Waiting 18 weeks on my first unemployment payment (St. Louis)

I was laid off as an insurance claims processor and filed right away, and I have been certifying every week. I answered every question and uploaded my final pay stub. Has anyone been through this? How long did it take in the end?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 4 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

When I finally got through, the agent said my employer had responded late. Once that cleared, back pay came in one payment.