Va 1-800 Number Vs Iris

[pacmanx1]

I just used Iris for the first time and it routed my request to my local VA office but every time veterans call the 1-800 number it is routed to a call center then routed to the local VA office. Why not just go back to the way it was years ago and route the veteran's call directly to his or her local VA office where their claim is located.

What am I missing, what is the sense of the call centers?

[me.plum]

I'm with you money spent on a system that helps me not get my benefits judge in a fair and human way.

[jbasser]

You are not going to contact your RO anymore.

The Phone centers came along with a rolling number so the calls can go to the next available call center.

Iris also has changed.

Remember, they have quotas so they have a set amount of time to get you off the phone and on to the next veteran.

J

[infantry10]

In what ways has the Iris changed? I just curious.

[COOL BREEZE]

For 1 thing, I am waiting on 2 replies for the last 3 months. Not a whisper from anyone! I am not sure if that is being manned anymore.

[tk3000]

From my experience the 800 no. representative does not provide any pertinent or relevant info about claims/appeals, and nowdays the only to reach them is using the call back feature. The IRIS used to be the best of the bunch, but now it is extremely slow (last time I sent an inquire it took over a month to obtain a simple response) and provides contradictory information and nothing of substance as far as claim develoment goes.The Ebenefits portal is nothing but a non-sense disconnected joke. One has to wonder why the VA is so dysfunctional...

Edited September 16, 2013 by tk3000

[confusion99%]

It is all exactly as planned. The gov't wants everything hidden from you and public view. The more walls the

can put up between you and a human, the better for them. They know people get frustrated and eventually give up.

That way they don't have to answer to anyone for anything and can still claim there is a way to get the info.

Big business has followed the same route of hiding behind endless dead end phone calls and putting up walls between

you and them. Walk into an AT&T store with a question....they give you an 800 phone number to call. No employee

there can speak for AT&T...

The gov't dictates to you what they want and leave you with no say except a 4-5 year appeal. How many die during that

time and the family say "it isn't worth it" or something to that effect. VA wins another one.