4 ms·

CA EDD is so hard to reach that the unemployed pay go-betweens to do it for them

27 points by vector_spaces 5y ago

vector_spaces 5y ago
Sorry for the awkward editorializing -- the article title exceeded the HN cap. If anyone's able to manually adjust it I'd appreciate it.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
willcipriano 5y ago
> Both automatically dial and redial EDD until they reach the agency’s hold line. Then they call a client and patch them through to wait on hold with EDD. The companies both said they then disconnect from the call so they do not overhear personal information. How does that work? If they disconnect the call ends since they are the originator doesn't it?
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  Whatever automated phone exchange is hosting the call continues hosting it, recording the agency's hangup from the call in the PBX audit logs. If the agency has compromised the exchange, then they can overhear your EDD conversation. There would be little value to doing so, but if you're paranoid, there's certainly no way for you to be certain, so you shouldn't use the service.
SheinhardtWigCo 5y ago
> For the week that ended on May 15, EDD received 5.12 million calls from 378,146 unique callers Something is horribly broken if customers need to call them 13 times per week.
Georgelemental 5y ago
Isn't EDD fraud rampant though? Legitimate claimants don't get benefits, criminals do?
wiseleo 5y ago
The phone number for EDD is 1-800-300-5616,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,11 (some suggest 24, but that's technically an abuse that attempts to contact a different department for employers. 121 would be a more appropriate set of options, but that injects additional recordings and leads to same queue). The system has an an unskippable 1:30 greeting, which causes enormous waste of time. If you have to figure out how to program a phone to press buttons after a 1:30 timeout, the system is broken. If you call on TTY, which is a functional text interface, they will eventually answer and then claim abuse and disconnect. That is likely an ADA violation. Your odds of reaching a person are worse than winning a radio contest before they switched to text. My 8 hours of call logs prove it. I am tempted to make a Twilio script. If call dropped, redial, else connect human. I bet you that's how these services operate.

27 points by vector_spaces 5y ago

Sorry for the awkward editorializing -- the article title exceeded the HN cap. If anyone's able to manually adjust it I'd appreciate it.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

willcipriano 5y ago

> Both automatically dial and redial EDD until they reach the agency’s hold line. Then they call a client and patch them through to wait on hold with EDD. The companies both said they then disconnect from the call so they do not overhear personal information. How does that work? If they disconnect the call ends since they are the originator doesn't it?

floatingatoll 5y ago
Whatever automated phone exchange is hosting the call continues hosting it, recording the agency's hangup from the call in the PBX audit logs. If the agency has compromised the exchange, then they can overhear your EDD conversation. There would be little value to doing so, but if you're paranoid, there's certainly no way for you to be certain, so you shouldn't use the service.

SheinhardtWigCo 5y ago

> For the week that ended on May 15, EDD received 5.12 million calls from 378,146 unique callers Something is horribly broken if customers need to call them 13 times per week.

Georgelemental 5y ago

Isn't EDD fraud rampant though? Legitimate claimants don't get benefits, criminals do?

wiseleo 5y ago

The phone number for EDD is 1-800-300-5616,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,11 (some suggest 24, but that's technically an abuse that attempts to contact a different department for employers. 121 would be a more appropriate set of options, but that injects additional recordings and leads to same queue). The system has an an unskippable 1:30 greeting, which causes enormous waste of time. If you have to figure out how to program a phone to press buttons after a 1:30 timeout, the system is broken. If you call on TTY, which is a functional text interface, they will eventually answer and then claim abuse and disconnect. That is likely an ADA violation. Your odds of reaching a person are worse than winning a radio contest before they switched to text. My 8 hours of call logs prove it. I am tempted to make a Twilio script. If call dropped, redial, else connect human. I bet you that's how these services operate.