Fucked over by the federal government, take #63
To Recap, The Federal Government Are Just As Incompetent As You Think They Are (Last Week On).
Remember how I was told last Wednesday that the restriction would be lifted in 48 hours, and that the BC loans people should have received it by Monday? Called this afternoon and GUESS WHAT. NO NOTIFICATION. This is supposed to be done by fax or e-mail. Not hard, right?
So I call the National Student Loans Service Centre (a private corporation under contract - "on behalf of" - the Canada Student Loans program) and ask "WTF?" I explain what the guy at Canada Student Loans told me and she completely ignored me, re-iterating that it takes ten business days, blah blah blah. I tried to explain that no, I spoke with them DIRECTLY, and Canada Student Loans, y'know, the federal government, told me it would be done by Monday. She said nope, nope, you're crazy and ignored me some more.
Then she looked at my file again and made confused noises about the fact that I'm currently on interest relief. I sighed, and explained that they said I had to do that in order to bring my payments up to date in order to release my funding, and had insisted even after they had gotten my confirmation of enrollment as a full-time student (interest relief is actually for people who are not in school, but they insisted so I just did it - they should know better than I do, right? HAH.). She shook her head (I imagine) and said that oh! They'd just changed my status back to "full-time student" TWO DAYS AGO, even though they got my confirmation of enrollment (a Schedule 2, apparently) in OCTOBER. So she took me off interest relief (there's a lifetime maximum for how long you can be on it, so good, hurrah), and then sat there as if we were finished.
So I explained, again, that they still hadn't released my Fall 2008 funding, and that this was A PROBLEM, because I have credit card bills and Hydro and rent and other things over which I accured debt after being told there was "money coming, we swear!" for four solid months. She repeated that it takes ten business days, I repeated that I'd spoken directly with the federal loans people last week and they'd said it wouldn't, she said that wasn't possible, and that it was going to take ten business days, period. I started getting pissed-off by that point (I mean, okay, I was incandescently pissed-off already but now I was letting it show in my voice) and asked if they couldn't speed things up, make an exception, what with it being their fault I was so late dealing with it - "you know, since I was lied to given incorrect information by one of your co-workers? I don't think it's unreasonable that when I call you I get the truth, is it?" She agreed that it wasn't - a little stuttery, which I kind of feel bad about but really, really don't because she spent ten minutes at the beginning of the call insisting that the federal government couldn't possibly have told me that and that I must be mistaken or a liar. Then she transferred me to her supervisor, who told me the same thing, and then helpfully offered to do exactly what I'd asked to have done at the BEGINNING OF THE CALL, two hours ago: TRANSFER ME TO THE CANADA STUDENT LOANS PROGRAM.
Except she couldn't do it right then, because it was now 6pm in Ontario and they were closed.
*HEADDESK*
So now I have to call them back tomorrow morning and start all over again.
But first, I sent a long, detailed e-mail to my Member of Parliament explaining exactly how I've been getting jerked around all semester. I'm expecting a call back tomorrow. Both our MLA and our MP are NDP, and they've proven both helpful and efficient in bitchslapping both the provincial Liberals and the federal Conservatives. Hell, even the BC Conservatives don't seem too fond of them. Mum contacted Randy Kamp, who is the MP for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, explaining the jerking-around we've been getting over Dad and Grampa's taxes, and she got an e-mail back two days later offering some bitch-slapping on her behalf.
And now I think I may go drink. Or maybe nap. I haven't decided yet. Rest assured it will involve chocolate and screaming.
Remember how I was told last Wednesday that the restriction would be lifted in 48 hours, and that the BC loans people should have received it by Monday? Called this afternoon and GUESS WHAT. NO NOTIFICATION. This is supposed to be done by fax or e-mail. Not hard, right?
So I call the National Student Loans Service Centre (a private corporation under contract - "on behalf of" - the Canada Student Loans program) and ask "WTF?" I explain what the guy at Canada Student Loans told me and she completely ignored me, re-iterating that it takes ten business days, blah blah blah. I tried to explain that no, I spoke with them DIRECTLY, and Canada Student Loans, y'know, the federal government, told me it would be done by Monday. She said nope, nope, you're crazy and ignored me some more.
Then she looked at my file again and made confused noises about the fact that I'm currently on interest relief. I sighed, and explained that they said I had to do that in order to bring my payments up to date in order to release my funding, and had insisted even after they had gotten my confirmation of enrollment as a full-time student (interest relief is actually for people who are not in school, but they insisted so I just did it - they should know better than I do, right? HAH.). She shook her head (I imagine) and said that oh! They'd just changed my status back to "full-time student" TWO DAYS AGO, even though they got my confirmation of enrollment (a Schedule 2, apparently) in OCTOBER. So she took me off interest relief (there's a lifetime maximum for how long you can be on it, so good, hurrah), and then sat there as if we were finished.
So I explained, again, that they still hadn't released my Fall 2008 funding, and that this was A PROBLEM, because I have credit card bills and Hydro and rent and other things over which I accured debt after being told there was "money coming, we swear!" for four solid months. She repeated that it takes ten business days, I repeated that I'd spoken directly with the federal loans people last week and they'd said it wouldn't, she said that wasn't possible, and that it was going to take ten business days, period. I started getting pissed-off by that point (I mean, okay, I was incandescently pissed-off already but now I was letting it show in my voice) and asked if they couldn't speed things up, make an exception, what with it being their fault I was so late dealing with it - "you know, since I was lied to given incorrect information by one of your co-workers? I don't think it's unreasonable that when I call you I get the truth, is it?" She agreed that it wasn't - a little stuttery, which I kind of feel bad about but really, really don't because she spent ten minutes at the beginning of the call insisting that the federal government couldn't possibly have told me that and that I must be mistaken or a liar. Then she transferred me to her supervisor, who told me the same thing, and then helpfully offered to do exactly what I'd asked to have done at the BEGINNING OF THE CALL, two hours ago: TRANSFER ME TO THE CANADA STUDENT LOANS PROGRAM.
Except she couldn't do it right then, because it was now 6pm in Ontario and they were closed.
*HEADDESK*
So now I have to call them back tomorrow morning and start all over again.
But first, I sent a long, detailed e-mail to my Member of Parliament explaining exactly how I've been getting jerked around all semester. I'm expecting a call back tomorrow. Both our MLA and our MP are NDP, and they've proven both helpful and efficient in bitchslapping both the provincial Liberals and the federal Conservatives. Hell, even the BC Conservatives don't seem too fond of them. Mum contacted Randy Kamp, who is the MP for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, explaining the jerking-around we've been getting over Dad and Grampa's taxes, and she got an e-mail back two days later offering some bitch-slapping on her behalf.
And now I think I may go drink. Or maybe nap. I haven't decided yet. Rest assured it will involve chocolate and screaming.