Setting the string name to comboname.text is what you need to do. Something is very strange if it is always picking up the first item in the list. Try the following just to prove it to yourself.

Start a new standard exe
Add a combo-box, a command button, and a label-box
Under the List property of the command-box enter 3 values: a, b. and c
Add the following line of code to the command1_click event:
text1.text = combo1.text

Run the program and choose a value from the combo box. Then click the command button and you will see the same value appear in the text box. If you are always seeing the first value in the list then I sugegst you make sure that you ahve the most recent Visual Studio Service Pack applied.