Social Security Administration

A visit I didn’t look forward to but was pleasantly surprised. Very professional & organized service.

If I could give zero stars, I would.
My daughter’s husband died in March, 2015. I went with her to file a claim for survivors benefits for her son. We had everything we needed. We sat there for three hours waiting for a rep, and everything took about an hour to process. We were told that she was all set, and would begin receiving the death benefit within 30 days.
45 days later, she had to take another day off work to go in there and visit again to find out what happened. Take a number, two hours later she was told that they were waiting for her son’s birth certificate (which we had already provided). She had to go and get it, and to avoid waiting two more hours, dropped it in the drop box.
A week later she received it back with a note that benefits would begin within 30 days. Thirty days later, still no benefits. Another day off work (because they are only open from 9 – 4, M-​F), to find out they had done nothing with the birth certificate. That was this week
They have now processed the birth certificate and promise benefits within 30 days. I guess if you need a name change they may do okay, but if you need a benefit that your life depends on, they really don’t care.
Call your congressman. This is ridiculous.

I am a brain cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. Was accosted today by a 5’9″ (roughly) African American female security guard with short hair. She first yelled at me for carrying in a drink which I didn’t see a sign telling me I could not have. I might have missed the sign. I was so shocked that she yelled at me that I lost the grip on my coffee and it spilled a bit on the floor at which point she screamed «Oh My God!» Which is offensive to several people to take the Lord’s name in vain. (I am not one of these people who is easily offended, but given her position, she needs sensitivity training.)
As a brain cancer patient, I am afraid to go back into this office, so I will probably be hiring a social security attorney to handle my case from here on out.

I have been trying to resolve a mistake for over a year now. I have called the phone number multiple times no call back. I visited the office to drop off items, I requested appointment with rep no call back no rep available when I came to office. The waiver of penalty requested has been handled by people who will not speak to me and the Social Security office audit only every three years. The agency never contacted me to express I was not following the guidelines of the program until they decided to cut benefits off. I worked hard to get back to work after long illness now I am being penalized for following the info provided by Social Security. Perhaps if someone would speak to me this would not take over a year to resolve. There were clear misunderstandings that led to this problem. Now I am treated like a criminal without the benefit of being heard. Icing on the cake was IRS seems to be garnishing my refund as a result of the actions or non actions of Social Security. I am a tax payer who has reported all at every turn based on the guidance of the Social Security employees. Now some bureaucrat has decided I was overpaid when I lived below poverty level and made it work while healing my body from Cancer. What incentive do people have to be honorable if we are treated like criminals. I did not file Bankruptcy but have worked hard to pay my obligations. This may end up forcing me into a bankruptcy in order to survive. All preventable if someone would return a phone call and hear the history first hand.

I came here with my company intern …upon arrival, the initial wait was 40 minutes according to the security officer (he correctly estimated the wait time)…the security officer isn’t the friendliest guy in the world and seems unhappy. but i guess it makes sense if he has to deal with all the people that come in the door… there is usually going to be a wait… lots of time to spare and plenty of places to sit; however, not much to do there… so make sure you bring something to do whether it’s a book or electronics. I don’t know if they have wi-​fi though (most likely not).
The office is not too easy to spot when you’re coming here for your first time. and the parking area is ok…
It’s just not a pleasant place to go… the atmosphere isn’t too great… diversity you’ll find… but clean you will not… ehh.

I have only had to go to the Social Security office twice in my life. (1) Three years ago in California after I got married to change my name and (2) the other day in Illinois to replace my Social Security card that was lost/​stolen.
Both times the employees have been friendly, informative, expedient and kind. I have even witnessed them handle difficult situations with grace and understanding.
I think the DMV offices across the country (who I have had to visit several times in several states) need to take some customer service lessons from the Social Security Office.

I want to retract my previous statements from all prior reviews where I reference the death waiting room in the movie ‘Beetlejuice’. This place, for sure, takes the cake and officially wins the youtube link.
Plus, this is my 666^th review… so it’s even more fitting.
Also, I think I can now say I know what «white guilt» feels like. My experience is difficult to describe unless you were there, but I will say that from what I saw, I was treated with much more welcoming arms than my fellow waiting counterparts who had English as a second language or not at all. Tsk, tsk, Government Office. America is a melting pot and salt ain’t the only spice.
Anyway, I really just wanted a copy of my SS card, which I was told I could get here… FYI– you can’t get it here.
If you can go somewhere else to do your biz-​nast, give it a shot.
PS– if you plan on having to fill out any forms, bring your own pen. The U.S. of A. doesn’t believe in loaners.

NEVER in my life did I think I would:
1) Be inspired to review a Social Security Administration office; and
2) Give a Social Security Administration office five stars.
However, both are true and when I saw it listed on Unilocal I just had to add my two cents.. .
I have to be honest that bets were being taken by those that I know as to how long it would take me at the SSA Office. I had a simple change to be made, but there is a reputation that proceeds this government office so all these preconceived ideas were warranted. That reputation is now blown away!
No sooner did I print my ticket out that assigned me the number did I hear over the loud speaker «Serving number x at window x.» I didn’t even get a chance to sit down. (I will say those who were sitting, and probably had been for some time, weren’t happy to see how quickly I got taken care of). The lady whom helped me was nice, efficient and didn’t have me give her any more documentation than she needed. I was in and out of the SSA office within no more than five minutes from start to finish.
The facility itself was very nice — the nicest I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a few). It was told to me that it opened in November 2007 so that was part of the reason why. Regardless, for almost being a year old it was kept-​up nicely.
All in all, even though I know my experience was out of the norm from a time perspective, the SSA office located in Aurora is really nice and so are the people working there (and that makes a HUGE difference). If this is your locale SSA office and you need to go to one I highly recommend you use this one. There is no need to go out of your way.