It Is Not Like Tax Season Doesn’t Occur Every Year
“Thank you for calling DFAS (Defense Finance Accounting Service) –Please be advised that during tax season now through April you may experience longer than normal waiting times” Automated answer when calling DFAS
As the first Assistant Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs for Public Affairs I learned a lot. My mission was being accountable on making sure the newly created Department of Veterans Affair lived up to our sacred trust of caring for the those 26 Million Veterans who bore the battle and as necessary their widows and orphans as President Lincoln promised.
One of the most important lessons is that individual experiences can bring sunlight and transparency in motivating a Government Bureaucracy to solve huge complex problem.
After Desert Storm there was a nasty debate about veterans damaged by exposure to Chemical munitions stored in Iraq ammo bunkers that had been blown up during the combat and chemical warheads being released.
The late Secretary Derwinski our first Secretary had already service connected my fellow Vietnam Veterans with health damage from Agent Orange. He wanted something done to help Desert Storm Veterans.
At that time I received a call from a retired USN Commander very concerned about his Gulf War Marine son. His son wanted to stay in the Marines but as his dad explained when brushing his teeth they were becoming lose and some falling out and his hair was coming out in chunks.
At that moment, and to this day I hope my fellow Marine is well. Secretary Dewinski told me to create the Desert Storm Health Registry, now the Gulf War Registry.
https://www.publichealth.va.gov/exposures/gulfwar/benefits/registry-exam.asp
I suspect we would have been successful without that tragic call but it gave me a very personal meaning to in addressing a significant health issue.
Because of that experience whenever I have a personal issue that can possibly lead to a greater good in fixing problems to help active duty personnel, veterans and their family members I pay close attention. That event just occurred with my 90 year old mother so I resolved to publish her story. The e-mails in this article speak for themselves as I engaged with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS).
My on the record media inquiry begins with an e-mail sent to the DFAS Media Team on March 23 2019;
My name is Edward Timperlake
I am the managing Editor of Defense.info
https://defense.info/defense-info-team/2018/04/the-honorable-edward-timperlake/
By tragic necessity I have had engage with DFAS to re-establish my 90 year old Mother Joan D. (last name withheld for article) annuity from my father James E Timperlake’s career Navy service, tragically after he retired he died at age 44 of inoperable brain cancer. My mother’s only brother was killed on Iwo Jima at age 18.
Our family has given a lot in service. and so far my impression is DFAS is very close to elder abuse.
Editorial note the definition below is added to explain for this article my meaning of Elder Abuse that I had used in my original e-mail
Elder abuse (also called “elder mistreatment“, “senior abuse“, “abuse in later life“, “abuse of older adults“, “abuse of older women“, and “abuse of older men“) is “a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person. (wiki)
In addition to being a Presidential Appointee as the first Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Public and Congressional Affairs I was also a retired Marine officer in the DFAS system.
In engaging in early January as POA for my Mother I faxed the death certificate of her late husband Professor (name now withheld) passing to DFAS.
For some inexplicable reason it was filed in my DFAS file. It took a while to find this out and so far nothing has been done to expeditiously help my mother.
For the record when I write about all this everyone on the phone has been very polite and helpful. (Added for this article: I am actually very sorry for front line individuals in a dysfunctional system, I am sure at times they often face displaced anger)
My first question based on my personal on the record documented experience with DFAS at the 79 day and counting is:
Why does it take, around 30 minutes or more to even have someone pick up the phone, or even worse several times say DFAS is too busy to pick up the phone?
Since Tax Season occurs every year why DFAS isn’t better prepared for any possible increased demand during Tax Season?
Teresa (Terri) McKay was sworn in as the Director of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) on September 15, 2008.
What has the Director done since 2008 to be pro-active to help families in need?
Thank you for a prompt response
Semper Fi Ed Timperlake
Mr. Timberlake(sic)
Just to make sure I’m clear regarding your email. Are you contacting me as a member of the press or as a family member looking to get assistance for your mother?
As you can imagine, me response must be composed based on your status and whether the information is to be used for publication.
Look forward to your response.
Steve Burghardt
Corporate Communications – Media
In a professional and helpful phoncon I described how we often directly report on issues connected with helping veterans.
Our team specifically created “Danny’s Corner” in honor of the late Danny Lam PhD, he was a joint Canadian/Taiwanese citizen and had been the best reporter on PRC and North Korea writing today. Danny tragically died last year from drinking polluted milk in China on his visit a few years ago that destroyed his kidneys. The RCMP were very helpful in ruling out death by misadventure.
I specifically did not comingle my family issue with very legitimate questions, by simply stating that I would appreciate my questions answered with a line in a follow up e-mail;
Everything you say in response is 100 % on the record
I also said that because Mr Burghardt is a very professional PAO that; “I will include that you very politely asked me to clarify my press inquiry”
These are the questions and answers directly from our e-mail exchange: .
Why does it take, around 30 minutes or more to even have someone pick up the phone, or even worse several times say DFAS is too busy to pick up the phone?
Answer: During tax season, call volume increases, and varies depending on the day of the week and time of the day. The staffing levels and capacity are set based on historical information and predicted call volume. Leaders attempt to alleviate wait times by adjusting work schedules and assignments. At the same time, DFAS has been pro-active in providing self-help information on the DFAS and myPay websites. Allowing the customers to access information and provide updates without speaking to a care center employee reduces call volumes and wait times which increases customer satisfaction. However, less than 50% of retirees and less than 10% of annuitants take advantage of myPay self-service options. When balancing the need to provide accurate and timely information to customers while managing costs to the services and taxpayers, there will be times when customer demand exceeds the care center capacity, which will lead to wait times longer than desired.
Since Tax Season occurs every year why DFAS isn’t better prepared for any possible increased demand during Tax Season?
Answer: DFAS does increase staffing levels in preparation for the increased volume of calls anticipated during tax season. Staffing levels are set based on historical information and predicted call volume, balancing the need to provide accurate and timely information to customers while managing costs to the services and taxpayers. DFAS also has been pro-active in providing self-help information on the DFAS and myPay websites. Allowing the customers to access information and provide updates without speaking to a care center employee reduces call volumes and wait times which increases customer satisfaction. However, less than 50% of retirees and less than 10% of annuitants take advantage of myPay self-service options. DFAS continues to communicate the benefits of this capability to increase the usage.
I sent an e-mail thanking Mr. Burghardt for his very prompt professional response.
I then immediately followed up my research on DFAS waiting times by calling DFAS at 12;24 on March 26 2019
This is that record-
Phone answered with a recording about delays during tax season
By 12;27 I was into their phone tree-my selection after listening was to select #4 unfortunately my iPhone when I hit number 4 gave me a response that it did not electronically register and the menu began again.
When I then pressed # 4 during the menu moving from #4 to # 5 it registered.
My conclusion; it wasn’t my phone, rather the lack of the electronic acceptance of pressing #4 after the menu was read is a glitch in their system. .
Finally after diving more deeply into the call screening function I heard at 12;29 “it is a 40 minute wait”which exceeded my press inquiry by an additional 10 minutes.
The reader can now judge for themselves if the DFAS response is actually blaming the victim, often elderly and not computer savvy individuals, because of DFAS long term failure to plan for Tax Season.
Additionally, personally hiding behind “taxpayers’ to defend their treatment of those that gave their all in service is actually the worst excuse I can personally imagine.
Finally I will leave to those who wish to do something about this horrible process.
A complete uncompromising audit focusing on managing resources better could include reaching back to identify earlier problems that could be fixed removing the need to call in the first place.
There is a simple question;
Are they so many calls during Tax season that could have been ameliorated by better DFAS initial performance earlier in the process?
Misfiling my Mother’s request in my file is but one very personal example of a mistake causing a series of calls. It is now 82 days and counting for someone age 90.
In my professional judgment DFAS problems are senior leadership resource management issues.