Manassas Residents Vent Over Comcast
Council Pushing For Better Service

By Nick Miroff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 25, 2007

The area's growing anti-Comcast insurgency has produced a number of war stories, and Melyssa Webb's starts with a rusty metal pole.

Webb and her family arrived home from vacation in late September to discover the five-foot post planted on her front lawn in Manassas. She started making calls. Had the city put it there? No. The phone company? No, ma'am.

Turns out it was Comcast. Webb called the company to protest, urging it to remove the pole from her property. A crew showed up and painted the pole gray. They were planning to install a meter on top.

And the worst part? "We're not even Comcast customers!" Webb said.

Soon the company added a four-foot-high utility box next to the pole that resembled a metal file cabinet, circa 1982. Webb already had a utility box on her lawn that belonged to the city, but it was lower to the ground. She asked the company why the post had to stick up so high. "I was told it might snow," she said. "When was the last time it snowed five feet in Manassas?"

Webb's story was one of several bitter tales told last week to the Manassas City Council, which has pledged to take up the fight. The city's franchise agreement with Comcast is up for renewal, and council member Jonathan L. Way (R) said Manassas is negotiating for improved customer service standards, including better response times to complaints and service calls. He and other officials have noted more than 100 examples of shoddy installation and poor maintenance since February.

"It appears there are a couple major failures in their management system that they need to address, and they keep making excuses year after year," Way said. "The only reason they've been able to survive is because they've had a monopoly here."

Way said the city is working to bring in Verizon so residents will have another option for cable, Internet and phone service packages.

Comcast regional spokeswoman Lisa Altman acknowledged that the company needs to improve its service, and she said the company is hiring 300 employees for its Northern Virginia call center, in Manassas. The firm invested $2.7 million in equipment upgrades in Manassas over the summer, she said, adding that "when you do any sort of construction work like that, there will be growing pains."

Webb began documenting the damage to her lawn by taking pictures and blogging about the utility box and the gaping trenches proliferating there. Then, one day, as suddenly as it arrived, the equipment was removed. Webb said a Comcast representative showed up at her house two days later to "berate" her, saying the equipment would be reinstalled. Under its agreement with the city, the company has easement rights that allow it to install service equipment on private property.

But when asked about Webb's property, Altman, the Comcast spokeswoman, said the company would not be returning the equipment to her front lawn and the utility box would be placed elsewhere.

"It's news to me," Webb said. "They have not made any effort to return our calls or our e-mails."

Several other residents aired similar grievances at the Manassas council meeting, and the highlight for many was the appearance of Brentsville resident and vigilante legend Mona Shaw, 75, who attacked the local Comcast office in August with a claw hammer, furious over what she said was the company's appalling customer service.

Shaw was arrested and fined $345 but has become a folk hero to angry cable subscribers everywhere, venerated in songs like "The Ballad of Mona Shaw" and celebrated on Web sites such as Comcastmustdie.com. Some at Monday's meeting wore T-shirts with Shaw's image that read "Have I Got Your Attention Now?," the zinger she leveled at a customer service agent after smashing a keyboard and a telephone.

"I know I could probably call it quits on this thing," she said. "But I feel like I owe it to so many people."

Shaw said she didn't expect city officials to know her name. But when she stood and introduced herself at the meeting, nearly everyone in the room -- council members included -- broke into applause.