From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Imagine paying your utility bill and having the cashed check to prove it, but still getting threatened over and over with having your power turned off.
Wendy Arnold ran into a scenario like this, but it was the giant Social Security Administration that couldn't figure out that she had sent back an overpayment of disability benefits for her 27-year-old son, despite the evidence she kept waving at them.
What part of the $17,615 she mailed to the SSA didn't they understand? They kept telling Arnold, 62, her son's payee, to pay up and threatening to dock her own Social Security benefits if she didn't.
This has been going on for eight months. ...
I'm happy to report the problem suddenly is fixed, and all it took was one news media contact to the Social Security Administration. Within a couple of hours of my call, Arnold received a voicemail from a Social Security rep saying, "We have zeroed out the overpayment that was on your son's record, and it's currently reflecting a zero balance now." ...
Unfortunately, bad press is one of the only things that SSA will react to. Other motivators ranging from common decency through legality seems to be lost on managment.
ReplyDeleteHad the same thing with Charter for a year~!
ReplyDeleteI've always been leery of mailing checks to the SSA (or anyone for that matter). On the few occasions I have received a check to which we weren't entitled, or my clients did, I went in person and waited for receipt.
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