tinnitus Special Correspondence Claim?

[Ascomdepot68]

I received a phone call from the St Pete VARO at about 1100 today while I was out. I had requested NO phone calls because the last two times the calls ended badly.

My sister who took the call said the guy ("Ed") had left a message for me that a person at the call center would be able to read to me, so I returned the call.

A little history first. I filed for IHD due to exposure to AO on 7/6/2010 and was denied 4/4/2011. Filed a NOD which they received 4/18/2011 and asked for

a DRO before sending to BVA.

I also filed a second claim on 4/28/2011 for Hypothyroidism -secondary to IHD (yes they had allready denied IHD), for DJD on my back and neck, for tinnitus,

and for serum sickness/penicillin allergy developed in service.

Also noted on eBenefits posted under claims is a Freedom of Information/Privacy Act request made on 1/12/2011.

The lady I spoke with said the message was that my request for the entire C-file made under the Privacy Act was ready to be sent for duplication.

Knowing (?) the VA, after the call I went to the eBenefits to see if the status had changed from "Under Development" on the C-file thing. It had not.

I check the eBenefits every day, sometimes 2-3 times, not thinking anything will change but it is something to do. On 6/9/2011 the only thing

under "CLOSED" was the compensation claim filed on 7/6/2011. Today at about 1200 hours there are 2 listings. The second one reads:

"Special Correspondence Claim received on 4/1/2011" and CLOSED 6/10/2011"

Does anyone have any insight into "Special Correspondence Claims" and any idea why this was just slipped in as it was closed?? It does say

Yes under appealable, but appeal what??

I do not want to call the VARO. I will not be hung up on again! And "iris" had not been fruitful for me either, just form responses.

What are the chances a copy of the "Special Correspondence Claim" will be included when and if I receive my C-file copy?

[john999]

I don't know but it looks like you will get your C-File which is what you need. Read it carefully for anything that might be seen as an informal claim.

[Ascomdepot68]

Filling in the blanks here.

The "special correspondence" was a letter I wrote to Secretary Shinseki's office.

The letter was not answered by DC but sent to VARO in St Pete for a response.

St Pete glossed over the entire affair. There is a copy of my letter in the C-file

that I received.

There is NOT a copy of the response from DC in my C-file. When I send the

next batch of papers in I will be sure to include a copy. I want my file to be

complete!

So I guess any corresponsence from a Senator/Representative would

also qualify. Ding it' Now I have to check the 668 pages again!

[shaybugg]

I was medically discharged from active duty on April 1, 2011 and filed my VA claim as soon as I had my medical file in hand which was April 24,2011. I only claimed things that were documented in my medical record so it shouldn't have been a complicated claim. I did my C/P exam on August 6, 2011 and was told it would take no more than 4 months to complete my claim. In October 2012 I still had no response on my claim and was continuously told " we have a high volume of claims" when I would inquire about the status.

Finally I was fed up and contacted my Congressman to represent me in the matter as I was unable to work and had run out of savings earlier in the year. He contacted them on my behalf in the middle of November and by Christmas I had what they are calling a "preliminary rating" of 80% for the conditions they had sufficient evidence to rate. When I went on mybenifits to check the status of the actual claim I had the same label of "special correspondence" for my prelim rating and my original claim is still in decision phase as of today. 2 whole years later! I'm very glad for a great Congressman here in GA who was able to at least get my claim decided to the point I have an income!

I'm pretty sure once they recieve contact from a government representative on your behalf they open it as a separate claim since it is from a POA and not directly from you. Once they have reviewed that specific request/claim then they close it. In my case, it dramatically affected my compensation claim by allowing them to give me a rating on some things while still evaluating others,being that my living situations were in great need of my compensation. This is all my Congressman requested is that I be given some kind of rating/income. They completed his request but still have more work to do on my compensation claim as a whole so they closed the SCC and my C/P claim remains open.

I know this thread is old but when looking up the term Special Correspondence Claim I came across it and figured this info might be helpful to someone else in the future!

A helpful tip: CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSMAN!!! My claim was in development phase for over a year and a half when mine contacted them and I had a decision from them in less than a month!!

[Reddit]

yes, that's what happen to me me. yes, but was the rating right no.