Thanks for the clarification. I have called twice and both times people understood English well enough. I had to ask them to slow down when they spoke to me as i had trouble understanding what is actually a normal verbal speed because i am not used to their accents.
FWIW, the call I made tonight was answered within a few seconds of my having made the menu choice. There was no waiting at all.
I usually prefer doing everything by Email, but I wanted to try the support line for myself. i had a question about a recent change (for which I already knew there wasn't a real answer yet) just to see how it was handled. i was very satisfied--though the follow-up by email has been less than wonderful even though it is being handled by Tier 2 in Canada.
PS: your answer was influenced by your personal situation as a time crunched mom of young kids. Mine is no doubt influenced by the fact that I am a social worker by training and an immigrant to Canada. Of course as an immigrant from the US I don't get complaints about my accent nearly as much as I get to hear some pretty amazing negative remarks about Americans. And they say Canadians value multiculturalism and are polite

.