Unemployment Compensation Florida Customer Service

Calling the Florida Unemployment Compensation phone number is a bit of a labyrinthine mess that apparently got me connected to a different part of the Florida government offices. When I called, I was sent to an automated system and told that normal business hours were from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern, which were the hours I had called.

The system gave me a couple of options, including filing a claim and checking for employment listings and information. I first followed the filing a claim path and was given options for worker claims, employers and for reporting unemployment fraud without any additional information. I couldn't progress here without offering personal information, so I tried checking out the listings and information option.

This opened up a lengthy wait, as I had to wait 20 minutes for someone to come on the line. When I did get assistance, I asked how long you had in Florida to claim unemployment before your claim would expire. The person on the other end said they were more of a directory than a place to get help with unemployment issues, but she would check the answer for me.

After about a minute, she told me that any claim would expire after a maximum of 12 weeks of claims. I thanked her for the assistance, and she asked if there was anything else she could help with. I said no and hung up.

Overall, I thought that this line really didn't offer much in the way of information. I found a way to get a question answered, but this was done only after waiting 20 minutes and by asking someone who really shouldn't have been the one on the other end of the line anyway. There should be a way for people to get quick information, such as an automated system. 

To the credit of the customer service rep, I found her to be quite helpful once connected. She didn't have to provide the answer she did, as it seemed to be outside of her scope of expertise, but she did to make sure that my call wasn't a waste of my time. That's an impressive dedication to customer service that most people would appreciate.

Given the circumstances, I can say that I would recommend calling this number if you actually had a claim processed and could comfortably give out your personal information. If you only need basic information, the time and effort you'll spend on the phone compared to online won't be worth it. But for questions that need one-on-one assistance from a live human, the customer service I received suggests that they'll take pride in offering solutions.