Social Security Administration

I arrived at 8:30 (30 minutes before they open) on a (rainy) Tuesday. I was sixth in line. They opened 3 windows at about 9:05. I was called around 9:25, and done by 9:30. Can’t hope for much better than an hour!

Door was closed when I got here and there were already two other people waiting there. Security will explain but no you need to get a number at the kiosk behind the door. No food and drinks allowed inside and don’t bring your pocket knife lol I just needed to do a name change so I was in and out in 10 minutes flat. Apparently they take appointments. Plenty of metered parking. 25 cents an hour. I paid 2 hours for nothing lol #toofasttoofurios

I keep calling this place to make a payment, and they never answer. They don’t have a automated system and you HAVE to talk to a person. The last guy I talk to was Horrible. No emotion and when I asked him how it’s was easier to make a payment, he told
me to fax the payment over to them. The problem is I don’t have fax. He then told me to go to Office Depot or something. I told him that I sent in a paper over 5 months ago to have the payment taken out of my checking account. He then went one yelling at me telling me that he doesn’t control that system and that I probably didn’t do it right. I told him to send means the form so I can fill out again and he went on yelling at me telling me that I wasn’t listening and that that was what he trying to tell me. He was very rude! !

Just got married two weeks ago and I’m trying to get my name changed on my SS card.
The place is easy to find and there were a few metered parking spaces outside. I believe it’s 25 cents for an hour.
Being as though this is my first time here I walked upstairs and to the waiting room and looked around since I didn’t know what the process was.
I happened to see a lady with a ticket in hand and inquired about it. You must visit the kiosk next to the door to get a number.
The room was pretty full when I got there. I waited about 30 minutes with 4 windows open only one person was called to the window.
As time went on the line moves faster.
An hour and 45 minutes later I was called and I did a happy dance… In my head!
If you can, call ahead of time to make an appointment!
After I went back it took about 15 minutes to answer questions and receive my receipt for a new SS card. I’ll receive the card in two weeks in the mail.

The wait is long, and people tend to hog all the seats with their bags. I arrived here at 9 thinking I could be one of the first. Let me just say that didn’t happen. Expect a good 2 to 3 hours out of your day. 2 of the staff decided to both go on a break at the same time leaving 2 windows open at 10am.

I have been putting off going down to Social security to change my name after getting married, but have to say I was pleasantly surprised by my visit to social security. I arrived around 12:30 to find a room full of people, the four staff members on duty were efficient and nice. I waited about 40 minutes to be called back in and from there it only took 5 – 10 minutes to make it official. Thanks for a good experience.

I’ve only been to two SSA offices in the area, but I can say this one is way better. I’ve got married and visited it for a name change. No reservation, just come in on Tuesday 2pm, got my ticket and waited in line. Office was almost empty at that time, plenty of parking space nearby, although you have to pay for it (it’s 25 cents per hour, coin operating parking machine). It took me about 15 minutes to wait in line, and 20 more to get everything done. I just had my form filled up and just the documents mentioned in form agenda. The personnel I’ve contacted was friendly, polite and professional. Overall great experience at this SSA Office. Tip: room is on the second floor, entrances are easy to find, take your documents and some coins for parking. On November 25^th there was a construction going on right next to the building: mind that when you’re looking for route and a parking space.

I went in at 9:25 on a Wednesday without an appoinment to get my name changed (post marriage). I waited for about an hour, with 8 people ahead of me, also without appoinments. Their site said they didn’t accept appointments so I was surprised to see people there with appointments. I had already filled out the paperwork on line, so just handed that to the employee when called and she quickly processed everything within about 10 minutes. Over all positive experience since I didn’t have an appointment.

1.5 hour wait without a reservation. I guess this is pretty standard. Although I overheard some other poor sap was waiting for 6 hours… Good thing we only need to go here once in a millennia. The security guard even let us borrow a pen, kudos.

I have been to most Social Security offices in the Bay Area from San Francisco to Fremont to Walnut Creek and this was one of the longest waits I have had. There were only 2 people working. Sometimes one person only and the office was full with people waiting outside the door. There were also people behind the closed windows doing who knows what while we all waited hours and hours.
I will never go back to this office.

Most of the employees here have bad attitude towards people!
The only friendly one here is the security he is more helpful than the employees behind that window!
I’ll visit another social security administration next time DO NOT COME TO THIS ONE!!! IT’S A WASTE OF TIME

We came here around lunchtime after we got our marriage license at the San Mateo County Clerk’s office (which is down the street). It was practically empty and the process took less than 5 minutes. I recommend for all newly married couples to get their name change done here.

I just dropped in. Had to wait 15 – 20 minutes, which seemed reasonable.
Guy helping me took my problem well in hand and told me he would follow up on correction to my Medicare application (some screw-​up that puzzled us both) and would be sure it got taken care of.
Sure enough, the situation did get corrected as promised and in a short period of time.

I got married in September 2012, and one year later I still hadn’t changed my name!
I purchased a Groupon from
, and let me tell you that purchase made it even easier to visit SSA (MissNowMrs allows you to input all of your information and then produces all the forms you need to change your name).
I visited SSA at 12:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon on November 1; I had already filled out my paperwork for my name change, so when I walked in I simply signed in using the computer kiosk, and then waited. There were five other people in the office and there were three employees assisting patrons.
My wait time? I KID YOU NOT… four minutes. FOUR MINUTES! I was absolutely floored. A process that I thought would be tedious and difficult turned out to be simple and a breeze! My time at the window took three minutes. I was in and out in under 12 minutes. WOW.
Park: on the street; one quarter will get you 1 hour.
Bring: your I.D., passport, and forms filled out (if you can)
Good luck!

Who knew you could have a good experience at a bureaucratic agency? I made an appointment like a fellow Unilocaler recommended. I went in about 10 minutes early. My appointment was at 10:30am and I was seen at 10:31. I was out in ten minutes. Painless. Everyone was polite too. I wish all government agencies were that efficient.

Why am I still here? I really don’t know. I’m writing this review while waiting to see a «claims representative». What does that even mean? I just want to get my grandma’s address changed. I’ve been here for 2 hours.

One advice: Make an appointment.
I went to the Social Security office on Tuesday at 1:14 pm. I did not make an appointment as I thought it would be an easy in and out — Wrong. When you arrive, go to the computer touch screen and follow the instructions. You will get a number printed out. I waited for about 47 minutes before my number was called. The Social Security personnel was nice but you can tell he had better days and he did mention that’s why they have a security guard around (with a gun too!) He was very helpful and made my visit an easy one.
You cannot talk on your mobile phone in the waiting room, so bring something along with you or go by outside the entrance of the waiting room to talk on your phone.
The main entrance is on Fuller street and there is plenty meter parking. With only 25 cents you can get an hour parking, which you may need.

I got there 15 minutes after they opened and got called up in about 20 minutes. Not bad. I like this one better than San Mateo. It’s cleaner and the chairs are situated more like a waiting room. I had all the proper paperwork and was finished within 10 minutes Make sure you do your homework before coming in or you may have to come back to visit multiple times.
There is metered parking out front, and luckily it’s only 25 cents per hour. AWESOME! I had one quarter and was out of there in 30 minutes!

Quick, polite service. Had to go there to change my name after getting married (was procrastinating about it). When you get to the office on the 2^nd floor, there’s a touch screen computer where you select what you’re there for. It was around 10:30am when I arrived and my number was called 15 minutes later. Since I had all the paperwork I needed already filled out, I just gave it to the clerk (who was quite friendly), showed him my marriage certificate & other documents. The clerk was quite friendly (which surprised me, not sure why) and chatty. I was done 10 minutes later. The entire visit took less than 30 minutes.
The building is at the corner of Allerton & Fuller Sts. The main entrance to the building is actually on Fuller so best to park on Fuller rather than Allerton. Not really a big deal if you’re park on Allerton though. Plenty of street parking and like the other reviewer said, its only 25cents for 1 hr parking.

Fast, Easy, Smooth.
Decided to ride my bike across town to take care of some paperwork. Got there and was back on my way with in minutes.
The people at this office were kind and extremely helpful.
Way easier and stress free compared to the Downtown San Jose and Fremont offices.