5 hours on hold with CalFresh - is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

lol welcome to calfresh hell. ive been on hold 7+ hours before and then they just disconnect. its like they dont want ppl to get their benefits 🙄

I've been dealing with this same issue for YEARS and it's getting worse! Last month my recertification was approved but my benefits didn't load. Took me 4 days of calling to reach someone. They told me there was a "system glitch" that affected multiple accounts but wouldn't have known unless I called! RIDICULOUS! The system is designed to make people give up! 🤬

This is unfortunately very common with the CalFresh phone system, especially during the first week of the month when benefits are issued. A few tips that might help: 1. Try calling right when they open (7:30am in most counties) 2. If your issue is urgent (no food in house), make sure to mention that immediately if you do reach someone 3. Check your last Notice of Action to see if there was any pending verification they needed 4. Look on your BenefitsCal account to see if there are any alerts or messages 5. Sometimes benefits are delayed 1-2 days for technical reasons even when approved Did you receive any notices in the mail recently? Sometimes there's a verification request that gets missed and they hold benefits while waiting for documents.

omg same thing happened 2 me last month!! try calling the EBT card number instead of the county number. sometimes they can tell u WHY the benefit didnt load even if they cant fix it. saved me hours of waiting

You might want to try Claimyr, it saved me so much time with CalFresh. It holds your place in line and calls you back when a worker is available to talk. I was skeptical at first but after being on hold for 6 hours one day I gave it a try. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 and their website is claimyr.com. It literally saved my sanity last month when I had a similar issue with benefits not loading.

The current wait times are absolutely unacceptable, but unfortunately normal. I work with a food bank and hear this complaint constantly. Here's what I recommend: 1. If you're in immediate need, go to your local food bank while you sort this out (happy to help find one near you) 2. Try contacting your county worker directly via BenefitsCal messaging system - sometimes they respond faster than phone 3. Check if your county has a "case problem form" on their website you can submit 4. If your benefits were approved but not loaded, this is often a technical error that needs manual override Most importantly, document everything - dates/times you called, any reference numbers, names of workers you speak with. If your benefits were approved but not issued, they should be able to expedite payment once you reach someone.

This is exacty why I stoped using calfresh even though im eligable. The system is so broken I litterly couldnt afford to spend 4-5 hours on hold every month when something went wrong. And something ALWAYS went wrong with my case. Good luck hope you get thru to someone eventualy!!!

UPDATE: Just got off the phone after finally reaching someone. They're experiencing a statewide system issue affecting benefit loading for certain cases processed between the 25th-30th last month. The worker said benefits should appear within 24-48 hours without further action needed. If anyone else is having this problem, apparently it's affecting thousands of people right now.

This is such a relief to hear about the system issue! I was starting to panic thinking something was wrong with my case. For anyone still waiting on hold, you might want to hang up and just wait the 24-48 hours since it sounds like they can't manually fix it anyway. I'm going to set a reminder to check my balance tomorrow morning. Thanks everyone for the support and tips - this community is honestly a lifesaver when dealing with these CalFresh nightmares! 🙏