Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100; Flight Crew Total 750; Flight Crew Type 500
Situational Awareness; Workload; Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Environment - Non Weather Related; Staffing; Human Factors
I left ZZZ VFR to ZZZ1.  I requested flight following from the Ground and was informed they are 'Not allowed' to do this. (This in itself is part of a BIG problem).  So I called [TRACON] Departure and requested the flight following -no problem - standby.   After 10 minutes of standing by they come back and say ....oops - you're out of my airspace; ask the next ATC Controller.  So I did; and they replied 'No services available; ask the next Controller.'I am TRYING to get thru the X VFR route which is at 5;500.  There is a 5K bravo shelf right before it.  I stay at 4;500 until I make two-way contact with the Bravo.   It's incredibly busy - can't get a word in....I finally do and I was told 'Cleared thru the Bravo; climb to 5;500' - I repeat it back.   Then 3 minutes later; I hear my call sign again and was told 'State your request' - very confused at this point; I say I want the X route and I'm told.....'You better make a left 360 because you're about to enter Bravo and I haven't cleared you.'   Still very very confused; I make a left 360 - then he states; 'Make a right 360 - huh??  Then he says; ok - I see you're already making a left 360; stay with that.   Well; all that turning and confusion put me at around 5;200 (I was already climbing because I thought I was cleared).   So I'm pretty sure I went into that Bravo space just above 5;000 and I immediately dropped as fast as I could back down to 4;500.  1/2 way thru my turn I was cleared the Bravo and X route.Guys - I'm not a novice pilot - I've done these VFR routes many times.  I don't know what's going on with ZZZ Center.Here's what I think happened.....maybe someone was on UHF that I couldn't hear and that is who the Controller cleared through the Bravo - or maybe it was a similar tail number.I asked for clearance; heard it given to me; confirmed it back.  I'm super curious as to what exactly happened.We are trained - if you don't know - ask.  Well...that's only possible if you CAN ask and get into the frequency - I couldn't.   I would never have entered the Bravo but for the Controller telling me 'cleared thru the Bravo and climb to 5;500) - or at least I thought that was for me.If you're going to have VFR corridors - make them accessible - otherwise; just close them all down until you can staff them.  Had I known up front it wasn't available; I would have just climbed to 10;500 and flown over.As for me - I'm just going to go IFR unless I can get flight following from the Ground.  This is very dangerous - it's too busy and you're going to see an accident sometime soon.
GA pilot reported communication issues with ATC while attempting to receive a Class Bravo clearance.