Have you tried reaching out to them on social media? Sometimes companies respond faster there. Worth a shot!

I went through this exact same nightmare a few months ago! What finally worked for me was going through the identity verification process again from scratch. Here's what I did: 1) Clear your browser cache and cookies completely 2) Go to ID.ME and start a fresh account verification (don't try to log into your existing account) 3) Use your new phone number during the verification 4) They'll ask you to upload documents again - just do it 5) Once verified with your new number, contact support to merge/transfer your old account data. It's a pain but it worked for me after being locked out for 3 weeks. The whole process took about a week but at least I got back in! Good luck! 🙏

So glad you got it resolved! This is exactly why I always recommend calling when payments are delayed - there are so many backend issues that don't show up on the CONNECT portal. For anyone else reading this thread who might be in a similar situation, Amara's experience shows how important it is to be persistent with calling DEO. Those "invisible holds" like employment verification are super common and can only be cleared by speaking with an agent. Keep claiming your weeks while you wait for the replacement card - all those back payments will be there when it arrives!

Reading through this thread as someone who went through almost the exact same situation last year! Amara, I'm so glad you got it resolved - those hidden employment verification holds are ridiculously common and it's frustrating they don't show up anywhere on your account. For anyone else dealing with payment delays, here are a few red flags that usually mean you need to call DEO: 1) It's been more than 10 business days since your first claimed week with no payment, 2) Your status shows "eligible" but you have zero payment history, 3) Your Way2Go card was supposedly mailed but never arrived. Don't wait weeks like I did - call as soon as you notice the delay. The phone system is awful but persistence pays off. Also keep detailed records of your claim dates and any confirmation numbers, it helps when you finally get an agent on the phone.

Glad you got it sorted out! This is exactly why I always recommend people try Claimyr when they hit these weird CONNECT system glitches. The work search verification flag issue is super common - DEO doesn't tell you about it but it can completely block your ability to claim weeks even when you're eligible. For anyone else reading this thread with similar problems, don't waste days calling DEO directly. The phone system is designed to frustrate you into giving up. Services like Claimyr are worth every penny when you're dealing with rent and bills piling up.

Welcome to the community @Reginald Blackwell! You're absolutely right about this community being more helpful than official DEO resources. I've been dealing with unemployment issues for months and the collective knowledge here has saved me countless hours of frustration. For anyone new reading this thread - the key takeaways are: 1) DEO emails often come before the system updates, 2) hidden flags like work search verification can block your claiming ability without notice, and 3) services like Claimyr seem to be the most reliable way to actually reach a human who can fix these backend issues. The CONNECT system really does feel like it's designed to discourage people from successfully claiming benefits. Having a community like this where we can share real solutions makes all the difference when you're stressed about bills and rent!

The no special characters thing is so true! I used to put (123) 456-7890 format and it would crash every time. Now I just do 1234567890 with no spaces or anything and it works fine. CONNECT is super picky about formatting but never tells you what format it wants!

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this frustration! I just started my unemployment claim process last week and I'm already dreading having to deal with CONNECT based on what I'm reading here. The fact that it erases your work search entries after hours of work is absolutely unacceptable. I'm taking notes from all these helpful tips - screenshots, early morning claiming, Firefox browser, and keeping everything simple with no special characters. It's ridiculous that we have to develop workarounds for a system that should just work properly. Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and solutions!

One important thing to know: once your identity is verified, your weeks in 'pending' status should automatically move to 'payable' status, but this sometimes requires an additional step. If your account is unlocked but your payments don't process within 72 hours, you'll need to call again and request that they manually release the payments. Make sure to specifically ask if your weeks need to be 'manually released' after verification.

I'm going through this exact same nightmare right now! Been trying to call for 6 days straight with no luck - just constant busy signals or the line goes dead. It's so frustrating that completing the ID.me verification doesn't actually solve the problem and we still have to get through on this impossible phone line. Reading through everyone's experiences here is both comforting (knowing I'm not alone) and terrifying (seeing how long some of you have been dealing with this). I'm definitely going to try the 7:29am calling trick tomorrow morning and have all my employment history and previous claim info ready just in case I actually get through. Has anyone tried calling on different days of the week? Wondering if Mondays or Fridays are worse than mid-week. At this point I'm willing to try anything to avoid losing weeks of benefits while stuck in this identity verification limbo.