still waiting?

skintas_2

i applied for esa in november and im still waiting for a payment. i recieve the child tax credit towards that/ i have only got thru to the call centre today. they said lots of delays as they got snowd in and had skeleton staff.. let me explain that to people i owe money to and my direct debits, no wonder i have ill health:mad:

NASA_2

What exactly do you want?

If it was anything like where I work we were pulled off our normal duties to look after the huge rush of payment requests that arose from the bad weather. Nothing got processed.

Write to your MP.

tcr_3

Well what the heck do you expect ?

10,000 staff paid off last year, a period of bad weather which meant near as dammit 25,000,000 cold weather payments having to be issued, severe postal delays which meant giros never arrived and had to be replaced, a public transport system which near enough collapsed meaning staff couldn't get to their work ... all followed by a two week holiday period in which most staff wanted (and deserved) some time off.

What would you have done differently, OP ?

Sorry your money's been delayed. Apply for a Crisis Loan "alignment to benefit" if you're skint.

hobbledehoy.

skintas wrote: »

i applied for esa in november and im still waiting for a payment. i recieve the child tax credit towards that/ i have only got thru to the call centre today. they said lots of delays as they got snowd in and had skeleton staff.. let me explain that to people i owe money to and my direct debits, no wonder i have ill health:mad:

Hello

At best I have heard that the first payment is made after 2 weeks, at worst 3 months.

It has been suggested that one of the main reasons for the late setting up of a benefit is that either the claim form has been lost or mislaid or there is information that they need from you first, but that it can take up to 2 weeks for you to receive the request letter.

If I was you I would be telephoning the BDC every few days for an update And if that doesn't work, demand that somebody rings you back with a full explanation of what is happening. They may not ring back (which is the norm) so ring them back!

tcr_3

Ringing back is the norm. 3 attempts. If you don't answer on the third call, tough, you'll have to call back again. That's how it's done.

It might be useful if those who request callbacks stay by the phone ? Keep their mobiles switched on ? Set up 1571 ?

hobbledehoy.

tcr wrote: »

Ringing back is the norm. 3 attempts. If you don't answer on the third call, tough, you'll have to call back again. That's how it's done.

It might be useful if those who request callbacks stay by the phone ? Keep their mobiles switched on ? Set up 1571 ?

Hello,

From the sound of your comments, you seem to know how it works.
I can quite honestly say that the ring back (and yes I give both my mobile and land line numbers, and have 1571, and I am never more than 2' away from a telephone 24/7) has only happened in about 10% of the times that were promised. And more often than not, when the call has been returned, it has not been the person or department that I requested to speak with.

Coincidentally, and there is currently a complaint that I have with the DWP which is now with my MP, and as another example, I telephoned the BDC on the 30th December at 10.27am and was told that an email was being sent and that someone would ring me back within 5 hours. I rang again on the same day at 4.38pm to be told that there was no record of the call that morning and that he would send an email and that someone would ring back on the 31st.

I purposely have not telephoned them since to see what happens and have waited for that call. And as of now, it has not been received. I have checked both telephones throughout the day for missed calls or messages and there is nothing there.
I will now wait until next Friday (two weeks since the calls) and if nothing is received, this will also be reported to my MP.

It may be that my BDC is not doing what others may be doing. Emails maybe disappearing down a black hole and that records of telephone conversations and calls mysteriously disappear from the system.

It maybe the case that they are instructed to not return calls to save them time, but from your comments that isn't the case.

I await with interest for the letter from the MP In which I have recorded 52 other such calls over the past twelve months. This now makes the total 54!

cit_k

I find ringbacks sometimes happen, sometimes dont.
When they dont happen, they normally lie and say the phone was switched off, which it was not, as it was on, and next to me at all times, and shows no missed calls.


I have had all my previous IB medicals go missing from the system at one point when I got a mp involved in a complaint, quite convienient for the dwp that was...

tcr_3

Lie ? I'll think you'll find they try their damndest to call everyone back. But what would you do if the line's continually ringing out or going straight to voicemail ? Keep trying to callback forever ? It's a total impossibility with the volume of calls they receive. 3 times they'll try, if unsuccessful they'll put a note on your records to say they gave it a good go, so the next call handler knows what's happened.

But lie ? Don't think so.

hobbledehoy.

tcr wrote: »

Lie ? I'll think you'll find they try their damndest to call everyone back. But what would you do if the line's continually ringing out or going straight to voicemail ? Keep trying to callback forever ? It's a total impossibility with the volume of calls they receive. 3 times they'll try, if unsuccessful they'll put a note on your records to say they gave it a good go, so the next call handler knows what's happened.

But lie ? Don't think so.

Hello

But that still doesn't get away from the point that I log every call I make to the BDC.
And that up to now in a period of just under 12 months they have failed to ring me back 54 times!
And as for telling me that they don't have a record of the calls, that soon changes when I tell them the time the call was made, the content of that call and who dealt with that call. Then they believe me but cannot offer any explanation!


By the way, I have a similar problem of the BDC not replying to every letter that I send requiring and requesting a reply with 14 days - I have received 1 reply out of 32 letters sent!!

We will have to see what my MP comes up with.

stresshead81_2

There is no doubt that the DWP is overwhelmed, particularly as a lot of the offices have been centralised with further centralisations forthcoming from what I understand.

However, that aside if a person is owed the money that they exist on (albeit ESA, JSA, DWP employee pay etc) you chase that money in whichever way you can. Mentally I have to know that my money is coming in every 2 weeks. I, therefore, go into my local JCP and use the hot phones as I cannot afford to ring 0845 numbers from my mobile as my credit is for ringing my doctors, carers or family. It is on my file at JCP that I do this and the reasons why. They are more than happy to speak with me. This all started after I had an issue with late payment. I also tend to speak with the same person every 2 weeks which is slightly comforting as they know me a little better than others may do.

Macro_3

tcr wrote: »

Lie ? I'll think you'll find they try their damndest to call everyone back. But what would you do if the line's continually ringing out or going straight to voicemail ? Keep trying to callback forever ? It's a total impossibility with the volume of calls they receive. 3 times they'll try, if unsuccessful they'll put a note on your records to say they gave it a good go, so the next call handler knows what's happened.

But lie ? Don't think so.

tcr, I don't think it's that straightforward. I work in Housing Benefits and sometimes have to request a call back from the BDC regarding a claim when I need more information than the call centre can provide - not often, perhaps once every few weeks or so. I always give both my switchboard number and my direct line, both of which are staffed from before the DWP open in the morning until after they close - throughout the day - by a small and very reliable team. I'd estimate that I receive about a third of the call backs on the first request. I usually give it a couple of days and then make a second request - and a third, etc, if needed, but the system, in my experience at least, is far from reliable.

I think the more likely explanation is that the bdc (particularly considering the volume of ESA conversions taking place at the moment) are just not getting round to the calls as they should.

That isn't to say it's the fault of the staff, mind.