The Congress of Deputies has given the green light to the Law on Customer Service Services with 179 votes in favor, 33 against and 138 abstentions (the PP). This text, when its parliamentary processing concludes, seeks to put an end to the bombardment of spam calls at all hours. In addition, it will put a limit on waiting on the phone and will mean saying goodbye to automatic renewals of online subscriptions. The text also states that large companies will have to serve users in the different co-official languages ​​of the State.
This law is “a debt that democracy owes to consumers when it comes to regulating their rights when they are faced with claiming a refund, making a query or consulting an order,” explain sources from the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030. When its processing is completed, it will be “the first law that deals exclusively with regulating and protecting consumers when they face a company’s customer service to claim their rights.” Consumption also remembers that this new legislation began its journey 14 years ago and was already attempted to be approved in the previous Legislature, but it declined due to early elections.
These are the keys to the Law on Customer Service Services:
Goodbye to the bombardment of spam calls
The text, which will now go to the Senate, states that companies will be required to enter a telephone code (that is, a specific prefix) to identify all commercial calls they make, which will allow spam calls to be identified.
Furthermore, this number must always be different from the one that the companies themselves use to serve consumers, for example, in customer service. Consumption remembers that teleoperators have the obligation to block all calls directed by companies to consumers that do not come from numbers with these specific prefixes.
On the other hand, consumer queries cannot be referred from a free telephone to numbers that imply a cost for the customer, whether by telephone, text messages or otherwise.
Three minute calls
The text approved by Congress will require that all telephone queries that a consumer makes to a company can be resolved, on average, in less than three minutes. For this reason, Consumer sources indicate, it will be possible to report when these waiting times are longer.
Likewise, a customer may ask to be served by a person and not a machine or artificial intelligence. Furthermore, from the moment you request it until the physical person assists you, no more than three minutes may pass. Care will also have to be personalized based on factors such as age or disability.
For example, in the case of people with hearing disabilities, the telephone channel will be accessible and must be complemented, at the person’s choice, with an alternative system of instant written messaging via mobile phone or with a video interpretation system in sign language.
15-day limit to resolve a claim
The new regulation sets a maximum period of 15 days to resolve citizen complaints, which is currently one month. Furthermore, this period is reduced to five days in the case of claims linked to improper charges.
Regarding the expenses that customers must bear, the law will prevent when a purchase is made, for example a ticket to a concert or a plane ticket, from the bill to pay increasing as the purchase process progresses. “The initial price that the user sees and assumes they are going to spend will be the final price they pay, without any added expenses involved,” the aforementioned Consumer sources highlight.
No fake reviews or automatic renewals
The buying and selling of reviews is currently prohibited, but with the new regulation, reviews can only be published within 30 days after the product has been purchased or a service has been contracted. Companies will also be able to respond to these reviews and ask for them to be removed if they prove that a review is not real.
It also seeks to avoid the automatic renewal of contracts or online subscriptions. Specifically, companies will have to notify 15 days in advance of the renewal, to give consumers room to decide if they want to keep it. If they do not continue, companies will have the obligation to facilitate voluntary withdrawal.
Attention in all languages ​​of the State
The law also states that large companies – those that have more than 250 workers, with more than 50 million in turnover or that provide services of general interest – will have to serve users in the different co-official languages ​​of the State.
In this way, the consumer will be assured of care in the official language requested, as long as the company provides services in those autonomous communities that have an official language other than Spanish and the language used is official in said autonomous community.
Source: www.eldiario.es
