You say you want me to include my SSN in all our email correspondence?
February 21, 2019 12:40 PM Subscribe
I need to contact the manager in charge of the Federal Benefits Unit office in the American consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico. I'm not getting anywhere with Google.
I'm a recently retired expat in Mexico going through the process of filing a claim for social security benefits.
The Federal Benefits Unit, which administers things like Social Security for the benefit of American expats around the world, has three offices at American consulates in Mexico. I've had some alarming interactions with the Guadalajara office--being asked repeatedly to provide my social security number via email, and being the recipient of a "request for information" email that was so poorly constructed that I spent an hour on hold with the SSA in order to eventually confirm that it wasn't a scam. I want to bring these things (the first one in particular) to the attention of whoever is in charge, but I can't find that information.
I'm hoping someone here either just happens to know the actual answer, or works for or is otherwise knowledgeable about the FBU and/or SSA and can suggest more effective search terms, or other avenues of inquiry.
I'd also be open to suggestions of places further up the chain of command where this could be reported. The only thing I can think of is writing my senators and representative, which seems like overkill.
I'm a recently retired expat in Mexico going through the process of filing a claim for social security benefits.
The Federal Benefits Unit, which administers things like Social Security for the benefit of American expats around the world, has three offices at American consulates in Mexico. I've had some alarming interactions with the Guadalajara office--being asked repeatedly to provide my social security number via email, and being the recipient of a "request for information" email that was so poorly constructed that I spent an hour on hold with the SSA in order to eventually confirm that it wasn't a scam. I want to bring these things (the first one in particular) to the attention of whoever is in charge, but I can't find that information.
I'm hoping someone here either just happens to know the actual answer, or works for or is otherwise knowledgeable about the FBU and/or SSA and can suggest more effective search terms, or other avenues of inquiry.
I'd also be open to suggestions of places further up the chain of command where this could be reported. The only thing I can think of is writing my senators and representative, which seems like overkill.
This post suggests that the head of FBU in Guadalajara is Rick Meyer, but I don't know how you'd get in touch with him. I would expect that the author of that post or someone with the American Legion in Chapala might be able to pass something on? You could always just try and address snail mail to him at the consulate (security might just throw it away though?). Working top-down through the consul general or your rep/senator might be the best way to make noise that counts though. For what it's worth, it looks like the new FBU head is newish to the post, so might be open to process change, etc., though my experience of US consular activities in Guadalajara is that it's a pretty chaotic affair, though the staff have good intentions for the most part -- good luck!
posted by bunyip at 2:06 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by bunyip at 2:06 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
« Older Movies or TV heavily featuring magazines /... | How do I easily wire my office for internet? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by praemunire at 1:21 PM on February 21, 2019