Telephone assessment over

I got my telephone assessment this morning. Was given a 2 hour slot for the possibility of a call. I had a terrible nights sleep the night before and was awake from 3 am. My joints arent good in the mornings but i got up early to wait for call as I wasnt sleeping anyway and even though i my joints were painful and I was exhausted I didnt want to ask them to put off the call to another day in case i waited ages for the next slot. 40 minutes before the end of the slot i got a call asking if i wanted to continue with the assessment I assumed this was because although in the slot it was quite late and I expected call to start so I said yes. Instead it was an admin person saying my file was thick and her colleague hadnt read it yet so this would take some time (in other words it would go close to or past my allotted time). 6 minutes before the time slot ran out they called me. By this time I was in pain and very tired from all the anxiety and not being able to mobilise as much as i usually do as I wanted to be by the phone when they called and near my notes etc. I had a recorder and I had asked them to record the call on my phone but the HP made no mention of it and as i had a recorder I thought ok maybe they forgot.

Anyway he had an extremely thick accent and I have partial deafness in one ear but Im usually ok if there is no background noise but his accent was so strong I couldnt understand a lot of what he said and had to ask him to repeat often. This wouldnt have made any difference in person as I just couldnt understand him. I asked how long call would be as I had been waiting a long time and I was exhausted and in pain and he said it took him longer because I had provided a lot of evidence which he then said was a good thing (he didnt sound like he thought it was a good thing). He said it shouldnt take him too long he just needed to clarify a few things. Initially he said my conditions were likely to be worse because of the amount of time id been on pain medication and things got worse over time which was true. But then he kept trying to steer me down paths of things I hadnt said like Id said all my days were bad days when in fact id said most were bad but I had better days. I didnt say I couldnt walk at all but that I could walk with a stick and would be in pain but he said that when I visited the hospital clinic was I put into a wheelchair and pushed around. I said no, I walk once Im there its not very far. A lot that id already said in my form he asked me and I said im going to have to read my form because i was so tired by this point I couldnt think straight. He asked if I went out and I just said not much so he said you go to your appointments and not much else which I agreed but I thought he just meant going out as in visits to friends so i didnt mention that I occasionally drive to the shops but I did say this in my form. I hope this doesnt go against me as I couldnt think straight after all the time I had been waiting. A lot was lost in translation because of his pushing me down extreme paths that I didnt say and then my having to say no I didnt say that I dont think and then him seeming to get annoyed I was contradicting him. Anyway after asking how far apart one room of my house was from where I usually sat he abruptly ended the call and sounded even more brusque than he started and said he had enough information. He just about wished me a nice weekend and was off. So after 35 minutes of a weird call that was it. Ive absolutely no idea what the outcome will be but Im worried as it didnt appear he’d read my form at all. My recorder didnt work either so if it goes to tribunal its my word against theres that I waited so long for the call to take place. In all it was a nearly 3 hour wait and ordeal. I spent the rest of the afternoon in pain and nodding off. I did wonder whether to put in a complaint about the lateness of the call and the fact he didnt appear to have read my notes until really late and also my difficulty understanding him but I wonder if its worth poking the bear. I wonder if they did record it as I had asked for it but nothing was mentioned and it didnt sound like there was any recording going on. Anyway dont know what anyone else thinks. Should I complain?

It as an ESA WCA so if Im thinking right I cant ask for a report until after the decision is made is that correct?

Thanks for those kind words BIS. I just tried to stay as close to how I am as possible but all the curveballs they were throwing at me when i was so tired (i did tell them this) plus my constantly having to ask them to repeat what they were saying made it a bit torturous to be honest. By the end I just felt like id messed the whole thing up but who knows.

Also can I ask as im currently in support group if there is a need for an appeal (should they put me in a different group or even not award me at all) can I go straight to the tribunal stage and bypass MR? I keep seeing that written but im not sure if I qualify.