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Nod Form 21-0958 And Call Option?

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TiredCoastie

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There was a box on the standard NOD form that asked if I would ike to receive a telephone call or email from the RO which explained that they would attempt to call twice at the phone number provided. I checked the "yes" block and gave them all the contact information. Guess I'll be carrying around a copy of my NOD for a while. Also guessed it couldn't hurt to have someone call and acknowledge they're actually reading the form.

What can someone expect from this type of contact from the RO? Didn't see anything posted in the forums...

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There was a box on the standard NOD form that asked if I would ike to receive a telephone call or email from the RO which explained that they would attempt to call twice at the phone number provided. I checked the "yes" block and gave them all the contact information. Guess I'll be carrying around a copy of my NOD for a while. Also guessed it couldn't hurt to have someone call and acknowledge they're actually reading the form.

What can someone expect from this type of contact from the RO? Didn't see anything posted in the forums...

Personally, I'd request email from the VARO so I would have a hard copy

of whatever they have to say.

For me a paper-trail is a must.

jmho

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And then we ask the pertinent question---What if you are represented by counsel or (God forbid) a brain dead VSO? Wouldn't it be impermissible, not to mention unethical, to go behind the rainmaker's back and contact the Vet directly? Where, pray tell is the box to check off saying you wish a DRO review? Again- AWOL. The new form is so fraught with deficiencies that it is a legal train wreck.

a

cp

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Is using the NOD Form mandatory? What is the Form number for this new NOD form? My NOD's usually include a request for a DRO Hearing. If you request reconsideration with new evidence you must distinguish this from a NOD. You have three options, at least, when you start appealing. You can request a reconsideration, or a DRO, or an appeal to the BVA with no stops along the way. You can also request a personal hearing on your claim at any time until it is shipped off to the BVA. I had two DRO Hearings on the same claim one time because I had one before I hired a lawyer and one after I hired a lawyer.

John

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All excellent points...

Form 21-0958 has a block that says that I could opt to receive a telephone call or email, but the directions on the form as well as the form itself seem to lend more toward the phone call option. There was not a way to specifically request an email over a telephone call, Carly, but you've got an outstanding point. That's kind of like the kid who called me from the Baltimore RO right after I submitted my claim, told me I'd be in the DDD program, and everything would roll very quickly...after ignorning the POA with an NSO. Of course, nothing of the sort happened and I was finally rated a year later...which wasn't bad considering what others have experienced.

So, AskNOD, that's a powerful point. Not going to an official representative doesn't impact me right now but undoubtedly would others. Thanks to the advice here, I've fired my VSO and have not yet secured counsel. I think I'll go it alone with community help for now. And one can only imgine what happened to the DRO review options, etc. I'm expecting that to pop up on the form 9, in the telephone call I may or may not get...?

John, the form (21-0958) did not say its use was manditory but insisted that it was faster for them to use the form. So I opted to comply with hopefully less confusion for them. It doesn't cost me anything unless I was somewhere supposed to provide information they didn't ask for...like a DRO hearing option, etc. My request for reconsideration (dated April 11, 2013), driven by the VSO, is stuck in molasass although it did move to the rating phase a couple of weeks ago. I submitted the NOD to preserve the original claim seeing that they would string me out beyond the appeal deadline. Meanwhile, there were things that I'd asked in the NOD that weren't addressed in the VSO request for reconsideration. One of them was the missing month between when the VSO submitted a memo (e.g. informal claim) that was to hold the date for the actual claim. The NSO hoped that the RO would simply review the C-file, see the errors in their ways, and do right by me in all aspects including those not listed on his form (even after I asked him). I do plan to ask for a personal hearing at the BVA....that just makes a lot of sense. Not sure the DRO is worth it...it they can't get it right, whomever gets stuck talking it out with me is going to just dig in his heels and refuse anyway until someone makes them fix it.

Thanks, Meghp, for all your help as well. It took a little longer than I wanted, but it's in. I did not pull the claim in process. There are aspects of that claim I'd like to continue that are not being appealed. So I'm going to make them sort it out.

In the event someone from the RO actually calls (or emails), I'll report back with what they have to say.

Edited by TiredCoastie
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Hi TiredCoastie,

Your situations sounds a lot like mine...the request for reconsideration, filing the Nod so that you don't miss out on the appeal deadline, having a second claim in at the same time and asking for a DRO hearing as well!! I think that I have confused them thoroughly because I just received a letter stating that my appeal period has expired on a denial that I just received on April 11, 2013!! and now they have me thoroughly confused!! Can't help but laugh so that I don't break anything. The should give me hazard pay for having to deal with the RO in Waco!!

Shyne-I

Edited by Shyne-I
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