Get Rid Of All The National Call Centers

[pacmanx1]

IMHO, get rid of all the national call centers. It's simple just route the calls back to the local VARO.

I remember years ago, when a veteran needed to contact VA, he/she called the 1 800# and the number would go directly to the VARO in the state the veteran was calling from or the 1 800# could connect the veteran to the VARO where his/her C-file was located and being rated.

Oh when times were so simple. After the veteran would be connected to his/her local VARO, that VARO would then connect the veteran to the Team that had control of their records. It was so easy, so simple when a veteran could talk to a supervisor/coach or an

adjudicator to clarify any misunderstandings.

Now all the national call centers have a prepared script message or a prepared chat statement that says;

We apologize for the delay. We are working blah. blah. blah.

[Buck52]

I agree with ya pete992!

..............Buck!

[georgiapapa]

I agree with you Pete. That is exactly where the calls need to go. The people at the call centers provide very little help.

GP

[Julie1975]

As in most call centers, the employees aren't empowered to make decisions and are limited by the crappy scripted responses that you can obtain from the VA website. I can appreciate the concept of a call center, but in this case it doesn't work well and oftentimes results in more questions for the veteran/family member.

[auenone]

I talked to a Jim on Monday and he was helpful. Asked him what the status was of my disability appeal and he looked it up and said they are having me do a c&p at the va hospital in long beach. Then asked him to see if there was a date for it and he checked and said no, not yet. Called today and talked to some lady that gave the canned response of "they will send you the paperwork when they are ready". She didn't have the time to look it up or was just too lazy to do so. Depends on who you get. But it would be more helpful to talk to the varo that has your paperwork.

So in answer to your post, I also agree with you.

[Vync]

Here in Alabama, if I call the 1-800 number, I must do it very early in the morning. The message says it will be a 20 minute wait, but I end up waiting 2-3 hours. If I wait until 9 am or later, I just get the "we're too busy for you" message.

[63SIERRA]

the system was set up to delay and deny. They claim it slows them down to talk to us, but just the opposite is true. Sometimes I wonder, what exactly they do all day.., think abt it.. they have made it our responsibility to do research and submit evidence. They never explain why they denied us, they harly ever send SOC, they sit on claims that are supposed to be certified to go to appeal for years, it takes them years to do simple dependency claims. They wont send a C-FILE without congressional action half the time.. SO WHAT IS IT THEY ACTUALLY DO ALL DAY?

I guess working up fraudulent scams to rip vets off, and work scams to get releatives undeserved comp, to profit and split, is quite exhaustive.