DENVER (KDVR) — Benjamin Kellogg tried calling customer service at the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment 500 times just on Tuesday.
“I’ve called about 1,000 times in the last month and the one time I got through yesterday, it hung up after being on hold for about 10 minutes,” said Kellogg.
The 33-year-old was laid off from his job in early childhood education in mid-March because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
He applied for unemployment benefits right away, but has yet to receive his first payment.
“We have a mortgage, car payments, we have an 8-month-old son, bills to keep our lives going. It’s hard on one income,” Kellogg says.
His story is similar to dozens of emails the FOX31 Problem Solvers have received in the last 48 hours complaining of an inability to reach a customer service agent.
One reads: “There seems to be a huge problem with unemployment getting payments disbursed for people who filed for payment on 04/19/2020.”
Another viewer wrote to the Problem Solvers stating, “I am a single mom of a 15-year-old girl and really need this money. I have called their number and it is constantly busy and cannot get through to a single person. I am at a loss of what to do.”
Cher Haavind, spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, told the Problem Solvers there was a computer glitch on Sunday that has delayed payment this week.
“That file was the largest single file transfer we’ve ever seen in the history of the program, and it failed to transmit within three days as is typical,” explained Haavind, before adding, “It was over $100 million in benefit payments and the reason it was so large is because it not only includes regular unemployment, but it includes the $600 a week that is now allowed through new federal legislation.”
Haavind said the benefits payment glitch has been fixed and recipients should get their payments by sometime Friday, at the latest.
She said that should eliminate a lot of calls to the customer service center but admits 51,000 new applications from self-employed and gig workers is creating a new slew of questions from callers.
“We’re seeing a lot of complicated combinations of earnings and wages and so again, the natural reaction is to want to talk to somebody because the system isn’t a one-size-fits-all system,” said Haavind.
Haavind said the state added 80 new customer service agents on Monday, bringing the total to 250 statewide. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Colorado employed 70 call service agents for its unemployment hotline.
“It’s going to take time to address the system overload and honestly we’re doing the best that we can,” said Haavind.
But that doesn’t help Kellogg in the meantime. When he goes online, the computer screen tells him he’s “Exhausted Benefits” even though he’s yet to receive any benefits.
“It’s been pretty bad, man — emotionally damaging, to say the least,” said Kellogg.
He says he has no choice but to keep calling until he eventually gets through.
Haavind recommends people who do apply for unemployment benefits to choose direct deposit over a debit card. She says direct deposit ensures faster payment. She also wants the unemployed to know that payments are backdated and people will eventually receive the benefits they’re owed.