Dan R.

Treasury Direct worked great for about a month. Then, one day, I went to log in, and as soon as I submitted by Account Number, I got a message that my account was locked, and to call *******676. I called, mid-afternoon, and the recorded message said that their queue for calls-on-hold was so long they were not letting anyone else hold. Then it disconnected.

Coincidentally, the same day, I received an e-mail from Treasury Direct, saying that my account was locked and I had to file a form FS-5444 -- by U.S. Mail -- to get it unlocked. The form requires a SIGNATURE GUARANTY from a financial institution.

I found the form online, filled it out, got my bank to give the signature guaranty, and mailed it the next day.

They open at 8:00 a.m. EDT. I called at 8:08, and the recording said that the call volume was high, and I had a wait of approximately 2 hours. Seriously?! 8 minutes into their day they have so many calls they can't get to mine for 2 hours?!

There were a half dozen pre-recorded messages played periodically during that 2 hour wait, one of which said that if you write to them about your problem, expect a 13-week wait before they can address your problem. So, much for rushing to send in the form FS-5444.

Finally spoke to someone who looked at my account, said it was locked with a code she did not have the authority to override, and that all she could do was forward my case to the one person with authority to override the code. Could I have a case number? No. Could I have the name and number of the person with the override authority? No.

But she said that I would receive a call back within 2 days.

I did not receive a call back within 2 days. I have not received that call and it's been nearly 3 weeks.

Every day, for a week after that, I'd try to log in, then I'd call the *******676 number as near to 8:00 a.m. as I could manage. The message always said that the estimated wait was 2 hours. One day, I waited nearly 4 hours.

When they answer, no one can help. No one can give me a case number. No one can transfer me to a supervisor. No one can give me a name or address other than the 13-week-wait address I already had. One woman just hung up on me. With one exception, they all said that my case has been forwarded and that I should wait for the call back.

When I said that the 2 days was long past, and asked what was I to do, just wait indefinitely while the Government uses my money, interest-free? I was told, "You don't have to wait indefinitely. Just until you get the call back."

The one exception: one rep said that they had just had a big conference call with Washington. They are inundated, swamped, with problems just like mine. In that conference call they were told to forward situations like mine directly to a specific number in Washington. She could not give me that number because, on their system, it is just a 4-digit code. But she transferred me.

The phone rang for the rest of the afternoon. Once it got to be past 4:30 p.m. in Washington, I assumed that no one would answer. But I thought I'd let it ring all night. Maybe the first person in, in the morning would answer. Alas, sometime after 8 p.m. someone (probably a cleaning person) picked it up and hung up.

I wrote to my congresswoman and my 2 Senators. My congresswoman said she'd look into it. My two Senators did nothing. I've been locked out for nearly 3 weeks, and my congresswoman has had this for 2 weeks, and I've gotten nothing from anyone.