Consumer will carry out inspections in the nail sector
The violation of linguistic rights motivates one in four sanctions of 2025
BarcelonaThe Catalan Consumer Agency (ACC) will put the spotlight on the nail and aesthetics sector. This year, it will launch an inspection campaign in response to the "deluge" of establishments in many Catalan municipalities, according to the director of the governmental body, Isidor Garcia. The proliferation of businesses in the sector has led the Agency to assume that "apart from the signage and other circumstances, there may be other problems".
Consumer is promoting actions on specific sectors that "even from the outside" appear not to comply with regulations such as opening hours or the provision of complaint forms. Last year, for example, it carried out control campaigns for Black Friday discounts and the granting of quick loans. Garcia stressed that the decision to investigate the nail sector does not respond "to a matter of race or ethnicity; there are good businesses and entrepreneurs working in it".
The ACC made public this Wednesday the balance of its actions last year, when it received 19,380 complaints (16% less than in 2024), of which almost half correspond to incidents in the provision of "basic and essential" services such as home utilities. Income from sanctions for non-compliance with regulations fell by 67.4% —to 7.7 million euros— because Consumer lost the power to sanction large holders who did not offer a social rental contract to vulnerable families before evicting them when the Constitutional Court partially annulled the norm.
Service companies
Three out of the four companies against which citizens have filed the most complaints correspond to the Endesa group, which reaches 2,190, a third more than last year. They represent 11% of all complaints recorded by Consum. Garcia has dissociated the increase in complaints from the blackout of April 28 last year and has reproached the group for "a problem" in consumer service that "affects in a relevant way" because it concentrates "80% of the share" of the Catalan market.
Specifically, he highlighted the sending of complementary invoices demanding payment for previous consumption that the company did not bill the client when due. In these cases, Garcia recalled that the company "cannot claim it for as many years as it wants, only the last year" and has demanded that there be "an accredited principle of what it is doing," that is, that it explain in detail where the numbers come from. "We have stopped vulnerable groups, retired people, where the surprise and the fright is how can it be that I owe an amount like the one they are claiming from me," he lamented. Consum and the business group have held "two important meetings" where the Generalitat has asked for "explanations" to correct the situation.
The telecommunications company Orange occupies second place on the podium with 472 complaints. Behind the Endesa companies (which occupy first, third, and fourth place) are Ryanair, Naturgy, Telefónica, and Vueling, which has reduced complaints by 37%. Banking entities are no longer among the companies that receive the most complaints, while last year BBVA, CaixaBank, and Banc Sabadell did enter the ranking.
Rentals and Catalan
In 2025, Consum acted for the first time in the area of compliance with rent caps and initiated 151 inspections. Garcia explained that the ACC has held meetings with the real estate sector "to clarify what the regulations meant and how we interpreted them". At the beginning of February, the Government had 13 open cases and 132 more in the preliminary investigation phase, as reported in a statement, actions carried out by Consum and the Housing Agency of Catalonia. Beyond the cap, Garcia stressed that for years they have found "abusive clauses in contracts that do not necessarily have to do with the cap", which they have sanctioned.
In linguistic matters, 26.8% of the sanctions promoted by the ACC responded to violations of linguistic rights, mainly in the bar and restaurant sector. "I don't find bakeries at this moment, but rather bakeries", criticized Garcia. During the past year, Consum received "more complaints" in this area and the agency's action consisted of "doing all the work we can" to raise awareness of the linguistic regulations. Regarding the withdrawal of unsafe products from the market, Consum withdrew 13,029 last year, mainly clothing and footwear (5,734 units) and toys (5,538 units).
