vanabb

So I lost my card last weekend, left it a gas station in Stuttgart. When i noticed about an hour or so later, I immediately called Amex. I live in Germany, but I am not German. The first person i reached refused to speak any English, but she understood what I was saying. I asked to please connect me to anyone else, saying that that was urgent. She just laughed at me. "this is germany we speak german', then laughed again and hung up on me.

This was calling the gold lost/stolen card service line. Wow. I called again and the next person was more helpful.

How can Amex justify this sort of response?

... who changed the subject? Not appropriate. Amex is an international company. As an expat in Germany or anywhere I should be able to speak to someone in English, especially in urgent situations.

mia

There are exceptions, but the best customer service staff seldom choose to work nights, weekends or holidays. You might be better off with an International Euro Currency Card. Billed in Euros, issued in UK, serviced in English:

https://www.americanexpress.com/icc/...menu_gold_card

gsxsilver

LOL.......

mia

Only moderators can edit thread titles. I changed it to include sufficient detail for others to decide if they wish to read the thread. That's part of my job. If you think the new title is inaccurate please click the red Alert icon in the lower left corner of this post and suggest a further revision.

vanabb

'lol'? really? If germans expect others to speak their language maybe they should try winning the next war.

The point is that it is so random. Usually, the rare times I need to call, Amex support in English is no problem. I've lived here for years, yet language has never really been an issue.

Silver Fox

Well I think your statement about the war clears everything up. Why don't you ask for a transcript of the recording and place it here so we can judge with both sides of the story?

vanabb

So if I am offered work in Tanzania I should instantly learn Swahili, just so I can talk with Amex about my card? You can substitute any other country/language here.

Silver Fox

The gift that keeps on giving.

LondonElite

vanabb

I have no idea how to request a call recording with Amex, or even if they would release it. Unlikely. But if any of you have experience with this by all means share your 28k+ post wisdom here.

Is it unreasonable to expect friendly, helpful, courteous service from Amex? Or at least transfer me to to someone who is able to? These are not german qualities to be sure, but one can hope.

LondonElite

As my math teacher once said to me, 'the first rule of hole is to stop digging.' I think this is applicable in this situation. I don't know how long you have lived in Germany, but you seem not to have a very good handle on what are and are not German qualities or clichés.

Nevertheless, are you really telling me that you have called Amex numerous times and explained to them that you don't speak German and would like to be transferred to an agent that speaks English, and that each time they laugh at you and hang up? I don't believe this.

As you live in Germany, I'm sure you can muster up "ich spreche kein Deutsch, sprechen Sie oder ein Kollege Englisch?"

Silver Fox

You ring them up and ask for a transcript. Your posts here don't do you any favours bringing race into the equation and making assumptions based on nationality. So, given all the attitude that you seem to be displaying here, and the absence of the Amex side of events, I think people can draw their own conclusion as to why they were curt with you. Assumptions see? Still, the Amex transcript will help your case if you get it so I would work on that if I were you.

Flying Lawyer

vanabb

Ok, so the consensus here is that YES it is OK to be rude, laugh at, then hang up on anyone who does not speak your language. Particularity if you work a customer service line at an international company, like say AMEX, then yes it is even more OK. All right then.

So German is spoken by less than than 0.02% of all people, whereas English is understood by more than 40%, yet I should waste my time learning a dead language just because I happen to reside in a particular country? Outside of Germany, Austria and maybe Switzerland, German is profoundly useless. All the Swiss speak English anyway.

LondonElite

Oh dear. You are really not willing to take some constructive advice to eek out a basic phrase? No one is asking you to read Goethe or Mann, or write like a FAZ editor. Just to have the ability to get in the front door. I can't imagine you live in Germany and never utter a word of the language in your daily life.

Where did you get the idea that it's a 'dead language' by the way?