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Warning: this post is more of a rant and a plea for sympathy than it is thoughtful or informative!
So as you know, I retired on July 1. Or did I? I retired from two university systems and was supposed to get one pension check from each starting August 1. On August 1, I got…nothing. And it was my birthday, too!
I already knew I wouldn’t be getting one of the checks that day; my retirement application had been in limbo for a while (not my fault) and is allegedly being processed. But the other one was, I believed, a done deal. I’d received an official letter on May 15: Congratulations on your retirement; your application is complete; here’s how much you’ll get; it will be direct-deposited starting Aug. 1. So while I knew there was a glitch with the second system, I never worried about the first one—until I woke up on my birthday, checked my bank account and saw no pension check.
I got on the phone as soon as the lines opened and explained the situation to the call center rep who answered. She sounded surprised and put me on hold while she checked it out. I was on hold for 15 minutes. “This is not good,” my husband said. She came back and sounded bewildered. Apparently my retirement action had been canceled and completely disappeared from my dashboard like it had never happened. Fortunately for me, the messages from the system, including the May 15 letter, were still all there. “Something isn’t right,” she said. No kidding. She said she’d expedite my case and that someone would call me. I suffered all day, trying not to ruin my fancy birthday lunch with my fretting.
Finally, in the evening, someone did call me. He’d been in meetings all day trying to figure out what had gone wrong. He’s never seen anything like it. He met with two supervisors that afternoon and they reinstated my retirement action and said I’d get paid on August 8. He was really sorry for the stress and confusion. No one understands how this could have happened.
I’m happy to report that the check did, indeed, arrive on schedule, for the correct amount, and that my dashboard says my next one will arrive at the end of this month. So I think I’m OK with that one, at least. But I’m going to keep checking my account every so often. I have trust issues now.
As for the other pension, I pinged them on the messaging system last week, as it had been a month since I last heard from them. A supervisor replied and thanked me “for my patience,” said they were still working on it, and hopefully I’d hear something “in the next two weeks.” I have no idea why it’s taking so long. I filed the application for that system on March 3, the earliest day I could for a July 1 retirement.
I don’t know if there’s a lesson here other than that s**t happens, keep checking your accounts because no one cares as much as you do, and if you think something might have gone awry, it probably has. Yikes!
This works for me with customer service folks. The conversation goes like this:
Hi, are you in a good mood today? I mean, in a really good mood. I have a really tough problem, and if you’re not in a good mood, I can just call back.
I then tell them my “BIG” problem.
THEY ALWAYS CHEERFULLY SAY, OH, I CAN FIX THAT, NO PROBLEM.
Try it next time. Smiles all around. (All conversations are recorded)
I love that, and I will try it!
As Gilda Radner would say, “It’s always something”. Hope things get sorted out quickly. Chris
My husband retired June 1st and his Medicare enrollment did not go as smoothly as it should. He is also having trouble with BCBS Sapphire in that he hasn’t received a card yet. I told him he should keep a log of all calls and contacts regarding these issues in an effort to be able to follow the trail.
I also think it is a good idea to start keeping a Healthcare log of MD visits, etc so that one can refer back when needed as it can be challenging to remember all the details when needed.
Ugh. Good luck with that! 🤞
“I don’t know if there’s a lesson here other than that s**t happens.” The simple answer is what I have been saying for practically my entire life, “people don’t do their jobs”. I‘m sure growing up I think my children thought I was just blowing smoke, but now that they are both nearing 40 years old they see it too.
My recent example is consistent problems with TRowe Price. I withdraw an amount monthly from an inherited account to pay my bills, and nearly every month I have had a problem. Once the check had both my name and the name of the estate. My bank would not cash it. When I called TRowe they said I would have to reopen the estate. My parents have been gone for nearly six years. I had to persist going up the corporate food chain to get it corrected. Another time they never sent the check. I had to insist they overnight the check so I could pay my bills as it had been three weeks since I requested the money. Their response, “we CAN’T do that.” My response, “it’s not that you CAN’T, it’s that you WON’T”. Again I had to work my way up the food chain again. I will be emptying the account early next year then good riddance.
The ironic thing is I constantly read that Vanguard’s customer service is terrible. I have been with them for nearly thirty years and have only had one negative incident.
Just a half hour ago another case of people not doing their jobs. In June we had an overcoat of asphalt applied to our driveway. I called the propane company to halt deliveries until November (as our 500 gallon tank was >50% full) to allow the pavement to fully cure. What do I hear today? The beeping of the truck going down the driveway. Called propane company. No note not to deliver until November. 😤
Yeah. I guess “people not doing their jobs” happens everywhere. I just got an a charge on my credit card for an annual subscription to a newspaper that I canceled this time last year. There was no way to cancel online and I had to call, and they said, “Well, since we already took the annual payment, it will be canceled next year.” But then it wasn’t. I feel like I’m in a doom loop with this one, but it’s over $300, so I guess I’m calling again.
One of the more extreme examples of this for us was back in 2019 when we were days away from moving into our new condo and we got a call from the sales office: they were so sorry, but the elevator guy went home early and didn’t sign his paperwork on Monday, and he won’t be back until Saturday, so the elevator isn’t usable and you can’t move in on Saturday morning. The condo was finished and we got the keys—it wasn’t a construction delay. It was just one guy being lazy and not doing his job. This led to a mad scramble to rebook our movers, and their closest open date was two weeks later, so we had to put our stuff in storage and stay in hotels because we’d sold our house and the buyers were getting the keys on schedule.
Vanguard’s customer service … only had one negative incident.
Agreed. Humans will make errors. What matters to me is how willing and able they are to acknowledge and fix the mistakes.
In thinking about my recent experience, I realize that I was lucky in the end that a couple of reps decided to take my case seriously and fix it immediately on Aug 1. In an alternative universe, they could have tried to claim that I somehow was responsible for canceling my retirement action and had to start the process over—which then would have had implications for my other pension, since I have reciprocity between the two systems.
Dana, I believe CalSTRS handles one of your pensions? When you are really old, you’ll have to send them notarized proof each year that you are still alive. My wife handles this task for her mother. This year, the notary made a mistake and the document was rejected. No worries, the nice lady with CalSTRS said it happens all the time. Just send another form. “Don’t fret until we send the letter that says Final Notice.” My mother-in-law still frets.
It’s CalPERS, and my husband’s been getting a check like clockwork from them since 2016. I think the only verification he’s had to do every few years is to prove we’re still married (utility bill or mortgage bill or something with both our names) for the retiree health coverage he gets. But maybe at 65 we’re still not old enough to have to prove we’re still alive!
This reminds me of my Social Security fiasco at the beginning of this year. My account was suspended and no one at SS could figure out why! After many phone calls and visits to the office as well as involvement from my congressman, it was reinstated. But it took about 5 months before I received a regular payment! I learned several lessons: first, this is a good reason to have a robust emergency fund; second, there is a fine line between patience and proactivity – and I got plenty of practice in both; third, our elected officials work for us and we should not hesitate to use them; and finally, kindness goes a long way. It was hard to keep my cool after the third or fourth phone call, but empathizing with those who tried to help me, really motivated them to help me more. I feel your pain! Nothing is worse than not knowing how to fix a problem!
Fran, you said it better than I did—“a fine line between patience and proactivity.” And the part about emergency funds. I’m fortunate that I have other resources to pay the bills until this gets straightened out, but a lot of retirees do not. I have also tried very, very hard to keep my cool on the phone for the same reasons.
Years ago, my bank statement showed a withdrawal of a few hundred dollars from my checking account that I didn’t remember making. I contacted the bank and they said it had been taken out in person at a branch about an hour from me. I knew I didn’t do it. I questioned them further about the details. Without them explicitly telling me, it became apparent that someone with a very similar name had received the cash. Further research on my part uncovered the worrying fact that said individual had a criminal record, but my determination was that the bank teller was solely at fault. Yep, stuff happens. Glad pension #1 is now on track for you, hope #2 gets squared away soon.
Now that’s kind of scary. Shouldn’t they be checking an ID or something? I assume you got the money back, but it’s good that it wasn’t a huge amount.
Dr Lefty, these are the types of things that fill your time in retirement! Would you have had that much time to spend on the phone checking on your pensions when you were working?!
It may not be an everyday occurrence but it sure seems to happen frequently with “retirement “ type issues. I recently needed to access some funds from my IRA accounts and we decided with our FA to take parts from 2 different accounts. One distribution was direct deposited to my account promptly. The other one, 3 weeks later still hasn’t arrived (but yet I see the “withdrawal” minus taxes in the transaction tab if that account). When I raised this with my FA he quickly researched it and found that “someone” had transposed 2 of the numbers in my bank account that the funds were going to (I had sent a VOID check copy as part of the withdrawal paperwork). He assured me that it would be resolved this week. What’s today…Thursday? Still no deposit showing. 🤷🏻♂️
Yikes! 🤞🙏 I’ve checked and double-checked the direct deposit information for the same reason!
Apparently, one of the students you failed now works in HR.
😳
I know you’re joking, but my department had some intense conflict with the provost (the second in command at the university) over the last couple of years I was there. It’s the primary reason why I retired in 2025 and not 2026. As the person about to retire, I often took the lead on sending emails and memos on behalf of my colleagues who still had more to lose. So I’m guessing she knows my name, and she’s also reputed to hold grudges and be vindictive. When my retirement action mysteriously disappeared, I thought for a second…could it be?…Nah. But I guess you never know.
Dana, I’m sorry you are going through this. Our experience is that transitions are the toughest for health care, pensions, SS, …. I’m a trust but verify kind of person. I was taught to be polite but persistent, and look for place where things can go wrong. Once we got our pension, SS, and Medicare established things have gone quite smoothly (I hope I didn’t just jinx it).
Ironically, signing up for Medicare went incredibly smoothly for both of us. With all the upheaval in government, I was more worried about that than my pensions, but that went like clockwork.
“Polite but persistent” has been my approach. When I’m on the phone I’m polite and calm, or I try to be. But I do follow up any call I make with a secure message, and I’m finding those get more attention than the calls.
It’s a good lesson – always double check what’s “supposed to happen.” I’ve experienced similar things with something as basic as refunds. Sometimes things just go wrong in the system, and if you don’t double-check, no one would even catch it!
Exactly right!
Yikes, indeed! Here’s hoping your second late birthday present arrives soon, and next year you get both presents on time on Aug 1 — oh, wait, that’s a Saturday. Fingers crossed!
Thanks! 🤞