Long time ago, as a kid, my uncle took me to a soccer match in the Santiago Bernabeu. I've never liked soccer, so I spent much more time looking at people than the game. When the game ended, lots of people were red-faced, incredibly angry, neck veins sticking out, shouting all sorts of rude and terrible stuff at the ref. I was scared, I thought they would riot, jump the fences and kill him or something. As soon as he disappeared from sight, everyone relaxed and smiled, laughed to each other and said things to the effect of "that'll teach him."
In Spain most people are more preoccupied with being seen complaining than with doing something about that which they complain about.
Curiously my answer (I don't know if it's THE answer) is that Spanish people do not like conflict. We don't have class actions as in other countries and people are not used to claim for their rights against big companies. I think we still need a bit of this crazy david-vs-goliath mindset I've seen in other countries where people fight big injustices to the death.
The Spaniard is too preoccupied about what the other will think of him if he makes something... abnormal, which here means anything that will distinguish you from your neighbors . Spanish society is very very alienating and this is why so many foreigners find it so close and unfriendly to people from other cultures.
I have noticed that. So it might be a part of the problem. But in NL we don't have class action suits either; you can sue but you'll never win much if anything and it'll just cost you money. I think the Dutch were just fed up when the whole UPC thing happened. I don't even think they know what they did for consumer support for big companies in NL. When I call someone from Nuon (electricity) or internet (XS4all, UPC, Ziggo) or something else, they ask me if i'm ok, if i need more, would I like discounts and such. If I do get a rude person, I ask for their complaints service and as their is always a 'superior' listening in, this escalates fast. Usually ends in a discount of some sort and an apologetic mail. I don't need that; i'm not made of sugar. But I would just like people treating me like I'm paying them for something.
For UPC it was the national press who did it; they kept publishing horror story after horror story and after a while it started hurting the bottom line.
There was no Twitter and such yet; now it goes much faster. I'm surprised how little effect it has in Spain though; I had companies closing their Twitter or Facebook page after complaints and just opening a new one. Not big companies (might work there or don't they do social even? Never checked...), but smaller ones like furniture delivery companies who actually just deleted everything from their facebook page and got another one with happy stories...
That's funny, I've always felt that we Portuguese are more eager to avoid conflicts than the Spaniards, who always seem to be more assertive and self-confident than us.
This even seems (to me) to be mirrored in your politics, where the left-right divide is way more polarised than in Portugal
