Greedy Installer

[sanhin2]

Well, when i had 2 get my dish installed (superdish 121) because i wnated international chanels and American all on one dish. the installer came and said that he wont be able to do it without charging me extra money because he would need equipment that he would need to rent out before he could install it. i did not get the installation done. 1 month later another installer came and installed the same super dish 121 without any gliches or extra money.. so the first installer was just GREEDY for money. i reported him to Dish Network.. hehe.. serves him rite

 

[Mike500]

Not really,

It depends on what materials the first installer was going to use and how he or she was going to do it.

If all you care was that the SuperDish was going to work, you GOT what you want. The question is how reliable and for how long.

Most customers know very little about what a GOOD install involves. Having been a Master Electrician for over 30 years and having installed satellite systems fo over 20 years, I can tell you of MANY MANY marginal installs with poor quality work and substandard materials. He may or may not have skimped on the quality of the coax, the connectors, or the mounting hardware. He might have placed the dish in a marginal line of sight location that will be treed out in the Spring, when the leaves on the trees return.

Then, there are those that have a lot of credit card bills and are very hungry for work. They undercut every one else's prices. They don't stay in business for long.

You are NOT likely going to get a Mercedes for the price of a Hyundai.

So, unless I saw YOUR install and knew what the original installer intended to do, I don't know if you got a good deal or not.

 

[TheDishNetworkInstaller]

What exactly did he say he needed that this other one didn't?

The second installer could be the crooked one if he took short cuts the other one wouldn't.

You really need to tell the full story before bashing someone.

 

[sanhin2]

hmmm the only info i can give u is that my 121 signal is 75-79 range, 100 and 119 are always 85-100. as far as trees are concerned there is no nearby tree in sight so trees should not be a problem... so is it a good install??

 

[KE4EST]

Why did the first guy need to rent out equipment? Your still not giving the whole story. If he was greedy or if he was the best installer you ever met, he should have gave you a reason. Even if it was a stupid reason.

 

[sanhin2]

Why did the first guy need to rent out equipment? Your still not giving the whole story. If he was greedy or if he was the best installer you ever met, he should have gave you a reason. Even if it was a stupid reason.

he said that he would need to rent a ladder which is long enuf to get to my roof and said that the balcony istallation on the balcony poles would not be possible because "the super dish would fall righ off". well the 2nd installer installed it in da balcony and did not even touch the roof

 

[wobbie]

Signal strenght sounds good. Also sounds like the second tech was better prepared for installs as far as carrying the right tools for the job. I'm guessing the second installer used some clamps and clamped the pole to the balcony???

 

[sanhin2]

Signal strenght sounds good. Also sounds like the second tech was better prepared for installs as far as carrying the right tools for the job. I'm guessing the second installer used some clamps and clamped the pole to the balcony???

he clamped the dish to the balcony

 

[Van]

he clamped the dish to the balcony

The first was right about the balcony and wrong about the roof, the second was wrong about the balcony. Idealy the superdish should have been installed either on a pole in the ground or a sturdy wall or other sturdy structure. Clamping it to a balcony railing or bannister isnt going to provide the support your looking for in a strong wind, you may not see problems in the first or even 3rd windstorm but you will see it soon enough.

 

[wobbie]

Van, I have u-bolted many poles to balcony railings, though I do make sure that the railings are plenty sturdy and can support the winds here in Nebraska. I have never had a call back on any of them. I'm guessing what Sanhin is sayoing is that the tech clamped the foot of the mast to the balcony which in my oppinion should never be done especially with a Superdish.

 

[dodge]

I dont think your installer was greedy at all. If he was a subcontractor he is only given enough materials to do a most basic install. I am sub and I dont install on second story roofs, or do pole mounts for free!!! Dish will do a pole mount for free because the guys in the dish van have all materials for the job in hand and the cost of materials does not come out of pocket, If I do a pole mount I have to charge extra becasue the extra supllies cost close to 40 bucks and when you only get 75 bucks for an install you might as well not do the job!!!

 

[Van]

Dish will do a pole mount for free because the guys in the dish van have all materials for the job in hand and the cost of materials does not come out of pocket.

The reason why we ( dishnetwork employed techs ) do pole mounts, back feeds, wall fishes, ect ect ect for is not because its already on our vans, its because the company responded to commercials that the cable industry was running 4 years ago about all the cost's involved with getting a dish installed. We have always had poles, and cement on our vans, we have always had 12 ft - 40 ft ladders on our vans also, and we have always had the equipment to do wall fishes if needed, and if not we either get someone there that does or reschedule at no exra charge to the customer.

 

[Texanmutt]

Cable cannot talk to much sh*t about dish net install prices, especially when they charge $60 for a wall fish.

 

[TheDishNetworkInstaller]

If you can get them to do a wall fish. Cox Omaha tells them to call a contractor.

Charter will do one for $90 and some change.

 

[wobbie]

The reason Dish DNS and RSP's do free pole mounts, wallfish and phone lines is that for them it is all about completion ratio. I would do a pole mount for free or very little cost instead of losing a sale. But custom work is custom work, no matter how you look at it. I know many Disah installers that will NLOS a job or walk away from it instaed of doing a wallfish or pole mount.

 

[Texanmutt]

The reason Dish DNS and RSP's do free pole mounts, wallfish and phone lines is that for them it is all about completion ratio. I would do a pole mount for free or very little cost instead of losing a sale. But custom work is custom work, no matter how you look at it. I know many Disah installers that will NLOS a job or walk away from it instaed of doing a wallfish or pole mount.

It would be gay to walk away from a job because of a wall fish. Usually some persuasive professional advice can get you out of them if it is to difficult If that doesnt work you just tell them that wall fish is impossible (like outside wall fishes). Pole mounts are another story though. I think it is so sad when people are to cheap to pay for trenching a dollar per foot after the first 50'. I was at a job were the only choice for tv was satellite. There were trees all over the place and the only place for a dish was 100' away from the house. They did not want to pay me $50 for the trenching nor would they do the trenching themselves. Needless to say i walked away from that place.

 

[sksatellite]

Wall fish, in most cases, are time consumming job, in older house, there lots stuff at the attic that prevent you work freely. Oh you do need a mask as well or you will get health problem later. For an installer or contractor, time is money, I will not spend two or three hours just doing the wall fish for free, but a guy work for a company and pay hourly don't care, just get the job done or he even get the overtime pay.

Talk about cable installation, contractor get $30.00 per job for two rooms, which mainly connected the cable from ground to a ground block, using the existing cable on wall to the attic, then add a splitter at attic to which ever the two rooms are, wanted add another room ?? no matter how easy it is or just change out the one in two out to a one in three out splitter, there is a $69.00 charge to customer. And they need a work order to be able to let you get an extra room, but this will come from the cable company, not the contractor, contractor most will get the first job, not the extram but they don't need to buy any materials like satellite installer.

 

[Van]

The reason Dish DNS and RSP's do free pole mounts, wallfish and phone lines is that for them it is all about completion ratio. .

This is wrong, its not about completion ratio's, it all started with the commercials bashing dish and direct for the costs associated with getting satellite, no charge installs, free equipment, most custom work free brings in customers in greater numbers than what the companies would get if they were still charging the same rates or even a quarter of what they had charged. Dish and directv only make money off of its customers based on programming residuals and only after a minimum of a year and only if they dont have any service calls to fix a crap install done by a crap technician or a peice of equipment that has failed.

 

[Van]

Anyone that lived in the pittsburgh area or eastern ohio area will remember the commercials showing on AT&T cable showing a white back ground and the commentator ratteling off the cost for the install, a second tv, 120 ft of cable. This commercial aired in many markets and I think I remember news paper adds to the same effect as well as radio spots, they never mentioned though how much cable charges for what it does.

 

[webbydude]

Van, you're exactly right. That's how it started, but as Wobbie stated it has morphed into the "completion ratio". At least for the RSP I work with, there is a scorecard that Dish actually grades the RSP. Guess what's the biggest thing on that scorecard? Yep! The all-mighty completion ratio. As long as the job gets in, they don't care about the "how". Even at the point of creating future troublecalls!! As long as that customer is signed up, most troublecalls can be fixed. And before you mention how troublecalls also affect said scorecard, it has nowhere near the negative impact as a cancelled job.