Senator To Va:

[broncovet]

http://kidzexplore.com/article/20120301/NEWS01/703019890

This is the reason a leading Vets advocate recommends not calling the VA:

It wont do you any good, they wont give you reliable information, and they wont solve your problem.

Is this the treatment Vets deserve? I dont know why we put up with this, and I dont know how the VA gets away with it.

[71M10]

It is encouraging to see that we have at least one Senator who actually has done some investigating instead of taking the VA talking points and parroting them!

I have said this multiple times. Look at the Gulf Oil spill, the administration demanded the claims be paid in under 90 days and money was shooting out the door. The sad fact is solving the dysfunction of the VA is not a priority of the federal government and is never going to be a plank in the platforms of the political parties struggling for control.

I am still waiting for the day I call the 800 number and actually get someone named Peggy! About all I have found reliable from the 800 number is the pysical location of my file. Anything else I might just as well look at the tea leaves in my mug or poke around in animal entrails.

Claim status on eBenefits hasn't been available to me for the last two weeks. Is it out for everyone? or have they closed off my access to it (I know sounds kinda paranoid)? I ask because I was involved in a series of IRIS messages regarding my claim status as IRIS was telling me and the information that was showing in eBenefits. Don't know if I torked them off and they shut me off!

Best regards,

[rdawg]

sounds like they shut you off. it's been working great for me.

[kaivery]

Claim status on eBenefits hasn't been available to me for the last two weeks. Is it out for everyone? or have they closed off my access to it (I know sounds kinda paranoid)? I ask because I was involved in a series of IRIS messages regarding my claim status as IRIS was telling me and the information that was showing in eBenefits. Don't know if I torked them off and they shut me off!

@71M10

I'm in Denver and yes the Ebenefit portal is not current. I called the 1 800 number and was told that my claim status is that all my evidence was being reviewed to determine if all the evidence was there to send to Decision phase. I've been having good luck with keeping notes of the dates and whom I talked to. Currently, I have not been granted my rating however, I was told back in Nov that I would be getting 70%. So we will see

best regards

[boomer2]

Is this the treatment Vets deserve? I dont know why we put up with this, and I dont know how the VA gets away with it.

As far as the VA is concerned it is exactly what we deserve. We put up with because we are not organized. Oh! sure we have the VFW, DAV, VVA and a few other organizations that appear before congress but, hell they can't even get together on a common goal. The VA gets away with it because congress lets them. When you have a do nothing congress you will have a do nothing VA.

[Teac]

Is anyone really surprised.... I know I am not.

In the old days when you called the va and the local regional office picked up the phone.. you usually got a reasonable answer to your question. Since the call centers were put in place I don't even call anymore. These people answering the phones might as well be people of the streets, because from what I know they almost never answer the quetion correctly, and that is if the even answer the phone.

Ebenefits isn't much better. First updates are not automatic, a lot of the information is generic, formats of the letters have a lot to be desired. For example, if I need a letter that specifically states I am 100%, ebenfits letter will not cut it because the letters also state how much compensation I receive. The information on ebenfits often causes the veteran to ask more questions.. just look at the ebenifits forum.

I wish the va would move the phones back to the regional centers.... It is just plan wrong that veterans are not able to get in direct communications with the regional office unless we (in some cases) travel 200 plus miles to speak to someone in person....Heck I even remember the days when you even got a first and last name of the va employee, as well as them signing their name to the rating decisions...

[dsgsr]

I wish Congress would stop the Smoke and Mirrors of the ILP. I haven't got anything out of them and I don't have any fight left in me.

David