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Woman says she was denied service at a South Florida Taco Bell because she doesn't speak Spanish

Posted at 9:44 AM, Sep 16, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-16 10:12:14-04

A drive-thru dilemma at a South Florida Taco Bell has gone viral.

Alexandria Montgomery claims she was denied service because she did not speak Spanish.

"I was like -- wow.  Really?  I can't order?" Montgomery said.

Wednesday night around 10:30, she and her friend made a stop at the location on 9th Street near E. 8th Avenue in Hialeah, Florida.  

Montgomery recalls, "She was saying something in Spanish that I didn't understand.  And I replied and said 'No habla Español.'  And she replied, 'No habla Inglés.'"

She then pulled up to the window and says the Taco Bell employee still refused to take her order.

The woman at the window goes on to say no one at the fast food restaurant speaks English.

Alexandria spent more than three minutes at the window trying to order.

She got nothing in return.

"I simply wanted a quesadilla.  And that's not that hard to understand in Spanish because I think it's a Spanish word," Montgomery said.

"I understand everyone in Miami doesn't speak English, and that's fine, but if she was willing to work with me, I think the outcome would've been different," Montgomery later told NBCMiami.com.

In an update on her Facebook post, Montgomery said that the employee, who said her name was Luisa, was fired.

"Luisa isn’t even her real name lol. She was the general manager on that time," Montgomery wrote.

Montgomery says Taco Bell reached out to her and offered a $100 gift card.

"A gift card is not gonna just solve the problem, it's not gonna give me justice," she said. "Don't try to like sweep it under the rug."

Taco Bell's corporate office issued the following statement on the encounter: 'This does not meet our customer experience expectations.  We have worked quickly to resolve with the customer to ensure this does not happen again.'

"You know America is country land of the free, but I accept everyone for who they are.  And I felt like I didn't belong here when she denied me service," says Montgomery.