Natsumi
Member
Here comes a story from the small town of Port Townsend here in Washington state where I live, of a woman who had to fight with the Social Security Administration to get her benefits since it appears she was being listed as deceased.
She was declared dead but shes as alive as you and I.
Her name is Maxine Matsui. She is a semi-retired 55 year old grocery store manager and never thought she'd see this day ever come.
I found this article in the local newspaper today so I thought I would share with you all.
Just last month, she was aghast to learn that she was dead. In fact, she had been declared dead for more than a month.
Im on the computer and am in the Social Security death index, and Im scanning down and all of the sudden, whoa! she said. Theres my name, Maxine Matsui, where I was born, when I died.
Matsui was quickly cut off from bank accounts, medicare and more.
Ancestry Web sites even publicly listed her presumably dearly departed Social Security number that was still active.
Every account I had was frozen, no matter where it was at, she said. I was left with just pocket change.
Since then she and her husband have collected hundreds of documents, made endless trips to social security offices, and spent hours on the phone with government workers who finally solved the riddle.
They traced the error to a clerk in Spokane typing in the wrong nine digit number.
A spokesman for Social Security says Matsui's record has been corrected. Theyve since apologized, but Maxine thinks its something that couldve easily been avoided.
To the Social Security Administration, youre nothing but a number, Combes said. And when that number goes in, they should research it a little better.
BTW - her assets are still frozen. While there as no malice in this womans story all it took was a simple error with a number being entered and this woman had to jump through hoops to prove she was still alive. For anyone who has had identity theft happen to them you know that this is one of the hardest things to fight as it seems you are always dealing with issues depending on the severity.
Government bureaucracy its fantastic!!! Guess which group believes the government can take care of issues?
She was declared dead but shes as alive as you and I.
Her name is Maxine Matsui. She is a semi-retired 55 year old grocery store manager and never thought she'd see this day ever come.
I found this article in the local newspaper today so I thought I would share with you all.
Just last month, she was aghast to learn that she was dead. In fact, she had been declared dead for more than a month.
Im on the computer and am in the Social Security death index, and Im scanning down and all of the sudden, whoa! she said. Theres my name, Maxine Matsui, where I was born, when I died.
Matsui was quickly cut off from bank accounts, medicare and more.
Ancestry Web sites even publicly listed her presumably dearly departed Social Security number that was still active.
Every account I had was frozen, no matter where it was at, she said. I was left with just pocket change.
Since then she and her husband have collected hundreds of documents, made endless trips to social security offices, and spent hours on the phone with government workers who finally solved the riddle.
They traced the error to a clerk in Spokane typing in the wrong nine digit number.
A spokesman for Social Security says Matsui's record has been corrected. Theyve since apologized, but Maxine thinks its something that couldve easily been avoided.
To the Social Security Administration, youre nothing but a number, Combes said. And when that number goes in, they should research it a little better.
BTW - her assets are still frozen. While there as no malice in this womans story all it took was a simple error with a number being entered and this woman had to jump through hoops to prove she was still alive. For anyone who has had identity theft happen to them you know that this is one of the hardest things to fight as it seems you are always dealing with issues depending on the severity.
Government bureaucracy its fantastic!!! Guess which group believes the government can take care of issues?