How to stop unwanted phone calls, direct mail and email in Spain
I have to say, compared to my days back in the UK (where, being the anarchist I am, I used to seal up and send back pre-paid envelopes), we get very little junk mail in Spain. The barrage of junk email we get comes from anywhere, so is nigh on impossible to fend off. But, the one thing that really does get on my nerves here is the phone calls! We get quite a few between our land-line and the two mobiles. Our telephone Spanish isn’t the best which can make it even more frustrating when the sales person on the end rattles away in Spanish and refuses to hear our responses which eventually reach something along the lines of “Sorry, but if you want to stand any chance of selling to me you’re going to have to talk to me in English.”
Not to worry, help is at hand. As in the UK you can (as far as people choose to comply with the law) opt out of receiving unsolicited mail, email, phone calls and text and MMS messages. All you need to do in Spain, is register at Lista Robinson.
I just did, and its a relatively simple process. For those of you whose Spanish language skills are as bad, or worse, than mine, here’s a quick guide.
First click here to open the site in a new window, then click on ‘registro web’ from the menu on the left and you’ll be greeted with this page.
The links next to the jigsaw pieces offer three options. You’ll most likely want the middle one ‘persons over 14’. The first is for ‘persons under 14’ and the third is for ‘the deceased’. Were I dead I’m not sure I’d find it possible to log on, or that I’d care about junk mail! :)
The sign-up form is pretty straightforward. All fields are compulsory. You have to provide your NIE so have it to hand (if you don’t have one, stop reading now).
The tick box at the bottom is the usual agreement to terms & conditions. I’ve filled out the form here as a guide – the thing to watch out for is, as is the Spanish norm, the form requires two surnames. In my case I used Elle as it fits with our business name – Gandy-Draper – so it sort of made sense. You’ll have to figure something out that works for you be that a spouse’s name or even perhaps the word ‘none’.
Once you’ve hit the ‘Enviar’ button you’ll get a standard confirmation email with a link to click on and your password. Go back to the site and login.
You then want the ”Acceso al Servisio’ option on the menu. Once logged in you’ll see this page.
The four options in order are to opt out of mail, email, telephone (fixed and mobile) and finally SMS/MMS. Each form is straightforward and shouldn’t present any problems.
Ten minutes well spent!
Thanks to Simon from Puntomatica for posting the link on Facebook earlier, thus prompting me to write this article! Simon’s website is currently undergoing a redesign, but will be launching soon.
Alan, along with Elle, is the owner of Spain Buddy. He was born in the North of England (Lancashire) and travelled extensively before eventually settling in Almería. Alan has 3 sons from the first of his 18 marriages, (Sam, Joe & Ben) who are all now adults. You can read more articles by Alan on his personal blog at AlanGandy.com and see more of his photography on his photography website as well as on Flickr and Instagram.
Also, for less than the price of a cup of coffee each month you can help support Alan’s photography (and get some freebies into the bargain). Click here to visit his Patreon page to find out more.
July 12, 2013 @ 11:57 am
Brilliant thanks for that. How many times I’ve been woken from my siesta with someone calling from South America boiler room with a new phone offer, 100 voices in the background and a very poor telephone connection. I’m going to sign up now!
July 12, 2013 @ 12:52 pm
Happy to help, Mike!
Elle x
July 13, 2013 @ 10:36 pm
Today, Saturday afternoon 5pm, what a time to call, I got a “I want to talk to the owner of the phone line…” I sent her packing and got onto Lista Robinson straight away. It’s not a complicated process and I was also able to name Jazztel and Orange as companies I do not want to receive calls from. I am optimistic!
August 1, 2013 @ 7:44 pm
A full stop often works as a “second surname” too!
August 1, 2013 @ 8:56 pm
Great tip – thanks Maxine! xx
August 1, 2013 @ 9:39 pm
After contacting Lista Robinson as described above and being able to name Jazztel and Orange as unwanted callers, I actually got an acknowledgement from Jazztel that I was off their list. If I do get any calls from them I’ll let you know. No more interrupted siestas…
August 2, 2013 @ 4:18 pm
Nice to see a positive result Mike!
Elle x
January 20, 2014 @ 7:48 pm
Robinson Hey hey hey:
We’d like to know a little bit about you for our files
We’d like to help you learn to help yourself
Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes
Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home
And here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey…hey, hey, hey)
January 20, 2014 @ 8:54 pm
It’s official – you’re insane. x
Great song though… I shall now be singing it all week Paul ;)
January 20, 2014 @ 9:46 pm
Glad you are still singing Elle, me too! No more unwanted robotic calls from Jazztel or any of the other cold calling companies that I added to Mrs Robinson’s list. I even got an email of confirmation from Jazztel. Still think it’s amazing. xxx
January 21, 2014 @ 12:30 am
Great isn’t it Mike? We’re down to probably one dodgy call a month now. OH… plus all the ones for a certain bank’s hotline which happens to be one digit away from our phone number… and all their callers like early morning enquiries apparently. Harrumph! Elle x
November 1, 2018 @ 3:54 pm
I didn’t enter anything in the 2nd surname box and I registered with no problem today. Just hope it works for nuisance phone calls especially from so-called ‘Microsoft Representatives’ who are always of Asian descent telling me that I have a problem with my computer when I know I do not. But I read that it will not come into effect until 3 months after the registration date.
February 15, 2023 @ 1:05 pm
Thank you for this! I’ve been bothered by calls a lot lately and finally went looking for an answer – and you had it.
February 16, 2023 @ 10:36 am
Happy to help! You may still get the occasional call, but it does reduce it somewhat xx