Consumers group slams mobile phone customer service in Spain

Consumers group slams mobile phone customer service in Spain
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By h.b. - Sep 1, 2010 - 7:01 PM
Movistar took nearly two hours to answer six questions according to the OCU

Archive Photo - EFE

The OCU, Organisation of Consumers and Users, has published a damning report on the level of customer service offered by mobile phone operators in Spain. It concludes that no operator has a customer service capable of answering the doubts of its users, and that the sector is one which generates most complaints.

All the companies studied, Vodafone, Movistar, Orange, R, Pepephone, Yoigo, Másmovil, Happy Movil, Simyo, Euskatel and Carrefour, made mistakes in responding to six questions put to them by the researchers.

The questions included the subjects of 902 tariffs, calls abroad, internet coverage, and how to obtain the PUK number when the PIN number has been incorrectly entered.

The OCU reports that the time taken by some of the operators to give the answers was ‘interminable’. To respond to the six questions Happy Movil took 15 minutes, Vodafone 26, Simyo 51, Orange 69, and Telefónica’s Movistar nearly two hours at 112 minutes.

What’s more the research shows that in Movistar’s case it was normal for the call to hang up, be engaged, or end in an inescapable loop of automatic options. That last complaint was seen in all the operators with the exception of Happy Movil, Másmovil and Yoigo.

When ringing to find a cheaper contract with Orange and Vodafone the OCU ended up with a tariff which was ‘far worse’ than the previous one.

Only R admitted to limited coverage in rural areas when that was the case, while the rest gave ‘confused or erroneous’ information, or did not answer.

Only Yoigo gave complete information to the questions, while the rest only gave partial answers, ‘some time through lack of interest, and in others in a hurry to end the call’. Orange and Movistar gave ‘completely incorrect’ information on the cost of connecting to the internet when abroad.

When asked for the PUK ‘few operators asked for the additional information of name and DNI number to ensure that the phone owner was calling and to avoid a possible fraudulent use of the phone’.

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