Claim Closed 3 Weeks Ago Still No Communication From Varo

[his.sparrow]

Through email and phone correspondence with IRIS I have discovered that my 8 month old claim was "CLOSED OUT" on 5 NOV 2010. Today is 27 NOV 2010 and 3 full weeks later I have not received payment or the big brown envelope. Am I being ignorant to assume that the terminology "Closed Out" meant that the claim had been completed in entirety. I would be grateful for any suggestions, comments, or explanations. Why does it take so long to find out the verdict after all the 'hard work' and decisions have been made?

[broncovet]

I have had several claims "closed" for no good reason by the VARO. It has never been good. It puts the claim

"in limbo" and makes it difficult/impossible for the Veteran to get it going again. Personally, I think this is a VARO "trick" to make it look like there are fewer claims pending, when they are not. That is, it makes them look good, like they finished more claims than they actually did. Remember, according to some recent CAVC decisions, the RO does NOT owe the Vet a written decision on a claim and can, instead, "deemed deny" it. It is called a "sub silento" denial.

It means that your one year appeal clock starts ticking and if you dont appeal this deemed denial, then it becomes final and you can never appeal it.

Bottom Line: File a NOD

JMHO

[his.sparrow]

Well, I'm floored! Not only did they close my claim without rating it...they also lost my records. After calling every single day since I posted on this forum I finally got a a response from the Iris.gov help site and discovered that my file has been sitting at the VA medical center where I conducted my first C&P exam (8 months total) and was never sent back to the regional office. They closed my case from "lack of evidence."

IRC Referral - I would like to know that status of my claim. I have not recieved any officia... Discussion Thread Response (Department of Veterans Affairs)12/03/2010 04:54 PM Dear ...:

This is a follow up response to your recent inquiry to the Department of Veterans Affairs dated November 19, 2010, in regard to the status of your claim.

We have received information back from your station of jurisdiction in regard to your inquiry.

According to our records, apparently your original claim, dated April 5, 2010, was closed in error but, has since been re-established correctly, with the same claim date. Your claim folder has been at the VA medical since May 26, 2010. We have requested that your folder be returned to your station of jurisdiction as soon as possible for continued processing of your claim.

In addition, your claim has been forwarded to a pre-determination team coach in an effort to bring your claim up to speed as quickly as we can.

We are sorry for the error that was made in the processing of your claim for compensation.

Thank you for contacting us. If you have questions or need additional help with the information in our reply, please respond to this message or see our other contact information below.

Sincerely yours,

xxx

HOW MANY OF YOU GUYS HAVE RECEIVED A MESSAGE LIKE THIS EVEN BEFORE YOUR CLAIM WAS DECIDED???

[broncovet]

This is good news for you! My experience has been any embarrassement the RO has works in your favor come decision time. I mean think about it.

If your waiter makes a mistakes and brings you the wrong food, what is he going to do? Tell the chef: Oh, I made a mistake on this persons order so please delay their next order as long as possible so I wont ever get a tip from that customer...

I dont think so. The IRIS people have already directed the predetermination teem to speed up your claim and put it on the top of the pile. So, when the rater gets it with a yellow sticky note on it from the boss that says, "Expidite"...the rater goes..gee this must be important...the bosses cousin or something, so I had better rate this one "approved" right away if I ever want a bonus.

Now for those that say this never happens, I suggest you re read some of the GAO reports...on, oh, say the "Shugga Momma"s case or a few other ones. Nepotism is alive and well at the VA, and if your claim gets stuck in the "good" pile by mistake, what is the VA gonna do? Say something like this:

Were sorry your claim was accidently approved as we thought it was the bosses cousin. Instead, it turns out you are not the bosses cousin so we are reducting your rating.

[his.sparrow]

I wander how long it will take to process now that it has that nifty little 'expedite' label on it?

[Berta]

This is almost as bad as something I read today-

A veteran's son died and the VA thought it was him instead who died and stopped his SC comp.

The vet went to a local newspaper and told this story- the VA immediately gave him his comp back.

I agree with Broncovet they will move fast on your claim and probably do a good job with the decision.

[his.sparrow]

I think that Veteran's need to realize that they need to 'stay on top' of their claim process. I knew something didn't feel right. I can not express how pleased I am with the invention of the IRIS website in helping with military claims. I wrote them every two weeks with specific and easy to answer questions concerning my claim. Questions such as: "It has been 4 weeks since I completed my C&P exams. Have my exams been uploaded into the Regional Office's system?" This created an undisputed paper trail that is not compiled if you just make phone calls. Eventually I started to continuously get responses that my file had not been up loaded and then out of the blue in November I was told my claim had been closed. I was so excited that the wait was finally over, but then my instinct kicked in again, and I questioned IRIS, "Has the claim been rated?" No answer...so I waited and then after 4 weeks of not hearing anything written I knew something wasn't right. During that time I started this post on Had It. I began to write IRIS every day and finally I got the response that was posted below. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it or not, but the claim one of those that is very cut and dry. 5 years ago I was injured while serving in Iraq, I received a small service connection for the injury the year after I returned home. This past year, however, as the injury worsened over the past 3 years and in January worsened to the point of emergency surgery that resulted in loss of an organ. What I am getting at, is that there is a potential for a large retro-back pay with the approval of this claim. I know it is a complete conspiracy theory, but what if I would have been one of those guys that hadn't stayed 'on top' of my claim and just let time pass by? My records would have been lost in the shuffle and never found...which would have saved the VA a large sum of money. They would have gotten away with it, had it not been for the IRIS paper trail my persistent nature.

I hope this doesn't ever happen to anyone else. It's a shame when it happens to just one of us. I'll let everyone know how long it takes them to process the claim now that it has a "coach" assigned to it and the verdict results. I wish everyone the best of luck with their claims and in the familiar battle cry of Army units, "Stay Alert, stay alive!"