GREENSBORO, N.C. — If you’ve ever bought a new house, you know how exciting and stressful it can be. The best part of the process is the day you are handed the key to the home.
“We did some looking and finally found a place we love,” Rehshetta Wells said.
The 2-story home was basically built just how Wells and her husband wanted. The couple picked out the paint, the floors, and the countertops. Another attractive part of the home was the location.
“It’s a great neighborhood. We were extremely excited,” Wells said. “Everything was perfect, no issues.”
What Wells meant was there were no issues with the home. There was, however, one issue.
“We can’t get mail here,” Wells said.
The new neighborhood had a cluster box system in place for all residents. The cluster box for the Wells was just a short walk up the street. The cluster box was there but it didn’t include the Wells' address.
“The post office is pointing fingers at the builder and the builder is pointing fingers at the post office,” Karl Wells said.
The couple didn’t really care whose fault it was - they wanted it fixed. They reached out to both the builder and the postal service, but it didn’t seem to be helping.
“I’ve gone to the post office physically, I’ve written the post office, filled out forms, and contacted the postmaster general,” Wells said.
During this time, the Wells had to drive about five miles to the nearest post office to pick up their mail. This went on for several months until Wells and her husband reached out to WFMY News 2 for help.
“It was frustrating, I’ve had things returned to sender because there was no address,” Wells said.
After we were contacted, we called the builder and the postal service. What would again seem like a simple fix took several weeks. The main issue was the existing cluster boxes already had assigned addresses.
About three to four weeks after we got involved, Karl Wells went to the post office to collect the mail and discovered a key to his new cluster box was left with the mail.
That evening, he walked down to the cluster box to see if he had a box and if the key worked - it did.
“As soon as I got (the keys) I went to open it up and it had 3914 Miller and my name Wells (inside),” Karl Wells said.
A short walk certainly beats a short but out-of-the-way drive any day.
“I’m so thankful to News 2,” Wells said.