Story Created:
Jul 17, 2008 at 7:26 PM CST
Story Updated:
Feb 9, 2009 at 10:14 AM CST
The transition to digital TV is leaving a few people behind.
TV stations across the country are getting the word out about digital television and those coupons you need to get a converter box.
One couple says they were denied theirs, so they called KSPR for help.
"It's just a little rough right now," says Lorraine White, as she's sitting on a deck made of scrap wood. It sits between two camper trailers that she uses as her home.
"We just could not get ahead," said White. Foreclosure forced Lorraine and her husband to the rural lot, where's no running water. That is, unless it's raining. Then the water comes in through the roof.
There are some bright spots, though even they are fuzzy. It's their television. "I just like to know what's going on the news," says White. "If we don't have the news, we don't have nothing." But White says when the TV signals go digital, that's exactly what they'll have left--nothing.
"We're not gonna know what's going on," she says.
White says that's because she was declined of her two free digital converter box vouchers because she has a post office box address and not a physical address. "I said that's not right because some people don't have a choice," says White. "They have to have post office boxes. I mean, come on, do we look like we can afford a TV?"
KSPR called the DTV hotline to ask why this happened. After a few minutes, we had someone on the other end of the line. After explaining what happened, we discovered Lorraine was denied when she shouldn't have been. The operator corrected the issue and apologized a couple of times.
Turns out, the people who hand out the vouchers deal with a lot of post office boxes, so if someone tells you that you can't get a voucher, they're wrong. As Lorraine found out, she had to be persistent.
The Whites will likely get their coupons in about a month. Getting the box on the other hand, may take a while. We called around Thursday and found a lot of stores don't have the converter boxes in stock.
If you need to get a coupon or want to appeal a denial, call 1-888-DTV- 2009.
Also, if you have a problem you want solved, drop us an e-mail at
news@kspr.com or call us 417-864-3344.