How to complain to a company in Spain: electricity, gas, phone, bank or insurance

In all four sectors the order is the same: you complain to the company itself first and only then to the public body. No public body will accept your complaint unless you have already complained to the company and can prove it.

Address your complaint to the company's customer care service or department. Always ask for a reference number and keep the proof: an email, a burofax (Spain's legally certified recorded delivery letter), the web form receipt or the official complaints form (hoja de reclamaciones). That proof is the evidence the public body will require from you later on.

Ley 10/2025, de 26 de diciembre, de servicios de atención a la clientela (the Spanish customer service act), in force since 28 December 2025, sets a new standard: companies providing basic services (electricity, gas, water, telephone, and also large banking and insurance companies) must resolve complaints and claims within a maximum of 15 working days, with shorter deadlines for keeping a basic supply connected and for incorrect charges. That said, the act itself gives companies until 28 December 2026 to adapt, so in July 2026 that general deadline is still not enforceable against every company and it coexists with each sector's own deadlines, set out below. In banking and insurance, moreover, their specific sector deadlines apply, and these do not always match that maximum of 15 working days.

Complain first to the consumer care service of your supplier (comercializadora) for billing, contract and charging issues, or of the network operator (distribuidora) for outages, changes of contracted power and the grid. The sector deadline currently in force for a reply is one month from the date you file the complaint. The 15 working days set by Ley 10/2025 are the new standard, still not fully enforceable against every company until the end of 2026.

If the company does not reply or does not find in your favour, you can go to the body responsible for energy in your comunidad autónoma (autonomous region) or to the Junta Arbitral de Consumo (the consumer arbitration board). There is no single nationwide office for energy consumers: the route is regional.

Some suppliers also have a voluntary customer ombudsman (defensor del cliente), although in the energy sector there is no uniform legal deadline setting how long it has to reply. You can see Managora's price and what you need to provide on the service page for the energy complaint.

Complain first to your phone or internet operator within one month of the event you are complaining about (an incorrect bill, a cancellation that was ignored, a fault). Keep the reference number of the complaint.

If the operator does not reply within one month or its reply does not satisfy you, you have three months to go to the Oficina de Atención al Usuario de Telecomunicaciones (the telecoms users office, usuariosteleco.digital.gob.es). It is a free route and its decision is binding on the operator.

The Office decides within a maximum of six months. Consumer arbitration (arbitraje de consumo) is an alternative, but you cannot follow both routes at the same time. The service page for the telecoms complaint shows the price and the documents needed.

Complain first to your bank's customer service department (servicio de atención al cliente, SAC). It has 15 working days to reply if the matter concerns payment services (accounts, cards, transfers, direct debits) and one month for everything else (mortgages, loans, deposits). If you are not a consumer or a microenterprise, the deadline is two months.

If you get no reply or you disagree with it, you can complain to the Departamento de Conducta de Mercado y Reclamaciones (the market conduct and complaints department) of the Banco de España, Spain's central bank. You have one year from the date you filed the complaint with your bank; once that year has passed it will not be accepted.

The Banco de España report does not in itself oblige the bank to give your money back, although it is usually decisive and serves as a basis for claiming afterwards. A new Autoridad de Defensa del Cliente Financiero (financial customer protection authority) is planned and will strengthen this protection. Check the price and requirements on the service page for the banking complaint.

Complain first to the customer care department or, where there is one, to the customer ombudsman (defensor del cliente) of your insurer. It has a maximum of two months to resolve your complaint or claim.

If it does not reply within those two months or rejects your claim, you can go to the complaints service of the Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones (DGSFP, the Spanish insurance and pension funds regulator). It is free of charge.

The DGSFP issues a report that is not binding on the insurer, but it gives guidance and supports a possible later claim. The future Autoridad de Defensa del Cliente Financiero will also cover the insurance sector. Price and documents are on the service page for the insurance complaint.

In each of these cases the complaint has to be drafted properly, addressed to the right service, filed within the deadlines and taken to the correct body. A formal mistake or a missed deadline can leave your complaint out.

Managora drafts your complaint, gathers the supporting documents, files it with the company and, if necessary, escalates it to the sector body on your behalf. You only provide the details and the paperwork: we take care of the rest.

Choose your case on the relevant service page (electricity and gas, phone, bank or insurance), where you will see the current price and what you need to provide before you start.