I Would Like To Have Some Advice,

[mcso111]

I filed a claim in feb '08 which hasnt been decided as of yet also i filed a claim in aug 08, everytime that i call they tell me that the claim is and for what ever reason they have flip flopped my aug to be the feb and the feb to be the august, and some items are on both. i dont have any service officers that i believe in in my area, because they are not interested or they are there for a paycheck, has anyone had this happen to them? and what can i do about it for my end? I realize that i screwed up and filed one before the other was decided on. and I am still kicking myself for that mistake. I need some advice please.

[john999]

The VA will probably make a decision on both claims at the same time. If they rate them together it may be OK as long as all your evidence is in and you tell them you have no more evidence in either matter. Did you get a VCAA letter on both claims telling you what you needed to win the claims? If you don't get one of those letters then you need to inquire as to what is going on with your claim.

[mcso111]

I have just recieved a letter vcaa letter i week ago from my aug claim, and what i need, it might be one of those cases where the operator dont know what they are talking about. but has for the feb claim i havent recieved anything, the operator says all info is in but nothing further on that claim.

[rentalguy1]

They combined both of your claims into one. They will be decided together at the same time. This will not change effective dates of claims, though. Anytime that we file a new claim while one is still in the hopper this is what they do, unless the first claim has already been rated. It's kind of the same with a appeal, also. If you have a appeal working through the RO and then file a new claim, the appeal gets put on hold until the new claim is decided. If the appeal is ready to rate, or if you are above the RO level, then the new claim is put on hold until the appeal is decided.

At any rate, I'm afraid all you can do at this point is send the VCAA letter back stating that you have no more evidence and that you waive the remaining time so that your claim can be decided as quickly as possible. Then you sit back and wait.

[john999]

I don't know how you guard against it but when you have two claims going at the same time the VA is liable to get the evidence mixed up, so if you can indicate exactly which claim each piece of evidence if for it would help. I had two claims going at the same time and the VA mixed the evidence up and made a mess out of it. You might want to look at your C-File to see what is in there before it goes much longer so you can fix anything that is mixed up. If you don't get a VCAA letter that specifically addresses all the issues of your claim you need to find out what is going on because that may mean something is wrong. More errors are made in the VCAA letters than almost anywhere else. The VCAA letter is supposed to be a roadmap to winning your claim. As Rentalguy says, you want to return the portion of the VCAA letter that asks if you have any more evidence to submit. If you don't indicate that and return it to the VA they won't do anything until they get that letter back. They will just sit on it for up to a year. You are going to have to babysit your claim all the way through the system as far as you can. Never take anything they say for granted. If you have doubts about something check on it.

[poolguy11550]

If you got all your evidence in for both claims turned in then I would return all VCAA notices timely and just wait. It could be helpful to send an "iris" request to the RO ask them if they are working on the two different claims.

[mcso111]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I will look through my copies of what i have and send them anything i dont believe they have and then just sit and wait, and expect the worst and pray for the best. have a great holiday season everyone.