STAR Denial Letters and Appeals
A recent rash of star denial letters have been delivered to shops over the last few weeks.
These letters contain important information regarding the process for appealing the Denial of STAR Certification.
The quick points:
1. You have five days to send in a written appeal. The appeal must be received 5 days from the date on the letter. To no ones surprise, these letters tend to arrive three days after the letter date, sometimes leaving less than 24 hours to get your appeal in – be wary of dates and deadlines.
2. The Bureau is using the informal hearing process to hear STAR Denials. This means it will be the Bureau hearing their own appeals. This is of course, violative of due process requirements, however, what is important is preparation and presentation of your appeal. Documenting your reasons for aborts, incorrect gear selections, etc. Going over these numbers with a fine tooth comb, assessing your strengths and weaknesses, pointing our issues or discrepancies, and attacking them – all instrumental in winning this appeal. There are also several regulatory pressure points you can press where the Bureau knows they are skirting the law. We can assist you in pressing those pressure points.
We are continuing to fight the STAR Program as a whole. The case is filed and litigation is ongoing, however we must plan for the worst – STAR will be at least temporarily in place. We will help as many shops as we can qualify along the way.
Our job as experts in this industry is help as many shops as we can through this difficult process.