NEWS Staff Reporter
Poor quality service at dental clinics caused health care-related complaints to soar in Almería province last year.
According to the Junta de Andalucía’s consumer service department in Almería reported a total of 2,428 complaints in 2017. The vast majority – 98.8 per cent – were about poor service from telecoms firms and banks.
But although health care ranked only fifth with 259 complaints, the regional government said gripes about the quality of dental treatment had resulted in a staggering rise in the number of complaints from 33 in 2016 to 259 last year – a jump of 685 per cent.
Among the most common grievances were poor customer service, poor quality treatment and billing issues.
By contrast, complaints about telecoms companies, although still the most common, had fallen by 42 per cent. Overall, 2017 saw a 6.8 per cent increase in consumer complaints compared to the previous year.
The Junta also detected infractions in 22.4 per cent of the more than 625 businesses that were inspected, imposing fines amounting to a total of €7.8m in the province alone.
In addition, the regional government has announced it will make changes to the consumer complaints form in response to EU regulations. The aim it said was to “make them simpler” to understand.
