Those
of you that have been here awhile should know just how much I 'enjoy' dealing
with Social Security or any of the agencies that I have to deal with for DC.
Today
I sat down to complete DC's annual Representative Payee Report, which I must
say is one of the easier reports that I have to complete. I like to do it
on-line so I get a receipt with the date and time completed, and a summary of
what was submitted.
When
I went to submit his report, entering all of the codes provided; the website
told me that his report had already been submitted (?????).
Thinking
I might have entered something wrong, I tried 3 or 4 more times and got the
same error message.
I
panicked a little bit that someone might have DC's information (but would they
bother to submit a report??? 😀) or that his info was mixed
up with someone else......
Realizing
that this was the same Social Security Administration that tells me I do not
exist almost every month when I submit DC's wages - I calmed down and called
the number they provided.
Slamming
my head on the table listening to an endless "Welcome to Social Security
message" (apparently something else had gone wrong so they saw fit
to add an entire message about it so people did not have to sit on the phone to
find out about this particular error ) - I finally made it to customer service.
"Wait
time for a representative is now at 40 minutes. If you would like a call back
in an hour and 5 minutes, please press one. If you would like to stay on the
line for the next available representative, press pound".
I
pressed one.
Two
hours later, the phone rang and I explained that I was trying to submit my
son's payee report and the website said it had already been submitted.
There is no one else that would have submitted the form. I can just as
easily mail the payee report if there is a problem with the website, but I
want to be sure his information was not being confused with someone else. I
submit his payee report on-line every year and there has never been a
problem before.
(Please
note that I mentioned his payee report three times during this
conversation)
He
took some information and put me on hold.
A
good twenty minutes later he came back to apologize for the delay but he was
still researching.
He
put me on hold again.
After
another 20 to 25 minutes, he came back and informed me that DC's report has
already been approved????
Me:
"How could have been approved when I haven't submitted it?"
Customer
Service: "A law was passed in April that says you do not have to do these
reports ..... for the time being. The law says that as a parent/guardian/payee,
you should be trusted to know and do what is right for your child."
<Insert:
Shocked Silence> I mean, yes we should know what's best, but considering the
hoops we are all made to jump through, I was to say the least...... skeptical.
He
gave me the date that this law was supposedly passed - April 13, 2018.
I
asked for his name and location because I was not going to be held responsible
for not submitting this information.
Me:
"If this law was passed in April, why did I receive the notice to submit
the report in June?"
Customer
Service: "I do not know. The reports must have been sent
automatically."
Me:
"Did Social Security send out a letter about this law to notify us that
these reports do not need to be completed?"
(Seriously,
I receive 5 pieces of mail from Social Security per month - 3 addressed to me
and two duplicates addressed to DC - it is not as if they are not "mail
happy." already.)
Customer
Service: "No we did not."
Me:
"So you are telling me that a law was passed in April, Social Security did
not notify anyone that these reports did not have to be submitted AND they sent
the reports out anyway in June. Is that what you are telling me?"
Customer
Service: "Yes, the reports went out automatically."
So
I just wasted 3 hours of my day over something that I really did not have to
do.
So......
If this "law" actually passed in April and okay, they neglected to
notify anyone that the reports did not need to be completed and okay, sent the
reports out automatically -
WHY
did it take
him almost a full hour to "investigate" this when I mentioned 3 times
that my call was about not being able to submit my payee report?
WHY did they not make THAT the
message on the website instead of "your information has already been
submitted. Please call our office at -------"
And
WHY if they missed all of the above did they not put that information on
their outgoing message to avoid all of this time wasted????
Call
me pessimistic. Call me cynical. Call me skeptical; but I think I may still be
mailing the hard copy.
******
Edited
to add: I was able to find the law on-line. So the moral of the story is that
even when they make a change to make things easier, they still make you jump through
hoops to figure it out.
*****
This
blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Facebook
statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time
