DEO phone keeps disconnecting after hours on hold! Waiting 5+ weeks for claim - need direct contact method!

Welcome to the Florida DEO nightmare! I was in the exact same situation last month - spent hours trying to reach them about my pending adjudication and would constantly get disconnected. It's completely unacceptable how they treat people who are already stressed about not having income. Have you tried calling exactly at 7:30am? That sometimes works better than mid-day calls.

The disconnection issue is happening to almost everyone. DEO's phone system automatically drops calls when their queue gets too full, which is basically all day every day. Your best approach is to: 1. Keep checking your CONNECT inbox daily for any fact-finding questions they might send 2. Make sure all your work searches are properly documented 3. Try calling on Wednesday mornings as they seem to have slightly better staffing then 4. If your claim says "pending adjudication" there's likely an issue they need to resolve before payments can be released Unfortunately, with over a month waiting, you definitely need to speak with someone directly. What specific status does your claim show in CONNECT?

This is EXACTLY why i gave up on Florida unemployment last time. The system is broken on purpose!!! They make it so hard to get help that people just give up. I spent THREE MONTHS trying to get my benefits and by the time i finally got through my claim had expired. DEO is a joke and they dont care about us AT ALL.

hv u tried emailing ur state rep? my cousin got nowhere for 6 weeks then emailed her local representative and got a call from deo 2 days later. worth a shot

I was in the same boat about two months ago with the constant disconnects and waiting for hours. After nearly giving up, I found a service called Claimyr that actually got me through to DEO in about 20 minutes. They basically call DEO for you and when they reach a real person, they connect you. It worked shockingly well after weeks of frustration. Their website is claimyr.com and they have a demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/UzW_hbUy-ss?si=zORd51jeq1GX5Ldj It was absolutely worth it for me since I needed to get my adjudication issue resolved before I lost my apartment. Once I finally got through to a rep, they were able to process my pending weeks that same day.

Yes, it's completely legitimate. After using their service and getting connected to DEO, the agent was able to see there was a simple verification flag on my account that needed to be cleared. They fixed it during that call, and my pending weeks moved to 'processed' status within 48 hours. I received my benefits via direct deposit 2 days later. After weeks of getting nowhere, that single call resolved everything.

I work with unemployment claims professionally and can tell you that "pending-adjudication" status means there's a specific issue that needs human review. Common reasons include: 1. Employment separation reason needs verification 2. Income verification discrepancies 3. Work search compliance review 4. Identity verification incomplete 5. Potential employer dispute Without speaking to someone, it's impossible to know which issue is affecting your claim. While emailing state representatives does work sometimes, it can still take 1-2 weeks for resolution that way. If your CONNECT account shows no fact-finding questionnaires and you've verified your identity through ID.me already, then your issue likely requires direct agent intervention to resolve. Document every call attempt with date and time - this can help if you later need to request backdating of your claim.

Has anyone else noticed that DEO seems to be especially bad right now? I filed in January and got approved within 2 weeks, but my brother just filed last month and is having all these same problems with disconnected calls and pending status. Did they cut staff again or something?

Quick update for anyone in this situation - DEO just announced yesterday they're implementing a new callback system starting next week. Instead of waiting on hold, you'll be able to enter your number for a callback when an agent is available. This should help with the disconnection issues many are experiencing. It's not live yet, but worth checking for next week if you're still unable to reach someone.

UPDATE: I finally got through to DEO!!! Used Claimyr and got connected to an agent in about 30 minutes. Turns out there was an employer dispute on my claim that I knew nothing about! My former employer apparently contested the reason for separation. The agent was able to complete the adjudication while I was on the phone and said my payments should process within 48 hours. SUCH A RELIEF! Thank you all for the suggestions and support!