Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Review

If I could give 0 stars I would ! 3 weeks in pending status and no payment! Called over 100 times and system automatically disconnects!

Cassandra b. Was one of the best agents I've ever dealt with. She stayed on the phone with me 2 hours and made sure a supervisor took care of my payment issue. She definitely deserves a promotion or raise, with her attention to detail and customer service dillegence.

Terrible; I only have one idea!
It was programmed not to attend and solve, only someone with very bad intention could acquire this disaster and pay a fortune !!
At the time of the vote let us consider who implemented it. The worst of all states. VERY VERY ANNOYING !!!

Rick Scott neglected the DEO website, trapped in the 80's, what did he do for 8 years, and what's up with these employees that handle claims. Makes me wonder why I'm unemployed, and they have a job.

They absolutely never answer the phone and nobody can help. They are unreachable.

This place is rigged . Said I could claim my money but because of one question I could not answer , I couldn't claim my money . No one answers the phone , worthless , an t

They said I returned to work when I only worked for two weeks. All benefits on hold. Cant talk to a human.

Can you give them a zero? I have actually talked to a number of kind, sympathetic people there, but then they can not fix the problem, so their sympathy is of little help. One was a condeseconding jerk, though.

If I could give zero stars I would. Negative stars, even. It s funny how the same complaints were happening months before the COVID-19 outbreak. It took that for the DEO to try and fix their STILL broken, awful, embarrassing system. I filed March 15th. Not only is it still processing, I can t even get through the requesting weeks page. I am redirected back to the log in screen, where I wait another 20 minutes for it to log in. Then I am redirected again and again and again. I have given up. I am deeply disappointed and ashamed of the state of this place. This review won t change anything, but if someone bothers to see it, know you re not alone and we all must do what we can to try and change it. Don t bother calling, you ll be automatically hung up on before you reach a human.

You should be ashamed of your actions towards the millions of people needing benefits. All you do is lie and put out false information. I wish I could give you all a zero. It s unfair to the millions about to lose everything Becasue of unqualified people that can t help us. Just close already, your not helping us.

It's a complete mess, time waiting and they don't process the request

No way of contacting office by phone or website..totally ridiculous

Initially the process of filing a claim was extremely difficult, and even though the website was unresponsive at times, I kept at it. After the decision was made to shut down the system over the weekend, things really began to move along the following week. Benefits weren't paid out as I specified, but Im willing to cut them some slack and deal with checks in the mail.

Still haven't been able to file unemployment claim after trying for a week

Extremely disappointed like many of the other posters in here. I would also give it a 0 but that is not an option. My daughter has had 10 hours of online problems that resulted in her filling out the paper form and then they misspelled her name and had other incorrect information put in. She fixed it numerous times online but could not finish the process. She also tried to contact DEO via the phone but she was often given the same number to call to "speak" to someone. I would describe more but like the FDOE it's a waste of time to write more.

This has been the most time consuming, frustrating experience. Shame on our government. I am spending at least 9 hours of my day calling or trying to log on. I can t pay my bills after working for 46 years

Wish I could give 0 stars. No solutions. The Agents are just bodies placed to answer calls. They have no knowledge or access to help.

i dont know what to do anymore i am about to go homeless

Ron Desantis is a Total Failure. As the governor of the State of Florida, I would expect that the first order of business for him would be to address the issues with this system and take care of the residents of our state. Instead we get NOTHING!!! We get treated like NOTHING!!! Like WE DONT MATTER!!! Mr. Desantis, Enjoy your ! and Only Term as Governor of this State. Youre OUT!!!

It is a continuing nightmare. My husband
and I have been diligently trying to get benefits since early April. After hundreds of attempted calls and numerous applications, emails, reading everything (which changes daily), I finally got to talk to an employee last night. What she told me didn t work. I have emailed Governor Desantis office also and received no response. We still have not received one penny of what we are owed.

Horrible!! It's just really sad and disappointing, concerning how they let us down during these tough times.. You can't even get through the phone line to talk with someone for goodness sake.. When you are able to get through, the system hangs up on you.. Drain the Deo swamp and take DeSantis with you! Totally a disgrace to this great state of Florida!

I have been trying for weeks to speak to someone as to why my $600 care act disbursements stopped on May 19- sad part is not one has an answer even when I did get to speak to someone still nothing- How difficult would it be for the DEO to have a direct Customer Service line to go into our claimant ID # and give us a direct answer to the why or what the outcome is - Should we just keep waiting or are we losing the unpaid Care-Act disbursements - They should make the Care-Act disbursements updates to each individuals account
My friend got his checks two days in a row and I'm still waiting after 4 weeks - What is the deal !!! I wrote to our Congressman Deutch and to Mr DeSantis but no
one give us any direction - Thus the FRUSTRATION !!!

The system is just as corrupt and a mess as all the other state government systems in this third-world country called Florida. I was denied unemployment benefits even though I worked full time last year until Dec. 7th when I was suddenly laid off but because half of that year I worked for a company in TX (and reported all of that on the application) the system conveniently did not take that into account. When I try calling the 1-800 number to get this resolved, it just keeps going to the automated message saying all their lines are busy and I should call back later. What system doesn't allow you to at least have the option to hold or leave a message, unless they purposely want to make it impossible for you to EVER speak with an actual human. Governor Scott and the state legislators should be embarrassed and not be surprised when governors of other states refer to FL as a third world country.

I WISH I could give no stars! I am absolutely appalled at this system in this desperate time of need for so many. I have received only one payment lower than I am supposed to be getting, and this was almost a month ago. I am just disgusted. And do not bother trying to get someone on the phone, it is just a complete joke to these people. My thoughts to everyone else going through this and worse. All we have is us and these reviews to let out our frustrations! My love to you all!

There were 7 hour hold times in January before covid-19! Fact

I v been waiting since 3/22/2020 for unemployment assistance. We all know you don t want to pay, your greedy and we re all aware now because of the COVID crisis. It s fine, stop taking taxes from us then. Easy fix.

This is a disaster no one can help in the numbers that give what I do ???

I honestly wouldn't even give them 1 star. Worst system ever. This is 2020, it should not be like this. We shouldn't receive runtime error messages over and over while trying to apply. People down here have been out of work for 6 weeks now with not one penny in benefits sent to us. This is unacceptible and will cause florida to collapse economically. I'm contacting Washington over this!!!! As everyone else should also!

0 STARS!!!! This is the worst and I mean absolute worst organization on this planet. Florida is a joke thanks to our leadership. The governor is way over his head. They don t care about us. Any review above 0 stars is a lie and probably planted by the deo themselves. SCAMSCAMSCAM

It is July 8th and I still cannot get the system to stay online long enough to submit the request for payment for April dates. I have waited in the online waiting room three times today (and maybe 15 times in the last month) and all three times today have been booted out by server failure before completing a single week's worth of work search proof. I cannot understand why I am spending so much time completing antiquated online data forms for proof of work search when it is not even required. It has been 10 weeks since I lost my job and I still cannot successfully complete the online paperwork for April's benefits. I wouldn't normally write a review about an agency such as this, but there is no other outlet and no where to turn. I have called dozens of time and I cannot get through there either, after 2 minutes of options, I am just disconnected. This is a desperate and hopeless situation. Please do something.

Public disgrace. I cannot claim benefits because the system was offline so long. Now, the window for claiming my benefits has expired and there is no way to communicate with them. The phone lines are clogged. DeSantis should be thrown out of office!

What an abomination. A system that cost the taxpayers $77,000,000 has caused irreparable damage to hard working families and that is a travesty. Just another fine example that anything the government (fed, state and local) is involved with inevitably turns into a full fledged disaster.

Between runtime errors (during none peak times). System not set up to waive Covid-19 requirements. I've just aout given up. If Amazon can handle black Friday we should be able to handle one state. With all the technology the state had within its grasp, heck oneof the kids from Full Sail could configure a server to support the site.

Cant talk to a real person when you call the number. Took me a few days to apply for benefits and should have recieved my first round of benefits a week ago.

Wish you would hire some people to help you out, because you are failing millions of people.

I wait 20 minutes on hold for some teenage girl to answer the line, " Hello?".....I say, yes, is this the DEO support phone number?". She replies, "yes". I say, " Well don't you need some information from me?". She replies, " Yes". ---30 seconds of silence--...Me " Hello?".... Operator, " Hi". Me," transfer me to someone else please". HUNG UP ON!

Gwen was extremely helpful in assisting me to resolve my issues and request my benefits

This system was designed to fail the Floridan's. Rick Scott wanted his number low for unemployment, so he designed the system so that it can fail. You apply for unemployment then wait to get denied even though you have every right by law to file they will deny you.. The system is set up to just approve 11% of Florida's population. I have been waiting for OVER A MONTH to get unemployment, and they have yet to deny my application.
(OH YES IT WILL BE DENIED) THIS SYSTEM SUX...

If I could give negative stars I most definitely would! I'm surprised anyone at DEO still has their job. Truth is we have all done our required claim requests and 99.9 percent of us have not received our benefits. Forced Unemployment on March 23, 2020 and from the governor down we have been failed! Remember this in November everyone. Still no progress at all even with replacements. The absolute worst system ever!

Unreal... I filed my unemployment over 15 days ago... you would think that given the current condition we are all in the "great" state of Florida its good for nothing Gov. Ron DeSantis would of been proactive and mobilized funds to staff the Dep. of economic opportunity accordingly to aid Floridians, this is disservice to the people of this state.. I have never used any aid from the state in the 10 years I've worked but now that I...We all need it as usual the aid is not there... We deserve better than this... Why do we allow a government that doesn't care about us to keep ruling is out of my grasp of comprehension. DO YOUR JOB!! THAT'S WHY YOU WERE ELECTED! DO YOUR JOB AND PICK UP THE PHONE AND BE KIND TO THOSE FILING!! YOU ARE BEING PAID WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS!!

Received a notice of assistance for a former employee who moved to Florida and lost her job. Tried to log on to the system to correct reporting errors. In order to make their deadline. I couldn't mail it back. The message says that I will need to hold for 2 hours. I called another number for the agency that I found online, still a two hour wait but they have a system of call backs. Let's see how long that takes.

The process to get unemployment during this pandemic in Florida is purposefully impossible. My claims page says to call a listed number. I've tried so many times and it always just hangs up after saying there is high call volume. The sad fact is that the system is working as it was designed to. This state, and other with similar political leadership, don't care about social safety nets or taking care of their citizens. Prove me wrong. Pick up the phone.

Horrible 3 months and still nothing. I reapplied 3 times and still haven't got paid.

There is no way to apply
There is no way to talk to you
What I do ? A system disaster

I remember filing for my unemployment back in 2013 up till 2014 when I was done collecting the money I've earned. In late 2014 I received a letter saying I need to payback for overpayment. I've tried disputing it and ended up getting the same letter again saying I owe more. Realizing that I was not eligible and yet I was able to go through that horrible headache of a website to get my money and was at that time eligible but fast forward I was told I wasn't eligible. Now I am paying back the overpayment & I hope they go under. I don't care how they feel and I'm from Fl, and I don't live there anymore. This so called establishment is a pain in the ass, FIRST HAND, NO QUESTIONS ASKED AND NO EXCEPTIONS. I can't believe this place is still standing. Bunch of Bullsh@!!*rs!

UPDATE: 3/27/2017 - I tried logging into the UI Online they've got...LOCKED ME OUT WHEN I TRIED TO VIEW THE BALANCE I HAVE LEFT ON THAT OVERPAYMENT! I Typed in the right info, BOOM, SORRY ERROR. You'll be locked Out! F'ing BOGUS!

This is totally ridiculous! No answer, the website is down, and No help. There is no way to contact anyone from this government department to help.

FIRE KEN LAWSON NOW!
Heads must roll! This did not just become the problem. Read the reviews. Absolute worst govt agency I have had the displeasure to deal with. No accountability, no customer service, does not respond to emails, does not answer phone, and the list goes on....TO TOP IT OFF FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW!

Deo is holding my benefits hostage because of a financial debt to the state of Florida in a over payment from 2014
Of the amount of $2500 in the middle of . A crisis .. I guess the Cares act is not
really for poor people is it !..

I applied for benefits a month ago today. When I am able to login to the website, a complete hassle on it's own and on 3 different occasions took over 5 hours of consistently attempting , even after their "Fixes" still takes forever to login or will boot me back to Connect.myflorida.com initial warning page. my claim still says processing. I have over 700 logged calls in my phone to FDEO, recently when I prompt for detailed claim info, recorded error message states there are technical difficulties while pulling up my claim. I can NOT reach anyone over the phone, I've tried submitting an email request several times and everytime after filling the required boxes and writing an email when I click send, I get taken to an error page there was an error when processing your request... if problem persists contact system admin. I can NOT reach anyone via email or phone. I have recieved a claimant ID. Claim ID number my status is active and monetary is pending. I was even able to request benefit weeks.. nothing has changed since the day I filed a month ago. and still I can not get in contact w anyone at FDEO. FDEO should be completely ashamed of their mediocre response during this crisis and even more ashamed how they let down every Floridian, especially the ones now with no income, our Bill's haven't stopped coming in, we depended on you, in our most desperate time financial need, to process our applications efficiently and pay benefits for approved applications even quicker. FDEO you dropped the ball from the start and have yet to recover

Rick Scott is a skeleton succubus feeding on the souls of those in need in Florida. Receive letters AFTER the due date is, Cannot find a correct phone number on my paperwork. The maximum weeks for unemployment is 12 weeks now because "THE economy is doing so good" and you have them calling on the wrong day for a hearing to discredit my claim for unemployment. Palm Beach does not even have a DEO office. I was in Colorado looking for jobs and it two hours earlier, I wasn't even awake for the call/"interview" that I received nothing about. You guys have my email, I have an online account where DOE can post information on ALL of the requirements and dates, so I can check for myself online.....way to make an already stressful process even harder, puck Florida.

Wow. Planet of the Snails. Crickets... Infinitely broken system, Governor. That being sad - at the end of the day - DEO be a REAL work in pro-regress!

4 weeks and counting, I got nothing. Yet to get through on phone or web. I guess it doesn't matter what state you live in there must be a prerequisit for being a government employee, total incompetence.My daughter experiencing the same thing in NJ.

Terrible customer service. Some people who work there need to have more soft skills. Also, in my second call, the person who talked to me today was rude, lack of the manners and unprofessional. Please be carefully selecting your employees next time.

Looking to interview people for a documentary film on gov desantis. If you have suffered because of the governor's unemployment system, we'd like to hear from you. Litgroup@outlook.com

Lack of any response to questions or call backs! Now that the federal monies have been added to their coiffures, this agency will certainly keep the monies and not pass it on to those of us in need. It's a shame & a scam and I pray we all protest and ask for accountability. The new system works even less!!

I swear the these people are unemployed, talked to the machine more than a person.

What a disaster!!! Rick Scott made this agency so out of touch to prevent paying any unemployment benefits.
Thanks Rick!

Absolutely horrible experience thus far with no end in sight. The system is failing Florida residents while the politicians responsible sit back and laugh. I hope no one forgets this catastrophe next election, I know I will definitely keep it in mind when voting.

They have it so you CANNOT get through by phone to talk to someone. Lying as if it's busy. BS I've called every day multiple times a day, different times. YOU CAN NEVER GET THROUGH! They are FRAUDS. AND POS!

I'm very fortunate and I want to thank those who have helped me receive my money.
It's not all bad but my heart goes out to the people who are really having a difficult time.
My deepest sympathies.

Seems like contracting COVID-19 is easier than getting help with unemployment in Florida. Waited on the phone for 1hr and 47mins because the poor worker needed a supervisor just to be hung up on. Phones shut off at 7pm

Out of work for over 16 weeks because of covid. Still haven't gotten a dime. I thought there was going to be assistance, obviously I thought wrong. This system is a waste of taxpayers money and time. God help us

Florida is not really ready for an emergency. I've been calling for about seven days and there is no answer. People need their payments to buy food and survive.

No response terrible website no help. TERRIBLE ON THE STATE FOR THIS

Nobody helps me, I still haven't received the benefit. I have already called more than 40 times, I have already sent 15 emails and 2 faxes. E still not received. How horrible the system

Their agency and customer service is served at the lowest quality with no access to update physical address or email information after a 6 week waiting period. My information was entered by their employee 6 weeks after mailing paper unemployment application with incorrect contact information.

Their website STILL keeping me from checking on my claim or even requesting my claims weeks. I keep getting bounced with an error message to call an 800 number. The number refers you back to the website. When does it end?

I have not received a response from this department for 2 months

Agents do not know how to help. It takes 2 hours to get to a supervisor for them to say the same thing

They need to fire the Director and get someone new. There is no information that is really useful to Floridians

1. Which applications that are currently beign processed.

2. When is payment issued.

3. What is the current wait time for applications to be processed due to COVID-19

Just something, anything. Floridians needs some guidance. The phone lines dont work at 730am the system is saying we are unable to handle the call. The Supervisors should be taking calls, the Director should be taling calls. Reach out to ex-employees and re hire them. Move it !

Almost 4 months still can t get in touch with a claims specialist

To be completely honest, it took me a while to apply, having the fear of getting a migraine. But once I actually did an application, it was fairly routine. I even spoke with a few different CSRs and had a better than expected experience. Thank you to all involved. Stay safe everyone.

Apparently the State of Florida thinks it's okay to pay people less than minimum wage when they're on unemployment. I lost my job (not through any misconduct), and they're paying me $212/week before taxes. Consider that I was working 40 hours per week in a non-restaurant setting, and that comes out to around $5.03/hour (the minimum wage for tipped employees). Minimum wage is $8.05 for non-tipped employees. This is outrageous. If I wasn't married, I'd be out on the streets, considering they're also really slow in disbursing payments, even if you do every little thing they ask of you in a timely manner.

On line system is not functioning. Unable to connect by phone due to high call volume. !

Possibly the worst and I mean worst group I have had the displeasure of working with they were of no help to me and kept trying anything in their power deny benefits. Making excuses to not see my situation through and while your struggling to meet their pointless demands bills pile up. Your better of on your own unless you are real desperate cause they don't want to give you money that is rightful yours since you pay taxes.

The worst experience ever. This company should be out of business.

10 weeks and still no unemployment compensation, every time they transfer a call it hangs up on you.

NEVER NEVER ANSWERS I NEED HELP URGENT AND DONT ANSWER AND NOT CALLING BACK NEVERRRRRR SOOO WHY U HAVE PHONE NUMBER IF I DONT ANSWER ????

if i could give zero starts i will this department is the worse they don't answer the photo my husband has been waiting a month for his benefit and they even haven't looked at his application they should fire everyone that works there.

If I could give a NEGATIVE 5 stars I would! It makes no sense that you can't even speak with a live person over the phone, with the ability to assist you! The state of Florida should be ASHAMED of themselves! The way they're handling the workforce of the state is shameful!!

Worst experience of my life. Customer service is non existent, you can even get to a person to talk to with being cut off. No one can help you with your questions or problems. I was finally issued a way2go debit. card and now I am NOT able to activate the card on phone, website, or app. can't pay my bills and no one to hep!

horrible, second time trying to contact them for a simple password reset . each time I spent over 40 minute then someone picks up and hangup immediately. should not happen in this day and age you should be able to reset from the website not to be prompted to call.

probably the worst unemployment agency in the world. There is no selection to talk to someone because your online application won't go through. 0 does not work. i tried another selection just to go through and the automation deliberately hung up on me. My paper application has yet to go through and to this day, your online program is USELESS.
YOUR ORGANIZATION IS AWFUL. I'd give you a 0 if I could.

No kind of answers. I have to pay my bills and looking for a job. And they have money on hold for a week and a half now for a fact finding. I submitted the info but still nothing. This is ridiculous

What a joke!! I currently have 6 weeks on hold and nobody can tell me why. They keep saying that they fixed it and I should be receiving a payment however I haven't been paid since 9/30/2020 and we're basically in Nov. An email was sent to adjudicator and they still haven't done anything! Does anybody there actually work?! I'm so confused! Does anyone know who I can report the DEO office to because I would like to sue for them not assisting me properly and with holding my paymenta for no reason. This is supposedly our tax dollars at work smh