Quebec companies want to talk to you in French

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Interesting article here in English on customer service in Quebec, where it can sometimes be quite a challenge to find service in English. According to the article the way to get English service at the health insurance board in Quebec is by doing the following:

1) be told that the agency prefers French, wait for about half a minute of silence
2) finally be told that English is available by pressing 9
3) press 9 and be told in English that they prefer to deal with customers in French
4) agent comes to the phone, first using French
5) if your French is deemed to be bad enough then they will provide English service

Such things are annoying if you don't speak the language...great opportunity if you want to learn French. Calling agencies and stores around the province that have such policies to talk about whatever is a great way to speak French for free.

It might be worth it to create a list of agencies that seem callable for certain subjects. This one would require talking about health care, not the most enjoyable subject, but it would be interesting to see if anyone from the Office québécois de la langue française would deign to just chat in French about whatever due to their mission statement.

Their phone number is (888) 873-6202, by the way...

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