MAJOR telephone operators are under close scrutiny from consumer protection groups due to ongoing price hikes – as much as €5 a month this year alone.
Orange, Vodafone and Movístar – particularly for customers with packages that include landlines, mobiles, internet and TV – have upped their tariffs without consultation and claimed to be offering greater connection speeds or 'more exclusive' television content in exchange.
In some cases, download limits have been applied out of the blue with penalties charged for exceeding them, even where customers' actual internet use has not changed – leaving them with bills for use in Spain higher than they received just months earlier in roaming mode.
Telefónica Spain, which owns the mobile brand Movístar, says the price rises are due to the 'growing demand' in mobile data bandwidth.
“We're gradually adjusting prices in line with consumers needing more from their service,” said Luis Miguel Gilpérez, company chairman.
Vodafone's strategy manager David Sola says: “Any customer whose tariff has changed is perfectly free to choose a different one – they have a great deal of choice.”
Consumer giant FACUA says the rising costs are 'not circumstantial', because they do not happen 'every few years' – rather 'every few months'.
“There's no excuse,” said spokesman Miguel Ángel Serrano.
“Companies' only purpose is financial, nothing to do with customers' needs. No consumer would be against a unilateral change if it was for their benefit and met their requirements.”
He calls for customers to file claims with the consumer authorities in their region.
FACUA and the OCU will not act – or even advise – unless a customer pays a yearly membership fee of around €70, but council-run consumer officers, known as OMIC, will generally help.
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