Naturgy, a Spanish electricity and gas distributor, is famous - at least in these circles - for accepting bitcoin. There is just one minor flaw: they don't accept it.
I am a client, and when I try to pay online, I only see option to pay with bizum and card:
I spoke to them through WhatsApp, they first told me it should be possible, I should see the option, Then told me it is not in fact possible yet, that the option is being "implemented" ("aún no está habilitada la opción del pago con bitcoin a través del área de clientes, es una opción que Naturgy la está implantando."). They announce it in 2022 (link in Spanish), but they are "implementing" it in 2026?
But they still publicly claim they do support bitcoin and "cryptocurrencies". That link is, for a change, in Galician, haven't found anything similar in Spanish. They haven't taken it down yet even after telling me it is not true, and I gave them that exact link.
I filed a complaint with them, asking them to honor their public statement about accepting BTC. But I am not holding my breath.
I guess few people will care about some Spanish electricity distributor. But the point is you cannot blindly trust their announcement, and it may take 2 month of being customer to actually find out. Don't trust, verify.
Now they say it was a pilot/testing thing, "currently not available" ("actualmente no se encuentra disponible"). No promise it will be available soon, or ever, silence on this point, which I didn't explicitly ask. And they finally took down that FAQ which told the opposite story, so they are implicitly saying "not soon".
I wanted to fight it more, AI tells me I probably have the right to force them to fulfill their promise to accept bitcoin. But I am a bit tired of it already. And if I complain, anyone can question why I insist so much even when I can pay by direct debit, because I did pay so.
If they needed to implement it just for me, and pay the corresponding costs, I expect them to fight it tooth or nail to avoid that cost. And I am not willing to fight tooth and nail for this.
if they accept, hacienda will come knocking
Maybe they had to fire the guy who implemented it in 2022 at the height of the bull euphoria, and then the bear came and everybody just forgot to update the payment methods..
yes, it does look like they have forgotten they ever promised this, and forgot to update Galician FAQ.
I guess it also means almost nobody was using it. In a way, it is a fault of Spanish bitcoiners (me included, hehe), for not having tested it sooner.
BTW, I then asked whether it is possible to pay with bitcoin without using client area, perhaps using some barcode document (I had no idea what that document is for). Because the reply is formulated as if just client area doesn't support it. The answer was funny and sad at the same time: "if the bank supports payment with bitcoin, then you can use barcode to pay with bitcoins". Guy has no idea what bitcoin is...
Probably the last employee in the company who knows what it is left for greener pastures in 2022..
I filed a reclamation, pointing out to their own FAQ .
They replied quickly, after few hours, that it is not possible, that I have to pay by bizum or card. No "we are implementing it" this time.
I replied that their FAQ is binding on them, it is basically a part of their contract with me according to consumer law. This time I quoted the text from their FAQ.
And they replied, and told me that it is in fact possible to pay with bitcoin, even gave me instructions how to do this - they just translated the answer from their Galician FAQ to Spanish. After telling me it is not possible, and this was just 2 messages ago, it should literally be visible to the responding person perhaps if he scrolls up a bit. This reply took them around 2 days.
But those instructions are worthless, I should click on a button "pay with bitcoin" , but such button doesn't appear.
At least they are true to bitcoin principles: if you want to pay with bitcoin, you have to do a proof of work. :)