My understanding was that while the people who see and respond to the emails are a separate bunch from the IOs working on the files (I agree with you on that theory), they do have access to the basic status of your file (I can't imagine they "don't have a clue")......the reason for that is in my experience with emailing them (I know, I broke the cardinal rule of not bothering them for something other than the AOR, but I'm not a very patient person).
Every response has been, while obviously not satisfactory to me, specific enough to my question that it was obvious, to me at least, that they read the question and knew something basic about my file before they selected the appropriate template response in their little drop down box or whatever in their system (that's what I imagine happens). I don't know....perhaps this is a question of the definition of "in process." When you say you received that email response before your file was "even remotely in process," you're talking about according to the notes, not the status in e-cas, right?
By the way, here's a list of responses I've gotten from them:
1) My AOR text
2) "Due to high volumes, we cannot acknowledge receipt of email, fax, regular correspondence (applications, payments, documents or information) or medical exam results. If you have recently submitted documents or information to this office, we will update your file accordingly, if needed. If we require additional documents, we will contact you."
3) The above, again
4) "Due to large volumes received, please do not send repeat information/enquiries and do not send the same information/enquiry by different means. This creates confusion and can delay our reply or action required." (I was really bothering them here..... :
)
5) "Your application is in process. We are unable to provide a date when the processing of your application will be complete." (this last one was in response to when I made my husband send an inquiry for whether I was close to final assessment from his qc.ca work address, just for kicks and giggles. They ignored the question about whether the interview was waived....of course)
I got a response each time except for when I asked if I was "in process" (I think it was between #3 and #4 above) they were probably so annoyed with me that they didn't even bother responding, hehe.
doctorkb said:
Actually... that's not valid.
When Buffalo replies with the "Your application is in process. We are unable to provide a date when the processing of your application will be complete" message, it was sent by someone who hasn't a clue and likely didn't even look at your file.
This was the response received each time we sent several different updates -- NONE of which were recorded on our file, and it was WELL before our file was even remotely "in progress".
If you receive a similar e-mail to this, I'd suggest you assume that they just hit that little key on their keyboard that says "Del" and rather than the system sending you an automated message that your e-mail was deleted without being opened, it sends you this one. CIC likely considers it a "feature" not a "bug."
