When facing any kind of issue regarding for example quality of service, access or billing, consumers should first address a complaint to their service providers, before referring to the national regulator, mediator, or any other competent authority.

Cullen International’s research shows that in six of the 15 European countries studied, there are no rules setting a maximum timeframe for providers to respond to a complaint.

In some cases, however, operators set such maximum timeframes in practice even in the absence of mandatory deadlines. These timeframes can be part of an industry agreement, like in Belgium, or included in the operators' general terms and conditions, like in France.

When maximum timeframes are set by law or regulation, they vary from two days (in Ireland for example) up to 45 days in Italy (where providers can set shorter deadlines themselves).

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