KERNERSVILLE, N.C. — Sharon Denny loves almost everything about her Kernersville home. She and her husband bought the home back in 1978. The plan was to remodel it and sell it after about five years, but they ended up staying for more than four decades.
“It’s close to our church, it’s close to our family,” Denny said.
The house is on a busy section of Mountain Street right across from the railroad tracks so they typically don’t get a lot of solicitors stopping by. In fact, Denny said they could go weeks without anyone ringing the doorbell.
That peace and quiet stopped about a year ago when suddenly dozens and dozens of people started showing up at the house. Some of the visitors would pull around back and just sit in their cars. Others will walk up to the door and ring the doorbell.
“We get several people a (coming by) a week, sometimes a couple a day,” Denny said.
The visitors stop by for a variety of reasons. Denny tells News 2 that after the first person showed up and just parked, she eventually convinced her husband to go ask why they were there. Turns out the person was trying to get to a tattoo several miles away, but the Apple mapping system directed them to Denny’s house.
“At first it was funny,” Denny said. “It is (however) a bit concerning especially now that it’s getting dark earlier.”
In the past six months, Denny has had people stopping by from Door Dash and Instacart, delivery drivers trying to drop off a 400-pound bathtub at a pet grooming shop, and several people looking to get a tattoo.
“If they put in 1323 Highway 66, in an Apple phone on Apple maps it brings you to my home,” Denny said.
It appeared to be a software or technical problem that would occur when someone would type in 1323 Highway 66 the system would route to 1323 Mountain Street. The two locations are about four miles apart.
“I don’t think my house looks like a tattoo parlor. I guess I could groom dogs,” Denny said.
The mix-up was also causing problems for the businesses at the strip mall on 1323 Highway 66. Customers and deliveries intended for the tattoo parlor of dog groomers were ending up on Denny’s porch.
“(It’s been) awful. We get no deliveries. It’s been delivered to our neighbor’s house,” Erika Knipp of Just Fetch Dog Grooming said.
A few doors down at Black Clover Tattoo customers are often late for appointments because they show up at Denny’s house instead. Denny’s husband will often explain the mapping mistake and give them directions to the tattoo shop.
“Typically, when I send out address to the client and anytime, they use the address it somehow redirects them to that house,” Ciara Arce of Black Clover Tattoo said.
The shop owners and Denny said this all started when the city switched the address of the strip mall from 1325 US 66 to 1323 US 66. The problem is Mountain Street is also US 66 and Apple maps doesn't understand the difference.
After Denny reached out to News 2, we contacted Apple and spoke with a representative about the problem. The representative told us it would reach out to the technical support team and investigate the matter.
It took a couple of weeks, but we were eventually told the issue had been addressed. We tested the maps by punching in the two addresses and it mapped us to the proper place. Denny also tested the maps and they appeared to be fixed.
“We haven’t had anyone stop by for a couple of weeks,” Denny said.
Apple would not provide an official statement but told us it did address the problem.
It has been three weeks since the issue was apparently fixed and in that time, only one person has been routed to the home but it is unclear what they typed into the phone.
Denny is just glad she doesn’t get as many unexpected visitors showing up at all hours of the day and night.