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Most Inept Organization On The Planet?

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gs106

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I filed a NOD on VA Form 21-0958 and on that form...Part III - Appeal Process Election, Block 9. Select One Of The Appeals Processing Methods Below 

I put an X in the block beside Decision Review Officer (DRO) Review Process.  

Pretty clear right?  Apparently not.  Today I received a letter that begins:  Dear Mr. XXXXXXXX:  We received your written disagreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) decision of April 14, 2016.  This letter describes what happens next:  A few paragraphs down...How Do I Select DRO or Traditional Appeal Process?  You must notify us within sixty (60) days from the date of this letter whether you want to have your case reviewed by the DRO or by the traditional appeal process.  If we do not hear from you within 60 days, your case will be reviewed under the traditional appeal process.

Do they do this to get veterans so frustrated they will just give up or is it their way of passing as many cases as possible to the BVA and reducing the workload at the RO?  Surely they can't be so incompetent that they can't read their own form.

Should I spend another $7.15 to once again tell them that I want a DRO review or should I attempt to contact someone via email, call Peggy, etc.?  Contacting the VSO is not a good option.

Edited by gs106
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Probably  won't be long when they send a PDF form award  or denial to  veteran via internet to print  for him to print off to save postage and time.

the marvels of the modern tech world.

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27 minutes ago, Meddac said:

The Waco RO was directed to farm out work, Buck. It was because we didn't meet monthly processing goals set by Central Office. They didn't want to, and they look for some of the most confusing work to send when they do this.

Your claims gets digitized by Janesville. It's then funneled electronically to the RO of Jurisdiction as "new mail". The Claims Assistants "review the electronic mail" (loosely used term), and assign it to the team working that claim or establish it as a new claim (if one is not pending). 

USPS at the RO is set-up to automatically forward mail from the RO to Janesville. The mailroom at the RO is like a ghost town nowadays, but my understanding is that they receive, review, date stamp, and forward. You can send it to the RO, but it will go to Janesville anyway.

Just how VA is doing it now. Extra steps...

BTW, Waco enter as the National Work Queue tonight. Gonna  be interesting.

Meddac:  Thanks for confirming what I thought to be straight scoop about Janesville.

My understanding is that the VA wants EVERY CLAIM submitted using one of the "EZ" forms.

That's not to be construed as meaning you can't submit any other form/documents your heart desires along with the EZ form. Perhaps another reason the want the ez form submitted is because it contains your banking information and that saves them time from looking it up?

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The ez form does save time for VA, but the boxes are too dang small. Send whatever forms/paper you like with the ez form.

I think that the ez forms are in part an attempt to correct errors at the employee level. Doesn't seem to be working though.

I think electronic letters are coming at some point. I think that will be part of the VBMS system in years to come unless they scrap the whole thing to start over again like they always seem to do.

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