Another failed Direct TV install

[ZandarKoad]

you can still buy the parts and do a self install, look at the top of the page for sponsors

Good idea. Or he could order through a local retailer. Often times those techs are not nearly as restricted.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

Solidsignal sells the kits, theyre linked in sponsers with a few other places, ebay is also your friend. Plenty of threads on here about installing and peaking a dish, just buy a ka/ku 5lnb and set it up yourself, then maybe if you get another guy out hell just peak or repeak what you setup, just claim ignorance and be like its been here, but id like it used.

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[RLDreams]

Since both your neighbors already have dishes mounted, If they are SWM ,I would make nice with one of them and just spring for the extra equipment to tap into theirs. I've been on the receiving end of one of those installs where I paid the $$$$$$$ for a custom install on an unattached garage and overhead cable run, then when my neighbor called to get DTV the DTV installer just took out my 4way, put in an 8 way and tapped into the existing cables to the neighbors house. I bet he was in/out in <10 minutes (ok 15 if he waited for all their boxes to boot )

This was 10+ yrs ago long before powered swm setups, but I never did get reimbursed for the powered signal amp that the dtv installer took out when he put in the unamplified 8way. It was a royal PIA because of the signal loss we could not watch anything if it was on the same transponder of something the neighbor was watching.


PS. I'm not suggesting adding more boxes to their account, I'm saying get a swm 8 or 16 and just use the signal off their dish like what is done is so many condos and apartment complexes.

 

[raoul5788]

Unless it's an MDU, there are too many issues involved in sharing a dish. I wouldn't do it.

 

[Hutch1814]

Unless it's an MDU, there are too many issues involved in sharing a dish. I wouldn't do it.

I do it often. Only in apartments or rentals though. As long as the standard SWM can handle it and the other person isn't getting MRV it's not really a pain

 

[raoul5788]

I assume you are getting permission from the dish owner, yes? What if there is a problem with the lnb or dish and neither customer has the protection plan, who pays for the repair?

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

A bandstop filter can create two deca clouds easy enough, mrv isnt really an issue, but i dont think its easy to make a swm16 fall off a truck, for a purpose such as this. Could be wrong though.

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hutch1814]

I assume you are getting permission from the dish owner, yes? What if there is a problem with the lnb or dish and neither customer has the protection plan, who pays for the repair?

Whoever calls in first pays I assume. As for permission, everytime. I go in and verify all receivers are working and count tuners then I perform the install and go back and make sure all receivers are back up and running.

 

[Hutch1814]

A bandstop filter can create two deca clouds easy enough, mrv isnt really an issue, but i dont think its easy to make a swm16 fall off a truck, for a purpose such as this. Could be wrong though.

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk 2

We actually carry 16's on trucks now. 1 per tech. We fought about it and directv finally agreed with the 34 out there that the 16 is becoming a common install. With the BS filter, I'm not a big fan but I've used them but normally if they've got MRV I install a different dish

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

I tried to give my tech 20bucks for one (plus his tip) so 40total, and he said they were counted and he couldnt. He didnt know what an e2expander was, (new guy, nice though, been doing this 3months he said)

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Joe Diamond]

Unless it's an MDU, there are too many issues involved in sharing a dish. I wouldn't do it.

Yup,
With an MDU there is a good chance all electric outlets use the same bond / ground rod. In the rare instance where an electric fault goes to the ground it flows to the same point. Where a dish is shared the electric circuits running from receivers in different buildings (with different grounds) there is a chance of ground fault jumping from one cable to another. This very unlikely but is presented as the reason for not sharing dishes. I have never heard of a problem from this practice but lightning can do strange things.......and lawyers need a clear idea who to sue...this confuses them.

Joe

 

[raoul5788]

Exactly Joe.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Exactly Joe.

Chip,
Here is the one that really makes you crazy. In TPs....(installer code for trailer parks)......it is a common practice to use dead vehicles for mounting sat dishes. If there are animals living in the car you don't bolt to the roof. If there are wheels on the vehicle you flatten them to stabilize the mast before tuning. Wherever possible a mast and dish can be shared to cut down on sight blight in the TP. What makes lightning crazy is when the output from a single receiver gets split to TVs all over the TP. This dangerous and illegal practice is to be discouraged. There is only so many dishes on the roof of a dead Pinto. If scrap prices rise they will all have to be moved to trees.

Installers are professionals and deal with this all the time. Don't try it at home!

Joe

 

[dishcomm]

I'm at a loss. My neighbor FINALLY cut down all his trees leaving me with a perfect line of site (a reason why I couldn't go with Direct years ago. The installer came out and immediately talked about a roof install. I informed him I could not have a roof install due to my condo rules. I said it had to be a side mount. He told me he could not do a side mount with the brackets they supplied due to the fact that I had stuccoboard. He pulled out his bracket and showed me. I told him that was funny because Dish Network did my install TWICE and had no problem. I only cancelled because the tree growth got too bad. He told me that DTs satellites weighed more and therefor I should just stick with Dish Network. REALLY? He also proceeded to say thanks because he wasn't getting paid for the visit. I told him I informed the sales rep AND the customer service rep who confirmed my apt that I had a condo with written permission and that the install had to be done as a side mount. He said they don't get paid to make those decisions. I give up. I called DT to cancel and they wanted to schedule another appointment. Since I had to take time off work I said no way.

Sorry, stucco installs are an absolute NO-NO....In fact I doubt a retailer installer( not subject to all the same rules) would install on stucco. There is simply too much risk and liability.
Now, the condo association does in fact own the exterior of the building. If someone from the board were willing to sign away all rights to recover in the event of a leak or any damage as well as indemnify the installation tech, then I would go for it.

 

[dishcomm]

Yup, I've see them go for a dollar a foot I think it was.

i charged $1.50/ft over 25 feet.

 

[dishcomm]

I'm just lost. This guy "COULD" have made it work. Dish Network installed a HUGE dish on my patio and did it in a way that he could hang on the damn dish and it wouldn't move. This guy was just pissed that it wasn't a 1-2-3 roof mount. It was like he was purposely complaining that he only knew how to do Roof Mounts and that anyone who didn't want a roof mount was an idiot. I told him there are 165 units in my condo association and there are TONS of other people with my same unit who have Direct TV and every one of them had no issues finding a place on the trim to get the install done. Some of them were bracket to trim and 2 anchor rods to underside of the roof overhang. I told him I had an installer come out 4 years ago who had a perfect place to hang it but when he wanted 250 dollars to run the cable through the attic I told him no thanks. (Now that I'm 250 lbs lighter I would have had no problem climbing up in the attic sitting on the other side of the wall to grab the cord and run it down the wall to the box) When I called DTV to cancel they wanted to send a site supervisor out there. They also told me they had other brackets they could have sent out with the installer to do various other types of installs. I asked WHY DIDN'T THEY DO THAT TO START WITH. Seriously. I told the sales man, and I told the guy who called to confirm the appointment. They had all this information. I really felt bad he wasn't getting paid for his time, but in all honesty... if he really wanted the money he would have found a way to get that satellite installed. I'm half tempted to call a local company in Dayton to get them to do the install. I just don't know if I want to go through the hassle.

Ok..Now you are insisting. The issue is you are demanding the tech accept liability for an install which is usually not permitted under his guidelines.
You must remember, the tech is limited by what his employer's rules.
"he could have" does not enter the equation. EVER.
I was in the business for 12 years. Not ONCE did I do anything that I thought has the most remote chance of flying back at me and putting my livelihood in jeopardy. The customer's tv just is not as important as the food my work puts on my table or the mortgage payment on my house.

 

[dishcomm]

I'm just lost. This guy "COULD" have made it work. Dish Network installed a HUGE dish on my patio and did it in a way that he could hang on the damn dish and it wouldn't move. This guy was just pissed that it wasn't a 1-2-3 roof mount. It was like he was purposely complaining that he only knew how to do Roof Mounts and that anyone who didn't want a roof mount was an idiot. I told him there are 165 units in my condo association and there are TONS of other people with my same unit who have Direct TV and every one of them had no issues finding a place on the trim to get the install done. Some of them were bracket to trim and 2 anchor rods to underside of the roof overhang. I told him I had an installer come out 4 years ago who had a perfect place to hang it but when he wanted 250 dollars to run the cable through the attic I told him no thanks. (Now that I'm 250 lbs lighter I would have had no problem climbing up in the attic sitting on the other side of the wall to grab the cord and run it down the wall to the box) When I called DTV to cancel they wanted to send a site supervisor out there. They also told me they had other brackets they could have sent out with the installer to do various other types of installs. I asked WHY DIDN'T THEY DO THAT TO START WITH. Seriously. I told the sales man, and I told the guy who called to confirm the appointment. They had all this information. I really felt bad he wasn't getting paid for his time, but in all honesty... if he really wanted the money he would have found a way to get that satellite installed. I'm half tempted to call a local company in Dayton to get them to do the install. I just don't know if I want to go through the hassle.

What does "on the trim" mean?..
Look, you are pissed off because the install did not go as planned. I would be pissed too. However, in this life sometimes things just do not work out the way we planned.
One other issue. A sales person will tell you exactly what you want to hear to get you to 'yes'..They know zilch about installations wiring or anything else. And here's a newsflash, they don't care.
Condos can be very tricky. One thing you could have thought of was to ask the tech to take a little walk with you to have a look at the examples you mentioned here.
If these were permitted, he may have gone ahead. I think the thing went down hill when the stucco issue took precedence.
As for myself, when these issues arose, I made a point to exhaust all possibilities before I threw in the towel.

 

[dishcomm]

Pole mounts are free now if its O&O or HSP. Up to 20 foot of cabling buried as well

What is "O&O"?

 

[dishcomm]

It was the attitude I got from the installer. The moment I told him my association did not allow roof mounts (Even after telling the sales person, and the woman who called to confirm the appointment) said he could not do the install. I live in a development with 165 condos. We all have the same basic layout. There are numerous people in the division with Direct TV. Infact... my neighbors on either side of me have Direct TV. Unfortunately each of them have unique installs (One is an end unit so the dish is on the ground on a platform, the other was mounted on what the guy called the "stink pipe".) I took a half day off. I flat out told them the conditions of the install over the phone. I would have preferred if he said "Let me call my area supervisor to see how we can do this" Instead he insisted over and over and over to go back to Dish Network. He also kept rubbing it in my face over and over that he wasn't getting paid for this visit and it was basically a waste of his time and he was tired of the sales people selling people up the river. That's not my fault. I'm just as much out of work as he is, the only difference is I'm the customer and not the employee whose job includes these issues. I wish I could find the pictures I had of the previous dishes I had installed to show how they were installed. These were HUGE dishes. I'm tempted to call back and ask that a site manager come out, but I just don't want any more frustration. The phone calls after the fact were the ones that irritated me. The installer company stated they had a ton of different install options and there were many other mounts and brackets they could use and they would send them out on the next trip. Why couldn't they have done that with the first trip? I know it's a lost cause, I just want away from Time Warner. What ever happened to the days where you could go to Radio Shack and buy the kits yourself? I'd be willing to take full ownership of the install.

Ok..FORGET the salesman or the person at Directv. They are 100% disconnected from the install process. They know only that they company tells them "every install can go through"..
The tech should not have been complaining to you. I will repeat that. The tech should not have been complaining to you.
It is not your problem. However, the rules under which he must perform his job ARE his problem and sometimes, as in your case, your problem as well. Every shop is different. Most have the same general rules, but some install shops have other more specific install rules. And in the case of contractor techs, their own rules. Mine were safety related and liability related.
Calling the shop and requesting a second opinion from a supervisor is a great idea. In fact, I made it SOP on my 'installs with issues'..
A word of caution...DO NOT insist or demand. Let the supervisor alone to do his job. Don;t follow him around and try yo 'lobby' for the job. It's best you just remain inside and let him do his job unencumbered. No one wants to deal with a person who hovers over them.

 

[dishcomm]

Solidsignal sells the kits, theyre linked in sponsers with a few other places, ebay is also your friend. Plenty of threads on here about installing and peaking a dish, just buy a ka/ku 5lnb and set it up yourself, then maybe if you get another guy out hell just peak or repeak what you setup, just claim ignorance and be like its been here, but id like it used.

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk 2

Oh wow..Could you imagine an irate customer trying to do a self install? What's he gonna use for a meter? A kite, string and key?