A320 captain reported a communications breakdown between flight crew and dispatch regarding the subs...

Narrative:

At gate; pre-departure; was given dangerous good summary showing 'miscellaneous hazmat' loaded on aircraft. I was curious to know exactly what the miscellaneous hazmat was; and call dispatch for clarification. Dispatch called load planning and load planning was unable to provide further description. Dispatch was busy working several issues with other flights so I offered to call dangerous goods hot-line at. Dangerous goods specialist was unable to give further description of shipment. When I ask what drill code '9L' represented; dangerous goods specialist said 'you'll have to look that up in your pilot manual' and was able to provide any further assistance. I called dispatch back as well as station operations trying to find out what exactly the hazardous material shipment was. At some time in this process; somebody offered they thought the shipment was 'airline parts' but had no further information as to what that might be; or what made this a hazardous goods shipment. Batteries; flammability; toxic fumes; etc. At some point in this process; it was decided; not by me; that the shipment would be pulled from the aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain reported a communications breakdown between flight crew and Dispatch regarding the substance of Hazmat on board. Ultimately Hazmat was removed prior to departure.

Narrative: At gate; pre-departure; was given dangerous good summary showing 'miscellaneous hazmat' loaded on aircraft. I was curious to know exactly what the miscellaneous hazmat was; and call Dispatch for clarification. Dispatch called Load Planning and Load Planning was unable to provide further description. Dispatch was busy working several issues with other flights so I offered to call dangerous goods hot-line at. Dangerous Goods Specialist was unable to give further description of shipment. When I ask what drill code '9L' represented; Dangerous Goods Specialist said 'You'll have to look that up in your pilot manual' and was able to provide any further assistance. I called Dispatch back as well as Station Operations trying to find out what exactly the hazardous material shipment was. At some time in this process; somebody offered they thought the shipment was 'airline parts' but had no further information as to what that might be; or what made this a hazardous goods shipment. Batteries; flammability; toxic fumes; etc. At some point in this process; it was decided; not by me; that the shipment would be pulled from the aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1655095
Time
Date	201906
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Other Parked pre-departure
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 117.83 Flight Crew Total 1861.30 Flight Crew Type 1076.35
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation

A320 captain reported a communications breakdown between flight crew and dispatch regarding the substance of hazmat on board. Ultimately hazmat was removed prior to departure.