diabetes IRIS Response

[green]

Hadit-teers, I submitted a FDC over 190 days ago.  The claim was for secondary contentions related to my primary disability of diabetes type 1.  This RO processes FDC's within 90 days on average.  I received the following email from IRIS today and I just don't understand.  The RO has requested archived medical records from Oregon (a State I haven't lived in since 1993).  Any idea what may be going on here?  As this was a FDC I don't understand why the RO would be requesting records from 22+ years ago.  This claim was in prep for notification for over a month before it went back to gathering evidence.

This is in response to your inquiry to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) dated December 22, 2015. (Actually sent in November)

We are grateful for your service to our country.

We apologize for the delay in providing a reply to your inquiry. We strive to respond to all inquiries within five business days; however, we have experienced an increase in the volume of inquiries received, which are being responded to in the order of receipt.

We apologize for the incorrect status of your claim currently showing via eBenefits.

Your claim is currently in the development phase of processing. During this phase, we will gather the evidence needed to decide your claim. We are currently waiting for archived medical reports from the Portland VA Medical Center. These were requested on December 12, 2015 (actually requested on November 9th), and can take up to 10 weeks for receipt. Your claim will be reviewed and we will contact you if additional information is needed.

At this time, it is estimated that your claim should be completed by May 18, 2016. Please understand that this date is an estimate and that your claim may take longer based on the specifics of your claim and VA's pending workload.

It is our privilege to assist you today.

Thank you for contacting us. If you have questions or need additional help with the information in our reply, please respond to this message or see our other contact information below.

Sincerely yours,

A Name
National IRIS Response Center Manager

[Navy4life]

At least they responded Green...

What sucks is the repeated requests for the records and the clock starting over...

[Andyman73]

I sent a complaint via IRIS about being treated unfairly by not getting the decision letter to me in a timely manner.  And being lied to by the VARO as well.  Did that this morning.  So...more waiting.

[Andyman73]

Just in case anyone was watching the clock....still no response, from either IRIS complaint.  The one above, and one on the 17th of Feb.  Also no response from the Sec. MacDonald email from Feb. 2nd.  Guess that kind of thing is low on the to do list of importance.

[Navy4life]

Sorry to hear that. I got a response within days. I would contact your local congressman office and send a pretty stern email about the situation asking for his or her help. It worked for me when I asked for help regarding my C-File. 

[TALON II FE]

All of this is such a crapshoot.  Your timeline never matches anyone else's bc there is no uniformity in service from location to location, or case to case. That is why it seems like half the posts are asking the question "when?".  I swear it is an intentional demoralizing tactic.

[green]

Talon, I had to laugh, I think you may be right, perhaps they think that we will be so relieved when we finally get a response we will consider that in and of itself a "win"