I filed my claim back in August and haven't seen any progress on my application for almost 3 months now. Every single time I try calling the ny unemployment office, I get a busy signal and then it just disconnects me. I've been trying different times - early morning, late afternoon, middle of the day - nothing works. The website just shows my claim as 'pending' with no other information. My savings are almost completely gone at this point and my landlord is getting impatient. Has anyone managed to actually speak to a real person there? This is beyond frustrating.

I was checking my claim status yesterday when suddenly got kicked out of my account. When I tried to log back in today, September 13, 2021 around 2:15 pm, I got this weird error message on the New York Department of Labor website. I took a screenshot of it. The exact error message says: "There is an issue with your UI benefits account. Please call the Telephone Claims Center at 1-888-209-8124 during regular business hours. Hearing impaired individuals, who have Telephone Device for the Deaf (TTY/TDD) equipment, may call a relay operator at 1-800-662-1220 and requesting the operator to call 1-888-783-1370. Service at this number will only be provided to callers with TDD equipment." This happened while I was on the applications.labor.ny.gov website, specifically on the "My Online Services" page before it redirected me to the "Error Information" page. The page has the New York State header with links to COVID-19 Vaccines, Services, News, Government, and Department of Labor at the top. I've been trying to call the 1-888-209-8124 number since 8am this morning but can't get through - just endless busy signals or the automated system hangs up on me after saying "high call volume." This is stressing me out since I haven't received my payment for the past 2 weeks and rent is coming up soon. I'm owed about $1,236 in benefits and I absolutely need this money to pay my bills. Has anybody else experienced this type of error message? Any suggestions on how to actually talk to a human being there? The website has a "Cancel and Return" button at the bottom, but clicking it just takes me back to the same error. I'm desperate at this point and have been trying different times of day to call but nothing seems to work. Is this happening because of something COVID-related? I noticed the website has COVID-19 information at the top. Should I try visiting a physical Department of Labor office instead of calling?

I've been lurking in various forums for weeks now trying to make sense of my unemployment situation, and I'm getting increasingly frustrated. Everyone seems to have a different opinion about how the system works. One person says "call this number" while another swears that number is useless. Someone claims you need to upload specific documents, then someone else says those aren't necessary at all. My claim has been pending for almost 2 months now (filed in early March after my tech company downsized), and I'm seeing people who filed after me already receiving payments. When I check my account online, it just says "pending review" with no explanation. I've tried calling at least 25 times in the past three weeks and either get disconnected or spend hours on hold only to get cut off. It's maddening that there's no consistent information. I'm starting to think nobody actually understands how NY unemployment really works - not even the people giving advice. My savings are getting dangerously low, and I need to know what steps will ACTUALLY help me get this resolved. Is there anyone here who has legitimate, proven knowledge about how to navigate this system? Or are we all just sharing random experiences that may or may not apply to others?

After being stuck trying to figure out how to do a partial claim for almost three weeks, I actually managed to get through today! I had my hours cut from full-time to just 16 hours back in February, but kept putting off filing because I heard horror stories about the system. When I finally decided to apply in March, the website kept timing out whenever I tried to enter my partial work hours. Called at least 20 times last week with no luck - just automated messages saying call volume was too high. This morning I decided to try calling right when they opened at 8am and somehow got through after only 45 minutes on hold! The rep was actually super helpful and walked me through everything in about 20 minutes. Just sharing because I was honestly shocked it wasn't the absolute nightmare I expected. Anyone else have surprisingly good experiences lately?

I just can't believe what happened. Last Tuesday I was expecting to certify as usual, and when I logged in it said my benefits were exhausted?? I know the federal supplement of $360 was ending, but I thought we'd still get our base benefits. Now when I log in, the system says I need to file a new claim, but I haven't worked since February 2022 (so about 19 months). There's no way I qualify for a new claim. Called the hotline and it's just automated messages saying the same thing - file a new claim. How can they just cut everything off without warning? Seems like thousands of us are in the same boat... no emails, no letters, nothing explaining what happened. Anybody know what's going on or what we're supposed to do now?