Spain limits customer service hotline waiting period to under three minutes

The days of long waits for a robot to answer your call to a company's customer service hotline will be over in a few months. The Spanish Congress approved on Thursday the country's first-ever customer service hotline law.

With a vast majority of votes, 289 in favor, 54 abstentions, and just one against it, the chamber greenlighted the new legislation.

Of the Catalan parties, only Junts per Catalunya abstained, while Esquerra Republicana, PDeCAT, and CUP voted in favor. 

Other parties who greenlighted the bill include the Socialists, the conservative People's Party, anti-austerity Unidas Podemos, the Basque Country's PNB, and right-wing Ciudadanos. 

Far-right Vox also abstained, and the only votes against it were from People's Party MP Gabriel Elorriaga Pisarik.

No three-minute waits and automated answering machines

One of the main measures implemented by the new bill is limiting the time callers will have to wait for assistance. 

While the Spanish government had proposed the maximum time to be one minute, amendments in Congress increased this to three minutes.

Customers calling in for assistance after purchasing a product, asking for information, or even submitting a complaint will only spend a maximum of three minutes listening to music.

Customers will also be able to reach facility companies 24 hours a day year-round once the legislation comes into force in 2024.

However, this will only apply to companies with over 250 employees or over €50 million in turnover.

From now on, businesses will be forbidden from using automated answering machines if their client asks to speak with a person.