Making a complaint in Spanish without sounding rude, in Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Argentina
The room smells of smoke, the dish is not the one you ordered, the shirt you bought has a hole in it. You know the words for the object and none of the words for the problem, so you either say nothing or say something too blunt and watch the face change. Complaining in Spanish is a sequence, and each step has its own phrases. This page has the sequence, the words at every stage, what the staff will say back, and how far you can push in Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Argentina before you get nowhere.
The five steps
In Spanish, a good complaint goes in this order. A visitor who skips a step sounds aggressive.
- A soft opener. You are interrupting someone. Say so.
- The problem as a fact. Describe the thing, not the person.
- What you want. Most complaints fail because nobody said what would fix it.
- The manager. Only after the person in front of you has had a chance.
- The official complaint. The form, the consumer body, the card company.
Step one: the opener
| You want to say | Spanish | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Excuse me | Disculpe | Usted form. The safest opener in all four countries |
| Excuse me | Perdone / Perdona | Spain. Perdona is the tú form and is normal to someone your own age |
| Sorry to bother you | Perdón que le moleste | Softens a complaint more than anything else on this page |
| Can you help me? | ¿Me puede ayudar? | |
| Can you help me out? | ¿Me colabora? | Colombia. The everyday way to ask anyone for anything |
Disculpe is the one to learn first. It is usted, you can use it from Tijuana to Ushuaia, and with it you get the half second you need to get the rest of the sentence out.
Step two: the problem
Describe the problem with hay, está or no funciona, and leave the person out of it. With Usted me trajo lo que no pedí you blame the waiter. With Esto no es lo que pedí you blame nothing.
| You want to say | Spanish | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| There’s a problem with… | Hay un problema con… | The workhorse. Follow it with the noun |
| This isn’t what I ordered | Esto no es lo que pedí. | Restaurant, bar, takeaway counter |
| This doesn’t work | Esto no funciona. | For a device, a lock, a tap, a lift |
| It’s broken | Está roto. / Está rota. | Ending matches the noun |
| It’s dirty | Está sucio. / Está sucia. | |
| It’s cold | Está frío. | Of food. Hace frío is the weather |
| It’s off | Está en mal estado. | Of food that has gone bad. Stronger than está malo |
| There’s no hot water | No hay agua caliente. | |
| The air conditioning doesn’t work | El aire no funciona. | El aire on its own means air conditioning in all four |
| The room is very noisy | El cuarto es muy ruidoso. / Hay mucho ruido en la habitación. | Mexico and Colombia say cuarto, Spain and Argentina say habitación |
| It has a hole in it | Tiene un agujero. / Tiene un hueco. (Colombia) | |
| I bought it yesterday | Lo compré ayer. | Say this early. It changes everything |
Step three: what you want
This is the step visitors skip. Spanish speakers state the remedy plainly, and staff need to hear it before they can act.
| You want to say | Spanish | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I’d like an exchange | Quisiera un cambio. | Quisiera is the polite conditional and is the right register for a complaint |
| Can you change it for me? | ¿Me lo puede cambiar? | |
| I’d like a refund | Quisiera que me devuelvan el dinero. | |
| Can you take it off the bill? | ¿Me lo puede quitar de la cuenta? | |
| Can you bring me another one? | ¿Me puede traer otro? | |
| Can you check it for me? | ¿Me lo puede revisar? | Bills, charges, machines |
| Can you fix it? | ¿Lo pueden arreglar? | |
| Can you change my room? | ¿Me pueden cambiar de habitación? | Spain. Mexico and Colombia: de cuarto |
| Here’s the receipt | Aquí está el ticket. | Spain, Argentina. Mexico: el ticket or la nota. Colombia: la factura |
Quisiera is the single most useful word in this section. Quiero un cambio is a demand; quisiera un cambio is a request.
Step four: the manager
| Mexico | Spain | Colombia | Argentina | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The person in charge | el encargado / el gerente | el encargado / el responsable | el administrador / el encargado | el encargado / el gerente |
| Can I speak to the manager? | ¿Puedo hablar con el encargado? | ¿Puedo hablar con el responsable? | ¿Puedo hablar con el administrador, por favor? | ¿Puedo hablar con el encargado? |
| Who’s in charge here? | ¿Quién es el encargado? | ¿Quién es el responsable? | ¿Con quién puedo hablar? | ¿Quién está a cargo? |
Ask for the manager once the person in front of you has said no, and say why: No es culpa suya, pero quisiera hablar con el encargado, it is not your fault, but I would like to speak to the manager. With that sentence you keep the waiter on your side, and the waiter is the one who fetches the manager.
Step five: the official complaint
Every one of the four countries has a consumer authority and a paper trail, and asking for it is a recognised escalation. Staff know what it means.
Spain. Every business open to the public must have hojas de reclamaciones, official complaint forms in triplicate, and must give you one if you ask. The sentence is Quiero una hoja de reclamaciones, por favor. You keep a copy, the business keeps one, and you send one to the consumer office. If you ask for it out loud, the dispute often ends on the spot. Local consumer offices are the OMIC, the municipal consumer information office.
Mexico. The consumer authority is PROFECO, the Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor. You say Voy a poner una queja en PROFECO. Many shops display a PROFECO sticker. A complaint is una queja and filing it is poner una queja or levantar una queja.
Colombia. The consumer authority is the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio, the SIC. A formal written complaint to a company is un derecho de petición, a constitutional right to a written answer within a set time, and companies take it seriously. Voy a poner una queja en la Superintendencia is the sentence.
Argentina. The body is Defensa del Consumidor, and Voy a hacer una denuncia en Defensa del Consumidor is the escalation. Some businesses also keep a libro de quejas at the counter.
You can use the generic words everywhere: una queja is a complaint, una reclamación (Spain) or un reclamo (Mexico, Colombia, Argentina) is a formal claim, and poner una queja is to file one.
What they will say back
| You will hear | It means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| ¿En qué le puedo ayudar? | How can I help you? | Start at step one |
| Dígame. | Go ahead. | Spain, brisk, not rude |
| Cuénteme. | Tell me. | Colombia and Mexico, warmer |
| Ahorita se lo cambio. | I’ll change it for you. | Mexico. Ahorita can mean two minutes or twenty |
| Ya mismo se lo traigo. | I’ll bring it right away. | Colombia |
| Disculpe la molestia. | Sorry for the trouble. | You have won |
| Le pido una disculpa. | I apologise. | Mexico, formal |
| No puedo hacer nada. | There’s nothing I can do. | Go to step four |
| Es la política de la casa. | It’s our policy. | Ask for the manager or the form |
| No hacemos devoluciones. | We don’t do refunds. | Legal for some goods. Ask for an exchange or a credit note |
| ¿Tiene el ticket? | Do you have the receipt? | Keep every receipt |
| Tiene que venir con la factura. | You need the invoice. | Colombia, for anything with a warranty |
| Eso no lo cubre la garantía. | The warranty doesn’t cover that. | |
| Tiene que hablar con el proveedor. | You have to talk to the supplier. | A brush-off. Ask for it in writing |
Tone, country by country
Spain. Direct is normal. Oye, esto está frío from a customer in a Madrid bar is not a scene, and the waiter will take the plate back without drama. Spaniards raise their voice in ordinary conversation, and volume is not anger. In Spain people do think it rude if you do not greet them first or do not say por favor. The complaint itself can be flat and plain.
Mexico. In Mexico you put two more layers of padding on the same complaint. Disculpe, perdón que le moleste, creo que hay un problema con esto is the normal register, and creo que, “I think that”, matters. Mexican service language is elaborately polite in both directions, and an unpadded complaint sounds like an attack. Usted, always, to anyone behind a counter.
Colombia. The softest of the four, and the most formal. Usted even between friends in Bogotá and Medellín. People open almost any request with ¿Me colabora con una cosita? They soften with the diminutives cosita, momentico and ratico, and a complaint with one in it sounds gentler. If you raise your voice in Colombia, you lose the room fast.
Argentina. Argentines are as direct as Spaniards and warmer with it. Vos with almost everyone: ¿Me lo podés cambiar? rather than puede. Argentines complain freely and expect to be argued with, and the argument is not personal. Che, mirá, esto no es lo que pedí is a complete, normal complaint from a porteño.
When it does not work
| You want to say | Spanish | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I’m not happy with this | No estoy conforme. | The exact phrase for a formal complaint |
| That doesn’t seem right to me | No me parece justo. | |
| I’d like it in writing | Quisiera que me lo dé por escrito. | Freezes most brush-offs |
| Can I have your name? | ¿Me da su nombre, por favor? | |
| I’ll file a complaint | Voy a poner una queja. | |
| I’m going to dispute the charge | Voy a reclamar el cargo al banco. |
You can unstick a complaint in two ways. Ask for it in writing, and ask for the name of the person refusing. Both are ordinary requests in all four countries, and with either you change the answer more often than by repeating yourself.
If none of that works, leave. If you keep complaining after the other person has stopped listening, you lose the afternoon and get nothing back. Pay, go, and file the complaint with the consumer body later.
Ten sentences you can say tomorrow
- Disculpe, hay un problema con la habitación. Excuse me, there’s a problem with the room.
- Esto no es lo que pedí. ¿Me puede traer otro? This isn’t what I ordered. Can you bring me another?
- El aire no funciona y no hay agua caliente. The air conditioning doesn’t work and there’s no hot water.
- Lo compré ayer y ya está roto. Quisiera un cambio. I bought it yesterday and it’s already broken. I’d like an exchange.
- Perdón que le moleste, creo que me cobraron de más. Sorry to bother you, I think I was overcharged. (Mexico)
- ¿Me colabora con una cosita? La cuenta no está bien. Can you help me with something? The bill isn’t right. (Colombia)
- Che, mirá, esto está frío. ¿Me lo podés calentar? Look, this is cold. Can you heat it up? (Argentina)
- No es culpa suya, pero quisiera hablar con el encargado. It’s not your fault, but I’d like to speak to the manager.
- Quiero una hoja de reclamaciones, por favor. I’d like a complaint form, please. (Spain)
- ¿Me lo puede dar por escrito? Can you give me that in writing?
Questions people ask
Is it rude to complain in Spanish-speaking countries? No. It is rude to complain without greeting the person first. Buenos días then the problem is the whole difference in Spain and Mexico.
How do I complain without blaming the waiter? Use esto, está and hay: esto no es lo que pedí, está frío, hay un problema con la cuenta. Sentences with usted as the subject sound like accusations.
What is the difference between “queja” and “reclamo”? Una queja is a complaint about how you were treated. Un reclamo (Mexico, Colombia, Argentina) or una reclamación (Spain) is a claim for something back, a refund, a repair, a replacement.
Is the “libro de reclamaciones” a real thing? In Spain the equivalent is the hoja de reclamaciones, an official form every business must provide on request. Argentina has a libro de quejas at some businesses. In Mexico and Colombia complaints go through PROFECO and the Superintendencia rather than a book on the counter.
Can I get a refund on clothes? Often only an exchange or a credit note. Shops in all four countries post their policy at the till, and by law you are covered for faulty goods, not for a change of mind. Ask ¿Hacen devoluciones? before you buy.
What does “ahorita” mean when the waiter says it? In Mexico, anything from now to later today. If you need a time, ask ¿Como cuánto?, roughly how long.
Should I use tú or usted to complain? Usted in Mexico and Colombia. Tú in Spain. Vos in Argentina. When in doubt, usted, which nobody takes badly.
How do I say “I want to speak to your manager” without sounding like a stereotype? Put a reason in front of it: Entiendo que usted no lo puede resolver. ¿Puedo hablar con el encargado? I understand you can’t fix it. Can I speak to the manager?
Practise these words
disculpar, problema, funcionar, roto, cambiar, devolver, queja, reclamo, encargado, cuenta, arreglar, molestar, conforme. Vozelu is a free website for practising Spanish, and it has each of these. You see a sentence with one word missing, you type the word, and a native voice reads the sentence back. Practise the words on this page.