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VA Sux
Red223
Member Posts: 7,946
How mad would everyone get if I made a website slamming the VA for it's stupidity? I'm about that frekin mad.
I made an appointment recently to get in to the VA OClinic and the soonest appointment was very far out. So I called the Naval Hospital and I got an earlier appointment for my back and tried to call the VA Clinic to cancel my appointment since the Navy Hospital would see me for the same thing.....sooner. I called the VA clinic mulitiple times on many different days and no one answered the phone. I even left a message on their answering machine that I needed to cancel my appointment but they sent me a notice that I failed to come to my appointment.
The Navy has been working my healthcare issue and even got me a new MRI and had all the paperwork to Medevac me from Guam to Hawaii for a Spine Fusion at Tripler Army Hospital. They recently notified me that since I am not active duty I can not be medevac'd from Guam as they no longer Medevac military retiree's.
I then tried calling the VA office again to find out if the VA would send me to Hawaii for my service incurred injury surgery but no one answered the phone. I went to the VA Office to personnally try to find someone to make an appointment with the VA Doctor. I was told by the receptionist that the VA doctor had left and they are waiting for a new VA doctor to arrive on Guam. I gave the lady my information and she said she would call to schedule me with an appointment as soon as the new doctor got here.
Today I checked the mail at 3pm and found a notice that I was supposed to report today at 1pm for my appointment. I check my mail weekly and was irate that they thru the letter in the mail to me last Wednesday and I was supposed to be there today (Monday). Do they think people run to the post office every day to check their mail? All I have time for is weekly runs to the post office as most people do. Why do they send out notices for appointments with less than a week to the appointment time??
Why wasn't I called?
I called the receptionist and asked her why I wasn't called and she said the soonest I could now get into the VA 'clinic' will be September and I now have 3 'no shows' for their appointments.
Because of them refusing to pick up their phones or listening to their answering machines and scheduling me for appointments I have no knowledge of I get blamed and get 'no shows'.
I'm so frekin mad at them for being completely utterly worthless.....
Creating a website pointing out their stupity is the sanest thing I can come up with at this time...maybe a whole forum for people to complain about the VA....just an anger release median for the masses.
I made an appointment recently to get in to the VA OClinic and the soonest appointment was very far out. So I called the Naval Hospital and I got an earlier appointment for my back and tried to call the VA Clinic to cancel my appointment since the Navy Hospital would see me for the same thing.....sooner. I called the VA clinic mulitiple times on many different days and no one answered the phone. I even left a message on their answering machine that I needed to cancel my appointment but they sent me a notice that I failed to come to my appointment.
The Navy has been working my healthcare issue and even got me a new MRI and had all the paperwork to Medevac me from Guam to Hawaii for a Spine Fusion at Tripler Army Hospital. They recently notified me that since I am not active duty I can not be medevac'd from Guam as they no longer Medevac military retiree's.
I then tried calling the VA office again to find out if the VA would send me to Hawaii for my service incurred injury surgery but no one answered the phone. I went to the VA Office to personnally try to find someone to make an appointment with the VA Doctor. I was told by the receptionist that the VA doctor had left and they are waiting for a new VA doctor to arrive on Guam. I gave the lady my information and she said she would call to schedule me with an appointment as soon as the new doctor got here.
Today I checked the mail at 3pm and found a notice that I was supposed to report today at 1pm for my appointment. I check my mail weekly and was irate that they thru the letter in the mail to me last Wednesday and I was supposed to be there today (Monday). Do they think people run to the post office every day to check their mail? All I have time for is weekly runs to the post office as most people do. Why do they send out notices for appointments with less than a week to the appointment time??
Why wasn't I called?
I called the receptionist and asked her why I wasn't called and she said the soonest I could now get into the VA 'clinic' will be September and I now have 3 'no shows' for their appointments.
Because of them refusing to pick up their phones or listening to their answering machines and scheduling me for appointments I have no knowledge of I get blamed and get 'no shows'.
I'm so frekin mad at them for being completely utterly worthless.....
Creating a website pointing out their stupity is the sanest thing I can come up with at this time...maybe a whole forum for people to complain about the VA....just an anger release median for the masses.
Comments
Alot has to do with which VA facility you are being seen at. As a 100% service conected vet I have had the oprotunity to be seen at a few different facilities.
I have been to a few that the service and care I have recieved have been outstandingly exelent. But I have been to a couple that if they were on the old letter grade system, an "F" wouldn't be low enuff of a grade.
One thing I have learned is to "NEVER" trust that they listen to thier answering machine. I will call and call (leaveing a message each time) untill I get a live person, and even then I make them repeat anything we talked about just to verify that it is done.
If need be, call a different department or a different facility, and tell them that you cannot get through to who you are trying to reach. They have means within thier own system to be able to contact that person or clinic that you don't have.
It allways seems with the VA that the squeeky wheel gets the greese.
I also in the past have called the VA's main offices in Washington DC to get something resolved. If you can get the right people there you better believe you will get resolution.
As far as a web site or anything, I don't think it would do any good. The VA is well aware of thier short commings. They do try to over come those on the national level, but I don't think some of the local facilities care untill thier higher ups get involved.
Congressmen and senator's are also a great median to get through to the VA. When I lived in California I had to use this route once. I contacted Richard Pombo's office to get something resolved and it was resolved in very short order.
That is just a few suggestions that I can give you. If you need any help or info from me, feel free to e-mail me. I'll give you any info that I can. I have been useing the VA for 15 years now and I think I have gotten the system down fairly well.
They have no VA facility here. The closest VA facility is in the Phillipines. All they have here is a little office.
What I was getting at is there are ways to get even that little office to respond to you.
They all have someone else that they have to answer too. If you can't get them to do thier jobs correctly, go over thier heads to someone who will make them do thier jobs the way they are suppost too.
I have found that the best VA facilities and clinics treat the Veteran just like a buisness would treat a customer, and in reallity that is exactly what you are. Without us Veterans those people would not have jobs, and they need to treat us as that being the case.
I am sure if you start going over thier heads a little you will start getting better treatment, I know I sure did.