Author: /u/H-Townie

I’ve been attempting to apply for unemployment, and by extension pandemic relief, for months. I have taken every bit of advice I’ve found from multiple different sources. I called at all hours of the day and night, tried to log in at all hours of the day and night, to the tune of hundreds, if not thousands of calls and attempts over the course of almost three months. I cried with worry and frustration more than once. Eventually I got through by calling on the date someone had listed here about an area code schedule for calling. 713 was to call on Tuesdays so I did that at 7AM one Tuesday and actually got through. I was on hold for 3 hours but I finally was able to apply. I was approved and UE was going to be back dated. I was relieved. For a day. I called to check the status of my claim and was informed on the automated line that my claim amount was $0 because I didn’t make enough money last year. I was obviously confused by this. So I attempted to appeal. You can imagine how that went. Weeks of calling the appeal line just to be disconnected. Weeks of attempting to log into the TWC website just to be immediately logged back out. I was beyond angry at this point. What the hell is going on with TWC that it’s this difficult to get a response?

Finally I started calling my representatives and elected officials. I called Greg Abbott, Sylvester Turner, and Letitia Plummer. At first the only number that got me through to an actual person was Letitia Plummer’s office. A very kind woman listened to me and told me that she had been getting a lot of calls from people asking the same kinds of questions, and for the same kind of help I was asking for. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the means to help but was gathering as much information as she could from people so that she could pass it on in hopes that that would make some difference. She gave me a number to call that I did not have on my list and gave me an email for Commission Appeals. I started calling and emailing. I called once a day at least and emailed every morning and every evening for over two weeks. No response. I finally spoke to someone at Sylvester Turner’s office and while he was sympathetic he didn’t offer much help. He gave me another number to call but the number ended up being disconnected. I had already called Greg Abbott’s office and left one voicemail so I decided to just call over and over until an actual person answered. I only had to call two more times. I explained everything that had been happening to the woman who answered. She explained that they were taking many, many calls every day from people having the same issues I was having and that they were taking down all their information and contacting TWC themselves to request they call us. Within a day an actual person from TWC had called me.

In speaking to the woman who called me from TWC I found out that as a contract worker that I don’t and would never be eligible for Unemployment. That would have been good information for the person who originally approved my $0 claim to tell me. She asked me some questions and approved me for Pandemic Relief. That was on Saturday. She told me to call Monday (today) to make my payment request, but when I try to, since I was already approved for Unemployment with a payment request date on Tuesdays, the automated system won’t let me make another payment request. I’m going to try again tomorrow and if I can’t make a payment request then I’m back to calling Greg Abbott’s office till someone answers.

I really hope this information helps anyone else in my position. It’s been frustrating and incredibly stressful dealing with this so I want to provide as much information for other’s as I can. Here is a list of every phone number and email that I tried. All of this information is public, if you can find it, which is part of the problem.

Good luck everyone and don’t give up just yet.

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TWC

877-915-6400

TeleCenter

800-939-6631

TWC Office

512-463-2624, texasworkforce.org

Appeals

800-432-4218, [commission.appeals@twc.state.tx.us](mailto:commission.appeals@twc.state.tx.us)

Complaints

800-628-5115

ReliaCard

800-657-6343

Payment Request

800-558-8321

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Governor Greg Abbott

512-463-2000

Mayor Sylvester Turner

713-837-0311

At-Large Houston City Council members

Mike Knox: 832-393-3014, [atlarge1@houstontx.gov](mailto:atlarge1@houstontx.gov)

David Robinson: 832-393-3013, [atlarge2@houstontx.gov](mailto:atlarge2@houstontx.gov)

Michael Kubosh: 832-393-3005, [atlarge3@houstontx.gov](mailto:atlarge3@houstontx.gov)

Letitia Plummer: 832-393-3012, [atlarge4@houstontx.gov](mailto:atlarge4@houstontx.gov)

Sallie Alcorn: 832-393-3017, [atlarge5@houstontx.gov](mailto:atlarge5@houstontx.gov)