[legion]

When I got married, I had to get a PIN to file my Illinois State Taxes electronically. The form instructed me to call the Illinois Department of Revenue to get a new PIN.

The "official" phone hours for the IDoR are 9:00 - 1:00, T-F.

I found that they frequently wouldn't switch on the phones until 9:15 - 9:30, they would switch them off again at 11:00, and may or may switch them back on again. I know this because I would get a pre-recorded message telling me to call during business hours when the phones were "off".

As soon as they switched on the phones, I would get a busy signal. After 10-20 minutes of speed-redialing, I might get into the automated answering system. After figuring out how to navigate the menu system (which answered none of my questions), I would get no sound on the line for 10 minutes...only then did a rep answer the phone (it took me over a month of hour+ phone calls to figure out how to navigate the system to get to this point). When I finally asked a real person how to get a PIN to file electronically, she told me that I had to file by paper and hung up...

The system was designed to get you to give up in disgust, and when you did reach someone, they refused to do the work to resolve your problem.