This letter is legit, not a scam. I’m very cautious about things like that.

A real letter delivered by USPS triggers charges of mail fraud. Which is why scammers use email and the phone, and also want you to send money via WU or gift cards, and never by mail.

Following up. I called SSA this morning and after an 50 minute wait I spoke to Juan who had a Spanish accent that was a bit hard to understand. I had to ask him to spell a couple words.

So, his advice was to ignore the letter that it was a mistake!!!! He checked my record and said I am scheduled to continue to receive the amount I have been receiving all along. He was able to see a copy of the letter in my account, so I know the letter came from SSA, not a scam.

I find this unbelievable, or maybe not considering governmental bureaucracy. I wasted an entire morning over this but at least it's settled -- at least I hope so.

An hour is something less than ""an entire morning" but I'm glad you got your question answered. Mondays are always busy days at call centers and the like.

As for the fellow's accent, remember that all of our ancestors spoke with an accent too when they first learned North American English, if even a British accent and using different word choices that may not have been clear to others. Or worse. I try to treat strangers who speak with an accent of whatever source the same as I would have treated my own accented ancestors if I'd met them - with patience and respect.

My experience with calling SS is that it almost always takes about 45 min to an hour to get anyone. I also appreciate the loss of an entire weekend with mulling over what on earth this letter meant. I would certainly watch my ban account closely for your expected deposit but I am sure you already thought to do that. so exasperating but they do not begin to have enough people.

I hope you asked him to have SS provide a follow-up letter indicating that it was all a mistake.

Well, I hope it is a mistake! I'd feel uneasy until the deposit is made. We have found that the very best time to call is 7 am sharp! We have always had to wait an hour except the one time my husband called at 7 am and he got someone right away! It was like a miracle...HAHAHA!

Hmm, wish I had thought of asking for a letter to confirm that the first letter was a mistake. I will definitely be watching my deposits.

Elmer, you are such a treat.

Thank you. Since you asked, I think complaining about someone's accent is an unbecoming thing to do and is interpreted by many as being racist or ethnocentric, I tried to suggest a different way to think about it. Do whatever you want. In my community, you'd have something to complain about multiple times a day.

Dedtired, glad that you got a good response. What I do when I want to document a phone conversation is save my notes of it. This whole thread is a record of what happened, when you knew it, what steps you took to resolve it, including your conversation with the gentleman with the accent. But hopefully it's all smooth sailing from here.

Arkansas girl, that's so funny -- I can imagine his surprise to get a person instead of the usual "your call is important to us..." recording. I guess someone's got to be first in line, no matter how long!

I have absolutely no problem with someone who speaks with an accent. In fact, I admire them for being bilingual. However, when it comes to my income and financial matters, my priority is fully understanding what they are saying. Simple as that.

nickel, yes I did jot down notes as we spoke should something come up later. Good idea.

I had my annual appointment with my allergist on Friday. I've been seeing him now for about 28 years. I always have to first see a person he has hired to take my medical history - yet again. These people are usually hoping to get into med school and want a recommendation from him.

This time I got an older man (not "older" as in "old", but older than the ones I usually get). He was from Cuba and his English was very poor. His understanding of English was even poorer. This is a bit tricky when someone is taking medical info, including the name of drugs and what ones symptoms are! I ended up having to repeat things 4-5 times before he supposedly understood - I have no idea what he actually ended up writing down.

I have a chronic pulmonary condition which means I'm on supplemental oxygen 24/7. Even then, my oxygen SAT's rarely get above 90-91 our of 100. By the time we had finished, it had taken nearly 45 minutes and I was totally exhausted. It's very exhausting to be short of breath and having to repeat and repeat information causes this.

When my doctor finally came into to the exam room (2 hours after my app't time!), I told him not to ever do that to me again. I fully appreciate that this man is trying very hard, but I don't speak Spanish and his English is not good enough to be doing what he was hired to do. My doctor said, "Try working with him!!" I asked why he kept him on, and he said he has a soft heart and would like to help this guy. I guess he was some sort of medical professional in Cuba but must start over in the US. I appreciate his generous spirit, but I again told him not to ever do this to me again. I'm too old and don't have the strength or air for this.

PRO

"Anglophilia

16 minutes ago

I had my annual appointment with my allergist on Friday. I've been seeing him now for about 28 years. I always have to first see a person he has hired to take my medical history - yet again. These people are usually hoping to get into med school and want a recommendation from him.

This time I got an older man (not "older" as in "old", but older than the ones I usually get). He was from Cuba and his English was very poor. His understanding of English was even poorer. This is a bit tricky when someone is taking medical info, including the name of drugs and what ones symptoms are! I ended up having to repeat things 4-5 times before he supposedly understood - I have no idea what he actually ended up writing down.

I have a chronic pulmonary condition which means I'm on supplemental oxygen 24/7. Even then, my oxygen SAT's rarely get above 90-91 our of 100. By the time we had finished, it had taken nearly 45 minutes and I was totally exhausted. It's very exhausting to be short of breath and having to repeat and repeat information causes this.

When my doctor finally came into to the exam room (2 hours after my app't time!), I told him not to ever do that to me again. I fully appreciate that this man is trying very hard, but I don't speak Spanish and his English is not good enough to be doing what he was hired to do. My doctor said, "Try working with him!!" I asked why he kept him on, and he said he has a soft heart and would like to help this guy. I guess he was some sort of medical professional in Cuba but must start over in the US. I appreciate his generous spirit, but I again told him not to ever do this to me again. I'm too old and don't have the strength or air for this."

What on earth does this have to do with a letter from SSA about her benefits?

OT, apologies, but conversations can zigzag sometimes.

Anglo, I am sorry you had a hard time at your doctor's appointment. My mother had pulmonary hypertension, I know how awful it is to have breathing issues. Your doctor is very kind to take the Cuban man under his wing. I can imagine how much that opportunity means to someone who just arrived. Next time, perhaps you could type out your answers on your phone for the medical history.

Angela Id, if you had read through all the comment, you would have seen that dedtired got a SSA representative that was very hard to understand as he had an accent.

I just don't feel like SSA should hire someone for a phone representative that does not speak clearly. Isn't that just common knowledge that a phone rep needs to have a good speaking voice? My husband gets so aggravated when he calls one of his companies that he does business with and gets a rep that barely even speaks English...it is very frustrating. Also, my husband suffers some hearing loss, which makes it even more difficult for him to understand someone that doesn't speak clearly. I would think this would be a common issue with people that are calling the SSA office, as most will be seniors and many have some hearing loss.

When thinking about people with accents I always think of people from several parts of this country that because of their accents, everyone has one even if they never admit it, and local versions of words that I interacted with over the years. People do not have to be ethnic to be difficult to understand. I found people from the deep South and the Northeast to have the strongest accents but those from all areas use regional phrases. While just words think of what people call those carbonated beverages that so many people like.

Hoping everything is fine with the SS deposit but I would make certain that you notate either on the front or back the approximate time, the date, and the name of the person for future reference.

Hopefully not an SSA issue, but many companies are outsourcing labor so that the customer service person one speaks with is not even in the U.S.

While I do think that we should all always try to make efforts to overcome communication problems whether they are accents, language, cultural, hearing difficulties, etc., I do think that companies who deliberately outsource outside of the U.S. to save themselves money and who then on top of that do not provide enough training/screening of employees so they can be more easily understood by their target audience again to further save themselves more money, are valid subjects of criticism.

While outsourcing is a matter of considerable political debate and I can see both sides, it is one thing to outsource a skill such as assembling a cell phone but another thing completely to outsource customer service where the very foundation of the customer service concept is good communication, and then not take the time and/or responsibility to provide customer service employees who communicate well and solve their customer's problems.

dedtired

I spoke to Juan who had a Spanish accent that was a bit hard to understand. I had to ask him to spell a couple words.

Elmer J Fudd

I think complaining about someone's accent is an unbecoming thing to do and is interpreted by many as being racist or ethnocentric,

Dedtired didn't complain, she simply noted the difficulty understanding some of his words. Most of us encounter that from time to time.

Dh was laid off a few years ago and decided to take SS early. I started receiving spousal benefits at that time. When he subsequently was hired by another company and went back to work he repaid his SS benefits. I did the same with my spousal benefits. About 6 months later I was shocked to find a sizable deposit in my bank account from SS. It was the same amount as the benefits I repaid. Someone screwed up. I called every few months for the first year explaining what had happened. Was repeatedly told they were aware of it and it would eventually be rectified. It's been over 2 years now. If they ever request the money I'll return it.

We also ”hear” people by seeing their lips and facial expressions. When someone has an accent, we can put what we see and hear together to understand. On the phone, we have to rely entirely on hearing, so dealing with an accent is that much more difficult.

It’s especially difficult when you already are trying to solve a problem and feeling frustrated. It seems like one more hurdle to overcome.

Angela, it might help to scan the entire thread before commenting. Yes, we often go off on tangents here, which makes things interesting.

I am not that bad with accents - my sister needs closed captioning for even British tv shows (and we had British parents with strong accents!) - but the issue I have with accents over the phone is that they usually talk way too fast. Combine an accent with rapid speech and lack of any visual clues when on the phone and they ARE hard to understand!! I usually play the old lady card and ask them to speak slowly and clearly :-) No doubt they are shaking their heads in disgust at me but at least I can understand what they are saying.

I, too, hope your situation is cleared up and no further need to have to go through all that again.

It really does make a difference whether the reason for your call is to just get some innocuous information or you are dealing with a problem - especially a big problem such as this. I find I can be a lot more tolerant if it's a minor issue.

But this talk of accents reminded me of my brother. He used to travel quite a bit around the country for his job and he would tell us about the local sayings he encountered. He said his eyebrows were especially raised when, after meeting this woman, she said she would "get up with him in the morning" of course meaning she would meet him again the next morning. We had a good laugh about that. I think it's kind of neat to have local sayings and accents. It keeps things interesting.

I like your thoughtful comments, Lucille.

For accented people who are here (as would be the case for an SSA employee), y'all need to just pull up your pants and deal with reality without being bigoted about it. Asking someone to repeat something can happen when speaking to someone with or without an accent. I have a friend who has the same regional accent I have (ie, no accent) and I often need to ask him to repeat what he said because he talks too fast and tends to swallow parts of his words. My hearing is fine. I pay the same close attention with him as with a recent immigrant, there's no difference.

Many help desks and other call centers are abroad these days because you get what you pay for. Since the trend over the last 20 years has been for consumers to make buying decisions based more on price than anything else, companies have had to move manufacturing and other operations abroad to save costs to allow low product selling prices. Manufacturing is in Mexico and the Far East, call centers in India, Philippines, or elsewhere, An example of one that works well - Honeywell's consumer call center is Mexico. The people are friendly and knowledgeable about their products and are very easy to understand.

Elmer, you only think you don't have an accent. Your regional accent is a recognizable accent though probably not a pronounced one.

Can the government have call centers outside of the US? I kind of don't think so. I usually get people with southern accents and they are often black. I don't have trouble with southern accents of course.

Okay. That wasn't an essential part of my comment but if you say so, fine. For the record, I don't speak like those in the very funny small short series of sketches that was on SNL, the Californians.

The US government has plenty of employees who work abroad (think of the expat AND local employees at embassies and consulates, military stationed abroad, the Customs and Immigration officers who clear inbound passengers at foreign airports (like in Canada), but I can't imagine any Congress person or Senator would stand for any form of offshore transfers of work previously done in the US if the foreign location isn't essential to the work done.

According to the SSA website, they have 25 call centers and 7 processing centers, all located within the US.

Speaking of regional accents, I remember being I the South , at a restaurant. We asked the waitress about the soup of the day. She said “it’s bane soup”. We looked at each other and wondered what the heck is bane soup? We asked the waitress and she answered “bane soup! B E A N! Bane soup! ”

of course, we Philadelphians have no accent whatsoever. Everyone knows what wooder is and the answer to Jeet?

I remember on one visit to Philadelphia a dozen years ago, asking someone what direction to walk to get to Sansome (San Some) Street, and the comeback was "Oh, you mean Samson Street?" Said as if referring to Delilah's buddy. I don't know if that's widely said or just how the person I spoke to said it but it made me laugh.

dedtired: Jeet? yes, just finished dinner. (Is that right?)

wooder -- I have no idea!

Oh, there are plenty of California pronunciations that strangers mangle. Marin seems simple, but I always heard new news casters mange it. San Rafael? San Martin. Yeah, Spanish origins for many of those names, but still....

Elmer J Fudd

For the record, I don't speak like those in the very funny small short series of sketches that was on SNL, the Californians.

Oh I miss those Californian skits.

Ah nickel - wooder is water.

I'm not a native Philly speaker but I've lived in and around the city long enough to understand most of the regionalisms.

Yes, wooder is water.

Jeet? Did you eat?

Yes, sushipup, lots of mangled place names. Among the many mangled ones in the north, not quite as they appear nor as should be in Spanish include the two you mentioned, Marin and San Rafael, along with Los Gatos and Los Baños. Even Paso Robles is mispronounced.

A few in the south, not pronounced either as they look but closer to what's right in Spanish are Cahuenga (street in LA) and La Jolla. Where the pronunciation of Port Hueneme came from, I'm not sure. Maybe it's close to its Spanish roots.

Yes, Mrs M, but I'm guilty of taking the 405 north to National Blvd, turning left on Sepulveda and taking that straight until turning left on Mulholland.

dedtired, and let's not forget about our newspaper, the Inkwire.

The most difficult thing to pronounce around here for newcomers, as I was nearly 35 years ago, is the name of a river and expressway: the Schuylkill.

GO IGGLES!

(wooder = water, thanks guys, now I can "hear" it!)

I've been here in Philly for a little more than 3 years, and the Skoolkill never bothered me. But everyone laughs at me when I say "Wickahisson".

Edited for those not from the area, it should be "Wissahickon".

Heh. I had to be schooled to say Lankas-ter, not Lan-cas-ter. And don't get me started on all the Welsh town names: Bala Cynwyd, Gwynedd, Tredyffrin, etc.

Llanerch and Uwchlan. Let’s not forget Manayunk and Conshohocken.

I am illuminated. There is a TV ad for some product for dry mouth and the woman says drink a lot of wooder.

We were visiting our daughter in San Diego and she took us to her favorite, Philly-themed, bar, where we saw this:

The town just north of Los Angeles, at the edge of the desert, is LAN- kaster

Did we curve to mispronunciations ;0) This is the Pacific Northwest. Many of our cities, towns, rivers are native american names. Some evenings, I can sit and shake my head at the way television newscasters who have been here long enough to know better will mangle a name. And that's those who are more local - any a few states away are completely lost.

I've been to LAN-kaster (CA) and LANK-uh-stur (PA). lol

In Indiana, there is a Milan and a Versailles. If you pronounce it the with the European city name, it's wrong. They say Mi-lun and Ver-sails. There is another like that but I can't remember it. Whenever I see these names, I know it's not the European pronunciation.

Examples like that number in the dozens and dozens. Any place name of a foreign language origin is always pronounced differently here. In addition to what's mentioned, what comes to my mind quickly are New Madrid, Boise, Detroit, Pierre, Blanco, Des Moines, Terre Haute, St Cloud, New Orleans, etc .

Bookwoman, that is Hysterical. Next time I am out that way I will have to find that place.

There’s a town in NJ called Buena, pronounced byoo-nah

dedtired, it's the California Tap Room, in North Park: https://californiataproom.com/. The pretzels are excellent.

Sorry for your difficulty in understanding an accent on the phone. I had an aunt who spoke with a strong German/New York accent that left me baffled when young, but gifted me with being pretty good with accents. I do need time with the person and seeing them in person definitely helps.

I've worked with (dental) patients who are reluctant to speak because of their accents. I tell 'em keep talking, the more I hear them, the better I get at understanding them. Usually once they realize someone is really listening, I can't shut them up! (not that I want to)

Garden gal 48 I agree about speed. Slower is better. They may not understand me well either.

Anglophillia-- you may have hit the nail on the head. I once worked at a resort where the maintenance man was especially interested in a sore throat I'd complained about the day before. A co-worker explained he'd been a doctor in Cuba. Couldn't practice in the US of course. Came over on a makeshift raft. Was happier being a maintenance man in the US than a Dr. in Cuba. Kind of a eye opener for me.

And yet-- Your Dr. should realize your limited energy and honor your request to not have to fill out a lengthy medical history in such a exhausting way.

Ask to have them mail the forms to you so you can fill them out at home and bring them with you. This is not an unusual request. You can fill it out at your leisure as time and energy allow. You will know everything is correct. The assistant can enter the data into the computer from your form and you can avoid the situation.