During a Senate Finance Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) questioned Frank Bisignano, President Trump's nominee to be Commissioner of Social Security Administration, about his commitment to customer service within the agency.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you. Senator Daines.
00:03Mr. Chairman, thank you.
00:05Congratulations on your nomination and your willingness to serve.
00:08Since the Social Administration was first established as an independent agency,
00:12the importance of the public trust has always been integral to that core mission.
00:18I want to cut to the chase, though, on customer service for a moment, if I might.
00:23Like Senator Johnson, I spent most of my career in the private sector.
00:27Customer service is paramount.
00:29In fact, after I left Procter & Gamble, I went to work for a customer experience CRM solution.
00:35We worked with call centers to make sure the customer was getting a great experience.
00:40And so as we prepared for this hearing yesterday, I asked my team,
00:45let's just see what it's like to call the Social Security Administration.
00:49So we went online, and there's a nice little box that says, we are here to help.
00:53And I realize you're going to be coming in here to fix some of the problems.
00:57This is not happening on your watch, but I want to make you aware of the customer experience
01:01my staff member experienced when they called the 800 number, we are here to help.
01:07So to recant what happened here, first of all, they were disconnected twice when they got on the phone.
01:19In fact, I'm going to read the text message.
01:23Here it is.
01:23Called the SSA number three times.
01:31Disconnected twice after two minutes.
01:34And this is the published, we are here to help 800 number.
01:38Finally got through to wait to speak to a representative.
01:43And here is what my staff member encountered for an hour.
01:54I mean, it could have at least had Olivia Newton-John or some mediocre 70s music.
02:00But for an hour, this repeated over and over again.
02:05One, and then they were disconnected.
02:11You can't make this up.
02:12I'd encourage anybody, try calling the Social Security at 1-800 number.
02:16It's 1-800-772-1213.
02:19And in fact, it says if you call in the morning, the wait times are usually shorter.
02:23Later in the week, they're a little longer.
02:24Later in the month, maybe a little longer.
02:25It says our automated telephone services are available 24 hours a day.
02:28Disconnected three times.
02:30And the third time after waiting an hour listening to these really degrade elevator music.
02:37So we've got a lot of work to do to serve the taxpayers in this country and improve their customer experience.
02:45They just want to have some help.
02:46And I realize this isn't happening on your watch.
02:48But let me just put like one of your to-dos is maybe try calling the 1-800 number and see what it's like for your own experience.
02:54This was just literally yesterday.
02:57As you begin looking at areas for innovation and improvements in the delivery of the vital services and benefits,
03:04will you commit to me and to my office to ensure that Montanans have access to Social Security,
03:13particularly for Montanans who live in rural areas?
03:17You know, my belief is, first of all, thank you for talking about the phone service.
03:25Because although we publish a 22-minute wait time, that's an average wait time.
03:35And I think the better way to measure it over the long haul is what percent of us calls get answered within 30 seconds, right?
03:45Because we have percents of calls that are taking an hour and a half.
03:50And only half the callers get through.
03:54So I bring that up because I have a multi-channel strategy I think about, which is to meet beneficiaries where they want to be.
04:06If they want to come to a field office, if they want to do it over the phone, or if they want to do it over the web.
04:13But all three of those channels have to execute well.
04:16They have to execute well.
04:18So it's not enough to just have them.
04:22We have to be able to also use all the technology available to us today to do a great job for our beneficiaries.
04:30So we have my commitment to work my tail off on all of it.
04:35You know, one of the challenges we face oftentimes in the post-customer service hours, particularly with call centers,
04:41is the call centers are open when many people are not available because they're at work.
04:46And then when they are available, the call center is closed.
04:52And so we just described there the multi-channel type approach, whether it's a web experience getting information directly from the Internet,
05:01whether it's a call, whether it's an email, to really lock in on service levels that we can make sure we're providing to our customers,
05:11the taxpayers of this country, and those beneficiaries have been paying in that system their entire life.
05:19They deserve a lot better.
05:20And I hope you will bring much-needed change to the Social Security Administration with your leadership.
05:27Thank you, sir.