ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Department of Economic Opportunity added a virtual waiting room to its troubled CONNECT system on Monday that forces some users to wait for more than two hours before they can log onto the website.

"The CONNECT virtual waiting room allows claimants to reserve their place in line while other claimants access the system," said Paige Landrum, DEO spokesperson.

When users try to log into the website, a screen appears with a headline that reads 'you are now in line.' The site then informs the user that 'in an effort to ensure you are able to access your account and complete necessary tasks effectively and efficiently, the DEO limits the amount of concurrent users in the system at one time.' 

Landrum said CONNECT was designed to have 1,000 concurrent users at a time. With system enhancements put into place over the past few months, it can host 80,000 users. 

It provides "a positive experience for the users utilizing the system," said Landrum.

The initial screen also urges users to be quick once they're allowed into CONNECT. It states 'please be sure to log-in, review your account, complete your tasks and log out in a timely manner.'

There's also a walking man icon at the bottom of the screen that shows a progress bar but does not indicate how long the wait time is going to be.

"I'd rather it be the old way"

A Lakeland woman, Melissa LeBlanc, said she was stuck in the virtual waiting room for two and a half hours before she could check on her claim.

"You're spending a good chunk of your day now not even knowing how long," she said. "It doesn't give you a timer. It doesn't tell you're 5th in line. It doesn't tell you have 30 minutes to wait. So you literally have to watch the site." 

LeBlanc said she was laid off from her sales job, applied for unemployment in early April and has not yet received a single payment. 

"It's been a very frustrating situation from the beginning," she said. "My claim took me five days to file and I had to set an alarm for 4 o'clock in the morning to be able to hit the system when it wasn't that busy." 

LeBlanc said the CONNECT system had recently been operating much better and does not like how much time is wasted in the virtual waiting room.

"I'd rather it be the old way. A lot of people are really angry," she said. "I'd much rather get kicked off and go 'ok, it's not working. I'll try in two hours' than have to sit there and wait and watch for two and a half hours."

LeBlanc warns that if you're not watching the website and miss the 10-minute window when your waiting time is up, you'll be disconnected and have to start the process all over again.

"I just don't know why we have to jump through so many hoops to get the benefit that we're owed and that we've paid into," she said. "I'm not sure when the hoops are going to end and it just seems like one more in a long line of things that we're supposed to do."