Bva Going Backwards On Ebenefits?

[RickH]

Hi all, On 3/242015 my case was on stage 2 prep, then it was sent to stage 3 VSO, it stayed there

less than a day and was sent to stage 4 with veteran law judge(VLJ), today it was sent back to stage 3 VSO.

Does anyone know what going on? I had filled out the attachment asking that it not go back to the RO, and be

sent for decision to the VLJ. where did this this cheese wheel come from?

Thanks, RickH

[stillhere]

asknod,

Great info here! I am not with a DAV or any service group but with the State of Virginia VSO. Not sure if that makes a difference or not?

My case is parallel with Rick's virtually same o same o, Have not hear anything from anyone and I am coming up for my meeting next week at the BVA!

Just guess I will do as you say and let it go and see what happens.

Have been dealing with a very sick 90 year old mom for a while so not enough time to deal with this.

Can I get an attorney if they don't give me what I want and appeal or for a recon?

Stillhere

[broncovet]

I agree with what Asknod says, but will add my 2 cents. Have you gotten one of those calls for a "free" burglar alarm system? Yea...they are "free", pretty much like your VSO is "free". Guess who pays for those "free burglar alarms" in the monitoring fees? If you guessed Santa, you are right, and its your turn to play Santa. In a similar way, who do you think "pays" the VSO? In the VSO charters, they agree to "cooperate with VA". I can not emphasize enough what this means...it means you are using YOUR OPPONENT's attorney..who is paid by your opponent. The lawyers "get" who signs their checks, as do VSO's, and give their loyalty to those who sign their checks. That isnt you. Your VSO represents VA...it only "appears" that they represent you. That is even worse, than having your opponents attorney...its having your opponents attorney and THINKING he is your attorney (or representative). Ask Alex how much his "Free" VSO cost him..I know I would have done better if I bought a "free" burglar alarm, as, so far, VSO's have cost me 6 figure retro, unless I can undo the harm they did to me.

About 5 years ago, I was waiting for "my representative (VSO)" to help "me" prepare my appeal. When ebenefits said my appeal was "with VSO" for about 18 months, I finally called them and asked them what they were doing with my appeal (for 18 months). They "explained" to me that I had a docket number and it did not matter how long it took the VSO to "prepare" the appeal, that it would not affect my docket number/appeal order. I found out from the BVA omibudsman, later, that was an absolute lie. In other words, my appeal sat in a VSO's office for 18 months waiting for the National VSO officer to reword my appeal in such a way that the Board would better understand it.

Later, when I looked over what the VSO wrote (rewriting my appeal), I "happened" to notice that every single reference I had about shredded evidence magically disappeared. So, of course, the Board did not know about my shredding..they just knew what the VSO wrote. Wasnt that nice of the VSO to trash the entire substance of my appeal, helping out the VA who signs their checks, all while "I thought" they represented "My" interests.

Also, as I found out in the 18 months it took the VSO's to do this, did NOT count toward my appeal time. In other words, it was not docketed until the VSO sprinkled his holy water on this. That is, the VSO caused an additional 18 month delay, all courtesy of the VA who pays my representative. Remember this next time you give a POA to your VSO.

[rootbeer22]

Folks:

Reading these posts does not bode well for overall confidence in a disability system that's supposed to take care of giving Vets a fair shake at a "fair" claims outcome? Once again relying on VSO's could be more that determental to a Vets Claims outcome...that's .if one takes their eyes off the ball thinking someone is going to take care of Vets? Sure, I know that there are great VSO's out there that do a terriffic job and I don't want to take anything away from those folks because they are out there helping vets as well. Just like during the President Ronald Reagan ERA Nuclear SaltII Talks. it's best to "Trust, but to also, Verify, that everything is being done as agreed upon before one goes down the road thinking everything is humming along as agreed upon?

[Fat]

I guess VSO's are like any other professional.

Some are professional/hardworking and some take the least route of resistance.

Veterans do yourself a favor: Try to learn as much about the VA claims system as you can.

You are your own best advocate.............

[broncovet]

I just think Vets need to know the cold hard facts before they sign their POA. Im not saying all VSO's are bad..to the contrary, many are helpful, especially if you are a newbie and dont know what a 21-4138 or a 21-526 is. However, the help you get here will be better. If one of us leads you amuck, the others will come in and say, "no, that is not correct".

Nobody does that for the VSO..he just "helps" more Vets, with advice like, "No, dont appeal a zero percent rating...they could get mad and take that away...you got your foot in the door..so dont push it".

[FormerMember]

Dear Stillhere,

My first DRO hearing with a VA rater was July 1990 before there really was such a thing as a DRO. It was called a local or RO hearing. I got to look at the c-file and immediately asked where all my Air America stuff from 1970-1972 was. Short answer was if they weren't milrecs, then the VA wasn't responsible for going out to find them in NW Thailand.

My DAV rep. named Ron called me the day before and said we'd meet at his office in the Fed. Bldg an hour early. He got there 10 minutes before the hearing and walked right past me sitting in the hall. We talked for 5 minutes and it was obvious he didn't have a clue about me or my claim. At the BVA, the VSO Team pled for benefit of the doubt. No request for a remand to go get the records. In the meantime, I gave them a photocopy of part of it I found. They called them "PMR's as in private medical records as opposed to "service " medical records or SMRs. Didn't make any diff if the only English written on a Thai medical form was Sgt. Graham/ LZ Tango 11. They stopped short of calling me a liar.

If you haven't heard from your VSO, you better be shopping some new legal rainmakers.

J1VO

Edited May 27, 2015 by asknod