Dish expects me to wait until 10:30pm for tech to arrive

[adavis720]

You must not get it. The 3 smilies, that is. ::haha

No aggression here, just playing the devils advocate.

I read a ton of posts from installers that are just complaints, some of which are completely valid and some, like this one, where the installer in question is dead to rights.

Look at it this way:

You go out to a restaurant. Sit down and order. You wait for your food for hours. And then the waiter comes over and says "oh geez, so sorry, your food will be ready in another 3 hours."

It is not the waiter that is at fault? The customer is wrong for not wanting to wait another 3 hours?

I throw the BS flag on that one. (that would be a sweet emoticon....


The OP has a valid complaint. I would be freaking livid. There is no way someone is coming to my house @ 10:30 pm and installing TV.

If the earliest the installer can get back out there is Wednesday, than that is the way it is - no argument there, it is not 08:00 am Tuesday guy's fault that 5:00 pm Monday guy got screwed.

My argument is against those saying that there is nothing wrong with an installer not showing up when they are supposed to be there. That is the problem I would have, if I were in the OP's shoes.

 

[RedWings]

Customers already have to give the installers a 5 hour window to show up and the installers expect even more slack?

LOL...give me a break.

 

[daro]

No one said there was nothing wrong with being late... I'm on time for probably 98% of my appointments.....but things can go wrong ...sometimes multiple problems throughout the day.

I was just saying at least the guy was still willing to work for the guy past 10, when I'd bet he had a rough day and just really wanted to go home.

 

[heywire]

Here's my question to the OP. What should the tech have done? Let's say his morning went like this:

1. Got to first job - scheduled as a 1 room install. Gets there, finds out that it is much more complicated than that. Maybe a 4 room as mentioned earlier. Ends up finishing around 11am

2. Second job, new install, dish, HD, DVR -- nothing special except he is having trouble with LOS because of the neighbors trees. Finally finds a spot to mount the dish. Then, after running the new cables, finds that the interior wiring is wired for cable TV so extra cable has to be run to TV2..

3. Third job, swap a 625 for a 622. Should be a piece of cake. Gets there and the new receiver is bad (this happened to the tech that came to my house a few weeks ago). Great, we'll just grab the other one from the truck -- oh wait, we don't have another one on the truck because the last job used it. So he has to run to their warehouse/depot. Gets back, replaces the receiver, calls dish network to re-do the activation, etc...

These are all just guesses at what an average morning is like for a tech...but it sounds pretty reasonable. It is not possible to know how much time any of these jobs are going to take.

So, what should the tech have done? Should he leave job 3 telling the customer he'll come back after he fixes your problem, leaving them without TV? Should he have called you to update you? Yes, but he's busy trying to get caught up...I guess some people just get so caught up in the "you work for me" mentality that they forget how hard these installers really work -- and for pretty crappy money.

The only way I see this getting any better is sending the installers out with light schedules -- which means the costs increase. This translates to a higher install fee or monthly fee

 

[TimR21]

Heywire,

Let's suppose the tech's day has gone the way you've explained. He then should call his home office and tell them that whoever's scheduled at the end of the day is not going to see him until 10:30 at night. That's when the manager should go to work and figure out which of his techs has had a lighter than expected day and sends him out to make the OP happy.

The installers keep telling us that installations are a service and not a production line. They are right....but blowing appointments by 5 hours and showing up in the middle of the night is not SERVICE - it's dis-service.

BUT...the installers are not to blame here either. The problem is a mis-management issue that comes from the top (Dish Network) and extends all the way down the line in the name of maximum profitability. Why can't an installation company have an "at large" or "on-call" installer on hand to send out to the appointments that are going to get blown - which I'm sure happens daily.

I have no problem with a company trying to maximize profits. I've been a member on this board since its creation, and I've read countless horror stories like this one (and I've experienced a couple myself firsthand in nearly 11 years with Dish Network). I just can't accept that a better, more customer satisfying system can't be implemented. Happy customers = maximum profits, minimum churn and maximum new subscribers.

I'm positive that there's a management solution to this chronic and on-going problem for Dish Network.

TimR><>

 

[Hall]

That's when the manager should go to work and figure out which of his techs has had a lighter than expected day and sends him out to make the OP happy.

That's one thing that I've never heard of happening... It might, but you never hear about it (from the installer's that is, saying they had to take a job over from another installer).

 

[minnow]

What's wrong with being the first job of the day the very next morning. It's B.S. that a job secheduled and missed for today is put off for another week. Jobs not done today should be scheduled for tomorrow. PERIOD.
As for me, I'd told Dish to shove it and called Direct. Cost or no cost. There's a damn principle to be upheld here. Dish obviously does not care about the OP, nor about even trying to make things right. The hell with 'em.

 

[Andrewwski]

Stop defending Dish's actions. There's no reason in the world that it would be acceptable for a tech to come that late at night.

By that time, the customer's frustrated, the tech's frustrated, everyone's tired, and nothing is going to go right.

And if I'm given a 5 hour window, you better believe I'd be angry if they do something like this. I'd be mad enough if they called and cancelled.

 

[RedWings]

I have no clue why people feel that customers should make such a sacrifice from their normal life to get some damn service. The 5 hour window idea is already pretty pathetic.

 

[popzezo]

ok a non typical day for me..today for example

200 miles
am 18 one room
am 25 2 room dish move/one bad rec/ordered new
am 12 bad phone line
pm 12 bad lnb. not to code/ fixed brought to code
pm 12 bad lnbs bad rec/fixed not to code issues/new lnb/ordered new rec for cust

done by 4 pm

now a typical day
250-300 miles
am 30 new con
am 30 new con
pm 29 3 room move
pm 12 redo entire system

get home at 8-9
thats how we are done day after day after day.. i feel your pain... try to feel ours

 

[GATownsend]

The OP is back...

Well, I appreciate everyone's feedback on my repair fiasco, but I'm particularly interested in responding the the installers who took the time to post. Thanks for taking the time to respond, but I think you're missing the point here. I work for a $7 billion retail company, and I can tell you that if you took the attitude towards customer service you've exhibited in this thread at my company, you'd be fired.

Let me explain. I completely understand all the things you've mentioned that can go wrong with these installs, and the fact that they were still willing to send the guy at after 10pm is not lost on me. But lets take a slightly different look at this. If I had scheduled between noon and 5pm and not been here when the repair guy showed up, I'd be paying for that visit, and still have to schedule another visit that I'd have to pay for to get my service fixed. Where are the consequences to Dish when they don't show up? I don't see any here. They don't even want to give me the visit for free. The best they've offered up is a credit for the time my service was out (which I would have gotten if they had shown up during the scheduled time anyway). The don't even want to give the measily $29 back to me for the visit to make up for missing the appointment (I asked three separate representatives and was told no by all three.)

These types of things that can go wrong happen regularly, I don't think any of you can argue with that. Where is the plan to deal with those things so you can still service the customers who have been scheduled? Obviously there isn't one. Making sure you service the customers you've scheduled is your company's job - if something goes wrong and you don't make the time slot, you're now making your problelm my problem by showing up 5 hours late or not showing up at all. That is not good customer service. Period. You're just giving the customer excuses - not service.

And I have to ask myself what kind of company is willing to put a guy that's been working 14 hours (8am to 10pm = 14 hours) up on a two-story house's roof at that hour at night. That just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. If I worked for a company that expected me to do that, I'd be looking for another job.

Someone a few posts back asked why the guy whose day didn't have unforeseen problems and who is on schedule wasn't diverted to my house. Amen. This person clearly understands dispatching and how to balance workload amongst available resources. My doctor's office leaves a certain number of appointments open when scheduling because they KNOW there are going to be patients that call that day that need to be seen. Why can't Dish figure out a way to deal with these unforseen problems like so many other companies have? If I had been told next Monday instead of Friday, but the guy actually showed up Monday during the assigned time, I would not be here ranting and raving about this, would I? I also would not have called D* and the local cable company today to see what my options are.

Let me be clear here so as not to start a war - I'm not blaming the installers, I'm blaming Dish. I completely sympathize about the things that can go wrong with an intall or repair, but if Dish really cared about customer satisfaction they would have a way to deal with it that was bettern that 10:30pm or wait 5 more days. By the installers posting here telling all the reasons this happens, my suspicion that customer service is lacking at Dish is just confirmed. The attitude needs to come from the top and they need to give employees the tools to make it happen - obviously Dish is not doing that. I'm guessing customer satisfaction is being sacrificed for the bottom line, which is a shame. That's very short-sighted, and it's been proven more than once that ultimately the bottom line will suffer when customer service is bad.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Regards,

Gary

 

[jokeworm]

get home at 8-9
thats how we are done day after day after day.. i feel your pain... try to feel ours

Sorry to sound harsh - but .. that aint our problem.

If we are scheduled between 12 and 5 - we should be seen between 12 and 5 - sure sh*t happens - but that isn't our fault .. its yours .. or the person who schedules ... or the other customer .. but it sure as heck ain't our problem.

If the tech fails to let his boss know that he is going to be late - then its the techs problem - in turn the company should have a back-up tech ready to go when sh*t does happen - or the boss himself should be prepared to jump into a truck when sh*t happens - the way some people defend the techs is silly.

If you can't make appointment times - you/your company either needs more techs or else they need to schedule less jobs in a day - simple as that.

The reason we as customers are given a 5 hour window is so that you guys can make a schedule that will give you several hours one way or the other where you can still make your appointment in time. If you can't - you are doing your job wrong .. or someone is doing the scheduling wrong - or someone is not thinking ahead, or someone is not as prepared as they thought they were --- or whatever else you can come up with as an excuse ...

Not wanting to blast anyone in particular .. but its a fact.

Name me ANY other service out there - where a customer should be happy to pay for someone to turn up 5 hours (or 10 hours if you go by the "start" of the schedule period) late.

 

[Hall]

Someone a few posts back asked why the guy whose day didn't have unforeseen problems and who is on schedule wasn't diverted to my house. Amen. This person clearly understands dispatching and how to balance workload amongst available resources.

To expand further on that, and based on what *every* installer or tech has said, whether they're private or Dish, this would probably work:

Hire or create a "floater". His schedule can start at 12 noon or so and will generally handle what can be classified as 'easy' jobs. Yes, I know, what should be easy and what they end up are often very different ! So, when a regular tech has an install scheduled for the morning, then a service call, then another install, if his morning install runs behind, have the floater take the service call.

 

[adavis720]

thats how we are done day after day after day.. i feel your pain... try to feel ours

I'm sorry but I just can't feel your pain. That is your job. Like it or lump it my man. I have a job where i am basically on call 24/7/365. No one has a gun to my head.

If it is that painful for you, tell your boss to take this J-O-B and shove it.

 

[Mike_H]

Here is how I see the problem.

If the tech isn't going to make the window that was scheduled, that should be fairly obvious. His/her dispatcher should be contacting installs to either reschedule or tell them of the new time frame. It is completely inexcusable for the customer to have to call to find out what is going on.

These local companies just do completely idiotic ways of dealing with customers. They don't properly dispatch people, and they don't keep on top of what is going on. Techs should be calling in as soon as they find out that what was scheduled for 2 hours is gonna take longer. That is their responsibility. Scheduling the techs, communicating with the installs, that's up to management.

And if local places are not doing this, dish needs to cut them loose. they are messing up.

Note I was gonna go to DirectTV once when Dish started their stupid DVR fee B.s. I took the day off, no one showed up (scheduled for a morning install) so I called their number. Oh, I'm sorry sir, we were supposed to get some switches in but they didn't arrive so we can't do your install. The next opportunity we have is in 7 days. Now I placed this order over 7 days ago before, and they couldn't bother to call me yesterday to say they didn't have equipment in to do the install. I canceled the install and told them never would I do business with an organization that places so little value on their customer's time.

now that was easy to do since I didn't have an investment in existing equipment. I'd have to cut dish some slack if they pulled that on me.

 

[webbydude]

Well, I appreciate everyone's feedback on my repair fiasco, but I'm particularly interested in responding the the installers who took the time to post. Thanks for taking the time to respond, but I think you're missing the point here. I work for a $7 billion retail company, and I can tell you that if you took the attitude towards customer service you've exhibited in this thread at my company, you'd be fired.

Let me explain. I completely understand all the things you've mentioned that can go wrong with these installs, and the fact that they were still willing to send the guy at after 10pm is not lost on me. But lets take a slightly different look at this. If I had scheduled between noon and 5pm and not been here when the repair guy showed up, I'd be paying for that visit, and still have to schedule another visit that I'd have to pay for to get my service fixed. Where are the consequences to Dish when they don't show up? I don't see any here. They don't even want to give me the visit for free. The best they've offered up is a credit for the time my service was out (which I would have gotten if they had shown up during the scheduled time anyway). The don't even want to give the measily $29 back to me for the visit to make up for missing the appointment (I asked three separate representatives and was told no by all three.)

These types of things that can go wrong happen regularly, I don't think any of you can argue with that. Where is the plan to deal with those things so you can still service the customers who have been scheduled? Obviously there isn't one. Making sure you service the customers you've scheduled is your company's job - if something goes wrong and you don't make the time slot, you're now making your problelm my problem by showing up 5 hours late or not showing up at all. That is not good customer service. Period. You're just giving the customer excuses - not service.

And I have to ask myself what kind of company is willing to put a guy that's been working 14 hours (8am to 10pm = 14 hours) up on a two-story house's roof at that hour at night. That just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. If I worked for a company that expected me to do that, I'd be looking for another job.

Someone a few posts back asked why the guy whose day didn't have unforeseen problems and who is on schedule wasn't diverted to my house. Amen. This person clearly understands dispatching and how to balance workload amongst available resources. My doctor's office leaves a certain number of appointments open when scheduling because they KNOW there are going to be patients that call that day that need to be seen. Why can't Dish figure out a way to deal with these unforseen problems like so many other companies have? If I had been told next Monday instead of Friday, but the guy actually showed up Monday during the assigned time, I would not be here ranting and raving about this, would I? I also would not have called D* and the local cable company today to see what my options are.

Let me be clear here so as not to start a war - I'm not blaming the installers, I'm blaming Dish. I completely sympathize about the things that can go wrong with an intall or repair, but if Dish really cared about customer satisfaction they would have a way to deal with it that was bettern that 10:30pm or wait 5 more days. By the installers posting here telling all the reasons this happens, my suspicion that customer service is lacking at Dish is just confirmed. The attitude needs to come from the top and they need to give employees the tools to make it happen - obviously Dish is not doing that. I'm guessing customer satisfaction is being sacrificed for the bottom line, which is a shame. That's very short-sighted, and it's been proven more than once that ultimately the bottom line will suffer when customer service is bad.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Regards,

Gary

Oh boy...I can't believe what a few days of not reading posts has done to my psyche. LOL

*ahem*...anyhoo...Gary. I probably should've done this in the form of a PM versus open forum. But here it goes anyways.

Cleveland area for Dish is, for lack of a better word...in shambles right now. I can go on and on and on about the "hows and whys" it happened. But suffice to say, here's the offer. I'm working up your way tomorrow (not my normal area...not by a longshot...40 miles more north than I normally do). Here's the deal, I can zip out to your home and do your TC instead of you having to wait until Wednesday. It's up to you.

The biggest reasons for this is are (a) hey, your a site member , and (b) to help show that there are more than a few techs out there who are more than willing to pick up the slack.

Jim

 

[GATownsend]

But suffice to say, here's the offer. I'm working up your way tomorrow (not my normal area...not by a longshot...40 miles more north than I normally do). Here's the deal, I can zip out to your home and do your TC instead of you having to wait until Wednesday. It's up to you.

The biggest reasons for this is are (a) hey, your a site member , and (b) to help show that there are more than a few techs out there who are more than willing to pick up the slack.

Jim

Hi Jim,

I truly appreciate this offer - you have gone above and beyond the call of duty to make it. I will be around painting windows all day tomorrow, but I can imagine my wife's reaction to accepting this offer from a stranger on the internet. She's convinced the internet is full of sex predators and criminals.

Is this something you could get in trouble for? Alternatively, would helping me cause someone with a scheduled appt. to end up in the boat I'm in? I certainly don't want to cause that to happen.

Regards,

Gary

 

[webbydude]

No. No trouble at all.

It's simply a matter of doing the job "ahead of schedule". The customer is happier. The office is happy. And yeah...let's face it...I get paid by the job. You're more than welcome to read thru my old posts to find out about me. I work with the same installation company that does installs throughout most of Ohio (RSP for Dish). Furthermore (I'm sure this is going to sound like I'm bragging/tooting my own horn), but I have also helped out with a Staff Member on this forum. Like yourself, he was having problems getting service; actually, one of "my guys" declared his home a no line of sight. I proved otherwise and got him installed.

Just to further elaborate, you're more than welcome to call up the number on your CID tomorrow morning to verify my employment with them. I'd wait until after 8AM tho...office isn't open until then.

 

[GATownsend]

Jim,

Just sent you a PM.

Thanks,

Gary

 

[daro]

Hats off Dude thats a cool thing to offer ... I had a pm customer yesterday.. I showed up a little after 4 and he told me he had a wedding rehearsal at 6.It was a 5 room install that would take 3-4 hours so I offered to come back and do it sunday..on my day off....because he had a great attitude and that goes a long way with me.

And just on a side note....I could start a thread 2-3 times a week about customers who didn't keep their appointments........didn't have the courtesy to pick up the phone,they wasted my time and money...so it is a two way street.