WILSON, N.C. (WTVD) -- In this day in age, a working phone line for a business is standard.
So when Judy Anderson discovered the Wilson Veterans Service Center didn't have a working phone she was shocked. "It's just unbelievable that you don't have a telephone that you can call," she said.
Judy said she discovered the problem when she was trying to help her late husband with a claim. "It would just ring and ring and ring and ring," she said.
The center moved to its new location on Tarboro Street in Wilson on Oct. 1 last year, and a representative confirmed that since the move it hasn't had a working line.
Judy said many of her questions could be handled if she was able to call the center, but with no working phone line, she would have to make a trip there.
Judy's husband recently passed away, but she still kept fighting for a working phone line. "It doesn't matter to me as Mitchell is gone, but it does matter to me for these people that are sitting and waiting," Judy said.
ABC11 got in contact with the Wilson Veterans Service Center and Bill Holmes, the Director of Legislative and Public Affairs for the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, responded.
He said when the center moved to its new location, it was not served by the state's phone network and that work to install the network couldn't begin until Oct. 1, which is the day the new lease went into place.
He said the internet service was established fairly quickly, but work to establish a permanent direct line continued.
It took a few weeks, but now the line is fixed and ready to receive calls from veterans and their families.
Judy is relieved but said she still doesn't understand why it took so long to establish a working phone line.