CalFresh phone nightmare: 4 calls later and my recertification is mixed with my Medi-Cal case!

I feel your pain!!! The calfresh phone system is HELL ON EARTH. I've had the EXACT same experience with the queue full message. Like how are we supposed to recertify if nobody answers the damn phone?!?! You either waste your whole morning waiting or they hang up on you. The workers are ok when you finally reach them but getting to that point is impossible. IMO the ONLY time that works is 7:00:01am - like literally the second they open. Otherwise forget it. And even then it's a crapshoot. I've had them transfer me between departments 3 times then disconnect me. THE WORST.

This mix-up between CalFresh and Medi-Cal cases is actually quite common in the system lately. The BenefitsCal platform sometimes incorrectly routes documents between programs even when you upload them to the correct section. For future reference, always write your CalFresh case number directly on any documents you upload and specifically note "FOR CALFRESH RECERTIFICATION" at the top. This helps their document processing team route it correctly. Regarding call times, early morning is best (7:00-7:30am), but mid-afternoon (2:30-3:15pm) sometimes works too as that's when workers return from lunch and before end-of-day rush begins. Avoid Mondays and the 1st-5th of any month as those are peak volume days.

Have you tried using Claimyr? It's been a game-changer for me with CalFresh phone issues. Instead of waiting on hold forever or dealing with callbacks that never happen, they wait on hold for you and call when a real person is actually on the line. I was skeptical but it saved me hours of frustration during my last recertification. There's a video demo at https://youtu.be/eZ19FHRETv8?si=_CXnXqNXbLl26WB8 that shows how it works. The website is claimyr.com if you want to check it out.

the same exact thing happened to my cousin last month!! her documents got mixed between calfresh and medical too! what a mess

I've worked with the county system before (not an employee but as an advocate), and here's a direct tip: Ask for your case to be flagged as having "cross-program document routing issues" - this is an actual internal flag they can put on your case that helps prevent this from happening again. Also, when you call, immediately ask for a "Recertification Specialist" rather than just any eligibility worker. This gets you to the right team faster. One more thing - if you're having trouble reaching someone by phone, you can also try emailing your county office directly. Many counties now have dedicated email addresses for urgent CalFresh issues. It won't get an immediate response, but sometimes it's faster than the phone system. If you continue having problems, you can also file for a state hearing - you don't need to actually go through with the hearing, but filing the request often gets your case expedited and assigned to a supervisor for review.

honestly im so tired of this garbage system. every single time i need to recertify its the same bs. impossible to reach anyone. documents mysteriously disappearing. getting different answers from different workers. my benefits got cut off TWICE last year despite me submitting everything on time. then i had to reapply from scratch and go 3 weeks without food assistance. the whole system is designed to make us give up.

For your specific situation with the mixed case numbers: When you call tomorrow, ask the worker to create a "Case Linkage Note" in the C-IV/CalSAWS system. This creates a permanent reference between your CalFresh and Medi-Cal cases so future workers can see they belong to the same household even though they have different case numbers. Also request an "Expedited Document Review" of your recertification materials given the system error. This puts your documents in a priority queue rather than the standard processing timeline. These specific requests can help prevent delays in getting your benefits reinstated.