liveblogging my UI call

[dragonlady7]

via https://ift.tt/2Cdoy5J

This is not interesting to anyone, but as it is something that’s preoccupied me for four months now, I’m recording it here mostly for accountability. See, I got laid off on March 16th, and was instructed to apply for unemployment. After making it all the way through that process, I discovered that my empoyer hasn’t ever corrected the error on my forms that has my SSN wrong, and so the Dept of Labor doesn’t think i’ve worked for the last decade.

I’ve been waiting since March to get my first unemployment insurance payment. They sent me paperwork in April, which I sent back immediately; I got an acknowledgement of it in June. I wrote to them in July asking if they needed any more information. I’ve received no further information.

So the first time I called DOL, they gave me a minute-long recorded schpiel about how I don’t need to call, and hung up on me.

the second time, I’ve now gone through three minutes of phone trees, finally made my selection, identified myself to them, and got a recorded message:

We’re sorry, we’re experiencing a very high call volume. Please call back. And the call ends.

SO again, it’s a minute before you can make even a single selection, so i’ve listened to all of that. A minute later, I can put in my SSN. We’re now at two minutes. Then it asks for my PIN, which I don’t recollect, but I’ve guessed one. I didn’t get a letter, so I pressed 2. I didn’t receive a payment, so I pressed 2. I’ve already certified for weekly benefits, so I pressed 2. I don’t need any of the obvious things, so I’ve pressed 5 for All Other Questions. I have a question about the status of my claim, so I’ve pressed 3.

Now they give us the “We’re sorry” message again.

M-F 8 am to 7:30 pm. They hung up on me again.

I’d say like, surely I can just keep doing this and eventually they’ll let me through. But there’s no way for them to know I’ve called more than once. There’s no way to skip the initial minute-long recording, as far as I can tell.

Third attempt, I realized I can put in the menu options I wrote above, so that saved me… ten seconds, whereupon I hit the end of the phone tree again and was hung up on at 2:51 instead of 3:09. So that wasn’t much.

so. 1 to continue in English. An unskippable minute, then 9 to continue, then…

Sigh. I can get through the phone tree in 2:31 if I go as fast as possible. I bet I can get it down to 2:22 to get hung up on.

I don’t know how many attempts to do, it’s not like anyone’s keeping track but me.

But for everyone who’s been like “why haven’t you called” that’s why, it doesn’t matter. No one is counting. No one is answering the phone. It doesn’t matter. Please note tax form 1099G is only mailed upon request.

nine to continue to main menu.

pay close attention to the menu options.

FAQ is one, but I need Other. so, 2.

Another recorded message. Not relevant. SSN. they read it back to you. if it’s right, press 1. four-digit PIN. If you got a letter press 1 but I need 2. I didn’t get a payment, so 2. I have certified for weekly benefits, so I press 2. All other matters, 5. Question about status of your claim, press 3. Then they hang up on you.

That wasn’t a speedrun, so I got hung up on at 2:55.

I’ll try a speedrun this time, now that I’ve really got all the numbers here. Most of it’s unskippable though.

Argh I wasn’t paying attention so I lost a couple seconds on the choose 1 for English one. See, I suck at this.

I wonder if I could ask my state representative for help. Please note tax form 1099G is only mailed upon request. I know, thanks. For quality assurance, my call may be monitored or recorded. I fucking wish.

Ah shit I accidentally pressed 2 for the last one where I need to do 3. Oh it says I could ask a question! I’ll press 3

Ah that gets me hung up on.

Sigh. That one was 3:06 total duration.

I took a second to get a drink of water.

Ah I speedran the phone tree successfully, so it only took me until 2:15 to get hung up on. SO there’s the answer, it’s possible to get hung up on in only two minutes and fifteen seconds.

I put in the SSN too early on this one so they made me redo it, so it took me until 2:16 to get hung up on this time.

Mm this time pressing 1 for English didn’t work so it took me through the phone tree of other languages, which was fascinating, but 1 did not work at any time, so I had to hang up and dial back.

This time 1 worked so that was less interesting. 3m 9s to get hung up on

This time I was looking up my state assemblyman. Maybe if I write to him he’ll intercede? IDK. In my distraction, it took me a full 3m 2s to get hung up on.

This time I went to the online message center for the DOL and sent a follow-up to the email I sent them through the online message center two weeks ago, which was a follow-up to the email I sent two weeks before that, which was a reply to the last time they wrote back to me to tell me to be prepared to have more information requested of me, so in my distraction it took me 3m 4s to get hung up on.

This time it only took me 2:28 to get hung up on.

Mm that time it just was a dead line for thirty seconds, so I hung up.

I fired off an impassioned email to my NYS assembly person. Did you know, I basically don’t have a NYS Senator. I even met the guy I voted for, but he vanished, it was super fucking weird. I figure this is very much a state matter tho, this isn’t federal.

I have made myself cry with this email, maybe it will work and maybe they’ll ignore me, passion doesn’t always help in these things. I am super fucking passionate at the moment. My god I feel so bad for whoever’s maybe answering the phones here at DOL, if everyone gets as frantic as me by being hung up on repeatedly.

I’m going on an hour of attempts here. Not bad performance on my phone battery here. We’re sorry, 2:26 this time.

It’s 8:59, I’ll try one more time. Hung up on at 2:17, might be my fastest yet.

I only managed to call them eighteen times in an hour. I’ll try again once I’ve stopped crying. Have I mentioned how much I hate the phone? I hate the fucking phone.

Comments

[oracne]

*hugs you* AGH THE FRUSTRATION

This kind of thing is THE WORST THE ABSOLUTE WORST and it makes me cry and want to yell at people, any people.

So sorry.

[dragonlady7]

I just have no recourse and I don't know what to do, and people keep being like "surely you can do something?" and I'm like I don't know, so I'm guilty that I haven't, but there's nothing I can actually do, so I get to feel shitty for not trying harder, and also get to feel shitty because there's no actual way to try harder, and like, I can't win. So.

if I didn't have the savings, the support, the family, and the situation I do, I'd just be dead by now, i don't know what a normal person is expected to do but I'm also just at the end of my rope here, even with all my resources and privileges.

Ooh there was a glitchy second there and I got my hopes up that I was going to be put onto hold. 😭

[oracne]

The only strategy I've had for things like that is have the phone on speaker and do something else. But that only helps if you actually get put on hold or have a hope of someone answering.

[dragonlady7]

All I wanted was to get put on hold! but the system won't do that, it gets to the part where it's like ah ok, so you need to talk to a person? Well we don't have any call back later bye *click*
It was sort of gratifying that Dude had walked into the kitchen for one of these, and he was like... wait they don't put you on hold? and I was like what you hear is what happens. That was them hanging up. He was like but... but... and i was like yeah. So at least HE knows I'm not lying, that's all there is.

Meanwhile my tearful message to my state assemblyman did get an email back from an aide, and my desperate series of emails with every possible subject line in DOL's messaging system (the one I've been using to write to them every other week poking them to say "but is there anything I can do? please?") did get a response, so.
The response is that they need a picture of my social security card, which if they'd told me that months ago I could've been trying for months to get a replacement, but when i tried in April the SS Office was closed and coudln't help me so I gave up because I didn't know if I needed it, so it really stings to be told now that I need it when I've had months of sitting and rotating in the wind where I could've been working on that but wasn't because I didn't know. you know????
Anyway.
Anyway.
I am probably going to die of pure tension here at some point, and never actually get any assistance.

[oracne]

AGH. At least you heard back from someone?

I have to change my address on my state ID, I keep failing to do that. Not looking forward to it.