WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — Lots of new houses have speakers throughout, so no matter which room you are in, you can hear music. But when you pay to have them installed, you expect them to work. When they did not work, a Wake County couple called Five on Your Side for help.

This is not what D.J. and Wanda Joyner had in mind when they paid House of Lights $600 to install seven speakers; wires hanging out of a wall dangling to a receiver and speakers that do not work.

"What we were looking for is a sound system throughout the house," D.J. said.

D.J., a retired electronics instructor, prewired the house when it was built. He already had a receiver, but he just needed the speakers. Last June, Wanda went to House of Lights in Raleigh. She explained what she needed and chose speakers, but when a man came to install them, they were not what Wanda picked out.

"When I saw these, I wondered ... I asked him why in the world they had all this stuff on there and he said 'these will work fine,'" D.J. said.

The speakers worked for two days.

"All of a sudden, she tried to turn them down or turn them up with the volume and the volume was stuck. It wouldn't move and I found out after they examined them that the whole thing was just burned up," D.J. said.

The Joyners called House of Lights. Two weeks later, the installer came back, but with the same type of speakers, which the Joyners did not want. For months, they repeatedly called company President Bob Beverly who actually sold Wanda the speakers in the first place.

"We just couldn't get any reaction from him, any satisfaction reaction from him," D.J. said.

In December, the Joyners called Five On Your Side. Five On Your Side called House of Lights. After many messages, Beverly claimed the Joyners' house "was not properly wired" so he "tried an experiment" that "obviously didn't work."

Beverly blamed health problems for taking so long to resolve it and personally delivered $600 to the Joyners.

"He said, 'How about I just give you your money back?' and I said, 'Well, that will be fine,'" D.J. said.

The Joyners are again looking for someone to do the job and they said this time, they will first check references.