According to Ronald Reagan, the 9 scariest words ever spoken were "I'm from the government. I'm here to help you." I scoffed at that, until this weekend. In the end, I was in love with the bureaucrats who make the wheels of governance roll smoothly, but it took a long time to get there.
We (okay, mostly I, but he agreed at the time) made a mistake while applying for TBG's social security retirement benefits. We made this mistake after two days of arguing with the website, or being locked out of the website, of wondering why the website wasn't responsive to our pleas.
Trying to fill out the application proved to be more difficult that we'd anticipated. It took some time to remember where we'd stored the relevant password and user name. I typed. I failed. I was locked out after persistently entering the same information over and over again. I cursed, waited the required 24 hours, and tried a different combination and voila, I was in.
The error message is very very insignificant. I couldn't figure out how to submit the application. Everything looked perfect to me. It looked good to TBG. There was no FAQ answer. So, I called. I was on hold, then cut off. I called again later. This time I was allowed to leave a phone number and my voice print to prove that the returned call was really for me.
90 minutes later, exactly when promised, the phone rang and I heard my voice. The long suffering Wanda on the other end of the line was semi-scolding me as I waited for the system to let me back in, feeling, somehow, that I should have anticipated her promptness and been ready to go. She directed me to look for a small red triangle on one of the page tabs, breathed heavily as I opened it and reviewed it and found the error and then found my own way back to the end where, smiling at me, was a button labeled SUBMIT.
That was just how I felt; I was ready to submit.
Enter.
Recheck the whole thing, because that's just how we are and OH NO DID WE DO THAT?????
Yes, we did that, and I spent the next 20 hours trying to rectify the situation. This time I couldn't even wait on hold, let alone leave a call back request. Thank you for your call. Please try again later they repeated, but only after making me suffer through 4 minutes and 20 seconds of announcements and pronouncements and recitations of the statutes that allowed them to annoy me. All day Monday, until noon on Tuesday, until we decided to take matters in hand and go down to the local office ourselves.
We sat on comfortable, clean, functional yet attractive seats, and spoke to two delightful and competent civil servants. Eddie hadn't been trained in our problem, and he was confident enough to ask for help. We waited a while, then Ms Reynolds made us laugh, told us that Of course this can be fixed, and proceeded to fix and replace and inquire and suggest and educate and type faster than fast as we answered her questions.
Without an appointment, as walk-ins, we left in just under 2 hours, having secured more money than we anticipated, in a way we'd not envisioned. We know when and where and how everything will happen. We have the information we need in printed form, with Ms Reynolds' handwritten notes detailing what we need to pay attention to next.
I'm sorry, President Reagan, but today my government really did help me out.
When we filed for Medicare, we had good luck with just walking in also but hadn't had a glitch ahead of time. I think the real problem with government or business is online and who you get. Recently we had problems getting up our internet when it was supposed have been started November 1. It wasn't. Time after time with call after call (including to the business office) nobody cared enough to help and then we got that one guy who cared-- up and running in minutes. It's the individual when dealing with bureaucracies-- any of them.
ReplyDeleteTotally true! Which is why, when I find good ones, I call them out.
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As convenient as the Internet is, sometimes it works better to do things the old-fashioned way.
ReplyDeleteCertainly was this time. We agreed that when it's my turn, I'm going in to the office myself.
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Everyone I know who has walked into the Social Security office here in Fresno has been delighted with the service they received. I've did everything online and a very competent worker called me to verify all that I had submitted. Although aghast at what I have to pay for Medicare out of my small SS, I am pleased to have it all taken care of. Many teachers who did not work for many years in the private sector, have no social security income from which to draw that Medicare payment, and it comes from their teacher pension.
ReplyDeleteTBG wanted to write the Medicare check himself, and he's minor league peeved that he can't. It is a big chunk of change, isn't it?
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My dealings with Social Security in Tucson have been outstandingly good. When it was time to file my restricted application for spousal benefits, I knew it could not be done on line. So, I waited on the phone for 90 minutes, answered many questions on the phone, made the appointment and showed up. The man who I spoke to in the office had the file prepared and all was ready. The efficiency and preparedness was weirding me out, I made him verify why I was there and what he was doing. In Seattle, you can't get an appointment, you can't walk in, you can't do anything, they don't have enough people working. So, I've been impressed with them. DMV wasn't bad, either.
ReplyDeleteTHAT is what I got... and I wouldn't have known about it had I not spoken to Ms Reynolds.
DeleteWith 2% overhead and this kind of service, Mayor Pete is right - those of us without great private, employer based, plans will jump at the chance to have Medicare.
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It's so hard to get to talk to an actual person anymore, but when you do,it really makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteI've been dealing with a lot of this lately - the good ones make it all worthwhile!
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