NVC Filers - May 2014

[JeffInMX 157]

I haven't seen my husband since December 8th. I was supposed to fly down to see him on Feb 22nd but when we finally got approved on March 18th we decided to save the ticket for the interview. I used reward miles ( 55,000) to book the original flight. I cancelled that flight but now when I look for flights to re-book with those reward miles, everything is 70,000 miles which means I would have to buy additional miles. Which ends up being like $491.00. ( pretty stupid for trying to use my reward miles ) I have $300 in my travel bank with United but I can't use the travel bank to buy additional miles to rebook with my reward ticket SOOOOO I might as well just buy a ticket for $658 so I can use my travel bank money.. then out of pocket is only $358.00 and I would rack up another 5000 miles..

Everything seems like such a friggin project lately sorry about the "off topic" conversation. The airlines piss me off

Did you know that you can use your United Mileage Plus miles to purchase one way tickets? If you don't have enough miles to buy the round trip ticket, just buy a one way ticket with your miles and purchase the other way with money. It will be cheaper than buying more miles from United in order to make a round trip ticket purchase.

[agbcha 48]

You have no reason to apologize! And kudos to you for holding a rude representative accountable for their rudeness. This process if challenging enough without attitude.

I'm glad to hear you were able to speak with someone nicer and that you're getting som progress :-)

You don't sound dramatic at all. I'm so glad that you called back and talked to someone else. It's about time someone said something. These customer service reps have been getting away with being rude to us for too long.

Soooooooooooooo happy you got Lisa she is a sweet heart and a good supervisor. This is what needs to be done with each that abuses their position, it's uncalled for under any circumstances. So happy this will help so much and I hope people will complain and e-mail for Joy and her minion. I'm sure the problem will be fixed now and I'm so happy.

No your not being dramatic we are going through so much stress as it is we don't need this on top of everything else. Now relax know you did well and this just might avoid me or someone else crying on the phone. Thank you sweet heart I know it must have not been easy for you. God bless your sweet and kind heart.

I wrote in my email that I wanted the incident to be documented so that it would never again happen to myself or anyone else -- that's for all of you! Bdrew, I want you and the September crew to go through with no problems! CanGirl, you are so right, the cs reps seem to get away with being constantly impolite and unhelpful. Soloenta you are wonderfully kind and I will be so happy to see everything work out for you.

[LoveMyTico 999]

Did you know that you can use your United Mileage Plus miles to purchase one way tickets? If you don't have enough miles to buy the round trip ticket, just buy a one way ticket with your miles and purchase the other way with money. It will be cheaper than buying more miles from United in order to make a round trip ticket purchase.

hmmmm, I'll have to look in to that. I just worry because when you enter CR, they like you to have a round trip ticket... I guess I could easily show them my other one way ticket

[Soloenta 2,218]

I hear you. even though i've been stressed and going crazy this past year, but my biggest worry and fear is once it gets in the embassy. they will do whatever the hell they want and no one can do anything about it. my brother-in-law had an interview march 2013 and was put on ap and since then no news.

I don't understand how they can give them so much power and we have no one that can help us. This is just unbelievable, and I'm in your same position, I can't' sleep or relax. I spent actually five solid days with no sleep then I slept for five hours. Nothing will console me but having my husband with me.

[JeffInMX 157]

hmmmm, I'll have to look in to that. I just worry because when you enter CR, they like you to have a round trip ticket... I guess I could easily show them my other one way ticket

Yes, on the page where you enter all of the info to search for a flight using miles, just select one way instead of round trip at the top where it says "what type of trip do you want to take?".

I'm sure you could just show them your other one way ticket that you purchase with money. Let them know that you had to purchase it separately.

[Soloenta 2,218]

I wrote in my email that I wanted the incident to be documented so that it would never again happen to myself or anyone else -- that's for all of you! Bdrew, I want you and the September crew to go through with no problems! CanGirl, you are so right, the cs reps seem to get away with being constantly impolite and unhelpful. Soloenta you are wonderfully kind and I will be so happy to see everything work out for you.

Thank you so much and bless you. You did the right thing.

[chappell09 38]

I actually received the e-mail yesterday afternoon.. I had already filled a new AOS form because I knew exactly what I did wrong and sent it out yesterday evening.. it was delivered today.. so hopefully they will review our packages next week

Glad you got the email and sent everything off. I'll give NVC a call sometime next week to make sure the packages have been received and find out the dates they were scanned. Then it's the waiting game again! (hopefully the last time for this part of the process). My original docs took 3 weeks to review, so I'm figuring it might take the same for these. Anything earlier will be icing on the cake. I'll probably start calling at the 2 week mark (unless I hear that your docs have been approved before then, that is!). Good luck!

[EOC 440]

A checklist was being generated for a Greek police certificate even though I had a letter in my IV husband's package explaining why it was unobtainable. When I called Shelley was very rude to me, talking over me in an authoritative way on a subject that I wasn't even asking about. Very insensitive, and she didn't try to help at all. I've gotten people who aren't willing to help me before, but never like this. By the end of the phone call I was crying and had to hang up.

So I called back and spoke to Lisa, who answered the same questions for me. After I asked about the checklist, I explained what happened with Shelley and she told me "you should never let anyone make you cry on the phone, you should have asked for a supervisor right then." So I asked if it would still be possible to speak with a supervisor, and she told me of course, that she would try to find one, but there's not always a supervisor around. (????) She found one, and when I got her on the phone she said "I'm very sorry that happened to you ma'am, that is certainly not the behavior we expect from our customer service representives." She wanted me to write a formal complaint via email. Then she initiated a supervisor review for the Greek police certificate thing -- I think she's going to personally review it as soon as she can pull my file. She made sure I was going to write the email complaint and apologized to me again. I probably talked to her for 20 minutes about my case.

I'm sorry if this sounds dramatic or over the top... I can't even explain how upset I was, and I'm not the type to have an emotional reaction over someone being rude.

So happy you spoke with someone else better than shelley. That's a great relief.

[LoveMyTico 999]

i see. so you got those checklists about a week after the supervisor review started?

it's sort of lame we can't talk directly to the supervisor to understand what the problem is in cases like ours...

No, I got the checklists like 2 days after . I actually got to talk to a supervisor on the night shift. he told me he would review my file and I should call back the following Wednesday and ask for him. I never called him back because the file got reviewed twice before the Wednesday I was supposed to call him back. and we had already sent the new package. I hate this waiting game they play. I really really really need to hear CC. I have been waiting almost 14 months now.

[Saylin 1,605]

Did you know that you can use your United Mileage Plus miles to purchase one way tickets? If you don't have enough miles to buy the round trip ticket, just buy a one way ticket with your miles and purchase the other way with money. It will be cheaper than buying more miles from United in order to make a round trip ticket purchase.

Ohhh, that's smart. I've been looking at flights to Orlando in September and I wasn't going to bother using my reward miles with Delta since I don't have enough, but I surely have enough for a one-way trip!

[dirk_diggler 107]

No, I got the checklists like 2 days after . I actually got to talk to a supervisor on the night shift. he told me he would review my file and I should call back the following Wednesday and ask for him. I never called him back because the file got reviewed twice before the Wednesday I was supposed to call him back. and we had already sent the new package. I hate this waiting game they play. I really really really need to hear CC. I have been waiting almost 14 months now.

how did you manage to talk to the supervisor?

yeah i see your timeline... unreal

[chappell09 38]

Yeah, I'm a little worried about the checklist for AOS now, bc someone else in our Sept group said they got one for putting the rounded total income amount on the tax return for the income amount on the I-864, which I believe I did too. UGH.

We almost went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon!! Beautiful island! I feel bad that my hubby has to get poked and prodded, but it'll all be worth it and long forgotten once he's here for good!

Try not to stress out about the checklist too much (I know it's easier said than done ). Your docs are in and not much that can be done about it now. Plus NVC is so inconsistent in their checklists, that you never know what will happen. Maybe they will skip right over it. I figure I've done everything that I can and tried my best to do it properly. If mistakes are made and checklists received, then all I can do is move forward from there and continue doing my best.

yes, St. Lucia is beautiful! One of the blessings (as well as the fresh tropical fruits mango, pineapple, etc!) that I'm trying to appreciate during the (fingers crossed) few months that we have left here.

something I just read recently (although not speaking about this topic at all) helps me feel better about this whole process:

"Great and overpowering as these sacrifices may now appear, they will, when viewed in their proper perspective, be adjudged as inconsiderable, and pale into insignificance when balanced against the inestimable advantages" of being with our loved ones for a life time.

I replaced the last part out of the quotations to fit all of our situations and hope that it brings a little solace to you and all others going through this process.

[JeffInMX 157]

Ohhh, that's smart. I've been looking at flights to Orlando in September and I wasn't going to bother using my reward miles with Delta since I don't have enough, but I surely have enough for a one-way trip!

Yeah! I'm pretty sure that United just started allowing people to use their miles to purchase a one-way ticket about a year ago. It's nice because their miles are so expensive to purchase, unless you catch them during a sale.

[r060106 109]

Yeah, I'm a little worried about the checklist for AOS now, bc someone else in our Sept group said they got one for putting the rounded total income amount on the tax return for the income amount on the I-864, which I believe I did too. UGH.

We almost went to St. Lucia for our honeymoon!! Beautiful island! I feel bad that my hubby has to get poked and prodded, but it'll all be worth it and long forgotten once he's here for good!

Wow, I did that too. Who else got a checklist for that? Did anyone else put the rounded amount in??

Edited May 23, 2014 by r060106

[Soloenta 2,218]

Try not to stress out about the checklist too much (I know it's easier said than done ). Your docs are in and not much that can be done about it now. Plus NVC is so inconsistent in their checklists, that you never know what will happen. Maybe they will skip right over it. I figure I've done everything that I can and tried my best to do it properly. If mistakes are made and checklists received, then all I can do is move forward from there and continue doing my best.

yes, St. Lucia is beautiful! One of the blessings (as well as the fresh tropical fruits mango, pineapple, etc!) that I'm trying to appreciate during the (fingers crossed) few months that we have left here.

something I just read recently (although not speaking about this topic at all) helps me feel better about this whole process:

"Great and overpowering as these sacrifices may now appear, they will, when viewed in their proper perspective, be adjudged as inconsiderable, and pale into insignificance when balanced against the inestimable advantages" of being with our loved ones for a life time.

I replaced the last part out of the quotations to fit all of our situations and hope that it brings a little solace to you and all others going through this process.

Oh so very beautiful thank you so much.