JDubya

I'm in the same boat as Jay. I filed an appeal this past March (2016) with my RO out of Albuquerque. Appeal was on a claim to increase rating and add secondary disabilities. Since then, I've had my C&P and an informal hearing with the DRO. I'm told this is very quick by VA standards. Still, there's no new information on eBenefits. It just says that my appeal has been received. Peggy (chat & phone) keeps giving me the canned response - average of 408 days to make a decision. I've visited the RO twice. One of those times I was laughed at by the rep, saying I should expect to wait years. The second time, the rep told me that there's no way I could have had my C&P and hearing already. I made him look into it before I left and he verified that I had. Very frustrating, and I expect that I still have a long time to wait. My only question is why there's no status updates like there was for my original claim. Do DRO's keep everything off the books?