Social Security offices

[seedcorn]

Has anyone else had problems with them? Talk to local offices, they say one thing. Talk to someone on their national 800 line, get a different answer. Can’t believe it’s so hard to get signed up for A & B. Want it to start July-no problem for me as I’m late filing with proper paperwork to show I’m insured. Wife is eligible in June. She wants part B to start in July. Local office says it has to start in June-costing us $135 plus private insurance. 800 number people tell me Plan B is voluntary and can be started any month. Auburn Indiana bunch are just a bunch of brain dead pencil pushing government beauracrats. Shouldn’t be this hard!

3X I’ve been to local SS office, 1/3 are retirement age, 2/3 aren’t & filing for $$$$. No wonder SS is in trouble.

 

[dickiebird]

I've been drawing SS for over 10 years and I've never had a problem.
From the day I went in and signed up until now the closest thing to a problem I've had is when they FORCED me to get my check direct deposited. I fought that as long and as hard as I could, to no avail. They got their way but I bet they hope that they never hear from me again!!!

THANX RICH

 

[seedcorn]

Getting my and wife’s benefits will be another struggle I’m sure.

 

[baymule]

When DH signed up for SS, the closest office was in a Town close to Houston. Figuring that the big city attitude would be rampant in that office, we went several counties north to a small town and we’re very pleased. They were extremely helpful and we didn’t have to wait long. After moving up here, we went to the Tyler office and got smacked with the infamous indifferent gooberment employee attitude. We went back to the small town, 2 hours away.

So maybe you need to go to a different office. Not every gooberment employee is a uncaring jerk, you just gotta find them.

 

[Carol Dee]

I get my 1st S.S. check next week I applied on-line then they called to confirm everything and let me know when to expect my 1st check. So.... with any luck there will be no glitches. poor hubby did not get his 1st check until after his 2nd check and so on for about 4 months. All crazy. They kept checking, all forms correct, all deposit info correct. Never could find where things where going wrong. Last month was the 1st that arrived on the day it was supposed too! Good Luck

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can’t believe it’s so hard to get signed up for A & B.

Are you just talking about Medicare or are you looking to draw a Social Security check? I've had my officially old card (Medicare) for a bit, the big problem I've had with them is that my log-on/password never work when I try to log on. That's pretty normal with me and several private companies as well. If I remember right SS wants you to change your password every few months for additional security. When I moved I had problems changing my mailing address online, I tried a few times and it just would not change although it confirmed I'd changed it. When I was talking to someone on the phone about something else I got him to change it for me and it worked.

My problems with Medicare Part A & B was figuring out what to sign up for and who to get supplemental insurance through. Part of my retirement package is that my former company still pays for some of my and my wife's medical insurance. Figuring out the mechanics of how that works is really confusing to me. I'm still not sure if the company makes that confusing in the hopes I'll miss claiming something or if they just have to jump through so many legal hoops it can't help being confusing. Dealing with Medicare itself has been pretty straightforward, they don't see any of this other stuff.

Medicare does send out a lot of paperwork, a lot of it boilerplate that might not even apply to you. But occasionally there is a nugget in there. You need to open everything and look at it.

With Medicare I've done everything online or by phone, expect long waits for them to answer the phone. Some are more friendly than others but overall they've been OK. My thoughts are that you can run into jerks anywhere, government employees or at the hardware store. Most are just ordinary working stiffs trying to do a job but some are better than others. One thing about a bureaucracy is that people learn that if you follow the rules very closely you never get in trouble. That's why they tend to dot all the i's and cross all the t's. If they don't they are putting their job at risk. Some are lazy and won't do more than the minimum or try to pass you on to someone else. But sometimes you get someone who knows the rules and will got hat extra step to help.

My oldest son works at a VA call center, the kind of person you are talking to when you call in to SS. Before he advanced to supervisor they gave him the New York City area to handle. On average, those were the rudest callers of any area in the country, he could handle their rudeness better than the others. He admitted that was not always easy but he was not supposed to talk about details and he wouldn't, even after a couple of beers but some of those callers could leave weaker workers in tears. I'm not saying you were rude, more that maybe you don't always get a top of the line person. My son said they do monitor the calls and try to weed out the bad ones but that's a long involved process. They have to document a lot of stuff and show that they have tried to correct and improve the employee. I would not want that job.

 

[flowerbug]

any supoort job can be tough. glad your son made it through the ranks and upwards @Ridgerunner.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I have to sign up for Medicare in December. Its mandatory that you do this three months before your 65th birthday, or else you get a permanent fine on the price for the rest of your life.

Ex DH had to do it himself this past January. He went into the local office, sa there for 2 hours and when he got to the person, she pointed to the computers and said that is where you start. He was hoping that they would take care of everything for him, like I did for 30 years.

 

[ninnymary]

I have 4 years where no income is shown but yet I worked and of course reported it. My husband keeps telling me that I need to go to an office and straighten it out. I so dread doing that. I don't think I even have work statements or tax forms from 40 years back!

Mary

 

[seedcorn]

I have to sign up for Medicare in December. Its mandatory that you do this three months before your 65th birthday, or else you get a permanent fine on the price for the rest of your life.

Ex DH had to do it himself this past January. He went into the local office, sa there for 2 hours and when he got to the person, she pointed to the computers and said that is where you start. He was hoping that they would take care of everything for him, like I did for 30 years.

You don’t have to if you have additional insurance-& proof that you have insurance there is no penalty.

@Ridgerunner trying to get on Medicare A & B. Don’t want to draw till next year.