Seniors and people with disabilities calling the Social Security Administration (SSA) face endless looping music, long wait times, useless robot messages, and extended periods between a request and an actual callback, according to a new report from the Washington Post.
The Administration claims the agency has improved call wait times
and experiences when it shifted more staff to answer the 1-800 number in July, but reporters spoke with nearly three dozen callers whose stories don’t match this portrayal. A beneficiary calling to report income had multiple unhelpful conversations with an AI chatbot before she was finally able to get help from a human representative. One caller working to get back pay described being on the phone with the agency for 20 hours in order to get help. Another caller stayed on the line even though her estimated call wait time was more than 120 minutes – only to have the call dropped an hour later. She ended up having to call SSA multiple times a day for five days before finally being given the option for a callback.
Even if beneficiaries are able to request a callback, it often takes hours or sometimes days or weeks before a worker can actually respond due to understaffing. According to SSA data, the agency had 19.3 million callbacks this year, up from 6.8 million the previous year when the callback option was first introduced. In some cases, beneficiaries who waited hours on the phone suddenly receive a “polite disconnect” pre-recorded message saying the line is too busy and then the call abruptly ends. Agency data shows that this happened for more than 3.3 million of the 76.4 million calls between January and September this year.
“Older Americans shouldn’t have to worry about having to turn to unreliable AI chatbots or jumping through hoops to get their important Social Security questions and concerns addressed by an SSA worker. It’s time for Congress to demand full staffing at the agency,” said Robert Roach, Jr., President of the Alliance.
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