Day 1 of dish...off to a bad start.

[joeyjojojnr]

Well, our installer showed up at 8:30 and worked until about 1. Nice kid, seemed very competent and took his time getting everything hooked up in admittedly crappy MN winter weather. Dish now on roof, cable through wall, grounded, hooked up to TVs, and...then he couldn't actually point the dish as his monitor thing had a dead battery.

Said he'd run to get a new one.

3 hours later...still not back. No phone call.

Call dish. 10 minutes on hold, talk to India, they transfer me to US, told that a new installer will be out, put me on hold for 10 minutes to get details...15 minutes later...told that a new tech should be out in 'maybe an hour' and that 'they assume I'll get a call before they come'...

*sigh* Well, there goes our entire day.

 

[Andrewwski]

He could have just used the signal meter on the receiver.

Granted it's not the easiest way, as he'd have to somehow be able to check the numbers from the dish location, but he should have been able to do it.

 

[webbydude]

He could have just used the signal meter on the receiver.

Granted it's not the easiest way, as he'd have to somehow be able to check the numbers from the dish location, but he should have been able to do it.

Not the best idea. Rather unsafe as well. If the tech was thinking, he could've powered up his meter with the receiver.

 

[pabeader]

or just open a window and use signal meter on the receiver. hmmm

 

[ehren]

when I had my dish installed the guy had 2 way radio's so I could give him readings

 

[joeyjojojnr]

I wish I had known we could have just used the TV receiver. There's a pair of walkie talkies sitting right next to the TV.

Update...well, one hour later, guy 2 showed up...so, hey, that's good! He's on the roof now...

 

[bigfame]

he'll get you fixed up Im sure. Keep in mind these guys usually have a good amount of jobs a day so patience (easier said than done) is always a good thing.

 

[andyin137]

I can really feel for you ,I went thru pretty much the same issue when my system was installed,wasted day waiting etc.Yes your time is valuable.Heres what I did I contacted Ceo@dishnetwork and told them I lost a day at work (which I did) waiting for installer to return (which never did )not even a call from original installer to tell me what was going on and why he didnt reurn as promised(not acceptable business practice).After Ceo reveiwed my issue and checked a few things(yes there are people out there who try to get something for free without a good reason)he wrote me back and arranged by calling himself, to have a Dish installer at my Door at 9 am next day and gave me his personal phone number if Installer did not show up as promised,plus after install was given 2 months free service and some movie channels for 3 months for free.Ceo at dishnetwork said it is unaccepatble for installers to leave a job and not return and this Business practice will not be tolerated by Dish.
So if you feel you should be reimbursed for your time and frustration ,contact ceo,but be polite when explaining situation and you will get better results.Good Luck and welcome to the Dish Family.

 

[joeyjojojnr]

I'm not in 'must seek discount' mode yet. Afterall, it's a Sunday and I would have been around the house all day anyways.

Guy 2, again, real friendly. Found a few things he felt the previous guy didn't do so well.

Alas, he can't get things working either. We think it might be a bad dish. He's calling for backup guy #3 now...

 

[space86]

Where is FX HD and Speed HD?

 

[Mark0]

With a decent compass, you can get it close enough assuming the mounting pole is completely vertical and the elevation and skew are set properly. I tweaked my dish on my own and improved my signal strength.

I have a feeling you got a bad LNB or switch. As I said, it's actually pretty easy to find the birds using the signal strength from the receiver.

Be patient, it's worth it. My Dish bill is almost 1/2 what I was paying with Comcast.

 

[joeyjojojnr]

Well, 13 hours later, I now have DishNetwork.

Turns out installer #1 had me pointed at the Eastern satellites. Alas, the giant oak tree in my neighbors yard that sat in the line-of-sight was a bad thing.

So...guy #2 and #3 had to climb up there and ended up pointing me at the western satellites, and that seemed to work!

Somehow I have and am paying for local channels, even though I explicitly did NOT want them, so It looks like I still need to call India, but overall, have to admit the crew today was pretty good. At least they were nice.

All that said...I'm a bit disappointed in the picture. I'm seeing a TON of compression artifacts. Is this typical of cable and DirecTV too? Admittedly, I'm used to the pristine OTA signal from our local PBS HD stations, so maybe I'm spoiled.

 

[pabeader]

most local channels will look poor until you hook your outside antenna to your receiver. and then use that for the signal. it's hit and miss on the rest of the channels. alot has to do with what the channel s showing at the time. newer shows will normally look better

 

[8bitbytes]

Well, 13 hours later, I now have DishNetwork.

Turns out installer #1 had me pointed at the Eastern satellites. Alas, the giant oak tree in my neighbors yard that sat in the line-of-sight was a bad thing.

So...guy #2 and #3 had to climb up there and ended up pointing me at the western satellites, and that seemed to work!

Somehow I have and am paying for local channels, even though I explicitly did NOT want them, so It looks like I still need to call India, but overall, have to admit the crew today was pretty good. At least they were nice.

All that said...I'm a bit disappointed in the picture. I'm seeing a TON of compression artifacts. Is this typical of cable and DirecTV too? Admittedly, I'm used to the pristine OTA signal from our local PBS HD stations, so maybe I'm spoiled.

What's the HDTV setup output set to? If it's 480, you need to bump that up.

 

[Acerbean]

Not the best idea. Rather unsafe as well. If the tech was thinking, he could've powered up his meter with the receiver.

What is so unsafe especially since the customer was there??? I did my own solo back in early 1999 for cripes' sake.

he'll get you fixed up Im sure. Keep in mind these guys usually have a good amount of jobs a day so patience (easier said than done) is always a good thing.

Folks need to understand they service one customer at time and that customer is THE most important customer at that moment, especially when Dish is losing customers at the rate they are. What is so hard about that, we expect it at McDonalds when we spend $4, why not a company where you spend upwards of $1400 a year let alone whatever install fee you pay for the occasional incompetent person that shows up. Don't tell me about how their underpaid, they have an f'ing job, unlike millions of others, DO IT!!! The next guy usually will understand scheduling issues with a courtesy call, they may not like it but....

Acer

 

[AriesGodofWar]

Much better to do the job right the first time not matter what it takes, then have to send 3 techs. If Dish wants to make some strides in the PR Battle they need to make a promise to the Customer that when the tech leaves the house upon install, they will be able to watch Dishnetwork, no matter what it takes. If it takes carrying extra dishes/receivers/overhead/Sat Finders in the van, then so be it. There is no excuse. I am a bit amazed that DN got 3 techs there in 2 days. When my father got installed, he literally tokk off work, sat on his patio (50 feet from the street) all day, only to call Dish at 4:05 and be told the installer reported that he was not home. Needless to say, he was a bit pissed as he had 3 dogs, so even if he was in the bathroom or otherwise predisposed for 30 seconds, he would have heard the dogs. He tells everyone he meets about it.

I know such a policy could have implications for the many retailers out there, but Charlie needs to step up his game, stop trying to nickel and dime, and play ball. You get what you pay for. A customer telling a non-subscribing friend, "Hey, you should see this new Dish Network I got, install went great" than a Customer who has a bad experience and then tells everyone they meet about how incompetent Dish Network is. That is just marketing 101. Bad experiences do a lot more damage to your image than good experiences help. That is why you have to do everything you can to make them good ones.

 

[pfan1981]

Sorry to hear about your poor experience. I've had three installs now and all have been great and flawless. You will love the programming options for the cost and the DVR is right at the top. Sometimes you pay a price at first (your install), but then reap the benefits for years to come.

pfan

 

[joeyjojojnr]

What's the HDTV setup output set to? If it's 480, you need to bump that up.

I'm not sure. Will look into that tonight. The TV 'sees/says' it's 1080i.

By bad quality, I mean I'm seeing a lot of compression issues. We get our locals OTA, and they look a lot better than the stuff I'm seeing on HBO and the like...but maybe that's typical with cable/satellite period, and that OTA will always look better.

In the end, all 3 guys were good guys. The only gripe is the first guy leaving and ME having to call to find out what's going on. If I hadn't called, I don't think I would have gotten it set up last night.

 

[jdmacor]

I had a vietnamese guy who spoke broken english, along with someone who looked like his father, or maybe uncle, who spoke no english. They set to work installing a dish only to find out that I couldn't get signal from a third source (which they told me was the hd source). I said I wouldn't want the damn thing without hd. They also didn't have the VIP722, which I specifically requested.

However, after they took a lunch break, they came back with a second satellite dish (I no longer have a very good view off of that balcony) and a 772. They hooked everything up, and I was thrilled. It seems like Dish is making a habit of creating a bad first impression, but demonstrating a willingness to get the job done. Also, this was a Saturday, so no lost work time for me. I also still had my cable hooked up, so I didn't miss any football games either.

 

[joeyjojojnr]

I had a vietnamese guy who spoke broken english, along with someone who looked like his father, or maybe uncle, who spoke no english. They set to work installing a dish only to find out that I couldn't get signal from a third source

Yea, that was similar to our problem. The first guy pointed me at the eastern ones thinking it was a straight shot. The second guy could only get 2 of the 3 to come in (the one missing being the HD one). I guess that one is really low on the horizon and most susceptible to being blocked?

So, yea, they had to repoint it at the western ones. Fortunately, they didn't have to remount the dish, but just turn it.

Oh, there was one other hiccup...for some reason I ended up with local channels even though we did not order them. I have a hunch that was a mistake from the computer -> scribbles on the work order.