Bristow resident to appear on Dr. Phil Show
Kipp Hanley
Staff writer
Friday, January 4, 2008
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Mona Shaw
Bristow resident Mona Shaw is taking her new-found fame to a whole other level.
The 75-year-old woman who was arrested for taking a hammer to equipment at the Manassas Comcast Cable Call Center was recently invited to appear on the hugely popular Dr. Phil Show on CBS.
According to Shaw, she and her husband Don will be flown out to Los Angeles Wednesday and will tape the show Thursday. Shaw believes the show is scheduled to run sometime the week after the taping.
When reached for comment Friday, the Dr. Phil Show public relations department said it was the show’s policy not to confirm a guest appearance in advance. Shaw said she is excited about being invited and was honored to represent all the people who contacted her after her actions in August.
“I have to follow through on this,” Shaw said. “There are so many people that have said ‘atta girl.’ I owe it to the people that are angry, I owe it to all the people that called and wrote and contacted me.”
Shaw’s issues started when she and her husband Don waited all day on Aug. 13 for a Comcast representative to come by her house to install its much publicized Triple Play service, which involves digital cable, digital voice and high speed internet service. The Shaws had Comcast cable already but were looking to upgrade.
Unfortunately, they didn’t show. Two days later, the rep came out. According to Mona, the rep didn’t finish the job, told her that they needed a third-party to finish it and left his equipment there.
The man gave her the option of changing her number before leaving but Mona said she didn’t want to change her number that she’s had for 34 years. The next day the Shaws couldn’t receive incoming calls but were eventually able to use their phone for outgoing purposes on their old number.
That Friday, Mona spent the morning on the phone with Comcast and then took a frustrating trip to its Manassas office that resulted in no assistance from a company manager, said Mona. The Shaws then returned home to discover that they had no phone service at all.
A cell phone call to Comcast resulted in receiving a new number and a promise that someone from the company would call on Monday. In the mean time, the Shaws managed to figure out on their own how to plug in their phone directly into the equipment the rep left.
Mona then called the State Corporation Commission that weekend, which promised to contact Comcast. After speaking with Larry Kubrock from the SCC, the Shaws waited all Monday morning for a call from Comcast but to no avail. Finally, around 4:30 p.m., Mona decided to return to the Manassas office with a hammer in her purse.
