Raleigh Woman at Disconnect Over DSL Connection

RALEIGH, N.C. — 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.