the consumer authority and one for yourself. Sometimes the company doesn't want attention drawing to it (not paying IVA etc or employing illegal workers etc.). Sometimes just asking for the hoja does the trick. In my case it worked although they left it until the 10 day deadline to resolve the complaint. One of the things that does seem to work well in Spain.

twistedmelon

It tickles me that they are in Spanish and English. One of the only signs I have seen in consumer rights in any other language.
Do other nationals not want to complain like us Brits
It would be more use to recycle them in the toilets of bars etc which clearly see public facilities as a huge drain (pardon pun) on their business (pardon pun).

gill556

I filled one in at Carrefour. They sold me a vacuum cleaner (own make) and the first time I needed replacement bags they had none. 3 months later and countless visits I was informed that they stopped making the bags I needed before I bought the vacuum. I had a tremendous battle just to get the forms which I had to complete in front of the manager. The staff had initially refused me and when I said I wasn't moving until it was resolved they then pretended to look everywhere for the pad, when the manager arrived it was immediately found under the counter where they had looked for at least 10 mins. I had to take my copy to the town hall. Don't know what happened after that, probably nothing but I gave them as much grief as possible. My point was that if the vacuum had been any other make I could have purchased the bags elsewhere as it was I had to purchase a new one, not I may add from Carrefour.

fargas

Yes records are keep but I'm sorry usually is no worth it. If the business you what to complain made a big mistake sue them is the only thing that will work.

The "hoja de reclamaciones" process process is long and until know it didn'twork for me (I've presented 5 for different reasons, all of them were pretty solid).

If you live in Catalunya, they are trying to improve this with a new law but time will tell...

evamar

jajajaaa... I'm afraid they are not very useful. Spanish people tend to suffer "in silence" so that they can complain to their friends and other people about what a terrible service they had here and there. It's only very recently that people are beginning to take them seriously and write their complaints and deal with the company directly. Complaining was seen before as making you look bad, too fussy or something, therefore something to avoid.

I remember some 20 years ago I wanted to complain about an extremely bad mannered person selling tickets at the Teatro Principal de Valencia, she basically insulted a friend of mine when we were buying tickets. I went to the offices the next day (I was working quite close, so it not an issue to stop there in my way back home) and requested the libro de reclamaciones to register my complaint. Surprise, surprise... the book was not available. I told them that I would be coming back the following day and that I would write 2 complaints: the original and a new one for the unavailability of the book.

I actually had to go 4 times in total, with one person working there (and just about to leave the teatro, otherwise he wouldn't speak) telling me that this was simply the normal procedure: wait for the people to get tired and stop coming. Every time I asked to talk to a manager and left after waiting maybe 10-15 minutes, so I made it very clear in my 3rd "visit" that for me this was now a matter of honour (never play with Spanish honour! ), that I had no problem in coming back as many times as necessary to write my complaints, and when they finally decided to bring me the book I would simply add a new complain for every time I was to leave without seeing the book.

At last, in my 4th visit I was able to speak to a manager... he actually apologized for the behavior of that staff and for the book not being available... only to immediately offer me 3 tickets for the next play: the Swam Lake Ballet in exchange for not making the 5 complaints.

Did I take the tickets? YES! I went with 2 of my best friends an when we were on our seats (far but central) I heard the women in charge of the torch whispering to each other "¿Son éstas?" and I replied: "¡Sí señora, somos nosotras!"

Had I continued with my complaints, they would eventually have been registered in the book to be seen when inspected, and nobody wants a complaint about hiding the book... especially when receiving public money... but I wouldn't have seen the Ballet!

Lynn R

It's very interesting to read what you say about the Spanish people not having been very keen on complaining, Evamar - it confirms the impression the OH and I had formed. When we are irritated by something, be it slow or impolite staff in a supermarket, or as we are experiencing at the moment, badly organised and executed street works around where we live, and we speak about it to Spanish neighbours or fellow customers, they just shrug, pat us on the arm and say "tranquila" or "patiencia"! They seem prepared to put up with much more than we are!

A friend of mine did resolve a dispute she had with a telecommunications company by using the OMIC service, that seemed to work well.

fionamw

I've always thought it was that they thought I(we) were too impatient/stressed/in a rush. Maybe it's just that they don't want to put themselves through the hassle of complaining. Or a bit of both

Dick Dasterdly

I filled one in once in Benidorm. It was mainly due to the couldn't care less stroppy attitude of some young Brit kids who had been left in charge of a franchise fast food joint.
I have seen them checked in other bars on numerous occasions, particularly in Tenerife where there were ongoing issues between UK bars and neighbouring Spanish bars.
Needles to say that it was the UK bars that were given a hard time despite the main disturbances and noise levels coming from Spanish bars which continued to get kid glove treatment.

Domino

I had a major service problem at a local Hungry Horse pub, tried complaining to the manager who didnt want to see me. So I wrote to Green King head office. They to 2 weeks to reply but sent me 3x£5 tokens to be spent at their pubs.
complaining can work, but as most of us know - the UK doesn't have the book.

jackytoo

Well it worked for me at a Taller. Evamar you have been out of Spain a long time (10 yrs) the spanish laws have changed a bit since then.