Comcastic

Shaw, 75, and her husband, Don, say they had an appointment in August for a Comcast technician to come to their Bristow home to install the company's heavily advertised Triple Play phone, Internet and cable service.

The Shaws say no one came all day, and the technician who showed up two days later left without finishing the setup. Two days after that, Comcast cut off all their service.

At the Comcast office in Manassas the next day, they waited for a manager for two hours before being told the manager had left for the day, the Shaws say.

Shaw returned the next Monday, with a hammer.

"I smashed a keyboard, knocked over a monitor ... and I went to hit the telephone," Shaw said. "I figured, 'Hey, my telephone is screwed up, so is yours.'"

She received a three-month suspended sentence, was fined $345 and and is barred from going near the Comcast offices for a year. The Shaws did eventually get phone and television service , with Verizon and DirecTV.