ESA taking the biscuit

suburbanwifey

jonuk7 wrote: »

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!

Poor you, getting slated for getting your MP involved to get some action, get your money paid so you can eat :mad:

You did the right thing doing what you needed to do to get your money that you were owed paid, you are not required by anybody out here in the real world to worry about jumping queues (if that is indeed what happened, I suggest he just kicked their butts and got them to do their job) or worry about them. Bleeding hearts for others only goes so far, starving and no being able to pay your bills makes you a priority and I am sure the poster that moaned about you contacting your MP would do the same in the same situation, if she wouldn't she is daft, no one out here in the real world would thank her or care.

Harsh words I know, but her moaning politely about the course of action you took annoyed me. Ignore comments like that and good on you for getting it sorted :T

jonuk7

Skinticket wrote: »

I think you're telling a few porkies here my lad.

the dwp always tell you that they will call youback regarding any queries within 3 hours of your call, if there has been no call from them then after 3 hours you can call them and tell them. I know this because everytime ive been told they will call me back within 3 hours, they do so.

so stop whinging.

Funny because they never rang me, maybe your that perfect little person that gets what you want. Some of us dont! ill whinge about what i want when i want its called Freedom Of Speech, thats the whole point in this forum, people offer their advice, if you have nothing usefull to say then why even bother.

oldestrocker

suburbanwifey wrote: »

Poor you, getting slated for getting your MP involved to get some action, get your money paid so you can eat :mad:

You did the right thing doing what you needed to do to get your money that you were owed paid, you are not required by anybody out here in the real world to worry about jumping queues (if that is indeed what happened, I suggest he just kicked their butts and got them to do their job) or worry about them. Bleeding hearts for others only goes so far, starving and no being able to pay your bills makes you a priority and I am sure the poster that moaned about you contacting your MP would do the same in the same situation, if she wouldn't she is daft, no one out here in the real world would thank her or care.

Harsh words I know, but her moaning politely about the course of action you took annoyed me. Ignore comments like that and good on you for getting it sorted :T

Hi,
I wasn't having a go at anybody! I was only voicing an opinion on when I feel that someone should get their MP involved or not.


"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.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."


Everyone knows that making a claim for benefit takes time and like most things in life, things may go wrong.
I waited 10 weeks before I received my first payment. Of course it was hard, but I got through it.
I understand that Pension Credit is even longer up to 20 weeks!!!

Knowing that, and you must realise that everybody is in the same boat - it's not personal - then you have to wait like the rest of us.
To get your MP involved to get your case dealt with earlier, is in my opinion a little cheeky. Yes the OP was having problems - so are all of us!! Somebody would have had to wait longer to get the OP's claim paid out. Now that is not fair and that is why there is a queuing system.

MP's do not have an infinite amount of time, so why not treat their time with respect and only use it when nothing else works or you have had to suffer more than the rest of us. Not just as a means to get your money earlier.

As I said - it is just my opinion and hopefully I do have more patience to have to put up with cases coming from behind me to the front, ahead of me.

dazzadub

you can apply for this online, fill forms in online and goes straight onto the system, never get lost as you get ref number of claim etc

cit_k

dazzadub wrote: »

you can apply for this online, fill forms in online and goes straight onto the system, never get lost as you get ref number of claim etc

They could note cope with either a phone claim for my ESA, the 'computer' could not cope with the fact I had a IB claim on the system.

frank_begbie

NASA wrote: »

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.

You are joking of course:D

suburbanwifey

Sadly, I don't think they are joking, there are people on this forum that spend their lives making posts like that...pity them

suelees1

oldestrocker wrote: »

Hi,
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.

This forum is not to talk policy so I apologise. However I believe MPs SHOULD be approached by constituents after all it's the government which decided to save money by centralisation. If they'd left things as they were local offices knew exactly what was going on with each claim. John Smith would work on claims from surnames A-C, Mary Smith on D-F etc etc etc. Now it's just one huge production line starting off with that black hole of a postal address and ending up in a Benefit Delivery Centre.

I have sympathy for a lot of staff but none for some of them. A lot of them are demoralised and there is a large turnover often leaving inexperienced staff at the front line. I say let the MP have the hassle. I'm sorry I just don't have oldestrocker's patience. I have to try to work with these frustrations day in day out.

oldestrocker

suelees1 wrote: »

This forum is not to talk policy so I apologise. However I believe MPs SHOULD be approached by constituents after all it's the government which decided to save money by centralisation. If they'd left things as they were local offices knew exactly what was going on with each claim. John Smith would work on claims from surnames A-C, Mary Smith on D-F etc etc etc. Now it's just one huge production line starting off with that black hole of a postal address and ending up in a Benefit Delivery Centre.

I have sympathy for a lot of staff but none for some of them. A lot of them are demoralised and there is a large turnover often leaving inexperienced staff at the front line. I say let the MP have the hassle. I'm sorry I just don't have oldestrocker's patience. I have to try to work with these frustrations day in day out.

No I agree, it is not the place for arguments on policy, but you do make a valid point for the OP.
Yes I can understand your frustration if you do the job you do time and time again. I get frustrated myself for my own ESA claim and my friend's Pension Credit Claim.
But as you say, you only seem to get what you want if you 'shout' harder and longer than everybody else.
I however do have a lot of sympathy for those that work in the DWP. This sytem was 'dumped' on them. There is nothing personal about it and I know that I am only 1 of probably 1,000's going through the same scenario.
For that reason I cannot have a clear conscience if I 'pushed' my way to the front. They will get round to my case as they are dealt with a date order - well they should be if others didn't want to change things by wanting their money first even though I may have been waiting 6 -8 weeks longer than they had.

I am a very patient guy, and accept that not everything in life is perfect. How may times have people pushed in front of me in queues in shops - I just let it go - they are the ignorant ones!

cit_k

Another school of thought is, if you don't complain to your MP about serious problems with the benefits sytem - they will think its ticking alone smoothly, running without any problems. They can only get things fixed, if people tell them what is wrong.