14,000 Claims "lost" At Oakland Ro

[Berta]

In 2012, VA OIG found 14,000 informal veterans’ claims jammed in a cabinet at the Oakland Regional Office. Management at the Oakland Regional Office then lost those 14,000 informal claims after being notified, according to a recent follow up VA OIG audit."

http://www.disabledveterans.org/2015/02/23/oakland-regional-office-lost-14000-veterans-claims/

[marine0816]

Incompetence, get everything you deserve from the VA and don't ever look back

[Navy04]

Another hair pin turn around the corner of VA SH** Highway. Berta thanks for the info.

[K9MAL]

Absolutely ridiculous! Government incompetence, corruption and on and on... Down the toilet bowl we go.

[Berta]

What I don't get here is why those 14,000 vets didn't raise a lot of Hell?

BVA sometimes states in decisions that the VA claims process is not a one way street.

As claimants we are responsible for trying to keep a good eye on our claims, and get a status from time to time.

But 800# Peggy and IRIS is not always accurate, neither is ebenefits, and, as a hardcore claimant myself I have tried to be very patient for over 2 years, until I realized my claims were probably all screwed up (they were).

That is the problem with this backlog....many of those vets probably thought VA would get around to their claims eventually.

I just think that is a staggering amount of claims to not have been acknowledged.

On the Hoarder TV shows ,that amount of paperwork would probably take at least one dump trucks to fill.

A few BVA lawyers did something like this many years ago.

They got into real big time trouble for it too.

I hope this isn't the beginning of VA Hoardergate.

[broncovet]

Remember this, too. In 2008, the VAOIG found Veterans claim evidence in the shredder bin for about 5 seperate RO's.

So a big deal happens, VA promises to "put controls in place so this wont happen again"...and, you guessed it, it happens again in 2012 in Oakland.

Then what happens? Yea..they "lose" 14,000 more claims that were "lost" before.

2008 Was definately "not" the first time this happened either!

ONE BIG PROBLEM:

In 2008, the VA came out with this "request for special handling" due to shredding but there was a presumptive period from about Nov. 2007 to Feb. 2009. If you had shredded evidence that was NOT in the presumptive period, the Veteran was out of luck. This includes me, and I actually have it in my "RBA" that my "Special Handling request" was denied, (no VARO decision, just a note in my RBA) because ALL of my shredded evidence was not in the presumptive period. Some of it was, but not all of it!!

IM not happy about it. I have emailed Alison Hickey, and, she has apparently made at least some progress resolving this, but, this is 6 years AFTER shreddergate!!!!