The other day, I was complaining to someone about Movistar, the cell phone service of the Spanish phone company Telefónica because they had raised their rates right after I signed a one-year contract with them. “Oh yes, they did that to me at Yoigo,” he responded. “Try Vodafone.”

I went onto the Spanish website of the shopping community, Ciao.es, to see what Vodafone’s customers had to say, and found 441 reviews of the company which included numerous complaints about customer service and misleading offers. Vodafone’s two main competitors in Spain, Movistar (1326 reviews) and Orange (260 reviews), fare — respectively — almost as badly, and even worse. The words “scam,” “lies,” and “thieves,” are used frequently by the reviewers. “Hello everyone,” begins one review. “I decided to register on Ciao and write this review because I feel cheated and totally powerless.”

A negative review about Orange received the following comment, “I don’t know what you’re surprised about, the same thing could have happened to you with Yoigo, Movistar, Vodafone… they’re all equally shameless.”

There is much talk these days about how the social Web is creating new intersections between the role of Marketing, and Operations (including Customer Support). The theory is that customers increasingly make their purchase decisions based on the advice of other customers, rather than traditional advertising. The best way to influence customer conversations about your company is actually to follow through on promises, offer an excellent product and service, and delight your customers.

A look at the Telecommunications page of Ciao.es suggests an alternative scenario taking place in the case of Spanish cell phone service providers. It appears that, in a market with a small number of major players, all of whom are similarly failing to delight their customers, these companies have opted to continue competitive strategies based on traditional advertising and attractive rate promises.