I am one of thousands of people who receive unemployment benefits every Wednesday after filing on Sunday. We all have been told for a month now about this “New more secure website.” Guess what? It has been crashed since it started! On Jan. 1, the error message said to try again at midnight. I got up at midnight and was told to wait until 8 a.m., same thing and nothing!
Today I tried to file my weekly claim and was thrown into what Worksource called “the Verification Loop” where it keeps asking you to “verify”’ yourself over and over, sending “codes” to your phone and email over and over, and it is still unable to recognize anything!
It has been an absolute nightmare. There is no physical address for us to drop off our claims, like we did 25 years ago before computers and it worked just fine! The number given to us to “file by phone” has crashed along with the new “safer” esd.wa.gov website. When we call we get a recorded message apologizing to us and “assuaging” us that “technicians are working as hard as they can…blah blah.” In the meantime, two weeks after Christmas when most of us are broke, we cannot file our claims and have not received any money.
I’m OK because I have a savings account, but it’s very upsetting to think about those poor people who depend on that weekly stipend to survive, eat and find shelter if they have none. They are now on the streets in 20 degree weather with no money to rent a room or buy any food for their kids. As of 7:15 p.m Jan. 4, we have not been able to file our claims, nor have I received any money and there is no one to talk with to give us any answers!
I was once told a great lesson … Don’t fix what isn’t broken!
Susan Martin
Everett
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
