At times callers to TIAA-CREF's Telephone Counseling Center may experience longer-than-usual wait times to speak with one of our consultants. We appreciate how frustrating it can be to wait on line, and would like to update you on the best way to avoid longer wait times, as well as let you know about some other investments we're making to improve speed of service in the long run.
To avoid longer than normal wait times, the best times to call us are Wednesday through Friday:
You can check your balance, change allocations, transfer funds and obtain other information about your account, 24 hours a day, at 1 800 842-2252.
To reach a TIAA-CREF representative by phone, call us at 1 800 842-2776, or view additional ways to Contact Us.
Taking Steps to Serve You Better
Our goal before the end of the year is to answer 70% of calls, on average, in 30 seconds. For the first three months of this year, we answered 45% of calls, on average, within 30 seconds. In March, 61% of calls were answered within 30 seconds, which is up from 36% in January.
To help achieve this goal, we are opening a third telephone counseling center in Dallas, adding consultants, and assuring that our consultants have the training and knowledge to impart the information and advice our participants expect.
Additionally, we are implementing a new interactive voice response system, which will offer additional self-service options for our participants. For example, we will be installing a queuing system that will enable you to leave a call back number and receive a prompt call back instead of waiting on hold.
Listening to You
Our goal is to be more responsive to your needs than ever. To this end, we have been asking you, our participants, how you think we're doing. In January, for example, when asked if our telephone wait times were acceptable, you rated us at 3.5 on a scale of 1 to 5. While we clearly need to speed service, we were pleased to see that you rated our consultants 4.4 out of 5 for handling your phone calls to your satisfaction. We appreciate your feedback. With the steps outlined above, we intend to speed wait times and improve satisfaction.
Finally, plan sponsors who experience a problem, or whose employees experience a problem, should contact your institutional relationship manager. Plan sponsors without an individual relationship manager should contact us via our Administrator Telephone Center at
1 888 842-7782.
© 2009 and prior years, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), New York, NY 10017
