Ana Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 everyone knows that some things never happen. pigs never fly. a watched pot never boils. and mail delivered by the chinese mail system never arrives. i exaggerate. but it is a cause for concern: mail often gets lost or delayed in the system. a kid riding a bike for a half hour is how my husband gets his mail. and sometimes mail is passed on to people who live in his village to make life easier for the 'mail-kid.' do we have to waste an additional week while my husband's notification letter is gathering grease on some guy's kitchen table? i've been thinking about faxing adams and simpkin about the situation, and highlighting WHY we feel this is a potential problem. there can be no doubt that a certain percentage of notification letters will get lost, while others will be delayed. we might also suggest a few solutions: i.e. EMS (i'd be more than happy to pay myself for this service) or email. what do other people think about this? if people are concerned about this, the more people who complain, the more likely it is that they will do something about it. Link to comment
tparrent Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 Is there something in the letter that is vital? Do you need a particular piece of information (that could be given over the phone) or a particular document? If communication, rather than physical document, is all that's needed then perhaps they can empower the info line to give it to you. I highly doubt that they would change their normal delivery system. Remember that GZ successfully sends out tens of THOUSANDS of pieces of mail every year. Some get lost (our packet 3 got lost and had to be resent) but most get through. If you are going to suggest a change then I suggest a simple, low cost one such as the info line or perhaps a reply to specific e-mails with a particular subject line. They can't send out e-mail to everyone because 1) not everyone has e-mail and 2) GZ does not have the e-mail addresses of everyone who does have e-mail. Link to comment
AngryTexan Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 Ana, I am 100% behind you. I have already sent a FAX to GZ demanding that we be treated like all the other applicants who came before us (that is, received their visas before us - we know where they were in the application process). I am sick and tired of the cavalier way in which the Forgotten Bunch-August Group has been/is being treated. ALL OF US need to FAX/e-mail GZ, every single day, until we get a firm commitment that EMS will be the ONLY method used. Sorry if this sounds shrill, but I've had it. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Also, I saw a posting from Skibum indicating that his fiancee was informed by GZ, via e-mail, that her visa pick-up notification was mailed on a certain date. What happened to "Don't contact us, because we cannot provide you with information about specific cases", as contained on the GZ website? This is not meant in any way as a slight towards Skibum - to the contrary, I am very happy for him, and I appreciate the fact that he shared this information with us. It is yet another instance in which we have been misled by GZ. I have already sent two faxes to Linda Donahue requesting the same information that was provided to Skibum's fiancee, with no response. If I wake up tomorrow morning without a response, she is going to receive yet another one, with copies to my Senator, Representative, and Maura Harty. I've been very polite now for over a year, and as far as I'm concerned, it has gotten me nowhere. Three more days, and it will have been TWO HUNDRED DAYS since my fiancee's interview. Like I said, I've had it. Link to comment
Eric&Yuhui Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 Ana.I don't think this is a crisis...Several people, including Yuhui, called GZ who told them.. It's EMS.. Why a few were sent snail-mail, I have no idea.. But I wouldn't raise hell about it right now.IMHO Link to comment
Mick Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 My suggestion is we keep an eye on things for a few days and see what kind of pattern emerges. Right now, there seems to be conflicting information. As of yesterday, two girls on 001 reported they received notice by regular mail. Yet in another thread, someone's lady called GZ and was told they would continue to use EMS. Then Ski reported that his girl was sent e-mail from GZ that stated "regular mail", but he is as of yet unclear whether that means EMS as opposed to e-mail. The only thing we do know for sure is that at least two people received notice regular mail. In addition, Kaige reported his girl received notice regular mail. Whether or not she is one of the two on 001, I don't know. Again, I think a pattern will soon emerge. Link to comment
Eric&Yuhui Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 Ana, I am 100% behind you. I have already sent a FAX to GZ demanding that we be treated like all the other applicants who came before us (that is, received their visas before us - we know where they were in the application process). I am sick and tired of the cavalier way in which the Forgotten Bunch-August Group has been/is being treated. ALL OF US need to FAX/e-mail GZ, every single day, until we get a firm commitment that EMS will be the ONLY method used. Sorry if this sounds shrill, but I've had it. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Also, I saw a posting from Skibum indicating that his fiancee was informed by GZ, via e-mail, that her visa pick-up notification was mailed on a certain date. What happened to "Don't contact us, because we cannot provide you with information about specific cases", as contained on the GZ website? This is not meant in any way as a slight towards Skibum - to the contrary, I am very happy for him, and I appreciate the fact that he shared this information with us. It is yet another instance in which we have been misled by GZ. I have already sent two faxes to Linda Donahue requesting the same information that was provided to Skibum's fiancee, with no response. If I wake up tomorrow morning without a response, she is going to receive yet another one, with copies to my Senator, Representative, and Maura Harty. I've been very polite now for over a year, and as far as I'm concerned, it has gotten me nowhere. Three more days, and it will have been TWO HUNDRED DAYS since my fiancee's interview. Like I said, I've had it.I hear you.The notification email from GZ also surprised me....Then again, it should not after 200+ days.My concern is that if any info given to us by CA ( not the 1225 line ) about clearances is indeed true.. The only way to confirm this is to have GZ say.. yep.. got it.. Unfortunately, their response time, or lack therefore, has a lot to be desired. Calling the GZ "info line" isn't much help ( like the DoS info line ) as I believe they can only see in the computer what was previously entered. So if the clearance was received but not yet entered ( they say they work on tons of those these days ) the GZ info line ( IV info unit ) will show "pending" until they process it Am I wrong here? And we sure as hell don't want to wait 3 more weeks to find out that CA was making an "error" Link to comment
Ana Posted February 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 i also prefer the wait for patterns approach. but i am wondering, if in this case that is a bad idea. if we wait, they will have already sent out hundreds of letters by regular mail. and since they dont seem to be updating the computers (?), it is hard for our better half to find out if the notice has been sent or not. thus, the mail might be lost, and we might still be thinking that gz hasnt mailed it out yet. there's no way to keep track of our cases. Link to comment
Mick Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 i also prefer the wait for patterns approach. but i am wondering, if in this case that is a bad idea. if we wait, they will have already sent out hundreds of letters by regular mail. and since they dont seem to be updating the computers (?), it is hard for our better half to find out if the notice has been sent or not. thus, the mail might be lost, and we might still be thinking that gz hasnt mailed it out yet. there's no way to keep track of our cases.I agree with your concerns Ana and I also agree with the issues and approach raised by the Texan earlier in the thread. The only reason I suggested waiting to see if there was indeed a pattern is that right now there seems to be a lot of conflicting information. Faxes and e-mails certainly can't hurt. Link to comment
Eric&Yuhui Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 i also prefer the wait for patterns approach. but i am wondering, if in this case that is a bad idea. if we wait, they will have already sent out hundreds of letters by regular mail. and since they dont seem to be updating the computers (?), it is hard for our better half to find out if the notice has been sent or not. thus, the mail might be lost, and we might still be thinking that gz hasnt mailed it out yet. there's no way to keep track of our cases.You do have a point here Ana Link to comment
JonInDenver Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 send your faxes and e-mails NOW protesting the "regular mail" situation. get your delegates to do the same. like most of you i have several stories about lost and delayed mail. it is CRAP that november and december interviewees get EMS letters and many are already in the US - while the rest of us seem to meet one delay after the next. DO NOT let the pressure off of GZ or DOS - they will drop the ball again! boot leather is all they seem to respond to, so give them PLENTY of it! Link to comment
Eric&Yuhui Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 Jon, when were you "cleared" per CA ? Still waiting for the letter? Does your case shoews cleared in GZ system? Just curious. Link to comment
Mick Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 Don't know about other cases but Richard Adams did respond to my e-mail yesterday. He said our case still did not appear to be cleared. The last thing he had on our case was the same thing in the computer the day Owen and I were there. Resubmitted on January 13. That's the last info. Damn near impossible to get info from CA and/or DOS from over here due to cost and time differential. So we are still in limbo as to the status of our case. Looks like it may not have been among the 1200 that came to GZ around Feb. 4-6. Link to comment
JonInDenver Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 "Jon, when were you "cleared" per CA?" not "cleared" but "favorable response." ...during the new year holiday. "Still waiting for the letter?" ...yep. "Does your case show cleared in GZ system?" ....nope. "Just curious." ...ME TOO! I WILL NOT REST! Link to comment
Eric&Yuhui Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 Don't know about other cases but Richard Adams did respond to my e-mail yesterday. He said our case still did not appear to be cleared. The last thing he had on our case was the same thing in the computer the day Owen and I were there. Resubmitted on January 13. That's the last info. Damn near impossible to get info from CA and/or DOS from over here due to cost and time differential. So we are still in limbo as to the status of our case. Looks like it may not have been among the 1200 that came to GZ around Feb. 4-6. Mick. I have your case number. I'll check tomorrow when I call CA ( not DOS ! ) Link to comment
Eric&Yuhui Posted February 19, 2003 Report Share Posted February 19, 2003 "Jon, when were you "cleared" per CA?" not "cleared" but "favorable response." ...during the new year holiday. "Still waiting for the letter?" ...yep. "Does your case show cleared in GZ system?" ....nope. "Just curious." ...ME TOO! I WILL NOT REST!OK.... Jon.. then if CA didn't B.S us , GZ is again sitting on cleared case for more than 10 days now. Link to comment
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