Callers wait "on hold" to FEMA and the REDCROSS for eight hours

[questioner]

The desparate Katrina refugees are calling the Redcross and FEMA day and night to try to register for the $2000 debit cards. They are mostly getting busy signals, but if the phone rings they are put on hold for up to eight hours. Many are calling using their cell phones!

There was a story on NPR (National Public Radio) about people that sat on hold for 8 hours and then the line discounted! They got so frustrated that they drove up to a Redcross office in Northern LA and were told they could only apply over the phone!

They need a better phone system!

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Last year--it took a long while to get through to FEMA too. I don't remember how long I was on hold...but it wasn't 8 hours....it was after 2 hurricanes had already hit the state, though.

When you consider the # of people who will be calling....and that you are required to have a # that only can be provided by phone before visiting one of the temporary FEMA offices....this does not surprise me.

They need more operators.

(edited with an apology to the OP)

[ducklite]

I recall last year my friend up in J'Ville tried to call FEMA for a Blue Roof after Jeanne and was on hold for about five hours before she gave up. Ultimately I ended up buying the stuff in NJ and shipping it to her in FL, then got a friend to convince his friend and friends brother (who didn't know me from Adam) to go put the thing on my friends roof. Karma went a long way for my friends friend, as a few months later I was in a position to help him out with a major career "thing" which really paid off for him :)

Unfortunately people will just have to have patience. Sometimes it's quicker to go stand in line and do it in person.

Anne

[Miss Jasmine]

Yep, this isn't anything new.

[ThAnswr]

Yep, this isn't anything new.


No joke!

We went through this same crap last year, but no one was listening. You couldn't get through to FEMA and then you'd get disconnected. Same with the Red Cross. My neice lost everything to Charley: home, clothes, the whole nine yards and she had a 2 year old. NOT A BLESSED DIME IN AID! My sister, same as her daughter, lost everything, waited on the Red Cross line for 4 hours, then was told to come back, waited again, and then got nothing. She never even heard back from FEMA.

I don't know anyone who got a dime from either FEMA or the Red Cross, but 9000 people in Miami-Dade got $22,000,000 for a storm that hit 100 miles away from them. Some people even got money to replace their 9-piece bedroom sets. "Brownie" was doing a fantastic job last year too.

These problems aren't new. It's just a wider audience now.

[snappy]

All of the evacuees staying with us had trouble the first week as well. They experienced long waits on our land line phone, a website that was not operational, and a fruitless trip to FEMA locations listed in the paper that still were not open. However, by the end of the second week, everyone was registered for FEMA (on-line) and Red Cross, food stamps and unemployment (total wait in line for all three about 3 hours).

One friend who stayed with us had much better luck in Houston calling FEMA, after about 10 days after the storm she only waited 15 minutes. Using a cell or land line with any of the local area codes that were affected by the storm, 504, 985, 225 was a waste of time. However, in Dallas and Houston, this problem evaporated, as of 10 days after the storm.

There was simply too many damaged towers and too many circuits overloaded.

Things have improved.

[MrsKreamer]

Well, as someone going through this I can tell you it is frustrating. It took nearly a week and a half just for me to get through to FEMA for the guy to tell me that we probably were not elligable because we rent. My BIL and his non-citizen gf(she is from China, studying here) both registered the next day and got their $2000(each) within 3 business days. This was over a week ago and ours still hasn't even been processed. We registered for unemployment 2 weeks ago with direct deposit, that still hasn't been processed yet. If it wasn't for the kind disers I don't know what we would have done. We finally got the red cross debit card but we use it very sparingly. Then I have to hear stories of people who aren't citizens of the effected areas signing up for our aid. It breaks my heart that idiots would try to profit off of this. :guilty:
Well I just have to sit here and be paitient. I know that there are other worse off but it is just frustrating.