A RECENT LANDMARK COURT’S DECISION RENDERED BY THE HIGH COURT IN ALICANTE

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* A recent landmark Court’s decision rendered by the High Court in Alicante against “Orange”

Dear Readers, clients and friends,
Today’s article is about the abuses committed by some Telecom providers in Spain and the problems that several of our clients are experiencing in particular with the company “Orange”.
Unfortunately, it is a common practice for some telecom providers at the event of non-payment, to include their client’s details in these kind of debtors registries, simply as a way of coercing the customer into paying sometimes non existent or highly doubtful debts.
In fact, the company Orange has been recently obliged by the High Court of Alicante, to pay a substantial financial compensation to a client as a result of unlawfully including his personal’s details in a “debtor registry or bad debtor list”, when the supposed debt was in fact not certain, overdue and enforceable and it has never claimed officially to the debtor.
The High Court considers in this way, that including the personal details of a customer in a Debt Registry without fulfilling all the requirements (or alternatively the failure to remove the records once the debt is paid), can be considered as a serious illegitimate intrusion in the rights to honour, privacy and image, (according to art. 9.3 of the law 1/1982, May 5.)
As a result of this landmark court’s decision, from now own, it will be easier for the affected customer to seek compensation in Court, for the damages that the infringement or failure may have caused.
Likewise, irrespective from claiming damages against the telecom company through the ordinary Courts, the customer also has the right to file a complaint before the “Spanish Data Protection Agency”, with the negative consequence that a serious fine could be imposed on the telecom company for not complying with the law.
Remember that Telecoms companies usually advantage of their predominant position in the market and also from the fact that for most people it is really a nuisance to file a complaint. As a result, they will not hesitate to put as much as obstacles in your path in order to discourage you to exercise your rights (like for instance their unbearable and useless call centres!)

Therefore, do never allow these companies to abuse your legitimate rights! As a European citizen, you are granted with fundamental rights and consequently all these dubious practices are totally abusive and contrary to the European and Spanish Consumer’s legislation.
Subsequently, at the event of a dispute with a telephone company, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are experts in dealing with all kind of consumer’s complaints, so we will be delighted to give you accurate advice about the most advisable ways of preventing those abuses and claiming compensation.
According to our recent professional experience, it is highly effective to send a strong “letter before claim” to the Telecom company, as it will show that you are totally committed and serious in your complaint.

We hope this information is useful and should you have any additional question, please visit any of our two websites: www.ricorabogados.com or www.englishsolicitorinspain.com
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Alternatively, you can also contact us by e-mail at ricorsolicitors@yahoo.co.uk and we will reply back to you as matter of urgency.

Thank you very much for your attention and permanent support and we look forward to helping you!

Mr Oscar Ricor
“NON-PRACTISING ENGLISH SOLICITOR IN ENGLAND AND WALES”, under the “Solicitors Regulation Authority” (SRA) SRA number 519196 and practicing Spanish Solicitor