And an even bigger problem is that they keep cutting Veteran's benefits!! Especially for spouses of deceased veterans, who are now widowed and depend on the benefits.<BR><BR><B><I>Tom Hansen <thansen@moscow.com></I></B> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">>From the April 3, 2006 edition of the Army times -<BR><BR>-----------------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Veterans deserve better<BR><BR>Congressional hearings usually are staid — OK, boring — affairs. But a<BR>startling statistic tumbled out of a recent House Veterans’ Affairs<BR>Committee hearing:<BR><BR>When veterans call one of the Department of Veterans Affairs regional<BR>offices with questions about VA benefits or programs, more than one in five<BR>get answers that are dead wrong.<BR><BR>In a study compiled by VA in which officials posed as veterans to make<BR>anonymous calls to their customer service staffers,!
only 19
percent of<BR>responses were “completely correct,” while a full 22 percent were<BR>“completely incorrect.” The rest fell in between.<BR><BR>Critics say part of the problem is unrealistic productivity goals, such as a<BR>reputed rule that requires customer service representatives to spend no more<BR>than three minutes on any call.<BR><BR>VA insists there is no “three-minute” rule — but admits workers are required<BR>to handle at least 64 calls per day. If an eight-hour workday involves about<BR>seven hours of work after accounting for bathroom breaks, smoke breaks,<BR>coffee breaks and schmooze breaks, a customer service rep must handle about<BR>nine calls per hour.<BR><BR>So it’s a 6½-minute rule — cold comfort for veterans seeking straight<BR>answers.<BR><BR>Give VA credit for being upfront about the problem. And officials say<BR>they’re working on it; a new computer system designed to give customer<BR>service reps easier, quicker access to benefits information is in the
works,<BR>for example.<BR><BR>But clearly, more needs to be done, especially in light of the huge wave of<BR>veterans flowing home from Iraq and Afghanistan.<BR><BR>The only true solution is to hire more customer service reps and train them<BR>more thoroughly.<BR><BR>It is unacceptable that the odds of veterans getting correct benefits<BR>information from VA are low enough to qualify as a sucker bet.<BR><BR><BR>----------------------------------------------------------<BR><BR>Senator Larry Craig<BR>http://craig.senate.gov/webform.html<BR><BR>Senator Michael Crapo<BR>webmail@crapo-iq.senate.gov<BR><BR>Representative Butch Otter<BR>butch.otter@mail.house.gov<BR><BR>Seeya round town, Moscow.<BR><BR>Tom Hansen<BR>Moscow, Idaho<BR><BR><BR>********************************************<BR><BR>"In America, anybody can become president. <BR>That's one of the risks you take . . ."<BR><BR>- Adlai
Stevenson<BR><BR>********************************************<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>_____________________________________________________<BR>List services made available by First Step Internet, <BR>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <BR>http://www.fsr.net <BR>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>
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