I know this doesn't help but I think it really sucks that DIRECTV charges the installer because a homeowner doesn't have a landline phone.
Is the installer actually "charged" money or does "chargeback" mean the installer gets some kind of bad comment written up about the install job or something like that ?
There should be something on the DIRECTV contract that says something like -
The customer hereby states they do not have a landline phone in their home and this is not the installers fault. and the customer signs and dates right next to the statement. The customer not having a landline phone has nothing to do with the installer.
It is much more subtle than that,
As part of accepting the new installation Directv has the capability of calling each receiver they activate over a land line phone connection. The receiver rings back and they can note what phone number / customer has a specific receiver. No phone; no ring back! The customer is not aware of this...no bell rings. This is also how Pay Per View Movies (PPV) are billed.
So Directv sends the Home Service Provider (HSP) a list of nonresponders. These nonresponder customers eventually receive and pay a first bill thus establishing that they do have working receivers on their account. The lack of a phone line is also reported by the installer during activation.
It is the lower level subcontractors who come up with "tiers" of payment based on a percentage of receivers that do or do not ring back.
The installer is asked to be responsible for an aspect of the installation he cannot control. Each receiver is shipped with twenty five feet of phone patch cord. If there is nothing to connect that cord to....the installer is asked to accept less money. Since this is less than the offered amount for the installation some would consider the practice theft of services.
Even doing the task of running phone lines to wire a new phone jack without compensation seems to be the same theft of services
Joe