Four Month Run-Around...

Oh boy... you know when you call customer service lines and they just give you the run around?? Well... Story of my life... Except this time it's not just a matter of inconvenience, it's a matter hundreds of dollars and legal status in this country...

I entered the US in the end of November and was told I would automatically be issued an actual permanent resident card within 60 days of my arrival. 60 days came and went, and all I got was a letter saying that they had registered my arrival and to anticipate the permanent resident card soon. Well it never came, so I called the immigration people to ask what was up, and all they told me was that as far as they could tell it had been sent to me and since they never had it returned to them that they would report it lost in the mail. Then I was to wait another two weeks to get further instruction in the mail. Eventually I got a letter that was the exact same as the one I first got shortly after I arrived here. It said the same thing. Wait 60 days and your card will come in the mail. Great. That same day I got an email from them stating the complete opposite thing. It said that since my card was lost in the mail, I had to fill out another form to get it replaced. I went to do that only to find out that it would cost me $450. NO FREAKING WAY. So I called immigration up again and I asked them what's what because I had two separate communications on the same day telling me to do completely contradictory things. Whoever I talked to said that I should just wait the 60 days. So the waiting begun. That would take me into April.

A couple days ago, I decided that enough was enough and I called immigration again to see if there was any progress on the card being sent. What I was told was that one was sent to me on December 6, and that if I hadn't already gotten it, since they never received it back, that it was up to me to file that form that cost me $450. So whoever told me to wait the 60 days was totally wrong. I've been waiting and checking the mailbox for nothing for the past 3 months. I told the person that I really can't just fork up the money to replace a card I never got and asked for her to help me figure out what happened. She ended up transferring me to another department to get a tracking number. Up until this point, I didn't even know a tracking number was available. Thanks people beforehand for leaving out that important tidbit of information... So I got this tracking number, checked it on the US Postal Service website. Invalid tracking number... Blood = boiling... I called immigration back, told them this supposed tracking number was bogus and what do I get in reply??? "Sometimes the Postal Service doesn't actually scan their mail. I've seen it happen before. So you're going to have to file that form. There's no other way." Oh. My. Gosh... I asked the guy if he understood why it makes me so upset that I'm being asked to pay all this money to replace a card that was never in my possession and that the Postal Service clearly never had it. His response was that it's all a matter of speculation whether or not it made it to the mail. So I repeat myself. I don't have $450 laying around that I can just whip out to replace a card I never got in the first place. He tells me that if I print out the form and submit it through the mail, I won't have to pay the fee. I'm sceptical, but I give in and hang up. I look up the form, read the instructions, and guess what. He was lying. He just wanted to say something to get me off the phone apparently. I'm totally expected to pay the fee because according to them, they sent the card, it's out of their hands, the Postal Service never returned it to them, it's not their fault.

Now my energy is focused on the Postal Service. I call their customer service line and after spending 10 minutes trying to navigate through their automated system to get to an agent, I'm told that the tracking number I was given isn't even a valid format. Blood = curdling... Now I have to call immigration back, find out if there's an actual tracking number or not. Finally I find out that whoever gave me that tracking number in the first place was way off base, and now I actually had something to work with. When I checked the tracking number online, it basically said that it was received in the Colorado Springs sorting facility on December 13 and nothing beyond that. To me that meant it got dropped on the floor or something because I DEFINITELY never got it in the mail. I spend another 10 minutes trying to get the blasted automated Postal Service lady to let me talk to a REAL person and they tell me that they opened an investigation to find out what happened. They'd call me back the next day to let me know what they figured out.

I get a call this afternoon from the Postal Service here in town. They call me to ask for a correct tracking number. I tell them they HAVE the correct tracking number, it's just really old. "Well why have you let it sit around for so long? Our system gets rid of that information after 30 days." Thanks... I only found out this stupid tracking number existed yesterday. I end up being told that since it's so old, there's nothing they can do. I have to ask for the card to be reissued. NOT ACCEPTABLE. I told them that to reissue the card is a significant chunk of change and I asked as politely as possible for their help. Then they said that they can request for the information to be retrieved but it takes another day so I have to call the Post Office tomorrow morning. Again... Thanks for being so willing of offer a solution before I have to beg for one... Yeah right... Then he started hassling me because I moved and I didn't put in a forwarding request. Give me a break here!!!! If the postal service has had my card in their possession since BEFORE CHRISTMAS and I moved IN FEBRUARY, it shouldn't have taken that long to get to me in the first place!

Ugh... I just feel like I'm being bullied around. Neither the immigration people or the Postal Service people are really willing to help me. I feel like they won't point me in the right direction unless I come up with the initial thought. All this could have been avoided if when I called the very first time after the initial 60 days was up and instead of telling me that they'll report it as lost, they COULD have asked me if I had a tracking number and checked it. But no. That was just the beginning of a long pointless wait that is making things a bazillion times more difficult now.

I really hope I wasn't this useless when I worked in customer service.......