So I call my local Social Security Office today with my cell phone at about 3:50 p.m. am only on hold for a minute or two and then get a nice guy on the phone and am describing my problem and he is being polite and helpful.. I have him on the speaker because while on hole I was taking out the trash... then when back in the house at my desk because I think he might ask about the letter I had gotten we are disconnected. Shit.. and also I'm worried that the nice guy might think I hung up on him... so I call back... this is what I'm pretty sure happened... at exactly 4:00 the office closes and the phone system shuts down and goes to an automated system... ..

When I called at 3:50 the answering system gave you all kinds of choice and numbers to punch... At 4:01 all I got was the offices are closed and you can go on line to find help....

This sadly is typical of most any business these days. Restaurants are an exception. Not to be a jerk but when you deal with the government politely ask his/her name.

Learned many years ago while in the military that you ask for name and rank and possibly job title.... Now as far as dealing with anyone be they civilian or government employee I now ask for and record name / ID or employee number as well as job title so later I can prove who I spoke with. ...................... drill sgt.

Retired SSA manager. Employee for 43 years. Not all local office numbers are published. If you called the 800 number, it may be next to impossible to speak with the employee who answered your original call. The calls are routed all over the country to teleservice centers depending on call volume and other factors. All of your data for your case or your issue is available on line, so anyone can respond. There really would be no benefit to speaking with the original person you spoke with.

The 800 number starts answering calls at 7:00 a.m. Local offices begin answering at 9:00 a.m. For shorter wait times avoid Mondays and the day before or after a federal holiday. Almost every SSA office is grossly understaffed. For some context, staffing at SSA is currently at a 25 year low. Workloads are up significantly at the same time staffing is at a new low. Pending case load per employee is at an all time high. Every employee I ever worked with said that they were under more pressure and worked harder at SSA than they aver did at any job in private industry.

If you called the local office, just call again. Asking for the employee's name is just fine. The only employee ID number they have is either their own personal SSA number or computer access code. So the employee is not being an asshole if they only give their name. That's enough to identify them. If possible, when you call I recommend that you attempt to resolve your issue with whoever picks up the phone. Employees interview and answers calls virtually all day long. It's unlikely that a specific employee would be immediately available when you call. So if you want to speak with that employee again, your message would go to their voice mail. They will call you back, but you'll have to wait.

I don't think the employee hung up on me because it was 4:00 and I don't think my cell service disconnected.... I think the phone system at my local SSA office actually cut me off at exactly 4;00 and went to the automated no one here to take your call system,..... the guy I was on the phone with had already told me what I needed to know is that we need to wait for the IRS to inform me and them that my 2021 reported income had been corrected... my wife's CPA made a $20,000 mistake on my income and SS wants just under 10K from me.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
I don't think the employee hung up on me because it was 4:00 and I don't think my cell service disconnected.... I think the phone system at my local SSA office actually cut me off at exactly 4;00 and went to the automated no one here to take your call system,..... the guy I was on the phone with had already told me what I needed to know is that we need to wait for the IRS to inform me and them that my 2021 reported income had been corrected... my wife's CPA made a $20,000 mistake on my income and SS wants just under 10K from me.

The employee was 100% correct.

I had the exact some thing with a local bank not too long ago. Frustrating, unlikely the person I was just talking to sprinted to their car in the 15 seconds since we got cut off. Had to start all over again from scratch on monday.

I feel your pain. I am in the last stage of applying for SS benefits. They are amazingly difficult to deal with. Good luck!

Actually, I found applying pretty simple except for them requiring me come in with my birth certificate to prove I was who I said I was. But we made an appointment and I had to wait all of 30 seconds before seeing a person there.

Now, slightly off the subject... I drove up to the office and of course it being a government building I left my pistol in the car... I started to walk in the entrance and a guard came from the left and pointed at the black ballistic nylon pouch on my left side and asked me if that contained a kife? My truthful answer was 'NO'. and he said okay go on in... now here is the interesting part about this security check... what was in the pouch was the spare magazine for my p239 I have left in the car... and I also had a Swiss army knife in my right pocket and a Gerber tool on my belt on the right side. But somehow I managed not to attack the folks in the office with them.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
...They are amazingly difficult to deal with. Good luck!

My experience was just the opposite. Six years ago (just before I turned 66) I filed using their www site, checks started as expected. I never spoke to anyone, never went to the local office.

I'm nonplussed about government problems but reading that the phone system automatically cut off all calls certainly got a reaction out of me. Wow.

sometime back in the 80's I lost my SS card and had to apply for a new one... took a little work but this was before Al G. invented the internet and I had to go down to the office to pick it up after showing my birth certificate.... the clerk in doing so looked at his computer screen and my birth certificate which shows it is in June... he said the system said it was in May and so my parents when they filled out the form for my SS# must have written down the wrong month... I just kind of looked at the guy as he corrected my birthday in the system thinking... yep, who is the most likely to get the day I was born wrong... my parents or the government employee entering it in the system?

They made me return to my car to take off a pocket knife. Seemed extreme but he held my place in line so that was ok.