Dish Nightmare

[pauldee0046]

Dish Network,
How I DON’T Love thee, Let me count the ways…

Arrived an hour outside of the scheduled time for installation.

Left Dish Network Trash in the street in front of my house

Used my ladder without permission
Did NOT return my ladder to its’ original location when done

Did NOT properly align the Dish Network Dish (Fluctuating around 70% - 75%)
Although this is within guidelines of Dish Network it does NOT represent a PROFESSIONAL installation
(When realigned it was over 100)

Removed Direct TV dish when told specifically to LEAVE it intact
Destroyed Direct TV Dish requiring replacement
(Left it laying on the ground alongside the house even though they walked right past the trash cans)

Installer repeatedly moved the Digital Recorder while turned on…
(Problems caused to the hard drive by this activity are well documented and are not covered by the 90 day warrantee)

Replacement DTV Dish did not have a ground connected
Although 4 leads were tailed down from head of DTV dish only one of 4 leads into the house had been prepared for switching back to DTV (Installer was told of the return to DTV)

Second installer after being shown the mangled DTV dish did not bother throwing it into the adjacent trash can.
(Knowing the previous problems he might have at least asked if he should take it with him or throw it away)


The Original installers did not properly connect the receiver to the existing system
(Second TV was not set to TV2)

(DVR was locked in Dual mode)

NTSC Outputs for TV2 were tied to Video 1 of Primary TV

Remote control was not programmed for use with the TV

No use instruction was provided in the use of or differences between DTV and Dish Network…

Dish Network Support
Let it be known that 3.5 hours of getting bounced around voicemail, being disconnected, refused access to a supervisor pushed me to my limits…

The final straw was that when it FINALLY worked, I did not have all the same local channels that I was told I would have when I signed up for the system. , although Dish Network did substitute the BINGO network…

Buyer Beware...
Dont order until you make sure WHICH locals Dish Includes
Dont sign the release until you check to make sure EVERYTHING works..

Thankfully, I had not disconnected my Direct TV and cancelled Dish within 72 hours...

The phone lines to cancel service on Dish Network are jammed...

 

[dfergie]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys... sorry to hear of the mess the Installers made of your Installation...

 

[pauldee0046]

Thanks for the Welcome..
I am so pissed off I cant even see straight...

I have not been on a Sat site before...
It should be interesting...
I have learned alot about increasing the hours of my DTV DVR.
Since I am comfortable with Linux that will be near the top of my list.

I was told the installers would be here today to fix their mess but here it is after 4pm and they have not shown up and their office phones go to a machine...

 

[korsjs]

welcome to the site paul. it is to bad you got a bad installer. not all of them are that bad. hope to see you around the site.

 

[goaliebob99]

Sorry for your bad installation and welcome to the sight I edited out the address of the installer. (to protect everyone from spam) I understand that you had a bad install, Next time call dish and ask for a Dishnetwork Tech to come out or a diffrent reatailer.

 

[inwo]

If you don't think it's important to deal with a "local" dealer face to face, then you got what you deserve.

If it was a local dealer. Look him up!

 

[dodge]

Bad Dish Install

"Second installer after being shown the mangled DTV dish did not bother throwing it into the adjacent trash can.
(Knowing the previous problems he might have at least asked if he should take it with him or throw it away)"

I did not know it was the installers job to throw customers personal things in the trash???

The Installer always leaves the Dish network equipment boxes with the end user, for the end user to send back equipment with.

What locals did they tell you that you were supposed to get, and which locals did . What set of locals you get is determined by Nielson media research and the government not by which set of locals a customer wants.

 

[dodge]

"Second installer after being shown the mangled DTV dish did not bother throwing it into the adjacent trash can.
(Knowing the previous problems he might have at least asked if he should take it with him or throw it away)".[/QUOTE

I did not know it was the installers job to throw customers personal things in the trash???

The Installer always leaves the Dish network equipment boxes with the end user, for the end user to send back equipment with.

 

[cableman2]

i agree with dodge's statement..been doing installs for 6 years and i never had a callback on any of my work...i've worked for both companies,d*tv and dish.
i think youre just escalating it a bit...not all techs properly trained do this kind of install...i have an avg. of 5-4 box jobs a day, sorry for your bad exp. maybe you should call dtv and ask for a company "pro"...hehe

 

[branchbouncer]

Clean up

"Second installer after being shown the mangled DTV dish did not bother throwing it into the adjacent trash can.
(Knowing the previous problems he might have at least asked if he should take it with him or throw it away)".[/QUOTE

I did not know it was the installers job to throw customers personal things in the trash???

The Installer always leaves the Dish network equipment boxes with the end user, for the end user to send back equipment with.

It is proper to leave a job site in the same condition-IF NOT BETTER- when you leave.That is the way things are done- you clean up.The E* installers took the D* dish off the roof or where ever it was installed and failed to take it away,it is not up to a paying customer to clean up after idiots "pro"or not

 

[pauldee0046]

Inwo...
I was working with a local dealer not an internet sale...
I also pointed out to the third installer they didnt connect the ground to the Dish...

Hey Dodge,
The trash was not the box the receiver came in, it was an empty spool from their cable, even if it was the box it did NOT belong in the street in front of my house. Since they destroyed the DTV Dish and replaced it the old one becomes THEIR property... (They took it with them on the third day)

Dish has been telling their distributors they were going to be including UPN since LAST December. The sales person said, " You will get ALL the same locals as Direct TV!"
NOT TRUE...

The installer just left, I have my DTV back and he took all of his NET TRASH with him.... It still took 30 minutes with him calling his special direct phone number to get the service canceled. At least it wasn't ME on hold this time...

Cableman,
Every room in my house is prewired with dual runs of quad shielded cable all passing through easily accessable grounding bocks. (In addition to Cat5) I would think tying into existing cable and swapping an existing DTV Recorder with a Dish Recorder should be easy for ANYONE passing themselves off as a tech.

 

[branchbouncer]

Inwo...
I was working with a local dealer not an internet sale...
I also pointed out to the third installer they didnt connect the ground to the Dish...

Hey Dodge,
The trash was not the box the receiver came in, it was an empty spool from their cable, even if it was the box it did NOT belong in the street in front of my house. Since they destroyed the DTV Dish and replaced it the old one becomes THEIR property... (They took it with them on the third day)

Dish has been telling their distributors they were going to be including UPN since LAST December. The sales person said, " You will get ALL the same locals as Direct TV!"
NOT TRUE...

The installer just left, I have my DTV back and he took all of his NET TRASH with him.... It still took 30 minutes with him calling his special direct phone number to get the service canceled. At least it wasn't ME on hold this time...

Cableman,
Every room in my house is prewired with dual runs of quad shielded cable all passing through easily accessable grounding bocks. (In addition to Cat5) I would think tying into existing cable and swapping an existing DTV Recorder with a Dish Recorder should be easy for ANYONE passing themselves off as a tech.

Listening to E* people is like being at the seashore and putting a shell to your ear- if you think that you hear the Ocean than it is time for a brain transplant

 

[Jared Twomey]

Inwo...
I was working with a local dealer not an internet sale...
I also pointed out to the third installer they didnt connect the ground to the Dish...

Hey Dodge,
The trash was not the box the receiver came in, it was an empty spool from their cable, even if it was the box it did NOT belong in the street in front of my house. Since they destroyed the DTV Dish and replaced it the old one becomes THEIR property... (They took it with them on the third day)

Dish has been telling their distributors they were going to be including UPN since LAST December. The sales person said, " You will get ALL the same locals as Direct TV!"
NOT TRUE...

The installer just left, I have my DTV back and he took all of his NET TRASH with him.... It still took 30 minutes with him calling his special direct phone number to get the service canceled. At least it wasn't ME on hold this time...

Cableman,
Every room in my house is prewired with dual runs of quad shielded cable all passing through easily accessable grounding bocks. (In addition to Cat5) I would think tying into existing cable and swapping an existing DTV Recorder with a Dish Recorder should be easy for ANYONE passing themselves off as a tech.

You DO get all the same locals as DirecTV, i don't know what area you are in, but in the area i work in, UPN has to come off of a wing dish, which IS included, and IS installed for free by dish, it might just take a few days later.
Also, you keep complaining that it wasn't grounded... but then you said it went through ground blocks? Are the ground blocks grounded? if so, the system IS grounded, there is no reason to ground the actual dish itself...
as long as the ground blocks are hooked up, I personally don't ground the dish myself..

 

[jmeluni]

Paul,

Please don't belittle all E* installations because of your experience. My installation went off without a hitch via DNSC. It was a Superdish pole mount and the installers did a great job (it was a two man crew). They even dug a trench to bury the cable and carefully replaced the sod when done! All trash was removed and the installation was very professional.

Believe me, D* has bad installers also, my father's D* installer didn't even compress half of the compression connectors! D*'s CS is enough to make a grown man cry. Just call them with a simple billing question or to cancel service and try to find the prompt for these items on their ridiculous automated phone system, and I won't even mention the hold times!

Basically, all I'm trying to do is point out that neither company is perfect and that your installation is only as good as the person performing it. I'm glad that your happy again and good luck with D*!

 

[webbydude]

there is no reason to ground the actual dish itself...
as long as the ground blocks are hooked up, I personally don't ground the dish myself..

whoa! Dude!! You're just opening yourself to a world of hurt if you maintain that "policy" of yours. Dish can and will fail you on a QC because of that; not to mention any insurance adjuster will have your hide. NEC states that any "antenna" must be grounded. That includes the dish as well. There are plenty of threads in this forum discussing different ways to ground or "bond" a system. But this is completely different. Bottom line...the dish has to be grounded and the lines from the dish have to be grounded.

***I won't even get into the debate of whether a switch is a suitable ground or not, too many compelling arguments on both sides of that fence***

 

[pauldee0046]

You DO get all the same locals as DirecTV, i don't know what area you are in, but in the area i work in, UPN has to come off of a wing dish, which IS included, and IS installed for free by dish, it might just take a few days later.

Wrong... They said what I had was all that I would get... They never mentioned Wing Dish extra days...

Also, you keep complaining that it wasn't grounded... but then you said it went through ground blocks? Are the ground blocks grounded? if so, the system IS grounded, there is no reason to ground the actual dish itself...
as long as the ground blocks are hooked up, I personally don't ground the dish myself..

Other than to conform to UEC Uniform Electrical Code there is no need to ground the dish itself... I got a call from the Dish Network Pro Installer and even he agreed it should have been grounded. (And he knew about the grounding blocks)

I dont intend to continue this thread, I will go over to the DTV side...

Aside from the Installation 4.5 hours in voice mail, getting transfered around and getting disconnected twice was enough for me to pull the plug.

Dish network is planning a review of the company they contracted with for this install. (That company is about to expand to installations in Arizona)

If DTV dumps Tivo and Dish gets ALL locals I will consider using them again.
(I was given the name, phone number and extension and cell # for the head of service and installation)

One final note:
The last tech that hooked up my DTV did not have a work order and started boxing up my 525. I was told that Dish was going to UPS over a box for me to return it. When the tech called Dish he requested a de-install order. He never told THEM he was taking the unit. He kept saying he would call them "LATER" when the De-Install was complete. He told me it had something to do with wanting to return the unit to inventory and not having to return it to Dish. The hair on my neck stood up so I typed out a receipt for the unit and made the installer sign it before leaving. When I talked with the local Dish Pro he called up my account and said I should be receiving a box to return the receiver in a couple of days. He seemed surprised when I told him the installer took the receiver. He expressed some doubt until I said I have a signed receipt. He told me to keep it in a safe place. I have a feeling if I had not made the installer sign a receipt that I would now be on the hook for the equipment. It all just seemed a little odd...

Not that this means anything but my dog LOVES everyone. She sits in the front yard and the mailman, the neighbors, even kids going to school all pet her and she is nothing but a sweetheart. When the installer was here she put herself between myself and the installer and growled in a low deep growl that I have never heard from her. She did not stop until he was gone.
(She may have been sensing my frustrations or she may have been acting on her own instincts)

 

[gpflepsen]

The box the installer took may be on ebay....

 

[GaryPen]

The box the installer took may be on ebay....

And...Paul will probably be getting a bill from Dish for it, which will require more of his valuable time to correct.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Dont order until you make sure WHICH locals Dish Includes
Dont sign the release until you check to make sure EVERYTHING works..

The first is important, but the second is critical advice for EVERY customer.

Do NOT signoff until you are happy, or at the very least, confident that your installer will follow through. For example, I've had to leave an install in less than perfect shape (but receivers running) because I didn't have a specific part on hand - like maybe a dual RG-6 plus phone jack wall plate. I have asked the customer to signoff - if it was the last day of the pay period. By the time such a thing happens, the customer knows what kind of guy I am, and KNOWS I'll be back to finish up.

Other than to conform to UEC Uniform Electrical Code there is no need to ground the dish itself

Sorry - gotta disagree with you there. There are technical and safety reasons to ground the pan AND the coax.

I have a feeling if I had not made the installer sign a receipt that I would now be on the hook for the equipment.

Smart move - but brace yourself to fight the charge from E* for the box.

In closing, I'm sorry you ran into such a lousy company - it makes the rest of us look bad, and I want ALL the hacks GONE.

 

[SummitAdvantageRetailer]

Other than to conform to UEC Uniform Electrical Code there is no need to ground the dish itself... I got a call from the Dish Network Pro Installer and even he agreed it should have been grounded. (And he knew about the grounding blocks)

I dont intend to continue this thread, I will go over to the DTV side...

Aside from the Installation 4.5 hours in voice mail, getting transfered around and getting disconnected twice was enough for me to pull the plug.

Dish network is planning a review of the company they contracted with for this install. (That company is about to expand to installations in Arizona)

If DTV dumps Tivo and Dish gets ALL locals I will consider using them again.
(I was given the name, phone number and extension and cell # for the head of service and installation)

One final note:
The last tech that hooked up my DTV did not have a work order and started boxing up my 525. I was told that Dish was going to UPS over a box for me to return it. When the tech called Dish he requested a de-install order. He never told THEM he was taking the unit. He kept saying he would call them "LATER" when the De-Install was complete. He told me it had something to do with wanting to return the unit to inventory and not having to return it to Dish. The hair on my neck stood up so I typed out a receipt for the unit and made the installer sign it before leaving. When I talked with the local Dish Pro he called up my account and said I should be receiving a box to return the receiver in a couple of days. He seemed surprised when I told him the installer took the receiver. He expressed some doubt until I said I have a signed receipt. He told me to keep it in a safe place. I have a feeling if I had not made the installer sign a receipt that I would now be on the hook for the equipment. It all just seemed a little odd...

Not that this means anything but my dog LOVES everyone. She sits in the front yard and the mailman, the neighbors, even kids going to school all pet her and she is nothing but a sweetheart. When the installer was here she put herself between myself and the installer and growled in a low deep growl that I have never heard from her. She did not stop until he was gone.
(She may have been sensing my frustrations or she may have been acting on her own instincts)

If you read the agreement papers, disconnects within 6 months require equipment return to the retailer of original sale. But if you disconnected after 6 months of activation, for example, the equipment goes to DISH. DISH CSR's are accustomed to sending boxes out regardless of when you disconnect. This has been a sore point of discussion between retailers and DISH Network as the CSR's are clueless to this important detail. It gives the cancelling customer more aggrevation to hear two diff. sides of the story. Long story short, the retailer is supposed to take the boxes and other equipment back. Just have the retailer call DISH Network to claim that they have the equipment and you'll be fine.

On the rest of the story, you have bad installers in cable, Dish, DirecTV, and even phone companies like Verizon. In this business, first-time impressions go a long way in impressing/disappointing a customer. We tend to have many referrals from our best techs while getting complaints from our beginner techs. If a company has an all-star cast of installers, great for them. But like everything in this world, there'll be someone that won't care for his work and you'll get stuck with a lemon. I'm sure at your own workplace, you have employees fitting the same bill.