I got an e-mail notification that my W-2s were available on-line. The only problem is, I signed up for e-W-2s two years ago, and it’s a service you’re supposed to re-up on a yearly basis. Because I had such a terrible experience last year getting my W-2s (as in, I was unable to retrieve them electronically, and did not receive the requested paper copy through the post), I declined to enroll in it again this year. I just didn’t want to go through that mess again. So I was mightily surprised to find out that my enrollment had been carried over without my permission. Damn!
I decided to try to make lemonade with lemons, and tried to download them. Only, A) in place of user ID, they want my SSN. I suppose that’s somewhat logical, but in every other place, when they want SSNs, they explicitly ask for SSNs. They do not call them “User ID” numbers. So, I got that figured out, only to find that my PIN is not working properly. I used their web form to reset it, and got the new PIN via e-mail. And, it was the same damned PIN I’d already tried using. And, it still didn’t work.
I called their customer service number, only to have their auto response system request, yes, you guessed it, my SSN and PIN. The same PIN that did not, has not, and as far as I can tell, will never actually work. You have got to be fucking kidding me! So, I tried the handy trick of calling back, but not responding to any of the auto response prompts. If you do that, most computer systems will assume you’re on a rotary phone, and will put you through to a real, live human being. Not that that did me much good, because the real, live human being gave me the same damned PIN. I tried to explain to her that it’s never worked, and that I went through this exact same song and dance last year, but she was totally unhelpful.
red paper boat 