PHOENIX — Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC15's Let Joe Know and Rebound Arizona teams have heard from dozens of people having issues navigating unemployment insurance, wondering who's eligible for the government stimulus check and for how much, or trying to help get a travel refund from the airlines.
So far, we've been able to help quite a few people. People like Pat, 83, who lives in Sun City and has worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks Guest Relations Department for 21 years.
But, due to the pandemic, Major League Baseball, like all other sports, were immediately canceled. Like a lot of people, she had trouble trying to get unemployment pay through the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES).
She told us that she called and called -- and you know the rest of the story. So, we reached out to DES, as we have before, in an attempt to help Pat.
Soon after that, Pat said she received a call from an employee who took the time to walk her through the whole process. A week later, she said she received a $2,150 check and was "ecstatic."
Pat told ABC15's Joe Ducey that she paid her property taxes, paid off a credit card, and even had a little extra left over to save.
She did have issues receiving subsequent checks, but thinks those issues have also been worked out.
Christina Fuoco reached out to the ABC15 Rebound team with a different issue. She could not get her money back from a canceled flight. Frontier Airlines, instead, chose to issue her a credit.
By law, airlines must give people their money back if they cancel a flight, but Christina had a couple of flights. She canceled one flight because of the pandemic, received a credit, and used that credit on a flight that Frontier canceled.
She does not want to fly because of the pandemic and did not want the credit that was offered. So, she let us know.
We pushed Frontier to give Christina her money back given the circumstances. Christina also reached out to the CEO and the company on Facebook.
Good news, Frontier gave her the money back -- totaling more than $500. "It feels amazing. I couldn't believe it came into my account," she said.
Throughout this pandemic, the Let Joe Know team has been working every day on solving issues for Arizonans. Most of our volunteers are now doing that work from home.
If you have a consumer issue, email me at Joe@abc15.com.
If you have an issue for The Rebound Arizona team, email rebound@abc15.com.
