One of the objectives of this blog when I first started writing over 5 years ago was to talk about my Customer Experience anecdotes and reflections here in Spain, a country that I think is pretty fair to say was highly lacking in this area when I moved here almost 15 years ago. I came from a background working in Customer Experience research, so it was definitely a shock to say the least to see how “Atención al cliente” worked (or didn’t over here) and the idea that the customer is always wrong. I’m still not sure how many times I’ve been hung up on from someone from Customer Service here…

Things have gotten better over the years, but there’s still a ways to go.

In any case, I think it’s only fair to give credit where credit’s due – in this blog I wanted to share a positive experience I had at the local police station renewing my sons’ Spanish passports. Both of my children’s passports expired in August, but since we didn’t have any travel plans thanks to Covid, and considering everything that’s been going on with Covid, we just got around to renewing them now. I made an appointment online using my DNI (National ID card). I only made a single appointment as it didn’t give me the option to select for two, and I assumed that I should do it this way since the appointment was for a minor. As usual with any governmental procedure I read through the info on the site and prepared all the necessary items for the appointment (or so I thought). We all went (the mother and the father both have to be there) with our passports, 30€ for each renewal, and new photos. When we got to the local comisaría in Majadahonda we didn’t even have to wait 5 minutes. I think it helped that it was right after Christmas and we walked in with two little (and loud kids). Unfortunately when we sat down to start everything the first thing the police officer asked me for was something I hadn’t brought along – the kid’s DNIs. Note to self (and whoever else this might be of use for): whereas to me in the US a passport is the ultimate form of identification above all else, here in Spain the DNI is the essential one. I guess I just assumed that going with passports we wouldn’t need our DNIs as well, since in the US that would be like bringing a license with me. But not here.

Fortunately, the police officer was very nice and asked if we lived far from the station. When we said about 10 minutes he said it wasn’t a problem to run home and get the DNIs so we could finish the process. Also, as I was waiting outside with my kids while my husband ran home to get the DNIs the officer came out to hand me some authorization forms that I could start filling out to speed things along.

When we had the DNIs the process was easy and smooth, and the police were very nice throughout. It probably helped that my kids are little and cute, but it definitely could have gone worse and/or we could have been told to come back another time or could have only had one passport renewed as I really only had one appointment.

A couple key things:

• You can make the appointment for each child using his/her own DNI on the web site (https://www.citapreviadnie.es/citaPreviaDniExp/). I assumed that I had to use my DNI as an adult (I also heard another woman had assumed this same thing while we were there)
• Don’t forget to bring DNIs!!
• You need to bring 30€ in cash for each passport (renewals) and have a new passport-sized photo

Thanks to the police for being understanding and accommodating! Note to any Customer Service folks over here in Spain – empathy and generally just being nice can go a long way!