Social Security customer service — including by phone — needs improvement, AARP members say

Despite the Social Security Administration ditching its plan to reduce its phone service, Long Island residents who use those benefits say they are still concerned about customer service.

The Social Security Administration has reversed its plan to make people applying for benefits or seeking to alter their banking information visit an office should they not be able to verify their identities online. The plan, which was met with a backlash over concerns about accessibility and transportation issues for older Americans, had been set to go into effect April 14.

"Telephone remains a viable option to the public," the Social Security Administration said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Still, AARP New York held a news conference in Melville on Thursday at which members urged Congress to improve the administrative process so that people can easily be connected with benefits that often sustain their lifestyles.

AARP New York members said their attempts to get Social Security Administration benefits may include long phone wait times, issues with the website and waits when they go to an office.

"So, this is what is between them and hunger, homelessness, every indignity you can think of which is the last thing we want for people as they age," said AARP New York State director Beth Finkel. "So having that service available is so important that they get the customer service they need."

"It's something essential to do," she later said.

Francine Holland, 61, was among the Long Island residents calling Thursday for an improvement in the customer service process.

While trying to get a 1099 tax form for her 85-year-old homebound mother, Holland said she had to wait on the phone for 45 minutes. She stayed in one spot to avoid the call dropping, but it still happened.

Then, the Babylon resident said, she went to a Social Security field office, where there was a wait to get into a parking space and another wait to get into the building.

The situation, she said, demonstrated that Social Security’s customer service needed improvement.

"It’s not just an elderly issue," she said. "It’s an anybody who had been contributing to Social Security issue."

With Reuters, Olivia Winslow and Maureen Mullarkey

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.