Local News Report about Fed Up D* Installers

[moonman]

The movie.........
http://www.local6.com/video/9141321/detail.html

 

[Smthkd]

LOL!!!!! Somebody up there love ya! Directv!!! Now give me my $5 per line back B_____CH

 

[moonman]

From the article on ch. 6......More to come
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Now, because of the Local 6 News story, the attorney general's office is looking into this newest issue, Alvarez said.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

 

[sheridan]

Unfortunately, this is not the only industry where techs lie to the customer. Several years ago, I had a monitored alarm system installed at my house through ADT. When I asked the tech for information on the controller so I could do updates myself, he told me that if I messed with my system, it could affect how other systems in the neighborhood work. SAY WHAT? I was very close to calling the company and demanding they yank their crap out of my house.

I am sure the feathers are going to fly at MasTec. I got a chuckle out of the one guy who said, "If you don't plug your receiver into the phone line, it will blow up." I don't think to many customers would believe that one.

 

[stevo/65]

hey mooman, can you keep us up to date with this story , when new info comes out ? Thanks Buddy

 

[Doctor Bob]

Kudos to the Techs​

The Installation Techs that went to NBC, to tell their story, indeed are the hero's of the modern day fight for justice, that has been brought on by the Administration of Mastec, out of Orlando.

We should all stand in a moment of silence, for every Tech that stood up against this kind of BS, and then we should all clap our hands together, for the brave souls that had the guts to put their jobs on the line...

This is the kind of "Team Work" that needs to continue, so that we can get the justice department involved, in all of this crap that has been pulled on us, by DirecTV, the HSP's and every fulfillment company out there.

Kudos to Frank Martinez of Mastec, for standing up like a Man, and Thank you to Nancy Alvarez for putting the story on the Air...

Maybe if enough people wrote to the Attorney Generals office of Florida, the Feds might get involved, and really open up a can of worms for all the HSP's and DirecTV...

 

[charper1]

I am sure the feathers are going to fly at MasTec. I got a chuckle out of the one guy who said, "If you don't plug your receiver into the phone line, it will blow up." I don't think to many customers would believe that one.

Yep, LOL! My 2 Sony SAT-A2 units must be on a 9+ year dealyed timer.

 

[mastecinstaller]

mastec sucks ass i am glad i don't work for them anymore used to be good when i first started but they want more and more money and give their employess less alot of people quit my local office i worked out of

 

[BFG]

Wow looks like I started a nice little thread.

Good call on the phone lines, that was one of the first things mentioned

 

[hdtvtechno]

I just sent them a link to stophdlite.com...

let us if you get an response from them

 

[moonman]

Wow looks like I started a nice little thread.

Good call on the phone lines, that was one of the first things mentioned

--------
Yeah, looks like that TV station has a nice story going..since you are in that TV
area, and have a interest in the story that the station has said they will continue
to investigate, would you mind posting any additional follow-up that the station
may have?? Thanks!!

 

[scotsmanron]

The last two techs that came to my house just asked me to lie to the service managers when they called in the completion of the install. They told me that they would get in trouble if it wasn't plugged into the phone jacks, EVEN IF THE JACKS WERE INACTIVE!!!!!!

 

[iceturkee]

that was a CBS affiliate that ran the story!

 

[goaliebob99]

let us if you get an response from them

will do nothing yet though

 

[scotsmanron]

One other thing that I forgot to mention was I've had several installers, either ones that came by or their supervisors tell me that "you will have HD locals by the end of the summer". Of course I'm sure that was to keep me from putting up the OTA!!!!

 

[lou_do]

One other thing that I forgot to mention was I've had several installers, either ones that came by or their supervisors tell me that "you will have HD locals by the end of the summer". Of course I'm sure that was to keep me from putting up the OTA!!!!

That shouldn't change your mind if you are within reach of the OTA signals, via antenna. All D* is going to do is give you 4 channels of HD locals, in most cases OTA antennas will give you much more. I know now I get around 30 HD & digital channels with my OTA antenna.

 

[scotsmanron]

I've been on the AVS forum and everyone local over there is having a heck of a time with the Tallahassee OTAs. This whole thing is beginning to just be a pita. I'm about ready to go back to cable.

 

[john262]

DirectTV Techs: Policy Makes Lying Part Of Job

http://www.local6.com/problemsolvers/9142100/detail.html

A group of DirectTV satellite technicians who have installed systems in homes across Central Florida sought out the Problem Solvers to fight back against a company policy they say creates an environment where lying to customers is part of the job, according to an investigation.

 

[uboatcmdr]

Disgruntled? You bet. Word is they all get shafted tommorrow. That's the date for which D* has mandated (supposedly) phonelines as part of the free installation. That means the installers don't get paid, they have to supply more labor AND materials, and they still have the possibility of a non-responder chargeback if a customer unhooks the IRD from the phone jack and hooks up another piece of gear instead. It I were forced to do this, I'd loose the biscuit jack, install a modular connector on that cat 3, and superglue that sucker into the modem. But I ain't been a D* installer in over a year, and I have NO plans on going back. A lot has changed in that year, and pay has pretty much gone down across the board, while costs of fuel have gone up which also affects the cost of supplies. Not a good time to be a D* tech.

Most of the installation companies (HSP's and contractor alike) have cut pay rates (AGAIN). Now top pay is $60/$15 (average is $50/$15 with some as low as $30/$10) and as usual there is no extra pay for the phonelines. So now the installers are having to do more work for less money. The HSP I worked for last year (Bruister & A$$holes) came up with a novel plan to screw the installers, if a customer refused a phoneline installation because adding the phoneline would require a wallfish the installer had to do the wallfish for free (this is an task that the installers normally got paid $25 for).
DTV keeps raising rates to cover the expeses of adding new sats & undating equipment and now they are cutting the installers pay. There are already too many hack installers running around, lowering pay rates is only going to drive off the good installers leaving nothing but the hacks. I'm also out of the biz for now with no intentions of ever going back to install D* again. I'm so discusted with D* that even giving up my D* sub and switching to cable. F*ck'em and feed em fisheads, they've screwed me all I'm going to let em.

 

[galt]

follow-up story

http://www.local6.com/problemsolvers/9164122/detail.html

anyone surprised?