Jazztel bills a Spanish consumer 200 euros for a service he never signed up for

The Jazztel bill for a customer who never existed

There is a paradox that telecom companies solve with astonishing ease: billing for a service the customer refused to sign up for. A consumer who cancelled his switch to Jazztel has received a 200-euro bill for installation costs at home, plus 42 in VAT, after a Vodafone sales rep promised to cover that payment. The only thing missing to complete the circle is the digital invoice. And that is where the absurdity begins: he is not listed as a Jazztel customer (he cancelled the switch), so he cannot access the private area to download it.

The 200 euros at the heart of the dispute

The affected customer already had a line at home; Orange installed it some time ago. According to his account, Jazztel merely connected the router and activated the line. Charging 200 euros for that, plus 42 in VAT, is what some analyses bluntly call unjust enrichment: there was neither a contract in force nor a service rendered. The company, however, has found a formula for charging without being anyone's operator: sending the paper bill by post and blocking digital access since the recipient has no customer credentials. "Neither a customer nor free," the consumer sums up; all he wants is the document to send it to Vodafone so they can reimburse him.

Vodafone: the next stop on the absurdity tour

Vodafone's retention offer posed a dilemma: a 30-euro monthly discount or paying Jazztel's installation costs. Once the second option was chosen, it ran into Vodafone's own internal bureaucracy: between what a sales rep says and what the payments department does there is, judging by recent cases, an abyss. And the scepticism is not unfounded: the consumer claimed to be paying 40 euros and was already paying 50. The history of "prices forever" does not help either: Orange promised stable rates and ended up charging 80 euros; ONO did the same with its perpetual price until Vodafone bought it. Between dishonour and war, the Spanish fibre consumer usually ends up with both.

The sensible route is to cancel the SEPA direct debit to avoid charges, go to the municipal consumer affairs office and, if necessary, ask the bank to refund the 200 euros. For those who do not want a fight, the alternative is an operator with no lock-in contracts or siren songs: O2 comes up at 23 euros a month, with no retention tricks, and Digi earns praise. That said, the "forever" discount is starting to smell like a commercial euphemism: the ONO example weighs like a millstone.

Is it worth fighting over 200 euros with a company that never let you become its customer? The question remains open, but the practical answer is already being written by the wallet: more and more consumers are turning to operators that do not call them with impossible offers.