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Stephen Tashiro
08-15-2012, 3:14 PM
In making several calls to the Social Security Administration (none of which were ever answered by a human being), I notice that their phone system doesn't let callers que up. After a lengthy spiel to the effect that you ought not make phone calls, It says "We are unable to take your call because all of our lines are busy. Please call again later." Is this a new trend in how automated phone labryinths behave?

Joel Goodman
08-15-2012, 3:30 PM
It may be that the que is filled up and cannot hold any more callers. I hope that unlike my health insurance plan you were not subjected to long recorded spiel prior to the "call back later"! If SS guys have an email option I've had better luck with some stuff that way.

Steve Meliza
08-15-2012, 4:00 PM
Do SS programs pay out on the 1st and the 15th or just once a month? If they pay stuff out on the 15th of the month you may be up against a temporary surge in phone calls.

Howard Garner
08-15-2012, 4:36 PM
Do SS programs pay out on the 1st and the 15th or just once a month? If they pay stuff out on the 15th of the month you may be up against a temporary surge in phone calls.

SS Pays on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th Wednesday of the month. this is set when you start drawing SS. Some older recipients got paid the 1st of the month.

Howard Garner

Gary Hodgin
08-15-2012, 6:45 PM
Trying to get a call through to SS is more difficult than getting one through to Gateway's technical service years ago. At least you could call Gateway at 2 or 3 am and usually get through with no problem.

Brian Elfert
08-15-2012, 7:02 PM
I hate phone lines that answer and then tell you they are too busy to to your call. Why not just give a busy signal? My cell phone docks me for a minimum of one minute if the call is answered. If the number is toll free it cost somebody at least a few cents to answer a call and tell the caller the line is busy.

If I could get the answer online I wouldn't be calling you!

I'm frustrated with two companies right now because I am trying to get pricing with shipping on their product. I've tried for nearly a week and neither company answers their phone. Their web sites don't allow online ordering and only one has prices listed, but no shipping costs. Shipping a 14 foot tent pole can't be cheap as it goes by truck.

Larry Frank
08-15-2012, 7:40 PM
I must have been luck as I called the SS this morning and I talked to someone right away. They were pleasant and answered my questions.

I have also found that the website is pretty good and better than I expected.

Kevin Bourque
08-15-2012, 7:40 PM
I just called them and got right through, so I hung up and called again and got right through, again! I've done it nine times now and every time I get through every time!.

ray hampton
08-15-2012, 9:36 PM
so what , you got thr. this time but wait until you need to talk to them quick

Stephen Tashiro
08-15-2012, 10:14 PM
I drove to the local Social Security office. It has an automated take-a-number check-in. I only had to wait about 15 minutes - certainly not as bad as the state Motor Vehicle office! The gentleman quickly determined that my online application for Medicare was being handled by an office in a different town. He gave me another phone number. I called that number about 6 times. Got the same "All of our lines are busy" message for the first 5 times, but got an answer on the 6 try, rather late in the day. I hope my call took care of everything.

John C Lawson
08-15-2012, 11:38 PM
When I collected SS in the 1960's, everyone got their checks in the mail on the 3rd of each month, or 4th, I think, if the 3rd was a Sunday. Nowadays the rule for which Wednesday you get paid is based on what day of the month your birthday is on. I do not believe it is possible to get a physical check anymore.

Chris Damm
08-16-2012, 9:11 AM
When I collected SS in the 1960's, everyone got their checks in the mail on the 3rd of each month, or 4th, I think, if the 3rd was a Sunday. Nowadays the rule for which Wednesday you get paid is based on what day of the month your birthday is on. I do not believe it is possible to get a physical check anymore.

You can but only until the end of the year. Then you have to have direct deposit or a debit card.

David Weaver
08-16-2012, 9:28 AM
For some reason, when I see "all our lines are busy" and the government is mentioned, it reminds me of the "all your base are belong to us" song on youtube.

Kevin W Johnson
08-16-2012, 4:38 PM
The answer is simple, no one is there. Their all out buying ammunition. You know, the SSA needs 174,000 rounds of ammunition.... for what? Yeah, we'd all like to know.

David Weaver
08-16-2012, 5:01 PM
They probably have a small group of police who investigate SS fraud.

Kevin W Johnson
08-16-2012, 10:30 PM
They probably have a small group of police who investigate SS fraud.

I hardly think those people need side arms. After all, the social services people that investigate child welfare don't carry AFAIK.

Not to derail the thread, but there are other agancies buying ammo as well. The NOAA, instance, and the article I read talked like these purchases are out of the norm, and something new.

Jim Becker
08-17-2012, 9:14 PM
Let's just say that I'm familiar with the setup there...there is X amount of capacity with their system and rather than continuing to expand queues beyond a certain point of wait-time, they present the message you got once a particular threshold of holding capacity is reached. Statistically, callers get really turned off when presented with a wait time to hold that is measured in eons. :o Those same callers would rather have to call back later than wait interminably. Now if they (the agency) would listen to, um...certain folks...they would employ another feature that would allow you to "hold" without being on "hold"...and I'll say no more right now. ;)

Brian Elfert
08-17-2012, 10:09 PM
I called Comcast once recently and the wait for tech support was at least 90 minutes. They also offered to call you back instead of making you wait on hold that long.

Kevin W Johnson
08-17-2012, 11:03 PM
I called Comcast once recently and the wait for tech support was at least 90 minutes. They also offered to call you back instead of making you wait on hold that long.

I bet you got the "Due to larger than normal call volume" message. That's code speak for "We're too cheap to employ enough customer service reps". Even a good portion of the one's they do employ seem sub-par (or not well trained), and it usually takes 3-4 calls to get lucky and get someone that can puch the right keys on the keybaord and fix the issue.

Happened once when I was without internet for about three days, and again when they did the "digital upgrade" (code for signal scrambling) that required having their equipment on every TV. I had channels that the box said were unauthorized, the service reps, thru 4 phone calls said everything was ok in they "puter" the were looking at. The service guy makes a phone call and gets the flag changed on the channel and voila, that channel worked. However the box had a second issue that required replacement, the catch.... the replacement box wouldn't show me the HD channels I was already paying for in my package. To get those back, required leasing (paying) for a different box. I told them to stuff it.

george newbury
08-18-2012, 10:43 AM
I just called them and got right through, so I hung up and called again and got right through, again! I've done it nine times now and every time I get through every time!.
There's the problem!
People like you using up the line :)

Brian Elfert
08-18-2012, 10:45 AM
Comcast's digital upgrade is about a lot more than just scrambling the signal. The upgrade allows Comcast to add a lot more channels especially in HD. A side effect is customers can no longer steal cable. I have a feeling that a lot of the folks pirating cable wouldn't pay for it if it wasn't free. It essentially costs Comcast nothing if somebody pirates cable if they wouldn't pay for it otherwise.

I've called Comcast tech support three times and the wait was never less than 35 minutes. Their customer service for cable TV is pretty good. Internet not so much. Why do I need to talk to tech support if I'm a new customer and my modem wasn't provisioned properly on their end? It seems like a customer service issue and not a technical issue.

Kevin W Johnson
08-18-2012, 11:52 PM
Comcast's digital upgrade is about a lot more than just scrambling the signal. The upgrade allows Comcast to add a lot more channels especially in HD. A side effect is customers can no longer steal cable. I have a feeling that a lot of the folks pirating cable wouldn't pay for it if it wasn't free. It essentially costs Comcast nothing if somebody pirates cable if they wouldn't pay for it otherwise.

I've called Comcast tech support three times and the wait was never less than 35 minutes. Their customer service for cable TV is pretty good. Internet not so much. Why do I need to talk to tech support if I'm a new customer and my modem wasn't provisioned properly on their end? It seems like a customer service issue and not a technical issue.


Yeah, but here's the rub. They were allowing people to "have" their cable for free. Comcast had a LONG history of not disconnecting service on a location, say when a house sold, or renter moved. The new owner or tenant moved in and discovered cable tv. Call that anything you want, but it's not theft if that person didn't tamper with the service to turn themselves on. Had they been doing their job to begin with, there would have been no reason to scramble the signal. The whole game was also a back door rate increase, as people would have to lease equipment in order to get their HD channels back that they had prior to the "upgrade". Comcast lost far more paying customers than they gained from those who would have had to start service due to the scrambling. The sattelite installers where uber busy as a result.