Complaint & Appeal: templates and forms
19 forms available to fill out or download.
Administrative appeal (alzada or reposición) against a decision (Spain)
You can file the appeal free of charge on the body's electronic office, with its own appeal form or general application form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for challenging an act of a Spanish ministry, regional government or town hall: the recurso de alzada to the higher body, if the act does not end the administrative route, or the recurso de reposición to the same body, if it does. The notification says which applies, to whom and the time limit: one month for an express act. It follows art. 115 of Spanish Law 39/2015; you write the grounds. Not for taxes or traffic fines. File it through a registry.
Complaint about a contract you never asked for or a switch without consent (Spain)
For a person in Spain whom an electricity, gas, phone or other company has signed up, switched from their supplier or charged for a service they did not ask for. The letter denies any consent, recalls that silence is not acceptance and that unsolicited supplies need not be paid for (art. 66 quáter of the Spanish Consumer Protection Act, TRLGDCU), asks for the contract to be cancelled, a return to the previous company and a refund, and invites the company to negotiate as Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires. Send it by burofax with certified content. In Spanish.
Complaint to a bank's customer service department (Spain)
For a customer of a bank in Spain with a problem over fees, charges, cards, transfers or any other product who wants to complain in writing. It is the compulsory first step: the customer service department has fifteen working days for payment services and one month otherwise; if it does not reply or rejects the complaint, the next step is a complaint to the Banco de España, on its own form. The letter sets out the facts, states what is requested and invites negotiation (Organic Law 1/2025). Hand it in at the branch against a stamped copy, use the bank's online channel, or send it by burofax. In Spanish.
Claim to the Transparency Council over refused information (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the electronic office of Spain's Transparency and Good Governance Council, with its own form, or with your region's transparency body; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for people who prefer to file through a registry: it challenges the full or partial refusal of a request for public information, or the lack of any answer, on your own grounds, within the month set by art. 24.2 of Spanish Law 19/2013. The Council has three months to decide.
Complaint to an insurer about a claim or a policy (Spain)
For an insured person or policyholder in Spain whose insurer refuses or delays paying a claim, pays less than it owes, overcharges or does not honour the policy. The letter files the complaint in writing with the insurer's customer service or customer ombudsman, a required step before the free complaints service of Spain's Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds (DGSFP), and includes the invitation to negotiate that Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before suing. Send it by burofax with certified content. In Spanish.
Complaint to a Spanish consumer office (OMIC) with a request for arbitration (Spain)
This step is free on your town hall's or region's online office in Spain; you do not need DocMuse for it. For a consumer who already complained to the company and got no reply or no solution: a written complaint to the municipal consumer office (OMIC) or the regional consumer service asking for mediation and, if you choose, consumer arbitration. File it at the office, at any Spanish public registry or at a Correos post office as «correo administrativo». In regions with a co-official language the office must also accept it in that language. In Spanish.
Legal guarantee claim for repair or replacement (Spain)
For a consumer whose product, bought from a business in Spain, turned out faulty or not as agreed: the letter requires the seller to repair or replace it free of charge under the three-year legal guarantee that runs from delivery (arts. 114 ff. of the Spanish Consumer Protection Act, TRLGDCU), within a reasonable time and without shipping costs. It includes the invitation to negotiate that Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before going to court. Send it by burofax with certified content, which proves what was sent and when. In Spanish.
Complaint to a hospital's patient service (Spain)
A Spanish written complaint, in Spanish, for a person treated at a public hospital or health centre in Spain, or a relative, who wants to complain in writing about the care: an excessive wait, a cancelled appointment, poor treatment, a lack of information. It is addressed to the patient service (servicio de atención al paciente), asks for the facts to be looked into and for a reasoned answer within the period set by the region's rules. It is not a claim for compensation. File it at the service itself, at any public registry office, at a post office or online. It holds health data, so it is sold blank and filled in by hand.
Claim for compensation for a delayed or cancelled flight or denied boarding (Spain)
For a person on a flight that arrived three hours or more late, was cancelled at short notice or on which boarding was denied: the letter claims from the airline the €250, €400 or €600 compensation under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 for each passenger on the booking, and invites it to negotiate as Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before suing. If the airline does not answer within a month or refuses, a complaint to AESA, Spain's aviation safety agency, is free and its decision binds the airline. Send it by burofax or through the airline's complaint form. In Spanish.
Complaint about a package holiday not as agreed (Spain)
For a person who booked a package holiday in Spain or with a Spanish organiser (flight and hotel, a cruise or an agency package) that did not go as agreed: a different hotel, excursions that did not happen, missing services. The letter claims from the organiser or the agency a price reduction for the days affected and compensation for damage (arts. 161 and 162 of the Spanish Consumer Protection Act, TRLGDCU), and invites it to negotiate as Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before suing. Send it by burofax with certified content to the organiser or the agency that sold the trip. In Spanish.
Letter of complaint to a public body (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the body's electronic office or at its counters, with its own complaints and suggestions form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is the complaint about how a public service works — waiting times, treatment, unanswered letters, mistakes — sent to the body itself: it sets out the facts with dates and the office, and asks to be told what is done. In the Spanish State administration the unit answers within twenty working days. File it through a registry or at a post office.
Complaint to a phone, internet or TV operator (Spain)
For a customer of a mobile, landline, broadband or TV operator in Spain who disputes a bill, a lock-in period, a fault or a service not provided as agreed. The letter files the complaint in writing, asks for the reference number the operator must give, and makes the attempt to negotiate that Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before suing. If there is no satisfactory answer within a month, the Spanish Telecoms User Office (OAUT) decides free of charge. Send it by burofax with certified content. In Spanish.
Claim for a price reduction or ending the contract over faulty goods (Spain)
For a consumer in Spain who already asked for a faulty product to be repaired or replaced and did not get it: the company did not do it within a reasonable time, refused, the fault came back or it is serious. The letter requires the seller to reduce the price in proportion or to end the contract and refund the money (arts. 119 to 119 ter of the Spanish Consumer Protection Act, TRLGDCU), and includes the invitation to negotiate that Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before suing. Send it by burofax with certified content. In Spanish.
Prior claim or appeal against a decision of the SEPE, the INSS or a regional body (Spain)
Filing this is free on the websites of Spain's Social Security and of the SEPE; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish written appeal, in Spanish, is for someone in Spain who has received a decision refusing, reducing, suspending or reclaiming a benefit (unemployment benefit or allowance, incapacity, the minimum income, a regional benefit) and wants to challenge it on paper. Depending on what the decision states, it is the prior claim under Article 71 of Spanish Law 36/2011 or an administrative appeal under Law 39/2015; you set out your grounds and enclose the evidence. File it at any public registry office or a post office within the decision's deadline.
Complaint about an online order that was never delivered (Spain)
For a consumer in Spain who paid for an order online or by phone and has not received it within the agreed time or, if none was set, within 30 calendar days (art. 66 bis of the Spanish Consumer Protection Act, TRLGDCU). The letter gives the shop an additional period to deliver, announces that the contract will be ended and everything paid refunded if it does not, and invites it to negotiate as Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before suing. Send it by burofax with certified content; if the shop only deals by e-mail, send it that way too. In Spanish.
Notice of an unauthorised payment and request for a refund (Spain)
For the holder of a Spanish bank account or card showing charges they did not make or authorise: the letter notifies the bank of the unauthorised transactions without delay, as Spanish Royal Decree-law 19/2018 requires, and asks it to refund the amount by the end of the next working day at the latest and restore the account. It is addressed to the bank's customer service, which has fifteen working days to answer, and includes the invitation to negotiate of Spanish Organic Law 1/2025. Send it by burofax with certified content, after alerting the bank through its emergency channel. In Spanish.
Complaint to the Spanish Ombudsman or a regional ombudsman (Spain)
This can be done free of charge with the form on the Spanish Ombudsman's website (defensordelpueblo.es) and with those of the regional ombudsmen, such as the Síndic de Greuges or the Ararteko; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is the signed complaint against how a public body acted: it names you, the body, the facts, what you have already done and what you ask for. It is made within one year of learning the facts (art. 15 of Spanish Organic Law 3/1981), by post, in person or through a registry.
Complaint to the electricity, gas or water company (Spain)
For the holder of an electricity, gas or water contract in Spain who disputes a bill, a meter reading, a disconnection, a price rise or the service received. The letter files the complaint in writing with the company's customer service, asks for its reference number and a written answer, and makes the attempt to negotiate that Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 requires before suing. Send it by burofax with certified content; you can also send it through the company's complaints channel. In Spanish.
Formal demand to a company with an invitation to negotiate (Spain)
For a consumer in Spain whose contract a company is not honouring (a service badly done, a wrongful charge, a refund that never comes) and who wants to demand it before going to court. The letter describes the breach, requires the company to perform and, in the same letter, invites it to negotiate for thirty days: the prior attempt to negotiate that Spanish Organic Law 1/2025 has required since 3 April 2025 before a claim can be filed. Send it by burofax with certified content, which proves what was sent and when. In Spanish.
Can't find the document you need? Ask for it, free of charge — we write the forms and letters people ask for. Request a document