Ring in the changes: Spain to make call centres pick up within three minutes

A draft bill also requires companies to use a freephone number available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Exasperated by hanging endlessly on the telephone to speak to a human being at a call centre? Spain aims to end the anguish by requiring companies to respond to customers within three minutes.

The government has approved a draft bill setting the three-minute limit and giving consumers the right to speak to a person, not a chatbot, the consumer rights minister Alberto Garzon said on Tuesday.