that happened to me when i completed my undergrad in o4. I had forgotten to sign the application and they delayed the process. My international advisor got the mail from them which she forwarded me to my new address. I corrected and resent. Back then, they used to give temporary work permit when the process was pending for more than 9 days. I had a letter from them with a LIN number and when i entered it on their website it showed as process pending. I was able to get that temp work permit ( for 90 days) by going to the local INS office. btw, that 90 days temp permit deducts days from your 1 year opt.