“There are still nine people waiting for you. The waiting time is longer than fifteen minutes”. This should soon be a thing of the past in Spain. Whoever calls customer service there should not be on hold for more than three minutes. You also have the right to get a human of flesh and blood on the line and not a robot. A good idea for the Netherlands or unfeasible?
The Spanish government has passed a law regulating customer service. This should put an end to the long waiting times for consumers. There should be a limit of a maximum of three minutes waiting time and companies must resolve complaints within 15 days. Furthermore, consumers are given the right to speak to a real person. This means that automatic chatbots and answering machines are no longer allowed.
Fines for violations
In addition, utilities are required to respond to customers 24 hours a day and respond to customer complaints within two hours. If a company does not comply with the new requirements, they can expect a fine between 150 and 10,000 euros. In the case of accumulating violations, the fines can even amount to 100 thousand euros.
This new legislation all sounds very nice, but the question is whether it is feasible. Experts think it’s a big challenge. And where the companies and call centers are going to get the money to hire extra employees, is also the question. Paid telephone lines are banned.