Veterans Service Officers And Claim Submission.

[Guest jstacy]

I had been reviewing posts from other areas on this board and I came across one that really hit home. A Service Officer was sitting on crucial evidence in a rating reduction case. A similar event happened to me back in 94 and I lost allot of retro because of it. ( I am trying to cue it back) Most Service officers have a cord and you can plug them into the wall and sweep your carpet with them. There may be a few ( Very few) good ones.

If you are trusting these people to submit any information for you you may be in for a surprise. These people work at the Regional offices and work every day with RO personnel. I am sure there are relationships built, Lunches are taken, Friendships and ECT. That would be a conflict of interest.

The only losers in this game are the Veterans.We all are living on Borrowed time. The Va will be here when we all arent.

The first advise I give to any veteran who asks how to do a claim is to select a Service Representative but it is only a formality. After the selection is made, Then proceed with your claim. It is the Veterans responsibility to file, submit, and appeal the claims. Do not, in anyway, allow a Service officer to submit anything for you. Use certified mail and send a copy to the Service officer.

[Berta]

You are positively absolutely correct and I hope anyone out there just reading the board and not joining us will take heed to your words!

Another thing- any Good SO or vet rep has 100s of claims-

and is trying to give every one 100%- it just is impossible to do sometimes-

a lousy vet rep (who might have 100s of claim too)is probably hoping to tell the vet-if denied- this will have to go to the BVA- and he/she gets it off his desk for years-instead of reading the Reason and bases and then suggesting things the vet can do to combat the decision.

When I left the DAV-after 4 miserable years- I expected good representation locally as the former vet rep there was excellent (state office)and got a promotion to their VARO office. The new vet rep read my claim fast and immediately said -this is going to the BVA! I felt like hitting him over the head with it-how can anyone make that type of assessment after reading a claim fast like that?

I said -gee -I didnt know this was a DAV office.

When he assured me it wasn't (I just said that cause I was ticked) he took the time to read my past award letters and his tune changed a bit-then he saw my settlement papers and he started to kiss my ass-

however-I did not depend on him to send the VA anything at all nor did I follow any of his advice-because

it was all wrong-I literally had to email him some of the regs-that he didnt know-

I could have been a vet , not a widow, and I consider the fact that he probably doesnt get many widows claims- but still- if a vet rep reads a claim real fast and starts expounding on it negatively-without suggestions as to how to support the claim-and determines the outcome before the VARO ever sees it-

this is not a vet rep who will act in your interests.

Unfortunately the BEST vet rep we have is ourselves.Having a POA looks better to VA than going it alone but

to succeed-in most cases-we have to go it alone anyhow.

I have excellent representation where I need it- right at the VARO building-and I just hope this vet rep has not been this negative with veterans right off the bat.

[Testvet]

I agree, find your own copies of eveidence you need if you wait on someone else to do it, you will live to regret it, if you live close enough to the VARO I suggest you take the time to hand carry the paperwork into the service desk and get a date stamped copy back and keep it safe, it saved me over a years back pay when they claimed I had missed an appeal date and I whipped out my dated copy and they had to regroup, I did get paid. The SO is not your best advocate you are, use them like a lwayer, trust but verify, and handle it yourself and courtesy copy them, not the other way around. They do not want to make the people made upstairs, why, we are mad why shouldn;t they get mad? It is our claims, it does not affect the SO's life or the VARO employee pushing papers, after yours there are thousands more sitting there, your paperwork is meaningless to them.

[Bound4heaven]

You are positively absolutely correct and I hope anyone out there just reading the board and not joining us will take heed to your words!

Another thing- any Good SO or vet rep has 100s of claims-

and is trying to give every one 100%- it just is impossible to do sometimes-

a lousy vet rep (who might have 100s of claim too)is probably hoping to tell the vet-if denied- this will have to go to the BVA- and he/she gets it off his desk for years-instead of reading the Reason and bases and then suggesting things the vet can do to combat the decision.

When I left the DAV-after 4 miserable years- I expected good representation locally as the former vet rep there was excellent (state office)and got a promotion to their VARO office. The new vet rep read my claim fast and immediately said -this is going to the BVA! I felt like hitting him over the head with it-how can anyone make that type of assessment after reading a claim fast like that?

I said -gee -I didnt know this was a DAV office.

When he assured me it wasn't (I just said that cause I was ticked) he took the time to read my past award letters and his tune changed a bit-then he saw my settlement papers and he started to kiss my ass-

however-I did not depend on him to send the VA anything at all nor did I follow any of his advice-because

it was all wrong-I literally had to email him some of the regs-that he didnt know-

I could have been a vet , not a widow, and I consider the fact that he probably doesnt get many widows claims- but still- if a vet rep reads a claim real fast and starts expounding on it negatively-without suggestions as to how to support the claim-and determines the outcome before the VARO ever sees it-

this is not a vet rep who will act in your interests.

Unfortunately the BEST vet rep we have is ourselves.Having a POA looks better to VA than going it alone but

to succeed-in most cases-we have to go it alone anyhow.

I have excellent representation where I need it- right at the VARO building-and I just hope this vet rep has not been this negative with veterans right off the bat.

Greetings,

You are right on Berta. I can from expirence with SO's mine were lazy, and had a basically who cares attitute. The last one I had for (3 months) last year (AL) gave me very bad advice and almost distroyed my claims for increased until I heard of Hadit.com. It appearded he was buddy, buddy with the RO, and never and I mean never returned any of my phone calls and I left plenty.

I have learned over the years we must be our greatest advocate. I went through a ordeal over the past 5 months with the VARO and the VAMC (bad C&P exams). It was throug the advice of many here on hadit (Berta, Terry) that not only did I get new C&p exams, that benefited my case greatly, but a incompendent N.P who did C&p exams was fired , and I had the VAMC Medical Director calling me at home making sure I was being taken care of (after a meeting we had which was audio taped). (Thanks Berta).

We have to realize who has our best interest at heart. Is it the VARO? NO!, VAMC NO!, Service Reps? No!. Is it other disabled veterans and family of disabled veterans? YES!. I would have not won my cases for Spedical adaptive Housing, Side effects from meds, Increase for 15 service conneceted disabilities which I was just awarded SMC.

There is no way I would have received what I was due if I would have listened to a SO. We must leard the CFR's well, and use every court decision that pertains to our cases. Also not willing to accept a N.P, PA, or even a MD if that person does not have the medical education to render opinons in specific areas.

The VARO loves to deal with disabled veterans who do not know how the process works, and relys on the advice of ineffective SO's. If we are willing to dig deep into this pony show and not allow the VARO to step all over us then we will win and receive what is legally and morally what is ours.

I would encourage anyone new or maybe who has been here a lttle while. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There are many here who will bend over backwards to help. Just as they did for me and I will do for another veteran who has questions. God bless you all and thank you all who have helped me throught the past 8 months. I know I have asked allot of questions. The references to the CRF 38 and court decisions have been a blessing.

Bound