I have a far lower patience threshold for stupidity lately than normal which is why I recently have left a number of yahoo groups. Those who see my posts on social media know that I popped a fuse earlier today. NELNET is one of Sandi's student loan providers and has provided grossly incompetent service since they got a hold of a couple of her loans a few years back. It got so bad over a year or so ago that we filed formal complaints with both the US Justice Department as well as the Department of Education regarding their incompetence and bullying behavior.
Ultimately, a Vice President at NELNET was contacted by the government and fixed the problem while blaming us repeatedly in a letter that was supposed to be an apology. One of those "I'm sorry that you were inconvenienced at this difficult time" type letters instead of a true apology. I had to write two more letters explaining the full reality of the situation they alone caused while also providing written documentation of their incompetence using their own letters to prove to her that what she was being told internally was lies, all lies, and damn lies.
Kick it forward to last month. We discover to our horror that, somehow, NELNET has been awarded the contract to handle all TOTAL AND PERMANENT DISABILITY APPLICATIONS on behalf of the Department of Education. Instead of sending your fully completed application to the Department of Education, you have to send it to a post office box handled by NELNET. They review the application and then forward it on to the DOE whether you are a veteran, civilian, or whatever. They handle all of them and you have no choice, but to go through them.
So, Sandi fills out the application on December 9 and we take it in to the doctor at Texas Oncology at Medical City Dallas Hospital. He has some things going on, so he does it on December 13th. We get it back and mail it in at that time. I double checked it first to make sure it was fully complete and photocopy it and the cover letter that is going with it.
Today we get two letters of denial from NELNET. Both letters cite reasons that are wrong. Not just wrong, but so wrong you wonder if a monkey could do a better job.
The first letter which is dated December 31, 2013 and meter postmarked January 6, which we received today, January 16, 2014 says the application has expired. Therefore, because the application has expired we need to do a new one.
WRONG!
You have sixty days from the date of the application to submit it. Sandi filled it out and signed it on December 9. It had not been even thirty days when they rejected it--according to their letter dated December 31, 2013.
Then things got even stupider.
The second denial letter received today which is dated January 3, 2014 and meter postmarked January 6 says the application --THE EXACT SAME APPLICATION---was rejected for two reasons. 1)Her birth date is missing and 2) the doctor failed to complete section one.
Wrong and WRONG!
There is no place on the application for a birth date. Prevalently the new ones as of this year require that information but the one we have that they sent us last year does not have a section requesting a birth date.
The doctor certainly did fill out section one. You can clearly see he marked the "yes" box which indicates her illness will lead to death and that box is marked right above where he wrote "terminal" in the diagnosis line along with the specific multi word name of her damn cancer.
So, in both letters we got today, everything they said was wrong is actually correct and meanwhile they have blocked her from having her application processed because they flat out screwed up. Unfortunately, Sandi saw the letters before I got them out of the mail and became highly agitated and very upset about them as well as a collection letter from an outfit doing business as SYNERPRISE CONSULTING with offices up in Kansas and here in Plano. Their letter was on a debt with Excel Anesthesia who was paid two months ago after I contacted the feds and the state to complain about their billing practices and errors which had led to issues with Aetna. After spending months writing letters to both outfits and getting the runaround from both and lots of finger pointing from folks who could not sign their name, I copied everything and sent to the Feds and State folks. That got the ball rolling in both places and finally, because I screamed blood murder, they got paid. Absolutely no debt at all is owed to Excel Anesthesia and has not been owed for over two months. Plenty of time for them to fix it in their system and yet today we got this too.
That just got her even more upset. Needless to say that is NOT helpful to her at all. Part of the rage is steroids based and part of it is what the cancer has done to her on top of everything else. Normally these things come, I figure out how we should handle them, and then talk to her about it. I have a chance to prepare her for what has come and can tell her how I will make it right. But, this time that didn't happen and she became very upset.
With the student loan nonsense I hand wrote notes on their letters pointing out their mistakes, copied everything, shoved it all in one envelope and sent it back. No point in writing a cover letter because that could confuse them. Circle the error, note the correct information on the form, and send it all back in one envelope after making copies.
With Synerprise Consulting, I told them to cease and desist immediately with their collection activity. I provided them the copies of the governmental complaint letters, the dates their client was paid, and told them to get back with their client, Excel Anesthesia, and clear her name before we escalated things federally. They should know I won't hesitate to report them for their collection activities--done it before and they had to deal with the consequences of that.
Not only was this stuff I didn't need today, Sandi really didn't need it. The last few days have been very difficult as she is having massive mood swings much worse than the normal ones. She has also had some increased trouble breathing. Whether that is because of the record mountain cedar pollen counts we have been experiencing daily (she is highly allergic to mountain cedar) or something else is going on, I don't know. She desperately needs a PET SCAN and so far insurance has refused to pay for it here as they want her to have it down at Mayo in Jacksonvill as part of her followup care. That is impossible as she remains oxygen dependent and the airlines and those in charge will not let her fly.
She is also massively swollen in her feet and lower legs. Swelling has been an issue all along but the last few days has been more pronounced than normal. Whether they will try again to combat this with a multi hour IV drip tomorrow morning I don't know. We have an appointment early in the morning after we get Scott to UTD and it could be a very long day.
And the fight goes on and on and on....
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