TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It’s a message Beverly Scheddel never expected to hear from her utility company. She was owed a $945 refund, which sounded great, but getting that refund took her from roadblock to roadblock.

Scheddel was in the middle of transferring her Duke Energy account into her son’s name when she learned of the refund.

And that’s where the problem arose. When her husband died decades ago, she left the account in his name. As a result, when the refund check arrived, it was made out to her late husband, Larry.

“Nobody will cash it,” Scheddel said. “We called them back and they kept telling us they would send us papers to sign, and it never happened.”

After months of trying on her own, she knew she’d Better Call Behnken. Investigative Reporter Shannon Behnken reached out to Duke Energy and was told they would investigate. Days later, Scheddel said Duke called her to say they are reissuing the check in her name and the check should be there within a few weeks.

A spokesperson for Duke called this an unusual situation because of the length of time the account was in the deceased husband’s name.

This is a reminder that when a spouse passes away, you should make sure your name is on all joint accounts, so you don’t run into issues like this one.