TiredCoastie

I'm with you, Fat. Like Berta suggested, an IRIS or phone inquiry can get you a little info. eBenefits will show if they've got it in processing. But sure don't see a lot going on with it on my end either other than they've got it and it was accepted as an appeal. If you're sure they received the NOD but don't see any indication that it's been inprocessed at the RO on eBenefits after a month or so, then I'd definitely send an IRIS email and ask for a status. I did that and found that they couldn't find mine within the RO. Then it became a battle to get them to accept it once they did find it. Those certified mail receipts/return receipt requested cards were like gold. But it would have disappeared if I didn't ask.

Amen! 63Sierra is dead on. Don't give up! Let us know how things go and, from this community, you'll get ample advice as to how to proceed. Hang in there and God bless!

You might want to double check the rules on PTSD and how the VA determines SC and rating. I haven't had to address this condition myself, but have read a lot about PTSD being an "in house" diagnosis for disability purposes. Hopefully your lawyer knows how to get around this or at least push it in the right direction through an IME - maybe proving that both the VAMC and RO did you wrong by showing an outside opinion and pushing for a new C&P? I don't know... Really hope it works out for you!

Hey, I woundn't give up hope. Within eBenefits and under the documents tab, find your award verification letter and check it out if you haven't already. It's a very quick way to see if your overall combined rating changed as a result of the claim being closed. You could be pleasantly surprised if you haven't checked this. Or, on the flip side, you might be fighting mad. I'm to the point now that I just look at the letter and decide that while whatever increase was or wasn't granted, there's going to be more work to do.

Seth, That's an interesting point of view. Let me ask this follow up, then. If the veteran is not qualified to know if evidence is both "new" and "material," and a VSO and the VA are unable to explain what it is, then who is qualified to make this determination? Maybe this is a loaded question, but I think it should be asked. I will point out that many of us don't have a lot of other options other than trudge on alone. My appeals' retro aren't going to generate enough 20% to make it interesting to most attorneys. I don't trust any VSO at this point, at least without a local recommendation which I'm not likely to get because I don't know many other vets who live around me who are going through the disability compensation nightmare. Based on what we can learn through the BVA case website, from others on forums like this, and just reading through the CFR, we're at least armed with enough knowledge to carry the battle forward. So if I'm not qualified to figure this out due to my strong emotional attachment and an attorney's not likely to take my case...what do I do? My only option is to make the argument the best I can with the knoweldge and understanding I have. Am I right? One Tired Coastie

Same thing happened to me, and AskNod was one of the folks who have helped me get this thing at least aimed in the right direction. I followed the advice he gave you and am now in the waiting mode. Basically, my claim was denied in Dec 2012. My VSO said the best way to fix the bad decision was to run a "request for reconsideration" claim. (This is before I found hadit, just so you know.) The NSO said that the claim would be decided way before any appeal, at least some of what was wrong would get fixed, and we'd have to appeal the rest. I trusted him, and I believe he meant well. He sent me out for new DBQs from my doctors, which I dutifully brought back with enhanced diagnoses, more evidence, etc. The trouble began when nothing happened with the second claim. It became more and more obvious that the VA was not going to complete claim processing on the reconsideration until after the year went past from the Dec 2012 decision. The VSO assured me there was no problem. By now I'm an avid reader of hadit and don't believe much they're telling me. I fired the VSO then filed a NOD just in time to save the original claim date (and it took six months for the RO to acknowledge that I submitted a NOD AND it was submitted on time, but that's a different story). One of the last things the VSO told me was that they never think appealing is the right answer. (Note the contradiction from what I was advised back when I submitted this new claim.) Meanwhile, the RO farmed out the claim in early March 2013 to a different RO who made a decision within a week. I did not find that the claim slowed down at all by the submission of the NOD, and the RO was well aware I was asking about the appeal while they were processing the claim - but they didn't acknowledge and begin processing the NOD until after the claim was decided anyway. One of my contentions was granted, one was lowballed, and several were denied again. Thank God I appealed when I did. The new decision was more than two months past the year deadline to appeal. So I just submitted a NOD on this latest decision as well and expect at some point they'll get combined somewhere down stream. Things are not progressed far enough for me to know what the SOC of the original appeal will look like, seeing as I haven't gotten one yet, but I suspect it will mirror the decision on the reconsideration claim. One of the things they did in the latest claim decision was to assign the effective date as the date the new and material evidence was signed by the doctor, not when the original claim was submitted. 38 CFR 3.156(b) applies and you'll want to be ready to appeal any effective date mishap using this cite. Having lived this and not had the benefit of folks like AskNod, Berta, Carly, John, and the rest of the elders here when it started, I would never go this route again but would appeal right up front. Like AskNod wrote, you get the benefit of getting another full review of your C-file and any new and material evidence with the potential for getting your contentions granted while being lined up to getting to BVA who will hopefully make things right or more right. The other option is to submit new and material evidence on the old claim WITHOUT filing a new one, but a NOD preserves the ability to get above the RO if they can't or won't get it right. Sooner or later you'll find yourself having to appeal. Might as well save the trouble and get in line soonest, like AskNod says.

Actually, it's likely a flaw in how eBenefits is designed and how the RO operates. There was a rater who used to be active on this site for a while and he explained that there is an online checklist of stuff they asked for. Raters can use it but most choose not to...it's one extra step and they can see what they have and what they don't have anyway or keep it hard copy, etc. Because they don't typically use it, when a claim closes, you get this "we never received" list. The list doesn't amount to anything if you submitted what they asked for. The best ways to check are either through your VSO, which you did, via an IRIS request, or just going in and looking yourself at the C-file.

Did they send you a SOC? When did you get the notification that your other conditions were being increased? If it looks like they think they're done with your NOD and if it were me, and this is just off the cuff and without a lot of experience here, I'd write them a letter, point out that your appealed contention was not mentioned in their latest decision communications, and that you mean for it to be processed as part of your appeal. I'd thank them for determining that an increase in the rest of your conditions was warranted. However, you were concerned about your SC and/or rating for IBS and would like to have that addressed now, please. Some might suggest sending an IRIS email to ask. If you just got the decision notification, that might be OK if you want to check the status of the IBS decision appeal. Maybe somehow they kicked out an increase for what you didn't ask while still processing the question of IBS and a second decision from them is pending? You'll know better than any of us if this is the case. However, don't we have something like 60 days to respond to a SOC with a Form 9? If the RO starts arguing that they sent you a SOC (your notification that your SC conditions were increased in rating) and you didn't respond in a timely manner, that's a major uphill fight to fix. That 60 day timeline, if I've got that right, is a major deadline and I'd do whatever to ensure that you don't get buffaloed into missing it. Your signature on a letter is an official notification that something isn't right. Thinking about this more as I type, if you look and determine that they sent you a SOC and did not mention IBS, I'd take that as a slient "denied" and file a Form 9 before the deadline. Maybe you could fill one out and send it in with your letter, just to cover the bases to ensure no surprise defeat?

I don't have any experience with the combined ratings problem, but I'm appealing effective dates under 38 CFR 3.156(b). Is that an option for you?

It is great news, Berta. It only took six months to get the RO to accept that I'd appealed. With a second NOD now in the mail room of one RO and on the way to another RO, we'll see how this all shakes out. If the initial NOD is any indication, years from now I'll get an answer either way. Of course, they could always just decide to see things my way seeing as I took the time to explain it in a way they might understand better. That proof of postmark is priceless, IMO. I've been using certified first class mail. The best part for me is the hand stamped postmark on the certified mail receipt showing that whatever I sent was mailed on a particular date. I keep that and the receipt. While the proof of receipt card is good, I also print out the tracking information to show when my envelope was received which also shows when it was actually mailed. So the proof is overwhelming regarding where on what date from the time it leaves me via the post office to whenver it is put into routing within the RO at the mailroom (that's the date that's usually on the return receipt card and has always been later than the date the Postal Service shows it as delivered). All those, like yourself, who strongly advised to ensure traceability for stuff sent to the RO saved my claim date and hopefully my retro. THANKS!!!

And to close this one out, my NOD was inprocessed and listed in eBenefits yesterday after a couple of statements and copies of the proof of postmark.

That's just wrong. Keep up the fight, Brother. Keep up the fight.

In regards to eBenefits, you'll need to have a premium account to access all the information posted there. That may be why you cannot access your claim status information. I got authenticated for the MyHeatheVet during a visit to a VAMC which I could turn into premium access to eBenefits. There are several other paths.including through DFAS if you're retired from one of the DoD services. Being overseas, this might be a big hurtle...don't know. In regards to the missing letter, if you know which RO holds your claim, you can either fax or mail them a letter requesting a copy of the missing one, pointing out your new address. I've had to do that. Another option is to commuicate via IRIS email and request a copy mailed to your current location, but they might want you to send something with a signature. In my case, I knew about the letter through an IRIS response, had the same address we've used since my first claim was submitted back in 2010, but it somehow didn't arrive. They still wanted me to send a formal request for a copy. https://iris.custhelp.com/ Hope this helps.

I think it's more out of institutional lazyness that VSOs and their NSOs push denials to "reconsideration claims." Doesn't the POA of a claim file have to do a lot of work if there's an appeal? As pro-vet as any of them may be, there are only so many hours in the day. They can help get ten vets aimed in the right direction with an initial entitlement claim complete with the bluster about how much they're gonna fight to make it right, etc - and then there's little to do after that. Or they can help one vet who's claim decision is all discombobulated in the same amount of time...if not more. I'm not saying there aren't good NSOs out there. It just seems like a hit-or-miss proposition, and so far I feel like I missed. Now if I'd found hadit a year earlier, maybe I wouldn't be in the position I'm in.

Kate - I wouldn't count it. Mine wasn't. The regs say that the effective date should have gone back to the original claim - 38 CFR 3.156(b) applies. That's part of my newest NOD. Folks including Carlie, Berta, AskNod, John, Meghd and several others really helped set me straight on the deadline. Hopefully your husband's appeal deadline hasn't passed. If it hasn't, get a NOD in tomorrow morning. If the deadline has passed, pray for a good outcome and be ready to fight using 38 CFR 3.156.

Hey, Vern, what you're experiencing with eBenefits is absolutely normal! There was a rater who was active on this forum and he described how the process works - basically, there is an electronic checklist within the system that eBenefits feeds off of that says whether or not a requested document has been received. The rater knows that he or she gets the docs, knows that they're in the C-file, so they don't bother to check off the checklist. You've done the absolute right thing: check via IRIS. That's really the only way to get an accurate look into what they hold and don't hold because someone at the RO goes and looks in your file to answer. I've gotten claim decisions that list all kinds of documentation but eBenefits says they were requested and never received. It's one of the major flaws in the system, and it drives you nuts because you don't know whether to trust it or not. eBenefits isn't really even understood within the RO anyway, so they may not even realize the amount of angst a simple handful of clicks might solve. Meanwhile, really sorry to hear your claim is stuck. Really hope it frees up fast. My last one did - they suddenly farmed it out to another RO which closed the claim within literally a few days. Of course, I'm drafting the NOD now...but that's beside the point. Hang in there!

The problem, Pete, is that Hugh could wind up in the same boat I'm in. He's going to wind up appealing at some point either because the RO disagreed with his contention or over the effective date of a grant, if not both. Being there right now, I sure wish I would have appealed rather than submit that reconsideration claim. My reconsideration claim took 11 months, and the decision was a little over 2 months past the 1 year NOD deadline. I filed a NOD on the deadline to protect the original claim date, and am currently in a fight with the RO to accept it as timely (thank God for certified mail receipts! That hand stamped postmark on the receipt is my proof of timely submission!). Hopefully anyone who takes this route will NOD earlier than I did. But still, now there will be two appeals in the system trying to get to the right decision on rating and service connection as well as the effective date. All the same steps would have happened if I'd appealed the initial decision and I'd be so much further ahead with less confusion within the RO team.

Be sure to drop the DAV a letter stating that their services are no longer required and that you are rescending the POA. Otherwise, they'll remain on the books as your VSO and potentially get in the way.

Just looking at the Monday Morning Workload Report from yesterday and adding across the column heads of the various types of claims that the VBA handles, I got approx 1.5M. That includes pensions, education, burial, entitlement award adjustments (?), and even appeal numbers being posted now. Wow, wonder when they started posting appeal totals? It's just a number on hand. The VA published they hold 273,948 appeals right now and there's not a row for the BVA that I saw, only a breakdown by ROs and an "other" row. There's also not a breakdown of what type of claim is being appealed. Just looking at entitlement claims only, the VA published that they had 541,506 on hand as of yesterday morning, with 280,930 of those older than 125 days. (Only those older than 125 days are considered part of the backlog.) When the VA talks claims, usually they mean entitlement claims but there are a lot of other types they handle. Most of the heat has been over entitlement claims and that's what's impacted most of the people on this site the most. And what about those who are looking for help from the VA pension process for long term medical care, etc? Education claims for those attempting to transition? Burial claims? Are these really less important overall? That's really the point of showing that there are 1.3 to 1.5M total claims on hand. Shifting back to entitlement claims for disability, while the overall numbers have dropped since the Neimer flood, with the overall total on hand down to around the same number they had back in October and November of 2010, this is only part of the overall load on the system and not a solid view into the whole disability process. I haven't tracked appeals numbers yet...didn't know I could until just now and wonder what appeals I'd be tracking anyway...but those numbers have to be on the increase and ought to be considered part of the overall claim process metrics when the VA talks "backlog." Sure they got you a decision, but how many of us have had to appeal, then appeal the appeal decision, etc? Fight for the action directed in the appeal decision to actually happen? Ultimately, I'd like the VA to say what one boss used to say whenever he was asked for something quickly - "You can have it now, good, or right. Pick two." Honestly, I'll pick good and right.

Thanks for posting this. I'm about to file my second NOD on the same issues and appreicate knowing that they combined both of yours. I'll expect the same with mine!

I'd file a NOD. A VSO talked me into the exact same reconsideration claim for the exact same reason. I wound up filing a NOD anyway after the reconsideration claim went past a year to protect the original claim date. And if things go like they did for me, you'll wind up filing a NOD in the end again because the decision still won't be right. It's an absolute mess and could have been avoided by filing a NOD up front. USN04 is right that you'll likely have to fight over the original claim date which means loss of retro. 38 CFR 3.156 states that if you submit new and material evidence within the year (like, through the reconsideration claim), the evidence is supposed to relate back to the original claim thus protecting that date. That sure didn't happen with my reconsideration claim and is one of the disagreements in my second NOD. If you file a NOD and you include new and material evidence with it, the RO will have to re-decide your claim anyway. If they don't grant everything, they send you a Statement of Case (SOC) to which you'll respond with a form 9. Your appeal then goes to the BVA, DRO hearing, whatever... So you'll preserve your original claim date, get a shot at getting the decision right at the local level, and be months to a year ahead on the appeal WITHOUT all the confusion I'm about to cause by having two competing NODs over the same basic decisions but across two different decision points. If you're happy with the RO's relook at your file, then you don't have to continue the appeal. It's the best of all worlds. Now, if your VSO is like mine, they'll desperately try to talk you out of it. I wound up firing mine as I approached the NOD point because they were completely unsupportive and VSOs, in general, have a history of doing more harm than good sometimes with the appeals process. It's a lot of work for them and they'd rather not do it if they can push you off on a claim, which for them is more like "fire and forget." You don't actually need a VSO. If you're not comfortable going it alone, either see if you can get a local recommendation for a VSO or see if there's a good veterans appeals lawyer within reach. The lawyer will cost you a part of your retro, but will have a vested interest in your outcome.

63Sierra has the right scoop. They should relook at your claim given new evidence and then either agree with you or provide a SSOC.

This sounds like your best bet. Have you had any success with a DRO hearing in the past? There seems to be two separate sets of opinions on this. If the RO was going to approve it, they'd do it without you having to show up to talk to the DRO. But if the process works as advertised, you might get the problem cleared up. Having read what others have experienced, I plan to bypass the DRO and go VFR direct to the BVA.

Just wanted to come back and state that 38 CFR §20.302(a) does not apply to my situation directly, but gives the one year deadline to get a NOD in from the date that the decision letter was mailed (presumed to be the date of the decision letter). Free Spirit was dead on with .305(a), and thankfully I included that argument in the couple of letters I've written. The funny thing is that one of the arguments thrown at me was that my NOD wasn't received until Jan 7th ignoring the postmark of Dec 26th (1 day before the deadline; tracking shows it delivered Dec 28th by the way). Having re-read §20.302(a) it dawned on me that they'd taken a good long while to get that decision out the door due to the Christmas holidays. Guess when it was actually postmarked...Jan 7th! Got 'em both ways! I've got the envelope from the decision letter! Nothing need be presumed when hard proof is on the table! I'm waiting for a response to my responses at this point, so I don't know if the RO will CUE itself or not. I used words like "clearly in error" but did not outright ask for a CUE to be called. I'd just like them to reverse their wrong decision and get on with business. Maybe that's the wrong approach, but will wait and see how it goes.

IMHO, letters from family and friends describing what you go through have the potential to be of benefit. If it were me, I'd get doctors to put something in writing, starting with your primary care doc. Someone with MD or DO after their name is more likely to have an impact. Are you getting your care inside the VA or outside? If you're outside, ask your primary care doc for a recommendation on a neurologist who has a background or strong interest in TBI and its impacts. More than just combat vets are getting their brain boxes rattled, and the knowledge of what happens is spreading. Before you start spending money, though, I'd wait for the decision. BUT, it's never a bad idea to get yourself ready to move quickly should you be denied.