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Contacting Congressman

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USCG CWO4

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USCG CWO4 Enthusiast

USCG CWO4

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Today I called the VA to put in my waste of time 60 day inquiry concerning my 11 month old retro payment. The very nice gentleman on the phone was no help, not surprised, and told me they are working on it and that there was no new information. He did tell me it shouldn't take this long. In addition to the retro I have gotten several notices telling me that they concur and I should be receiveing SMC, but I still don't get it. Thats been going on for almost a year also. The VA phone rep told me to wait two weeks and if nothing happens to contact my congressman. I have tried going through the DAV and all they say is "the longer I wait the more money I will get". Duh thats true cause I should have been getting it all along. I am about done with the DAV they have been no help for any of this and they suck at returning phone calls.

So here are my issues: Have any of you put in congressional inquires? If so how much of a mess is it? Is this something that I should be putting an inquirey in for? Should I just sit tight and wait? Will it really speed up the process? One other problem is that I want to disagree with a decision and must do so by next month. I feel that if I do that it will screw up my retro and put a hold on everything. Dammed if I do and Dammed if I don't!

Thanks for any input and I know for some of you an 11 months wait isn't that long, but I also see people getting their retro within 10 days.

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USCG CWO4 Enthusiast

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I am a resident of Pennsylvania. So I am not eligible to vote for Senator Burr. My understanding is that they usually only help constituents. My C file ended up there because I retired out of South Carolina and moved to PA. Not sure how to approach things at this point, maybe call another VSO.

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Trigirl13 Contributor

Trigirl13

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I am in the process of dealing with my congressman here in Utah. My lawyer actually directed me towards them for an issue. I don't know how it will play out or if they will be able to help, but I will keep you posted on how it works for me. I hope it all works out for you!!

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TiredCoastie Proficient

TiredCoastie

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I am a resident of Pennsylvania. So I am not eligible to vote for Senator Burr. My understanding is that they usually only help constituents. My C file ended up there because I retired out of South Carolina and moved to PA. Not sure how to approach things at this point, maybe call another VSO.

You're correct. While I'm sure Senator Burr is a great guy, his staff will only respond to his constituents. Senator Casey just put out a press release that he's working personally to do something about the claim backlog:

http://www.casey.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=7304e96e-f417-4264-9985-94421755d89b

Neither Senator Casey nor Senator Toomey are on the Veterans Affairs oversight committee. No Congressman from PA is on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Your DAV NSO has the ability to contact the senior rater and find out the status of your retro payment. It's a matter of your NSO doing some work. I had this problem with a different VSO and had to contact that organization's headquarters to get this guy to do his job. DAV is a big org. Don't know about the RO you're at, but the DAV office in Philly has a number of NSOs. You could contact the DAV office chief or deputy directly and ask for assistance.

However, if you're not happy, maybe it is time to make a change, esp with either a NOD or a request for reconsideration deadline rapidly approaching.

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harleyman Community Regular

harleyman

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If you file an NOD you protect your effective date, but your claims end up being processed in Appeals. You may want to think about filing for an increase or simply reopening the denied claims. You are still protecting your ultimate right to an appeal, but it keeps your claim out of (never never land) aka Appeals for now.

Personally, I would do whatever it takes to keep the claim open, but out of appeals. You do not want to loose you effective date so either way protect yourself. - jmo

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