Thanks to the EDD, I am slowly losing my mind
Haunted by phones
Ahh, my first week of unemployment. Pure (ignorant) bliss. Still delighted to discover I was eligible for free money from the government, I boasted about filing for unemployment insurance benefits. I reveled in its simplicity. I daydreamed about receiving my checks in the mail. Well, I’m sad to report that those daydreams have now turned into one un-ending bureaucratic nightmare. Blog therapy may not be enough to cure the spiral of madness I now find myself in.
It all started out so innocently, so…effortlessly. I opened my claim online in less than an hour. Within days, I received my first worksheet (in case you are lucky enough to still have a job, this is a form you have to fill out every two weeks before getting your check). I happily ticked the boxes and sent it back.
But shortly afterwards, the cracks began to show. I got a letter saying my worksheet was “incomplete or incorrect”. I was sent a replacement form and asked to fill it out. I did so, under John’s wise, watchful eye (mind you, he had already received his first check at this point, so I trusted his judgment). He identified what he thought was the problem. Phew, I thought. Glad I got that one sorted out.
But within a week of sending in my replacement form, I received a two-line letter from the EDD saying my second form had also been “incomplete or incorrect” – still no hint as to the nature of my error. I was instructed to call their 1-800 number “immediately”. I had missed my opportunity to fill out any new worksheets. My future livelihood now depended on the efficacy of a toll free government service number. Things were not looking good.
Bear in mind I have now been unemployed for over two months, and have yet to receive my first check. My measly severance cannot carry me through. Funds are dwindling. Mom and dad are on speed dial. And too many San Francisco establishments are cash only.
Now, I understand that the unemployment offices are overloaded with patrons at this time. I don’t expect to be able to get through to someone on my first, second or third try. I’m a reasonably intelligent person, familiar with the notion of a bottleneck. So after calling the toll free number repeatedly, to no avail, I decided to attempt an in-person visit. I googled my nearest “unemployment office”. Nothing like a good old-fashioned face-to-face meeting to straighten out a silly misunderstanding!
Where is this fantasy "unemployment office"?
I had imagined long lines of disgruntled layoffees, people taking numbers, angry mobs, apathetic and/or defensive civil servants – SIGNS OF LIFE.
Instead, I found a shy receptionist (bless her heart), a couple overzealous security guards and room full of phones. There were a few desperate looking jobseekers sprinkled throughout this multi-purpose government office, but for the most part, it was empty. The receptionist informed me that there was no one I could speak to face-to-face about my issue. That this particular office did not house any unemployment insurance representatives or advisers – I am told there are no such offices in the city of San Francisco. This was simply a job center. They could, however, offer me my pick of telephones designated for calling the 1-800 number. I started laughing maniacally. Are you friggin KIDDING ME? A room full of phones? Believe it or not, I have a phone at home. Two in fact! Why would I drive to this office, pay for parking, and sign in to use a public (read: bacteria infested) telephone? I can do this just as well from my couch, while I watch Tyra and eat a gallon of ice cream in my onesie. No antiseptic necessary.
But being the curious person that I am, I decided to check out this telephone facility. After passing through two security guards and being forced to throw away my coffee (NO COFFEE NEAR THE PHONES), I was given the low down on efficient phone usage. It went something like this:
Officer: “Push English and it dials the number. If it says ‘thank you’, hang up and try again. You have not gotten through. If it says ‘welcome’, you have gotten through. Dial 12117 to quickly navigate through the menu and you might just speak to someone.”
Me: (not sure whether to laugh or cry) “I see. And what are my chances of success?”
Officer: (points to the pages of signatures on his clipboard) “Out of all these people who came in today, maybe 4 or 5 got through. They put in some serious time.”
Me: “Christ almighty. They don’t make it easy, do they.”
I begin to lose all hope. I try really hard not to take it out on this nice man, who, of course, is just doing his job.
Me: “But why come in here and call when I can call from home? I don’t understand this set-up – a room full of phones to dial the same useless automated service I have been cursing for weeks?”
Officer: “Well, every once in a while, someone ACTUALLY gets through. Then everyone waits nearby and when that person is done with their call, they hand the phone over to someone else.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. What might this preposterous scene look like? Grown men hovering around the golden ticket winner, waiting desperately for their turn. The golden ticket winner, upon completion of his call, crying: “Wait! Don’t hang up! SS# 459-99-0787 wants to speak to you too… I’m passing you over now… Byeeee. Muah.”
At this point I have to leave the building before I scream.
Still reeling from the experience, I drove home, determined not to lose all hope. When I got there, I began researching offices outside of San Francisco, where I might get to speak to someone face-to-face. I found one in my hometown of Sunnvyale, just 40 minutes south of here. It looked promising. I was pleased by my own persistence as I dialed their number to confirm which services they offered. But my self satisfaction quickly turned to disappointment.
Lady on the phone: “Nope, sorry. You can’t file a claim here or discuss your claim with anyone. In fact there is no way to speak to a representative in person anywhere in California. You just have to keep trying the 1-800 number. But we DO have a room of telephones you can use.”
MORE PHONES???? At this point, I want to reach into the receiver and punch this lady in the mouth. No wonder losing one’s job and losing one’s mind are so closely intertwined. I am beginning to understand why people throw themselves in front of trains or go on killing sprees.
Always an optimist though (and with an unhealthy dose of persistence), I have now resigned myself to calling the number until I get through (from the comfort of my own couch, of course). It may take days, weeks, months, a lifetime, even – but eventually, I will get through, right? I see no other alternative. I understand the need for a mutli-pronged approach. I plan to write to my local congresswoman. I will also send a detailed letter to the EDD. If needs be, I will hire a lawyer.
But in the meantime, I spend my days dialing the 1-800 number over and over and over again. Every once in a while, I get the ever-so-promising “welcome” message. I navigate through the menu options with a glimmer of hope, and the automated message tells me I am being put through to a representative. I am elated – but only temporarily. In the end, it turns out to be a sick inside joke, orchestrated by the evil robots at the EDD. A subsequent message says “we’re sorry, we can’t take your call at this time. Goodbye” and the robot rudely hangs up on me. So what do I do? I pick up the phone and begin the process again.
I dial the same number repeatedly – each time, hoping for a different result. Isn’t this the very definition of insanity? Consider this my cry for help.
P.S. For musings not related to unemployment, check out my new blog, Lipstick & Lemonade
EDD is is playing around with people so they do not have to give you an extension.
They will send you replacement claim forms and tell you you forgot to check the boxes as to delay your check. They do not want to paid you
Thanks to the Republicans who want nothing more than to do nothing, especially for the unemployed, you may find yourself in a pretty bad situation soon. If you are already on the extensions you may get whatever is left on the extension you are on, but not qualify for any more. In some cases the extension will be reduced to no more than 13 weeks. If you are soon running out of benefits on the original claim, and never filed an extension before, you may qualify for the Fed-ED (20 weeks)and that is all. I guess we will see. The Tea Party wants nothing to do with you, just remember that!
bless ur heart, I was anticipating all of this but now I’M GOOD with just reading it
I marked the wrong box on my claim form, but haven’t mailed it yet. What’s the best way of correcting it?!!!
Reading this helped me out last fall (2009) when I was fired. I was going crazy, not being able to get any info from the EDD. I was denied and have since done the appeal process, and WON my case! Today was the last day for my employer to appeal again, and they didn’t, so, I’m home free. Now, of course, it will be back to waiting for the EDD to pay me, but I know that will come eventually, especially when my ex employer has to pay. Good Luck to you all in despair, you can win, and there will be justice.
Kathy, You will not be able to use whiteout or cross out the mistake otherwise the form will be rejected by the scanning machine…it reads a “cannot read answer” response. If you can easily erase it then do that and mail it in with the correct response. If you are unable to change the form, call or email to request a duplicate form. If you do mail a form in which cannot be read, do not fear, the good ole EDD will mail you a duplicate form automatically when the computer rejects the original. you then have 14 days to mail it back.
Brian,
Congrats on your win! What a relief
I kept calling them for like 6 months. They said I filled out the form wrong or some bullshit, but I didn’t fill out anything wrong. I yelled at some lady on my first phone interview. Then I yelled at some other guy on my second phone interview. Finally they sent me all my checks right when I got a job it was a few thousand bucks in multiple checks. JACKPOT! Then they stopped sending me checks after that with no explanation. 3 months later I got one check out of the blue for 80 bucks, then 5 months later I got another check for 80 bucks. Plus they mail out Norcal authoriztion forms to people in SoCal and vise versa. So there is the mistake. THEY MAKE THE MISTAKE ON PURPOSE.
but yeah, i start to get the picture, the state doesn’t want to pay all of us. But they pay a few of us to prevent rioting. Meanwhile the actual work in California is done by illegals. I guess they make less than 7/hour, so everybody wins.
Hi, I accidently put the wrong amount of hours in for one week. I accidently wrote 5 hours instead of 19. They did not pay me and now I am waiting for a phone interview next week.
It was a simple mistake, I was unaware of until my check didn’t arrive. I called and emailed them alerting of my mistake when I caught it.
Has this happened to any of you before? If so what happens?
Me Jessica again, does anyone have any advice on how to explain my mistake to them?
Nobody has any advice or has had a similar situation with them?
Hi Jessica. I noticed your question hadn’t been answered, so I thought I’d tell you the little I know. This ‘thread’ seems to have trickled off of late.
I made a mistake a few years ago when I collected unemployment for only a month. I did NOT correct my mistake immediately because I wasn’t aware of it. So, unfortunately, I’d already collected my check when it came to light. I think that is the difference between my situation and yours. I was fined, but I hadn’t told them of my mistake. That said, I have found the phone interview personnel to be quite good at what they do, and not mean people trying to keep me from getting financial support when I needed it.
I’m not sure why you wrote down the wrong amount and that might make a difference. They might not pay you for that week, or maybe they will pay you what they would have all along. One other time, I left my claim form and some bills on the desk and did not notice they were covered by a stack of papers until it was too late. Completely bone-headed move on my part. Not only did I have to pay a late fee to the bill companies, but I didn’t get my EDD payment. I told the phone interview person the reason, and I ended up not getting a check for that week, but my payments kept coming as usual afterwards.
I hope that helps in some way.
none of this would have happened if you would have had enough common sense to fill out the claim form properly… The truth is, if you have basic intelligence, the edd really does make things easy on you. Its your fault.
Dang Mary, you are really cold! People make mistakes. The thing one needs to remember that a mistake MUST be corrected before you receive the check. Get the check without telling the EDD then it is your fault because the edd pays on reliance of your responses. Correct the mistake before the check is sent out you win points with the good guys, no harm done. Forget to report work and eanings and get the eDD check expect to get an overpayment notice and false statement disqualification, unless of course you can explain the problem and return the check to the EDD…never cash the check! send it back with a note that you made a mistake and save yourself a headache. Anyway my two cents.
I think you are right, Horace. I only lost out because I made a mistake and then didn’t know to report it. And the EDD personnel have been awesome this year, at least to me.
Its funny how many people are trolling the internet popping into forums to yell at people. My daughter tells me it is very common amongst the high school crowd, as an attention getting device. She advises me to neither respond nor acknowledge the person.
My question is not exactly regarding unemployment, though I’m hoping someone has a solution or helpful idea. I had to pay my taxes on the installment plan last year because I was out of work and couldn’t pay them all at once. I’ve made the payments, but I’m hit with the 2000 plus tax again this year on my unemployment. I would have withheld, but I honestly could not believe I would still be unemployed at this point. Now I can’t ( it says) enter into another repayment agreement. Has anyone found a solution to this? I have no relatives or very good friends to borrow from. We’ve sold everything already to support ourselves. Are there any resources out there that anyone knows of? I’m freaking out. Any help would be much appreciated.
Phone interview March 29th, 2010. Haven’t heard a thing since. Finally got through on the telephone Thursday, April 15th. Said they would have to call back in 3-5 business days. Does this always take so long to get an initial check or even some kind of notification?
I have never applied for unemployment before for over 30 years of steady work, I was laid off in March and after over a month of unemployment I have received only 430.00 in benefits. I now have 2 interviews this week one on the phone and one with a job counselor in person. I have now had a job offer to start a new position on June 1st. Should I tell the interviewer that I am starting a new job? I think I forgot to sign the claim form and hope I will be able to work this out, I would appreciate any helpful comments.
yeah i love it when they send you the form that says your form was filled out incorrecty or you marked yes and no to a same answer….Lord knows we fill these out the same way every two weeks and then out of no where EDD decides to f uck you …and always when you need the money the most! at this point i wish i was an illegal immigrant as i would have a job,(probably my old job for 18 bucks less an hour but i d have job) free health care! and the ability to change my name if i got in trouble with the law.
I’m frustrated! I lost my job 2 years ago. 9 months ago I got a half-time job, so since then I’ve been getting reduced benefits. I hadn’t had any problems until a few months ago. All of a sudden, for every other check they have come up with some reason to delay my check and send me a duplicate claim form, stating that my original form was “incomplete or incorrect.” I have been filling out these forms–correctly–every two weeks for almost two years and all of a sudden goofing up every other one? I am now photographing my claim forms before returning them, but I was wondering if anybody else is having a similar issue. My feeling is they are making up reasons to delay paying since CA is having such major financial issues. At this point I am down to less than $15 to my name and hoping I can afford to make it into my part-time job for the next week before I get paid.
I received a letter from EDD at the end of my 4th extension. It stated that my account was $00. Also stated that I was eligible for another extension and would receive claim forms. The next day I received another letter stating I was ineligible for any claims. I called the infamous 800 number (CA). I was asking for an understanding of these 2 letters. I was switched to several other people and still got no information. The last one I talked to said “Ms.. we have been patient with you and hung up.” I asked for a form to appeal. They said something vague and would send me a letter. Of course never got anything.
I have gone through this before but when I appealed the same shams, I got a letter around the court date from EDD sending me claim forms, and was paid.
Do you think this is because Congress is holding things up?
Anyone else go through this? I am numb as I know all of you are. Why doesn’t EDD take responsibility and answer your questions? End of my rope.
So now Social Security is taking money out of my checks because of all the money I have gotten. I am so tired of fighting their manipulations.
Thanks.
@ Dennis, do not tell the interviewer that you are starting a new job, when you actually do start your new job then notify EDD or simply answer yes to the question #6 on the claim that ask “Did you work or earn any money, WHETHER YOU WERE PAID OR NOT?” – answer this honestly because if you don’t or if you make a mistake then you will owe EDD back monies for that week that you worked and received an UI check for.
I have had much success with e-mailing EDD. Problems too numerous to mention….. But everything was solved with e-mail. Got a response in a few days and corrected action followed! Good Luck!
with unemployment at 18-25% in the USA we’re in a depression, dow jones roller coaster ride of fraudulent nonsense, EDD checks delayed, cannot get through to the government lackys. where is the outrage, where is the change?
How to receive a replacement search history form, quickly
The best and quickest way to get an immediate response (and I mean by the very next day immediate) from an EDD minion, is to do what I did.
But first I went through thousands of speed dialings of the toll free “please hold service” they call a hotline for over 2 weeks.
There’s an email link on the EDD website that you can use to contact a minion, but you have to word your inquiry so as to infer that you never received any checks (but in reality you did, and you cashed them too), be careful how you word this now because they can stop everything cold, pending an investigation.
What I did was to convolute the need for a replacement “job search history form” for a specific date span while asking about my missing checks. I got a phone call from a bonafide EDD minion the very next morning inquiring about what it was that I was missing. He started by stating that the checks that I was missing are appering on his screen as cashed. I immediately clarified that I don’t need the checks, I need only the search history form for the next period (or whatever period you need). Then he pushed right through the crapola and mailed my replacement form. I received my replacement form in about 5 days. I know this is slow but consider the source, this is as fast as it gets with the EDD.
I had 2 job offers last week. I turned down one and accepted the other. Well the job I accepted called me today and told me they have decided not to fill the position. I called the first place and they have already filled that job. So I did turn down work. If I mark that box and write in an explanation will I still get a check? Or do I lie and mark the box that says I did not turn down any work?
I don’t have time to go through all of the comments so somebody might have already suggested this, but have you thought of applying for GR (General Relief). If you haven’t gotten any unemployment benes or you you have simply run out, you may get it. As I understand it, you have to promise to do some amount of “community service” but if you have no money (or very little) you usually WALK OUT with funds loaded on an EBT card. This is the same card they put Food Stamp funds on and can be applied for at the same place- Dept. of Public Social Services. It may only be a couple hundred dollars, but hey it’s better than nothing! Good Luck!
nice to see that Mary IS, the only unemployed person with common sense, and that SHE NEVER makes mistakes, I applaud you Mary, and may I, and the rest of the unemployed people who read this, strive, in this time of “nothing to worry about,” to be more like YOU.
Kat:
That’s a tricky one. You did say yes to a job. They turned YOU down.
Unless you can be VERY certain that the other place will not turn you in to the EDD as having turned down work, I would say that yes, to be safe, you will have to be honest.
What happens next is that they will halt your checks. Then they will take two weeks to get a letter sent to you in duplicate that you will now need to be grilled by an EDD storm trooper over why you had the nerve to turn down work.
The interview will be scheduled way off in the future by several weeks and then , despite the logical conclusion of you DID accept a job that bailed on you, YOU will be punished by not having any checks for 8 to 10 weeks more.
At which point you may be in the streets.
Do you know if the first job offer place will rat you out? Can you find out?
Otherwise, just keep going as before.
Hey Mary from April 12th…
work for the EDD do you? You have the manners and mentality of such.
The EDD, like many govt agencies is incompetent filed with tenured, unionized govt lackys who look forward to days off, breaks, lunch, and 4-5PM. When are the sheeple going to wake up. america is a sinking ship and the common person is left in the dust, whereby, there are more rights for illegals, convicts, and foreign countries than there is for the common person is left off, who paid taxes, law obiding, speaks english, and the govt. is too busy, does not return calls, letters, e-mails, and give BS form letters after 3-4 months with misspellings and grammatical errors–that is america.
I find myself a very angry person now, my daughter has even noticed it. I look around at sites with people like me venting their feeling about EDD and its people always their saying things like, “hey, its life, deal with it” or “its your fault” (like mary) and I wonder why these people would say this. To tell US its our fault we need UI, Its our fault we got layed off, Its our fault we didnt see which way the economy was going. After searching around the net I know theres a bunch of people in the same boat I am, …If we get out that boat we sink, I need the money (nowhere near enough..) But I need It. That check is the only way I get by, any, ANY, Any delay would hurt, and EDDs policy is wait until you START school to let them know and they tell you if you keep getting checks or not?????????????????? are you kidding me???????? YOU WANT ME TO SPEND MONEY ON SCHOOL OR TRAINING AND THEN you STOP MY CHECKS? for a phone call? and its no telling how long it will take, and I might get cut off? are these people on the phone the whole 8 hrs of their work day? do they only have 1 person calling people? they have a whole payrole list of people they already pay that they can get to help call people or something….. but now im just rambling, I know everyone has a story I could sit here at 8:21 am and tell all of mine but i wont.
To anyone else that wants to stop by and bash on us you should stop read whats going on Nobody asked to be in this situation, I know I didnt, but here i am.
To anyone that has Q’s on going to school and still collecting go ahead and ask, I think I know a good a mount about it.
Kat, If the job was through the jobs website linked to unemployment they know. if not tell them nothing. You did accept a job it was then rescinded. Good luck.
Funny how people (2010 March 29 Laurence) still play the blame game on the Republicans! LOL, Obama’s been in that office for over a year now…NOW his cabinet has VETO’d the new Unemployment Extention and people are crying that it’s those DAMN Repubican’s! Crazy FOOLS, you voted for this guy…live with it!!! In fact, most of you voted for GWB the second time…not me! You guys still like that 2 party voting…have fun, I vote Independent….try that next time.
After waiting for my first check for 1 month, my friend told me about this blog and I tried the 12117 trick and got through. So the lady who answered my phone was all happy and chatty – I thought wow this is my lucky day! Not really…she told me that I reported $1000+ income at the first week of the claim form, that’s why I didn’t get any money that week and the 2nd week is the waiting period. I told her that I didn’t make any money since I got laid off. All of a sudden, she changed tone and said “You did not understand what I just said?” So she repeated that I made money at that week again, I said politely that I didn’t want to argue but I did not write any earning for that week on my claim form. She said “I can see that you want to argue with me, good bye!” then she hung up. HOW RIDICULOUS!!!
If you mess up a claim form, sign it, send it in, then allow 3 days for processing. Then call the 800 number, tell them you made a mistake, and if the person isn’t an idiot, they can fix it. REMEMBER THAT IT NEEDS TO BE SIGNED TO HE FIXED BY THE EDD REP, otherwise they can’t do anything but send you more forms. If you try and use white-out, and it just happens to work, that is fantastic, but the computer system will more than likely spit it back out and see it as an error.
It is NOT EDD that doesn’t want to give you the extensions, they were stopped due to congress, not EDD itself.
And we don’t have public offices due to safety reasons. There are too many people that think they “paid into EDD” and “are entitled to the money” when in fact, you don’t and, you aren’t. We get threats on our lives daily, could you imagine if people knew where we worked?
And FYI not all of us are that rude. Some of us actually have the job because we like to help people.
I have heard some stories about EDD employees, and it makes me just as mad as the public. I mean no wonder people hate us, even before talking to us. SHEESH!
” TO HE FIXED BY THE EDD REP” = SO IT CAN BE FIXED BY THE EDD REP…..sorry about that.
I finally found a job in May, after a year and a half of unemployment. I found the process terrifying and confusing, but the EDD workers to be not only polite, but eager to go that extra step and help me. I had a woman call me on her own to tell me how to resolve a complex issue that threatened to cut off my benefits. She didn’t have to do it. She took it upon herself and told me, line by line, what to do.
I don’t know how I would have survived without the help of the EDD workers. And I, for one, thank you Alysia.
I have a crummy job paying far less and with fewer benefits than I had earlier. EDD really screwed up my benefits, sending me a letter they would telephone then not telephone. The came the letter saying I had to see an Administrative Judge. I went to the hearing. The Administrative Judge said I would get my benefits. Months past. I got a letter stating the favorable opinion of the Administrative Judge. Several weeks past but no word from EDD. My attempts to contact them only screwed up things more. Then I contacted my representative in the State Legislature. She called me back. EDD had LOST the Administrative Judge’s opinion. So I had to deliver a copy of that judicial opinion to my state representative’s office. Then I got some money.
By the way, I notice that CA has some of the lowest benefits.
Senate passed the extension bill. Looks like I won’t be homeless and will be able to stock up on Ramen noodles
I have too much pride to get food stamps. The bank repossessed my car and I now drive a junker that leaks oil. I got the car so I could go on interviews but I only get called for 2 interviews a month. I send out at least 25 resumes a week 
Obama needs to resign from office, he isn’t doing anything to help the economy
I got my first check but then my second claim came back with “You didn’t fill everything out.” Does anybody know if you have to list 10 jobs looked for? I only put 8, five one week, 3 the other.
Apply to the number of jobs required.