I Loathe the IIE
I applied for a Fulbright scholarship; in my application I gave them the address where I was living at the time, and my permanent address. I noted that my address expired on Nov. 29, 2004. I found out that initial decision letters were sent out on January 31, 2005. Having not received mine by February 9, I called up the IIE, which administrates the scholarships. It turns out they sent my letter to my old address, despite having an indication that it had expired. So I sent a functionary at the IIE this email:
I applied for the Fulbright to study in Germany. After calling your office today, I learned that my preliminary decision letter was mailed to my old address, despite my noting on my application that that address expired on Nov. 29, 2004.
I have contacted the management of my old apartment building, but they think the new tenants of my old apartment probably threw out the letter.
Given these circumstances--that my letter was not sent to the correct address--is there any way I can get an expedited decision, via fax, phone, or email? I realize that you probably have many people contacting you these days trying to get decisions, but it's clear that my letter will not be coming in the mail.
And got back:
Sorry, but we cannot tell you of the decision by phone or email until February 15. You are welcome to call me on that date. You are right - we should not have used your old address, but when processing 5,000 applications sometimes you miss a few that have addresses expiring before the letters go out. It happens.
Would you like to call on the 15th, or would you like me to send you a new letter to your home address?
So I replied:
There's no way you could make an exception to your policy, as the mistake was your organization's? I understand that it is a difficult task to process so many applications, but I don't fully understand the harm of making an exception, for the specific reason that the letter was sent to the wrong place.
Of those two options, I would prefer a letter be sent immediately to my permanent address.
And got back:
No, we cannot. And it wasn't our mistake - just an oversight. And to be honest, you really shouldn't have used an address that expired before the end of January as we do very clearly state in the application instructions that your mailing address should be valid until the January 31, 2005.
We will send out a new to your permanent address.
Now, I'll say a couple of things here because it's probably better than writing them in an angry email.
1) There is little I despise more than a "rules are rules" attitude. Dear Lord, let me never become one of the soulless people who gets pleasure from enforcing such a policy.
2) I am EXTREMELY tempted to reply, including this piece of information:
o·ver·sight P Pronunciation Key (vr-st)
n.
An unintentional omission or mistake.
But that really would be a bad idea, wouldn't it? At this point, I don't really expect that I'll get the scholarship, and I don't have my heart set on it. But knowing would be nice. And not having to deal with idiotic bureaucrats would be nicer.
I applied for the Fulbright to study in Germany. After calling your office today, I learned that my preliminary decision letter was mailed to my old address, despite my noting on my application that that address expired on Nov. 29, 2004.
I have contacted the management of my old apartment building, but they think the new tenants of my old apartment probably threw out the letter.
Given these circumstances--that my letter was not sent to the correct address--is there any way I can get an expedited decision, via fax, phone, or email? I realize that you probably have many people contacting you these days trying to get decisions, but it's clear that my letter will not be coming in the mail.
And got back:
Sorry, but we cannot tell you of the decision by phone or email until February 15. You are welcome to call me on that date. You are right - we should not have used your old address, but when processing 5,000 applications sometimes you miss a few that have addresses expiring before the letters go out. It happens.
Would you like to call on the 15th, or would you like me to send you a new letter to your home address?
So I replied:
There's no way you could make an exception to your policy, as the mistake was your organization's? I understand that it is a difficult task to process so many applications, but I don't fully understand the harm of making an exception, for the specific reason that the letter was sent to the wrong place.
Of those two options, I would prefer a letter be sent immediately to my permanent address.
And got back:
No, we cannot. And it wasn't our mistake - just an oversight. And to be honest, you really shouldn't have used an address that expired before the end of January as we do very clearly state in the application instructions that your mailing address should be valid until the January 31, 2005.
We will send out a new to your permanent address.
Now, I'll say a couple of things here because it's probably better than writing them in an angry email.
1) There is little I despise more than a "rules are rules" attitude. Dear Lord, let me never become one of the soulless people who gets pleasure from enforcing such a policy.
2) I am EXTREMELY tempted to reply, including this piece of information:
o·ver·sight P Pronunciation Key (vr-st)
n.
An unintentional omission or mistake.
But that really would be a bad idea, wouldn't it? At this point, I don't really expect that I'll get the scholarship, and I don't have my heart set on it. But knowing would be nice. And not having to deal with idiotic bureaucrats would be nicer.
posted by D at 5:30 PM
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