2/18/11Dear Social Security Administration,
I wish to bring to your attention just how disappointed I was with the customer service received in your Valrico, FL office on 2/17. On 2/17 @ 8:00 my son and I interviewed for a Payee and Address change with your organization for the 2nd time. This process again was nerve wrecking and should not have consisted of bullying, unfair treatment nor abuse of power. This is supposed to be the Social Security Administration office NOT the Social Security Administration Collections Department. The aggressive behavior endured each visit was very distasteful. While I understand that some people who are out in the work force are not people persons, there are some jobs where it is very important to be a people person, or at the very least be NICE and Social Security Administration is one of them.
Here are the reasons I feel that the representative Mr. Lee and Ms. Polnitz the supervisor that he got to assist him in this matter should really rethink how he & she conducts themselves in their work place and I would hope it would become a priority to see that something is done before more people have to suffer his or her unfair mistreatment. Ms. Polnitz is the supervisor I dealt with on 2/17. She was very cold, rude and intimidating; I would rather call her a bully with unprofessional conduct. She was condescending and rude. I was told to SHUT UP on more than one occasion, which I consider to be very disrespectful. I was not giving the opportunity to speak or elaborate on the nature of my visit. I was told to leave the Social Security building without being HELPED and she (Ms. Polnitz) went as far as to contacting Security personnel to have me thrown out “as if she was dealing with a criminal”. I am appalled with the service that was rendered on 2/17. However, I am glad that I have enough education and common sense to have not allowed her disgusting behavior to intimidate me. Therefore, I requested to speak with her superior Mr. Jackson.
I don’t know of many jobs where you could get away with talking to customers like this and The Social Security Administration should be no exception.
Ms. Polnitz was not willing to listen or allow me to elaborate on what she was saying or what was going on. She acted like me and my son was not worth her time and we were just an inconvenience to her and Mr. Lee. They both were pulling out stop signs to prevent me from succeeding, why? I don’t know. Considering that I had spoken to Mr. Lee on 2/16 by telephone and I was told by Mr. Lee to come to the Social Security Administration Office in (Valrico, FL) the following morning on 2/17 to do the Payee and Address change on my son’s account. No problem. However, upon my arrival thinking our situation would be resolved I clearly walked straight into an ambush. Mr. Lee and Ms. Polnitz (supervisor) were very RUDE. I have never experienced such RUDE behavior in my life and I hope I don’t ever have to go thru this again. Both, Mr. Lee and Ms. Polnitz demeanor and rudeness was unnecessary and should not be tolerated.
Please be mindful my 16 yr old son was shot with a 9mm hand gun on Jan 14 in Bay County. Upon his release from the hospital on Jan 18 he moved with me in Hillsborough County (Valrico, FL). My son almost lost his life. My son’s life is not out of the woods yet. He was shot 3 times, 2 times in the head and 1 time in the chest. Currently, he has 2 bullets still inside of him, 1 in his head “3 millimeters away from his main-artery” and 1 in his upper chest area. Neither Ms. Polnitz nor Mr. Lee showed compassion, empathy or concern in this matter. This behavior is very disturbing coming from Federal public service officials. They would not even offer any assistance regarding my son’s Medical Benefits, I was told to SHUT UP again and as a result of this my son could not seek the proper medical treatment needed here in Hillsborough County. This is sickening and disgusting. I can now imagine how many people came before me and experience the same mistreatment from them. Please let it be known that this tag team aggressive behavior, which is normally used in a Collections Call Center setting is uncalled for. That is the Social Security Administration office where the individuals of this community go to seek proper assistance pertaining to their lives. I am a tax payer, I am a registered voter and I am a productive member of this community. I am not a criminal and I don’t care to be treated as such. I am not beneath Mr. Lee or Ms. Polnitz. Therefore, my son and I DID NOT deserve to be treated with such RUDE behavior.
Last but not least, I would like to thank Mr. Jackson and Mr. Moore for their prompt due diligence in this matter and for providing a resolution regarding the payee Info, address change and medical benefits on 02/17. I am extremely pleased with their services and very grateful that our community has opened minded, respectful individuals in upper management such as themselves working in our Social Security Administration Office here in Valrico, FL. I am blessed that my family can now move on. But, I will say this; the total lack of empathy within this organization that I experienced is SAD and APPALING. I definitely hope that Management can go back and retrain these individuals on their PEOPLE SKILLS which is very important when working in a Public Service environment such as this one.
At the end of the day, this process was unprofessional and disrespectful and I personally think it can damage the relationships between citizens and their Federal and State organizations. Hopefully, this letter will not be taken lightly and I sincerely thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
PS. Going forward please implement a people skills training course because some employees could really use a refresher course or better yet TERMINATE them because this type of behavior should not TOLERATED. I hope and pray that this letter falls into the right hands and something can be done.
Regards,
A very dissatisfied person
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