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Published: 2007-04-17 19:27:26
Updated: 2007-04-17 19:27:26

Raleigh Woman at Disconnect Over DSL Connection


Sonia Valentine
Sonia Valentine
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When Sonia Valentine kept getting a bill for high-speed Internet that did not work, she called 5 on Your Side.

The problem arose when she moved within her apartment complex to a unit across the street from where she previously lived.

"I used to have the DSL connection over in the old apartment," Valentine said. "And when I moved, I transferred my service from over there to here."

Valentine said she had temporarily disconnected the service at the old apartment before her move. Several months after she moved, she called to have it connected at her new apartment.

At first, she said did not know what the problem was until the Internet service provider, BellSouth, sent a technician to troubleshoot the problem. She saw him outside the front of her former apartment.

She said she called Bellsouth but they insisted her new apartment had service. She said she canceled the subscription but kept getting a bill. More calls did not resolve the issue.

"I was talking to a brick wall, because they didn't care that I kept telling them: 'You never put it in (my new apartment). You've put it across the street, and you want to charge me for it.'"

"Nobody would listen," she added. "Not a single person that I talked to would listen."

BellSouth would not specifically talk to 5 on Your Side about Valentine's case and would not say what might have been the issue with Valentine's service.

Several company representatives, however, immediately called Valentine and promised her that the next bill she would receive would have a zero balance.

That was all Valentine wanted.

Valentine said Tuesday that her account is now clear and that she also got a refund check from BellSouth -- but has no idea why.


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I have had loads of problems with BellSouth DSL. It is HORRIBLE if you need to call the help desk. You always get someone in India or Phillipines, you are on hold forever. They always ask the same questions and tell you the same things to do which are not relevant to your problem. Our problems have ALWAYS been a Bellsouth issue, either they "perform maintenance" and end up resetting us (but we have no idea) or their equipment at the box at the end of our driveway is corroded because rain constantly leaks into the box. They refuse to take ownership of any problems until you flip out at them. NOW with AT & T in back in the pic (we dumped them years ago) there are email problems. We either don't get many or they come as much as 3 DAYS LATER!!!! Some neighbors have RR and Vonage but they are not 100% happy either. Thought about switching but have small business and it's such a headache to change everything!!!!!!

Bellsouth DSL is bad one it is slow. 2 it goes out way to much. 3 I hate to make a call about a problem I ahve to talk to someone across the other end of the world. Bellsouth stinks.

This highlights the problem with duopoly's (sp?) - they dont give a damn about their customers. You are unsatisfied? Who cares? They have millions of other customers, see ya. The only reason this woman got a resolution to her problem was because WRAL got involved.

Watch out for Clearwire - Unlimited? Nope. Read the fine print - they will disconnect you for excessive streaming of video or multimedia - hope you don't watch TV online, visit You-tube, stream MP3's, etc.

Bellsouth doesn't offer DSL in my area. TimeWarner's service goes in an out (TV and Internet) when it rains, and they want to charge me some $250+ to install a new line (because I live on the "second floor" of the condo unit), when after taking days off from work and jumping thru their hoops of meeting w/ techs to try and prove that the line in my home was fine, it as the line to the building itself that was problematic and not my responsibility to pay to repair. In the end, I went with Clearwire. I live in a no-service area, but still pull 2-3 bars, which meets DSL speeds. I wish it was faster, but I really don't care. It's internet, it works 98% of the time, and I do not lose it when it's wet outside. We also went with Satellite over Cable TV.

Timewarner and Roadrunner stinks! You all must work for the company or have stock in it. As for Bellsouth, I have never had any troubles with them, only cingular but hey, I get that fixed asap. AT&T is going to screw things up for us Bellsouth customers. They are not customer friendly. They do not know how to respect loyal customers nor do they know how to communicate effectively. I see a decrease in good customer service already in Bellsouth. It's a big mistake the day these companies merged together. I hope they fall flat on their face, even if they did give me good service in the past. I feel as if I was sold out. I got a agreement message from AT&T that said, "In order for me to continue betting my bellsouth.net account to work, I have to agree to allow foreign companies as well as other services they contract full access to my accounts." Now how ludicrist is that? *smirk*

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