This is to help anyone else who has to make that call during COVID times. If you did this before COVID, you likely had an easier time of it. Moral of the story: Be prepared to have to call a few times and to talk to clerks who are answering from home and not necessarily communicating with each other. Why did I choose to call my local SSA office? Because the research I did about becoming rep. payee (and yes, I did a LOT) all indicated to call the local office. Be aware that you can call an office of a different area, if you hear that another one is better. I wish I'd done that.
Conversation #1: Called 1pm on a Friday. I was on hold for a half hour before I got a human. I explained to the clerk who answered that I may need to apply to become representative payee for a parent with documented dementia, though it's possible I don't need to go that far. This clerk, we'll call her Clerk Smith, told me that I would indeed need to be representative payee to do anything if mother's dementia is documented. She said "Let me see if I can get you an appointment. Hold just a minute, please." This surprised me, because I thought they weren't making appointments during COVID. She didn't tell me how far in advance they were booking. She didn't tell me I was calling at the wrong time of day. She didn't tell me I could apply without an appointment. Just: "Hold a minute, please."
An hour and a half went by, and then the line was disconnected at 3pm. All told, I'd spent 2 hours on hold. For nothing.
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For my next few calls over the following week, I got a "Call back later. Goodbye!" automated message.
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Conversation #2: After several days of trying, I got another woman on the phone. I explained my situation. She said "You'll need to make an appointment, but you have to call back tomorrow at 9am to do that." No explanation why she couldn't just make the appointment for me.
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Conversation #3: I tried around 9am, and several times in a row, but was unable to get through. "...Goodbye!" *click*
I called again a couple of hours later, got Clerk Smith again, and she chastised me for not calling early enough: "NINE AM. You have to call at NINE AM." I tried to explain my efforts, but whatever. I know well enough to be polite with the clerks. This time she did divulge that they're booking appointments for mid-December now. Every morning, a handful of appointments open up for a new day in mid-December, and they go quickly, if you're lucky enough to get a clerk at 9am. Ah! The woman from the day before didn't mention any of that.
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Conversation #4: I called at 9am on the dot, and got Clerk Smith again. I gave my explanation of what I was trying to accomplish, and why, and said I'd like one of those mid-December appointments. She said "How's tomorrow at 11am?" I sputtered a little, but it turns out she was talking about them calling *me* at 11am.
Okay. So now this is an entirely different avenue never mentioned in my previous conversations. Why have they been pushing me to call at 9am for a December appointment if this could have been done over the phone?
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Next day: You guessed it! I sat at my dining room table, surrounded by my documents and my phone, for a couple of hours. No one ever called. That was on Thursday, and the next day I was unable to make the call at 9am.
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Monday, 9am: I called and got a woman I've never spoken to. I explained that I've called a few times about applying to be rep. payee, that I was supposed to get a call last Thursday at 11am but nobody ever called, and that I would just like one of those precious December appointments.
She told me: "Oh, you don't need an appointment to apply to be representative payee. It's just an application you fill out, and send back with your documents. I'll send it to you."
My mom just needed to be able to identify herself and say they could speak with me. It wasn't about signing her up, it was more complex than that. Lots of old documents required.
I am sorry that your local office seems to be run by incompetent idiots that get their jollies by screwing with people. Maybe calling the 800# would get you better assistance.
Personally, I pored over the SSA website for hours, over days, saving links and Googling terms like crazy, because I like to be prepared. I also read a lot of threads on this site. This is how I knew when I first called that there was likely no way around becoming rep. payee. It's not necessary for everyone, but if your parent is in the legal record as having dementia, it basically comes to that. But the only thing the whole site says about the actual application to become representative payee is "call your local SSA office."
Nothing on the national SSA website could have prepared me for the run-around I just got, with 4 different phone conversations and 3 different clerks before finding out I don't need to have an appointment at all. Maybe my local office is especially not on the ball, and in this case I hope that everyone reading this will have an easier time. It's better to be prepared for the worst.
I and grandson have been dealing with disability and unemployment. Not available by phone so all mail. Disability has come thru but not unemployment. Me, I would not have hung on for 2 hours.
To rehash, it took 2 weeks of calling and 4 phone conversations with 3 different clerks to find out that what I need to do can be done by mail.
Now that I think about it, these clerks were answering from home—a couple sounded like they just rolled out of bed—and I think the downside to that is that there's no "Hey Patty! I have a woman on the line who says you promised her a phone call last Thursday? Did you take a phone message?" There's no comparing notes between the different clerks. I should say here that I live in a small state, so it's a small staff, even in normal times.
I had a long conversation with the last clerk about this process. I expressed reluctance to send originals of my ID and other documents over the mail, because I'm the legal guardian and I often need my ID. She told me that my state has an app into which I can scan the front and back of my photo ID. SSA does not take this app as proof; they still need originals. However, if I'm stopped by traffic patrol or need my ID during this process, I can show this app. (To that I'm very skeptical.) But she assured me that if I send my application addressed to her, she will personally see to it that my documents go back out in the mail by the next day. I am, again, very skeptical, after having been misled by this woman's co-workers. Of course, everything is taking longer in the mail these days.
But I see no way around it. I'll send the documents and application by certified, if not registered mail, from the postal hub near their offices. I was very nice to the woman for being the first person to give me this much info, but I still don't feel good about any of this.
That is my story. I'll eventually update this with the outcome. If you have any insight to add, please do, though please be mindful of the fact that your experience may have been much different than those of others if your SSA needs were more straightforward and you didn't have to call in COVID times. This post is really geared towards those who have to do something complicated with SSA in 2021. I've gotten some very valuable information from this forum, but I'd noticed there were not a lot of personal experiences from people who've had to call governmental agencies *in current times*. Maybe I can help one person set their expectations or avoid pitfalls, as I've been helped by others here.
I did this with my mom, three way calls from different states in different time zones and it was so smooth.
My questions started with, I read on the SSA website that...can you please help us with that?
My mom got her 1st check that month, we thought it would take several months based on what I read.
So being as knowledgeable as you can before calling really is to your benefit. I found the information on the website to be easy to read and understand. Which threw me for a loop, I was expecting a large bunch of government double talk, so refreshing to have found otherwise.