ESA taking the biscuit

jonuk7

Just a rant to see if anyone else has had problems,

Basically im claiming ESA due to a "knackered" right knee, and i got the ESA50 for sent out to fill in and return before 4th October, i did this well before and heard no more, sent sick notes in as requested, i then get a letter on the 12th October stating my ESA50 never received benefit suspended from 8th October...

After ringing and shouting a little they said not to worry a new form is on its way to you give it a couple of days to get there and send it in, waited a WEEK no form arrived, ring again... Oh sorry sir we will send another today.....

5 days i ring again no form, yet again get told one is been sent while im on the phone this one arrives in 2 days. finally on the 6th November i put it in the postbox back to them...

I ring up today to find out what is happening as they now owe me 4 weeks payments and im struggling having to beg and borrow and get told it hasnt been received by them yet!!!!! So when questioned on how im supposed to live i get told they cannot do anything until they receive the form, then it goes to a "Descision maker" who decides if the late return of the form is acceptable by looking at the reasons i put on the last page, then if it isnt my claim is stopped as of the original date if it is acceptable then they will arrange payment....

There only "advice" was ring about a crisis loan.....

Now this is the DWP suggesting taking a "loan" with them because of THEIR *&** up, so i get to use another £5 of phone credit again tomorrow to see if they have finally got it, and everytime i ask for them to ring me back i get the same old excuse "were a call centre sir, if a call comes through we have to answer it as its automated, we cant guarentee to ring you back" but they never do anyway technically im still waiting for a "call back" from Friday morning last week!

Rant over :-)

dark_lady

From now on send everything by recorded delivery. Thats what i do with important documents.

dmg24

dark_lady wrote: »

From now on send everything by recorded delivery. Thats what i do with important documents.

Agreed, and I can't see why (except for the delays in sending a duplicate form) the OP is blaming the DWP.

Mupette

Just had to send my ESA50 in today, postage is free but i still paid for it to be tracked, last year i was fobbed off with 'oh it was the postal strike that's why we haven't got it'

Amazing considering someone else was sat on it and didn't bother logging it onto the system.

You may have to pay for the postage, but at least you know where it is.

Another bit of advise i am sure to be shot down for saying..
photocopy everything before you send anything

cit_k

Unfortunately, its common to have to send forms to a benefit delivery center, which is basically a sorting office.

They then re-post the mail to the correct department/area/people.

This means, even if you send recorded, and get proof of signature (in my case I have even sent special delivery for proof before) they can still deny getting the form - as they lose it when it arrives at their sorting office or when its reposted elsewhere.

Proof of signature/delivery is not proof that the right people got the form unfortunately, its just proof you made an effort to send something.

dane-katie

When ever i send anything to the DWP i send it recorded delivery after i learned they "lost" my sick notes last year when i sent them normal delivery.

jonuk7

Well yet again i ring again this morning and suprise suprise "No sir it has not been received by us", great so what should i do now then as i am getting charges by my bank and falling behind on bills, there is only so much i can borrow of family and friends,

"Sorry sir that isnt our problem" well yes it is you lost my first form then it took nearly a month for you to send me another now you still say you havent received this one 10 days from when i posted it!!!!

"Ummm, well i cant comment on royal mail, try us again tomorrow", Id like to speak to the manager of that call centre now please, "Sorry he is not in the office until later" phone goes dead!!!!!!

Talk about taking the p*** now and there is nothing i can do really they blame royal mail, royal mail will just say well dont know could be there who knows, and in the mean time im living on about £3 a day aswell as water bills, electric, food, etc... GREAT Goverment we have!

NASA_2

Where are you getting the £3 from?

You should probably tell them if you are getting money from other places - they might take it into account as other income.

jonuk7

Well thats a turn up for the books, rang this morning to be told my form was actually received yesterday, i was then told it would be dealt with like everyone elses in date order of receipt despite this whole thing been there f*** up, had a bit of a row with the girl on the phone and yet again got cut off.

Decided to ring my Local MP to see if and what he could possibly do, bearing in mind i rang the DWP at 11:50am and told to wait upto 2 weeks for the "Decision Maker" by 15:45 i had an email back from my MP informing me he had spoken with the DWP and the 5 weeks back payment would be in my bank tomorrow, rang them up to check and yes low and behold my payment will be in tomorrow, and my claim is back up and running, kind of says it all really.

oldestrocker

jonuk7 wrote: »

Well thats a turn up for the books, rang this morning to be told my form was actually received yesterday, i was then told it would be dealt with like everyone elses in date order of receipt despite this whole thing been there f*** up, had a bit of a row with the girl on the phone and yet again got cut off.

Decided to ring my Local MP to see if and what he could possibly do, bearing in mind i rang the DWP at 11:50am and told to wait upto 2 weeks for the "Decision Maker" by 15:45 i had an email back from my MP informing me he had spoken with the DWP and the 5 weeks back payment would be in my bank tomorrow, rang them up to check and yes low and behold my payment will be in tomorrow, and my claim is back up and running, kind of says it all really.

Hi,
I'm glad that things have worked out for you at last.
It does remind me of my own case that took 10 weeks before I received my first ESA payment. They lost two claim forms and my sick note. But eventually things were up and running.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I know what it was like not to have any money (well nearly no money - £23 pw from elsewhere)
And I can see both sides of the coin so to speak. I didn't have my MP involved because of exactly what happened to you. I knew that these things take time and things go wrong. But would it be right to jump the queue ahead of somebody who may have been waiting longer than me?
I personally don't think that it is the right thing to do. MP's are good if you have a problem, but using one to get to the front is really being a bit unfair on everyone else.
As I said I can see where you are coming from, but it may give out the wrong signal to others that to get ahead, get your MP involved!
If everyone did that, the MP would not have enough time to give everybody the best help.
Just my opinion - I like to think I have more patience and consideration than that.

jonuk7

oldestrocker wrote: »

Hi,
I'm glad that things have worked out for you at last.
It does remind me of my own case that took 10 weeks before I received my first ESA payment. They lost two claim forms and my sick note. But eventually things were up and running.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I know what it was like not to have any money (well nearly no money - £23 pw from elsewhere)
And I can see both sides of the coin so to speak. I didn't have my MP involved because of exactly what happened to you. I knew that these things take time and things go wrong. But would it be right to jump the queue ahead of somebody who may have been waiting longer than me?
I personally don't think that it is the right thing to do. MP's are good if you have a problem, but using one to get to the front is really being a bit unfair on everyone else.
As I said I can see where you are coming from, but it may give out the wrong signal to others that to get ahead, get your MP involved!
If everyone did that, the MP would not have enough time to give everybody the best help.
Just my opinion - I like to think I have more patience and consideration than that.

Personally yes i do think its the "right" thing to do, and secondly if he felt the same way of "oh well these things take time" then he would of said that instead HE decided to take it further and sort things out, and if it was again down to being fair then they could quite easily of told him the same and that i just need to wait it out, if i hadnt been messed around constantly then i would not of been too bothered however with ALL the problems been down to THEM then yes it was the right course of action to take!