Bend over and spread 'em again, please.

Another military cock-up.

from JoeUser Forums

The military has successfully screwed up Dave's pay again.

We went to check his pay statement online, and there's almost $1100 more in there than there's supposed to be.

We were entitled to more money this month because we moved, and weren't living in military housing for 2 weeks - therefore we get housing allowance for those 2 weeks.  I looked to see how much it was based on his rank, and it's around $800 amonth.  Divide that by 2, and you get $400.  Not $1100. 

The screwed up his pay when he went to Greenland, they screwed it up again when he came home for leave, they screwed up his entitlements before he came back from Greenland, and they've managed to do it yet again.

We're going to have to go to the finance office on Monday to get to straightened out.  The thing is, once the pay amount is set and destined for our bank account, the military can't change it.  Nor can they accept a check from us to re-pay the surplus amount.  They'll take it out of his next 2 or 3 paychecks.  It's not going to hurt us, but it is a pain in the ass.  Now we'll have to watch his pay statements like hawks to ensure that they #1 take enough out, and #2 don't take too much out.  To top all this off we have a pay increase coming up shortly when he sews on E-6 - that's going to add even more confusion.  Ultimately it's us that gets the shaft. Between having to go back and forth to finance, to juggling payments on accounts, to moving money from eher to there...it's all, like I said, a pain in the ass and I don't think that we should have to deal with it.  Not regularly, like we have been.

I don't think that it's too much to ask that an entity as big as the USAF get shit right...we can be 'on time, on target' for bombing missions, but we can't get something as simple as someone's paycheck straight? 

That's crap.

 

misc
8,080 views 24 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
We've had tons of trouble with Adrian's pay . . . they did the exact same thing when we moved here. I was really worried that they would screw up his deployment pay, but so far it's gone smoothly (shouldn't have said that . . . now they are definitely going to screw it up). Of course, it's always better to get overpaid than underpaid. Hope it all gets straightened out quickly for you.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

Do they have un-trained chimps working in military pay offices?  Everyone I know has has stories to tell about how their pay got screwed up.  They just changed the virtual MPF so that people can make their own changes online...less work for the idiots at finance to do, but they still manage to fuck up what does come through their hands.

 

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
Do they have un-trained chimps working in military pay offices?


he he he . . . I think so . . . and they're all named "Enrique!"

You know, we've been in for less than 2 years, and we already have had our pay messed up on several different occasions. If a soldier performed as poorly as they do in finance, he would be in a world of hurt. Arrgh.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top

If a soldier performed as poorly as they do in finance, he would be in a world of hurt. Arrgh.

I think that their performance reports should depend on how many people's pay they screw up.  I know some people who'd be getting 1's.

Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
Yeah, they cant get a paycheck right, but SOME people want the govt to run healthcare, too.


Not me . . . I want super genius robots to run healthcare and I want every citizen to have a cute puppy dog and a corvette and a free steak dinner . . . he he he . . .

I can't help but lean liberal . . . I try not to, really I do . . .
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
That really sucks!! Lay the smack down Karen!
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top

Lay the smack down Karen!

I'm not really supposed to because I'm just a 'dependant'.....but Dave will.  If he doesn't, then you can be sure I'll step in and get the point across...that this has happened 4 times in one year, and that those numbers are unsatisfactory.  That we came across to finance when we first got here to try and ensure this didn't happen, and we assured by the person working customer service that they had everything under control....obviously that wasn't the case, now was it? 

If I don't get anywhere I'll ask to speak to the NCO In Charge...and if I don't like what he/she has to say I'll ask for the Officer In Charge, and I'll just go on up the chain of command until I get someone who will admit culpability and apologize for fucking things up. 

Sorry for the rant, but I'm pissed.

Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
KAren,
Daves LES won't have travel and allowances from his PCS and your move showing anywhere on the LES but you could still be recieving said money. You will get the stuff in the mail from travel in the mail later than you get paid.
And you weren't living in the new house while on leave so you rate BAH during that time.
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hell, at least it's in your favor. Worst case, set it aside until they take it back... The Army recently took back over a years worth of language pay from me. The justification? I wasn't in a linguist job... Right, teaching Korean doesn't require me to be a linguist. Working in a Korean unit on a watch floor with 50+ Koreans and only one of them speaks English doesn't require me to be a linguist. That's 200 bucks a month for 15 months that I'm still trying to get them to repay me.
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top

Geez:  we got the travel pay last week, so I know that's not it...and on his LES it has the BAH as $1070 and fam sep on there as well.....something's not right.  If they say that it's ours and that we're entitled to it I'm still not going to spend it...see Chip's response and a good example of why.  Thanks for trying to help though!

Chip:  How in the blue hell are you not utilizing your linguist skills in a job like that?  I would imagine that the whole reason you got the damn job is because you speak Korean......just another example of military madness.

Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
Chip: How in the blue hell are you not utilizing your linguist skills in a job like that? I would imagine that the whole reason you got the damn job is because you speak Korean......just another example of military madness.


The finance office is clueless. That's the problem. And they don't enjoy it when you point out their errors. I didn't have a language pay problem until I successfully got them to fix my BAH problem. They didn't pay me for rent the first four months I was here, so I was paying my $1800/month rent out of my pocket. After I had the gall to make them fix that problem, I had the language pay problem...
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top

The finance office is clueless

YES!!! Yes, yes yes yes!!!!!!!!!!  Someone else sees it too!!!!!! 

That small sentence just made my day.

 

Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
That small sentence just made my day.


Happy to help!
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
Do they have un-trained chimps working in military pay offices?


It is important to note that, with exceptions (as with every rule), the pay specialists, file clerks and administrative specialists in the Armed Forces are the people who didn't score high enough for the more technical jobs. Salt of the earth. The common clay of the Armed Forces.


You know... morons.


It's also not a high profile job, so they get no kudos, and they deal with peoples' pay problems day in and day out, so they hear a lot of complaints about how screwed up they are. It's a thankless job whether they get it right or not, so it almost makes sense for them not to care whether they do or don't.
I hope Dave's pay problems get sorted out soon. After about 1/2 dozen visits to our finance, the Pokekorean finally got his "no pay due" stopped... after a string of 3 or 4 in a row.
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
Just wait until you retire. They cut Tricare for a while.... my family doesn't start again until October, so no getting sick. I think untrained chimps work all over the place if they're in any type of administration crap. let's just say that at this college, you'll graduate before you ever get financial aid people to award you financial aid.
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
It is important to note that, with exceptions (as with every rule), the pay specialists, file clerks and administrative specialists in the Armed Forces are the people who didn't score high enough for the more technical jobs. Salt of the earth. The common clay of the Armed Forces.You know... morons.


My old 1SG used to say that if he had been in an admin/finance MOS, the Army would have to make up some new enlisted ranks, because he would have made it to E-20 by that point in his career! That always made me laugh, but now I'm thinking about stealing the line.
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
let's just say that at this college, you'll graduate before you ever get financial aid people to award you financial aid.


My SO is trying to get the GI Bill to kick in... at least two terms have gone by where it seems to have been awarded "retroactively"... we were paid *after* the class was over.
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
My SO is trying to get the GI Bill to kick in... at least two terms have gone by where it seems to have been awarded "retroactively"... we were paid *after* the class was over.


That's upsetting... a nun at a school I went to said "pieces of paper are connected to people" and it just blew me away. why can't other folks have that attitude?!
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
Do they have un-trained chimps working in military pay offices?


This is extremely insulting to untrained chimps. I am no animal activist, but to compare a poor beast of the earth to those losers in the finance office is a surprisingly low blow and should be rectified at once.
Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top

Here's the skinny:  it was an Airman in finance who failed to complete the paperwork to stop the BAH.  We had to go to housing to get the transmittal document to show that housing had sent the papers over to finance, and got the Airman's signature from that document.  The paperwork is controlled, so losing it is really a big deal.  As it is, we now owe the government $840.  We can't pay it until we're sure that the BAH has actually stopped, and that won't be until the 1st November - but they're letting us go in and give them a check for the full amount instead of taking it out of Dave's pay.  Much less of a pain in the rear for us...

I asked to talk to the Airman in question, but he was at lunch.  They said he was at lunch, anyway.  I wasn't going to yell, I was just going to tell him that his lack of attention and his poor attitude towards detail had cost us half a day and had caused us a financial headache that would last until almost to Christmas....and that seeing as how he was the one who failed to complete his job as required, he could have the $844 taken out of his check instead.

I hate finance...and given yesterday's revelation, I don't think I will apologize for calling the personnel 'untrained chimps'.

Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top

I can't help but lean liberal
Bravo, but I trust you don't have too many friends among the other wives presumably conservative.[?]


Dharma, Blame it all on Microsoft!

Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top
My husband reenlisted last year September.....the bonus didn't hit till July of this year. The best part? They paid us the bonus TWICE IN 6 DAYS!!!! So we are only in the hole to the Army for $7500....i had to sit on the money for over a month till I could find out what is going on. So now....they take out $300 a month till it's repaid. At this rate, it's a good thing he reuped, cause that's how long it will take to pay it back. And I have to double check the total every month to make sure they don't overcharge us for the mistake THEY made.

So don't feel so bad.....the Army Finance sucks too.
Reply #24 from JoeUser Forums Top

So now....they take out $300 a month till it's repaid. At this rate, it's a good thing he reuped, cause that's how long it will take to pay it back. And I have to double check the total every month to make sure they don't overcharge us for the mistake THEY made.

They said that they were going to take half of ours out on Dec 1st, half on Dec 15th.  I said, no I was going to come in and pay it instead.  I want it over and done with, I don't want it dragging on over Christmas, having to watch Dave's pay like a hawk to make sure they don't scew it up again.

I think that it's military finance, period.  I think they're all a bunch of loser idiots...