How to stop having do overs?

[Jada59]

I'll give an example.

Got a letter telling me that I owed the government in excess of $17,000 because I used my Tricare (medical insurance) when I didn't have it. They listed dates that spanned for almost the entire year of 2017. Now come on! Drs., hospitals and pharmacies are not going to take my word that I have insurance. Nor is the insurance just going to pay that much willy nilly!

I checked the dates and I was married at that time so I *know* I had the insurance.

I called. The story they gave did not hold water. First they said there was no divorce decree on file. Uh no. I sent that in 7 times! It got lost or put on the wrong desk and they refused to get it to the right desk. But wait! If you don't have my divorce decree, then you think I'm still married! If married, I still have insurance. Right?

Next excuse... Someone input the wrong year for my divorce. Said 2017 and not 2018. But wait! I was entitled to insurance for one year following the divorce! So that doesn't hold water!

I was put on hold many times. Finally she said she found the divorce decree in my ex husband's file. She could do nothing but she would send my case to the correct dept. to have the error fixed and have my case reviewed. She said there was nothing more I needed to do. Just wait for the phone call. Never got a phone call.

Fast forward... Got another letter, this time slapping me with a fine and interest for not responding to the first letter. Plus... They intend to seize my federal funds until they get all of their money!

More phone calls. Only learned that my records have been corrected but I had to call another dept. I did and now we are playing phone tag. They don't answer and I didn't hear the phone when they called.

I was told to put things in writing but they wanted all of my medical bills. I don't keep them back that far and what good would that do? Plus, experience has taught me that no matter how I send the missive, they'll say they never got it, despite my having proof that they did.

I have since put things in writing and sent it with tracking.

Now this is not my only do over. It seems that with a lot of things in my life, I keep having weird problems. I address them right away, think whatever it is, is done, but, no....

I am into Law Of Attraction. So that tells me I am doing something wrong to keep having these do overs. But what? I am on several LOA groups but the people there have been no help and they tend to come to *me* with problems, thinking I know more than they do!

In terms of the divorce, I was pretty much forced to go to mediation while Mercury was Retrograde. So there's that. I wanted to wait but could not. Due to my ex and my first, bad, do nothing lawyer, then my second, slow as molasses in January lawyer, the court system was pressuring to get it done then or else!

So... How do I get things right the first time? I hate do overs and I hate wasting time. I like one and done. Thanks!

 

[UsuallyPresent]

One thing I'd suggest, if I may - When dealing with major, dysfunctional bureaucracies, NEVER accept "That's all you'll need to do, we'll take it from here" without a fight

Instead, get names, times, and what they said. Specifically include dates - "This takes 3 to 4 weeks", etc. Write them down. Get names and phone numbers for the people next in the process. Be rude if you have to, but don't back down. You already KNOW they're fuckups [pardon the curse but I don't know how better to state that], you're the one at risk they're just showing up and filling a desk 8 hours a day for a paycheck.

You won't win every battle for that information, but every win helps for the next time.

Keep all the details in two places. One, in a stream-of-consciousness or the like journal writing down every claim, every person, every phone number, etc.

Two, in a directory. What goes in this directory varies depending on the bureaucracy you're working with/ on, but should include facts like people's names, as specific an organizational name as you can get, job description/descriptions, ["payments complaints, TRICARE" or "manager for Patient reps w/r/t medical records"], point of contact like phone, email, physical location, etc, and a 'reference' that includes the date & time of interactions that you can use to look up where you talked with them in the first record.

Generally I keep #1 open and fill in details as fast as I can while they're on the phone, or as I get other correspondence [don't forget the snail mail!], then when all that's done for a given call or whatever I fill in #2. Takes a couple extra minutes but has saved my butt more than once in the past when - not if - they screw up again.

Won't stop do-overs, but gives you ammo to speed up the recovery process with their fuckups.

Hope this helps

 

[Privates1stClass]

You'd think that in this computerized age when hackers and social media knows more about you than you know about yourself, that the government can be so clueless. I've had similar problems.

To protect myself, I've had to scan letters, bills, invoices, and other documents, so I can send copies back to the same people who say I didn't pay or respond to them on time. I hate it when I get a government document that says I must respond to them within 21 days or I'll lose my deduction/refund, etc., but their document says, "Expect a response within 8 to 12 weeks." And then I don't get a response at all.

Same for insurance companies, utilities, banks, credit cards, and doctor's bills. It gets really aggravating when you try to talk with someone, but all you get is: "Press 1 to pay your bill, Press 2 to make an appointment, Press 3 to hear the amount of your bill, Press 4 to update your information, Press 6 to hear this message in Portugese, Press 7 if your account number begins with A003, Press 8 if your account is past due, Press 9 if you don't give a shit, Press 0 to wait on hold."

What was choice 5? But none of the numbers they have choices for relate to your problem, so you press 0 and receive a message, "Your call is very important to us. There are 24 callers in front of you and your expected wait time is 35 minutes. Please hold."

You decide you really need to talk with someone to straighten out the mess they've made to your account, so you wait on hold. They play some gosh-awful on hold music that you hate for as long as you're on hold. Then at about the 30-minute mark, the line cuts off, so you have to go through the same process again.

This time, you finally reach a real live person. Whew, after all that wait, you finally get a chance to have your problem fixed, and then you discover you're talking to someone at a call center on the other side of the world and who barely understands English. They have no clue about the insurance plan you're in, the credit card you're using, or how to get in touch with someone who really can take care of your problem. They offer to transfer your call to a person in a department who can help, but somehow they transfer you to the wrong department, and the person there says they can't help you and they suggest you call the first number you called. Arrrgh!!! At that point, your blood pressure hits about 340/240.

Jada, we're all sorry to hear about your problem, and we all have sympathy for you. Too bad in this information age, we have to suffer because of customer service workers who don't care, who are clueless, and all the bureaucracy behind them.

 

[Jada59]

One thing I'd suggest, if I may - When dealing with major, dysfunctional bureaucracies, NEVER accept "That's all you'll need to do, we'll take it from here" without a fight

Instead, get names, times, and what they said. Specifically include dates - "This takes 3 to 4 weeks", etc. Write them down. Get names and phone numbers for the people next in the process. Be rude if you have to, but don't back down. You already KNOW they're fuckups [pardon the curse but I don't know how better to state that], you're the one at risk they're just showing up and filling a desk 8 hours a day for a paycheck.

You won't win every battle for that information, but every win helps for the next time.

Keep all the details in two places. One, in a stream-of-consciousness or the like journal writing down every claim, every person, every phone number, etc.

Two, in a directory. What goes in this directory varies depending on the bureaucracy you're working with/ on, but should include facts like people's names, as specific an organizational name as you can get, job description/descriptions, ["payments complaints, TRICARE" or "manager for Patient reps w/r/t medical records"], point of contact like phone, email, physical location, etc, and a 'reference' that includes the date & time of interactions that you can use to look up where you talked with them in the first record.

Generally I keep #1 open and fill in details as fast as I can while they're on the phone, or as I get other correspondence [don't forget the snail mail!], then when all that's done for a given call or whatever I fill in #2. Takes a couple extra minutes but has saved my butt more than once in the past when - not if - they screw up again.

Won't stop do-overs, but gives you ammo to speed up the recovery process with their fuckups.

Hope this helps

Alas that doesn't work with the military if you are a spouse, If you show the slightest bit of anger, rudeness, ask a question to clarify something or even try to get the name of who it will be passed on to, they will just hang up on you. I've had them yell, "Shut up!" to me. They have me at their mercy and they seem to love it. But thanks!

 

[Jada59]

You'd think that in this computerized age when hackers and social media knows more about you than you know about yourself, that the government can be so clueless. I've had similar problems.

To protect myself, I've had to scan letters, bills, invoices, and other documents, so I can send copies back to the same people who say I didn't pay or respond to them on time. I hate it when I get a government document that says I must respond to them within 21 days or I'll lose my deduction/refund, etc., but their document says, "Expect a response within 8 to 12 weeks." And then I don't get a response at all.

Same for insurance companies, utilities, banks, credit cards, and doctor's bills. It gets really aggravating when you try to talk with someone, but all you get is: "Press 1 to pay your bill, Press 2 to make an appointment, Press 3 to hear the amount of your bill, Press 4 to update your information, Press 6 to hear this message in Portugese, Press 7 if your account number begins with A003, Press 8 if your account is past due, Press 9 if you don't give a shit, Press 0 to wait on hold."

What was choice 5? But none of the numbers they have choices for relate to your problem, so you press 0 and receive a message, "Your call is very important to us. There are 24 callers in front of you and your expected wait time is 35 minutes. Please hold."

You decide you really need to talk with someone to straighten out the mess they've made to your account, so you wait on hold. They play some gosh-awful on hold music that you hate for as long as you're on hold. Then at about the 30-minute mark, the line cuts off, so you have to go through the same process again.

This time, you finally reach a real live person. Whew, after all that wait, you finally get a chance to have your problem fixed, and then you discover you're talking to someone at a call center on the other side of the world and who barely understands English. They have no clue about the insurance plan you're in, the credit card you're using, or how to get in touch with someone who really can take care of your problem. They offer to transfer your call to a person in a department who can help, but somehow they transfer you to the wrong department, and the person there says they can't help you and they suggest you call the first number you called. Arrrgh!!! At that point, your blood pressure hits about 340/240.

Jada, we're all sorry to hear about your problem, and we all have sympathy for you. Too bad in this information age, we have to suffer because of customer service workers who don't care, who are clueless, and all the bureaucracy behind them.

Oh yes! In trying to get my insurance put under my social following the divorce, many times I waited on hold all day, only to be hung up on. None of the phone numbers listed online are correct. The numbers I was given were wrong too! I was sent to Aviation repeatedly. You'd think *they* would try to get the correct number. But no. I was also given the number to a porn hotline. That one made the Navy Times! Scary, the level of incompetence!

 

[AloneTooLong]

what has worked best for me with government bureaucracy is contacting my congressperson. You might try that (along with cc: them on any letters in response and a copy of the letter you are responding to)

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Alas that doesn't work with the military if you are a spouse, If you show the slightest bit of anger, rudeness, ask a question to clarify something or even try to get the name of who it will be passed on to, they will just hang up on you. I've had them yell, "Shut up!" to me. They have me at their mercy and they seem to love it. But thanks!

Sorry I wasn’t able to help. Who does tricare report to? Who holds the legal authorization and/or contract(s)? Might they care enough to hold their feet to the fire? I see Private1stClass suggests your Congress critters...

 

[Jada59]

Sorry I wasn’t able to help. Who does tricare report to? Who holds the legal authorization and/or contract(s)? Might they care enough to hold their feet to the fire? I see Private1stClass suggests your Congress critters...

I have no clue now. I no longer have that insurance so am out of the loop. A new company took them over around the time of my divorce, hence the many issues. It was not a smooth takeover at all.

I did look up the phone number of the woman who called me. She's in CA so same time zone. Will have to get up early to try to call yet again.