BUFFALO, N.Y. — New York State has made changes to the way you sign up for unemployment, but people are still frustrated with the process.
2 On Your Side heard from people from all over the state -- Syracuse, White Plains, and Western New York -- on Friday. There are many people who have called thousands of times. Now the Governor's office and NYS Labor Department say don't call them, they'll call you.
The Secretary to Governor Cuomo tweeted Friday that people should not call the labor department, they will call you back within 72 hours even if you submitted your application before the system rebooted.
Thursday, the state revamped its unemployment filing system. It’s a system that has seen more than 800,000 applications in the past month.
Lisa Kulpa is a flight attendant and travel blogger who is out of work. In a period of three hours Friday morning, she called the state 600 times.
"Are you hopeful that the state will give you that call sometime in the next few days?" asked 2 On Your Side’s Kelly Dudzik.
"I think so. Now that I saw last night that they were doing the callbacks, and they've hired, I think, like 1,000 people to do that. So luckily, I've had I had some money in savings. So, I'm not someone that needed the money to pay bills, or to buy groceries, and I feel for people that are in that situation, and I know I could wait a couple more days, but it is, you know, disheartening to look at your bank account knowing that you have bills to pay, and it's going down, and you're not getting income anymore," Kulpa said.
We also talked to people who got through, or got a call back, and spoke to an actual person and were able to complete their application. Kulpa is still waiting though.
"I've called almost every single day, sometimes like hundreds of times a day, trying to get through, and I've gotten through to where it's a recording, and they say that they're busy, then call back later, and then I've gotten to where you have to type in your social security number, and then your PIN, and then it still just says that they're busy, and it hangs up on you," Kulpa said about her situation.
"What's that been, just not knowing?" Dudzik asked.
"Um, it's weird. I mean, you're just kind of trying to do what you can to stay home. I had my car down in Florida, so I actually drove back home. It's been nice being home, because I'm usually not for the last like six months, I've been flying or in hotels. So, it's kind of a nice break, I guess, to break it out. But it's, you know, it's different, I guess, not knowing I think we're all kind of in the same boat, and that it'll end eventually. But we just kind of have to hold on and do our part to help everyone else to prevent the spread," Kulpa said.
Kulpa is also planning on getting married in June, and those plans are not up in the air.
Pandora Kew, the woman 2 On Your Side interviewed Thursday, also hasn't gotten a call back.