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State Pleads Patience Over Unemployment System Problems

Dozens expressed their frustration on the social media pages for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, also known as the DEO, after having trouble with the agency's phone lines or website. 

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Colleen Chabot has spent more than two weeks trying to reset her PIN so she can file for unemployment benefits.

"I've called at least ... let's just say 20 times a day," she told NBC 6.  "You can't get a hold of anybody."

Colleen was not alone. Dozens of others expressed their frustration on the social media pages for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, also known as the DEO, after having trouble with the agency's phone lines or website. 

One woman wrote on Twitter:  "I've been trying since 3/21 to file for benefits.  I was online for 8 hours today ... Please help your Floridians.  We need to feed our family."

A spokesperson for the FL DEO told NBC 6 Responds the agency is adding employees to process the surge of applications it has seen.

"We understand that asking you to be patient is hard," said Tiffany Vause, director of communications for the FL DEO.  "Each and every day we are doing everything that we can."

Tiffany said the agency has hired 70 people this week alone who are going through the training process and who will ultimately be able to help people like Colleen reset their PINs as well as process applications.  She said the state is also working with an outside call center to help deal with the surge.

"They are being trained now, going through the background screening," she said.  "We hope to have them online next week."

As for the website, the DEO said it was also working on making that better. 

"Every day we are making enhancements to the website," she said.  "We're adding server capacity so that more people can get on."

In the meantime, Colleen said she planned to keep trying.

"It's a serious matter," Tiffany said. "I can get by a week, a month and maybe even a tiny bit longer, but there's so many of us that cannot."

Colleen also said she was concerned about possibly missing out on weeks of benefits if she could not get her PIN fixed soon.  Tiffany said she should not worry about that.

"Floridians are going to get the benefits that they're entitled to," Tiffany said.  "Whenever they get into the system, they're going to get the benefits they're eligible for."

If you're having trouble resetting your PIN, Tiffany suggested trying through their automated system:  1-800-204-2418.

She said if you need to talk to someone, keep trying during off-peak hours.

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