HUGE VENT! - I need to get this out before I explode!

Kirstenmumof3 wrote: Because of my mental illness I am unable to work. This is temporary situation, my psychologist assures me that I will be able to go back to work some day! So because I am unable to work I recieve disability. I am very lucky to have this because my DH does not have dental or prescription coverage through his work. I usually recieve my cheque on the 27 or 28 of every month. DH has to submit an income earning every month and that amount is deducted from my cheque. Lately I have been recieving $482.68 a month. This month DH knew that I wouldn't be recieving much from disability because there were 3 pay periods in a month.

On January 29, I still had not recieved my cheque, so I called the disability office and they assured me that it had been sent out. The women told me that if I didn't recieve my cheque by monday they would stop payment and reissue one for the following day. Well I did recieve my cheque on Monday February 2 for the ammount of $482.68 and my prescription card and dental card for the month. Yesterday, February 4 I recieved a letter stating that an overpayment had been made in the ammount of $482.68. I figured it was pointless to appeal this and had every intention of paying this money back! The letter was dated January 21, a full week before I should have recieved my cheque. The letter stated I could appeal this, but had to do so by February 4, the day I recieved the letter! The Ontario Disability program KNEW when they sent out my cheque that it was an overpayment! Then they waited until FEBRUARY 2 to mail that letter to me! Now I can't appeal it! Talk about DIRTY POOL! I'm so upset I don't know what I am going to do! I want to appeal on the grounds of STUPIDITY on their part! I'm going to call the Disability office this morning to find out what I can do! How can they do this to people!

Thanks for reading, sorry this got so long! I will post an update when I talk to Disabilty Office!

aspenblue1 replied: Good luck with the Disability office. I hope you get it worked out.

booey2 replied: Sorry they are treating you this way, hopefully they will get it sorted out.

MomToMany replied: OMG!!! I'm SO sorry that they did that to you! Hopefully you can get it all sorted out! What a bunch of morons!!!

ediep replied: UGH!!! on them!

jem0622 replied: Sorry to hear about this frustration. Hope it all gets worked out. I remember the nightmare of having to file my unemployment mess weekly until I found a job and it was stressful.

HUGS

Kirstenmumof3 replied: Well I've talked to the Disability Office and the women I spoke to said that the cheques are sent to the Thunder Bay Office from Toronto on the 19 of every month. So the cheque was sent before DH's Income Report came in. I asked her if I could still appeal, given that the date I recieved the letter was February 4 and she said I could. Then I asked her how they expected me to pay this back. She said that they would take 5% off of every cheque until the amount is paid back. I explained to her that in the letter it stated that we could come to a MUTUAL payment agreement and if they had already decided how I was going to pay it back, why would they writed that in the letter! She had no answer! I am so ticked off right now! But at least they are not making pay the full amount back right away!

coasterqueen replied: UGH! I am so sorry they did that to you! Grrrr!

jen replied: Sorry to here that! I think sometimes people don't think how their stupidity is going to affect others! I know they don't! I hope it all gets straightened out soon and you are back on track. When it comes to something like disability or unemployment they really should hire competent people because peoples lives depend on that.

natjasem replied: Good God!

DansMom replied: What a nightmare. So typical of bureaucracy. These systems that are supposed to help people make ends meet are so punitive and disrespectful to the individual. I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. I do want to say, though, it sounds like you advocated for yourself very well! You didn't just sit back and do nothing---good for you.

amynicole21 replied: Grrrr! The stupidity of some people (or organizations) never ceases to amaze me. They have no idea how their lack of attention to such things actually affects people's lives. I'm glad you got it worked out, though.

A&A'smommy replied: OMG i cant believe they did that to you!!!! ((((BIG HUGS)))))

kimberley replied: i had a similar problem with EI and child tax credit for overpayment because i filed my taxes late and was not entitled to as much as they gave me in july. i literally got no money at all from august until december. they held all funds and that is when jamie wasn't working things were rough but one thing they don't make public is that any money that you have to pay back can be as low as $5 a month depending on your circumstances. all you have to do is phone them and request to arrange a payment plan. they don't want people to know this so they get their money back faster but it is their mistake to begin with!

i hope you get it all figured out soon. i know what a pain dealing with gov't agencies is.