Past Suspension Date

[kris]

I had my C&P exam 2 months ago with a favorable response from the outside Doctor the VA sent me to.

When I called the 1-800 number all the gentleman could tell me is that I was past the suspenion period on my case and that he could see nothing else on the computer and than added a good luck to me.

I am not sure what he meant by being past the suspenion period. Would any of you know what that means.

Thank you

[john999]

You know the only thing that matters is the day you get the decision in the mail. Suspense dates and all this other stuff means something only to the VA raters and their statistics to justify their jobs. Just check in every few weeks to make sure the claim is on track and not being held up by some screw-up by the VA or some missing document. This happened to me more than once where VA held my claim up while it was at the raters because they discovered some missing document like a DD214. They told me nothing until I called and asked. They did not request my SSDI records so I got them and sent them in myself. They did not request my disability retirement records from the Post Office so I got them and sent them . I know these proactive moves saved me years on my claim.

[Berta]

Phillip is correct- if you get a SOC the suspense date is 60 days after the mailing of the SOC- because you have 60 days to respond-

If you get a SOC and had been denied without a VCAA election notice- you have been denied a full YEAR in which to respond.

The VCAA is clear on this-

If you respond to the SOC or SSOC within the 60 days with more evidence, the suspense date is meaningless because they know they never sent you the VCAA election notice and your claim was doomed from the git go-so whatever you send in the 60 day timeframe -come the suspension date- is simply formally ignored after that date-

this is the biggest scam of claimants I have ever seen-

VCAA Gate- a completely erroneous,arbitrary, and capricious practice which has been set up by the VAROs themselves to

satisfy a production schedule----

If your claim was denied without your formal receipt of a VCAA Notice and election boxes,

without a statement of what they need that is specific to your claim, not a generic statement-

(I read somewhere that they are also supposed to enclose pamphlets too on the VCAA-what pamphlets)

and they denied your claim-

unless it was an obvious wannabee claim -your rights have been violated and you must tell the VA you want this procedural defect corrected before they attempt to deny your claim.

Tell them their past denial is rendered moot by their failure to respect your VCAA rights.

Ask them to CUE their past denial and send you a proper VCAA Notice.

if they stated they sent you a VCAA letter in the SOC-

but if was not the notice and the narrative specific to your claim- your claim is doomed until you take action.

I have made a big stink with my RO over this- I heard they were working Saturdays to get out the VCAA letters-

What a disgrace! Vets at my VARO have been denied without any DTA rights!

My POA is next- I have not even begun to gripe to them about this-

I am still trying to find out from them what happened to my IMOs.

Vets come in their office here in Bath NY every day wth VA letters,denials, SOCs, and a vet rep could tell when looking at what the vet got, whether they got a proper VCAA notice or not-

Many of these vets are Bath VAMC hospital or DOM vets with no access to internet or typewriters and depend on vet reps there to prepare their NODs etc (I think-I am not really sure what they do there)

and a good vet rep could question this right away- lack of VCAA Notice-

but I am begining to wonder if my POAs know what one really is too-

I apologise to you all- because only when I became a claimant again in 2003 -then over 3 years later when Jangrin posted a real VCAA election thing here-recently-

only then did I realize how many of us have been screwed by VA and why-----

I apologise too if I made a typo here- I think I did in email to my Congressman-

I think I inadvertently called this a VCAA Erection Notice-

sorry- I type very fast-

if I did this here you all know what I mean- and then again- if you do not get a VCAA Notice-

it is ,in essense, their invisible and unmailed 'erection notice '---to let you know-if you didnt get it, that you have been scr--ed.

[kris]

Hi all, thank you for all your replies. Ofcourse now I am really confused.

Had my CP exam in early june. Recieved the letter from the DAV a few weeks later saying I would be rated at 50%. I do understand by what all of you are saying this really means nothing. The VA has stopped billing me for my doctor visits. And are only billing me for a precription here and there since that letter. I wonder if I am going to owe them money now, being I never recieved any type of letter from the VA on the rating the DAV said I should have. When I talk to my DAV officer last week and told him what the guy at the 1-800 said, my DAV guy did not know what he was talking about as far as being past the suspense date meant.

So should I be trying to contact someone and find out exactly where my case stands. If my DAV guy can't help me who can. I am hoping it is you men and women of this board as you seem the most imformed.

Thank you again for your time

[Berta]

Kris-go to the VA web site and under Comp and Pension there is an Inquery section . Fill it all out and be specific in asking them what the status of your claim is.

Dont give them your phone number-just your email addy- that way you have hard copy of their reply-

I have a PTSD vet who they call when he sends a query- I always say "what did they say as to the status of your claim"

He always says "I dont know" -it is difficult for many vets with PTSD to receive and properly assess spoken information.

It took me years to get him to use the 800 # because he was afraid of them but he cannot assess spoken info well anyhow.He talked to a vet rep there for 15 minutes once about his claim but could not recal a singlle thing the rep said.

He was too overwhelmed that someone at the VA was actually nice to him-

not your case here at all- but you will get hard copy reply and print it out-- in case you have to use it against them.

[kris]

Thank you Berta for your kind reply

[Done wit this]

I guess I can find humor in anything ! I have been sitting here laughing at the posts here for about 10 minutes. 'erection notice '---to let you know-if you didnt get it, that you have been scr--ed.

Too damn Funny Fitting though!!

Macool B) :D