My failed DirecTV install

[Jimbo]

Good to hear!! Hopefully we will see a post from you on Sunday stating a successful install.

We are in the same market and I don't remember who did our install as I was at work. Mine is roof mount as you know.

On the other hand my father in law just had Directv installed at the camp house he rents by a private lake and it replaced a DISH dish, on a pole mount. The installer had no issues with that.

Just depends on the situation ...
If the dish pole mount is the same size as the D* pole requirements and they have LOS, theres no reason Not to use the existing pole mount.

 

[Jimbo]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but those people on the phone have no clue what the requirements are for the installers. They will tell you anything to try and keep you from canceling the order though. As far as the installer goes not sure there will be any other option for the company that does it. There is probably only one main company in the area.

With that said some installers are willing to get things done. I for one as a contractor will figure out a way to get the system in and make the customer happy. Some times that means bending an install rule to do so. But sometimes the people on the phone make promises that can't be kept. Can't tell you how many times they have told people the a fascia mount or side of the house mount is no problem. Most fascia's are not large enough or strong enough to hold the slimline dish. Most people have vinyl siding. That means many times a wall mount and fascia mount wont work and are not allowed.

I hope the next installer can come up with a solution for you.

Then again, if your the guy doing the Siding job, you can account for the Dish set up and never have a problem with a mount on the side of the building.
If you use a mount for a light, many times you can set it up that way.

 

[ZandarKoad]

I can't believe no one has mentioned this to the OP yet. First, he should cancel his order with corporate. It's insanity to think that an in-house corporate employee will have FEWER installation restrictions than an HSP sub contractor. (Although he may get lucky and find a tech who doesn't care about his job and will do it the way the customer asks.) Second, the OP should contact a local retailer to order his system. He just needs to keep his installation out of the HSP / in-house installation fulfillment que. A retailer can install it any way at all and will not get QC'ed by corporate on the install (except in extreme circumstances).

And please don't imagine for one microsecond that Dish is more forgiving with installations than Direct. That would be the misconception of the millennium.

This coming from a guy who has 5 years experience installing Dish, and 4 years installing Direct.

 

[dishcomm]

After 8.5 years of being a Dish customer, I finally decided to switch to DirecTV. Apparently, that was a mistake and DirecTV has gone out of their way to keep me from becoming a customer. My first install date was last Friday. No one ever showed up. No one called. Nothing. I had to call them late in the evening and they rescheduled it for today.

Although they showed up this time, they were late. He first wanted to know where my existing wiring exited the house so he wanted to get in the attic. This seemed to be a little odd since it would be a lot easier to see where it exited the house to simply walk to the backyard and look at the wires. Why would you go into the attic to find where an existing wire exits the house? It exits the house where the current dish is located. Duh. Instead of going to the attic, we went to the backyard. He seemed surprised that the wire was there. I'm not sure where he expected it to be.

I had built a custom mount on the side of my house so that it wouldn't have to be installed on my roof. Immediately, the technician refused to install it where I wanted it installed. He said DirecTV requires it be installed on the roof or a pole. Nowhere else, no exceptions. I noted that it is literally right next to my Dish dish which is installed the exact same way. Never had a problem with it in 8.5 years. I also noted that the mount is secured to the house with TEN very large bolts and two steel brackets. I would be very surprised if it ever moves. Nope. They still refused to install it.

Does anyone know if DirecTV really has a rule that says it can only be installed on the roof or a pole? I've seen DirecTV dishes installed on places other than a roof or pole.

Your installer sounds like he was a very nice guy and really up on his customer service skills.
As a former tech, if a customer has a mounting location such as yours and I can safely get to it( not on a steep roof) then yes, that's where it's going.
Now, the cable issue. I may have wanted to ask you how the cable was routed. Ask if you had cable tv in the past or had or have internet via cable.
The reason, on many occasions cable techs will insert splitters in the coax lines. Depending on the routing of the cabling, the splitters may very well be in the attic.
Failing that your install woudl have been a piece of cake. In fact I had many installs like your where they were simple. I often joked with the customer about tipping them

 

[dishcomm]

From http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=700002

"A certified installer will:

Install a dish on your roof, side of home, balcony or other location."

To that I will add "it depends"..
No installer will attach a dish to anything but masonry or masonry veneer excluding stone veneer. Some homes with wood siding are exceptions to the rule.
The website is not specific. Those locations are "general" descriptions of a typical location. In other words it slides into the category of "just because it says one can do something does not mean they should
In your case, the point is moot. You already had a solid mounting location.

 

[dishcomm]

It's currently on their website (see my link above) and is what they email to you when you sign up. I also just talked to DirecTV and they agreed that it can be installed on the side of a house. If a customer tells you to put it somewhere, you probably better do it unless there is serious reason not to do so. Arbitrary rules are just that: arbitrary. They serve no purpose except to annoy customers (or potential customers). Like I said, my Dish dish has been in the same spot for 8.5 years and never had a problem so I don't believe there is any quality concern. If my Dish dish (which is secured with only three bolts) hasn't moved, I'm betting the DirecTV dish (which would be secured with 14 bolts in total) definitely isn't going to move. On the roof, it would be completely exposed to wind. Where I want it installed, it would be partially shielded by the house itself.

Tut tut...."where the customer tells you to"....Not good. And let me tell you something. You will ALWAYS start that installer/customer relationship off on very rocky footing if you start barking out orders. You may be surprised, but based on the tone of your post, that a tech is well within his rights to walk off a job if the customer gets bossy.
Yes, the customer is the one who owns the property. But the tech owns his business. And he owns himself. He is not there to "serve your every need" and he is not your "hired help for the day".
He is a professional and like any professional would expect the same courtesy as any other trade that performed in-home service.
What you see on the customer website is there for customers. What the techs are told to do is kept from customers. Quite frankly because it is none of the customer's business.
The install rules set by the company are NOT arbitrary. In fact they are there in part to protect the property of the customer. They also exist for safety reasons. Safety for the homeowner and of course the technician.
Those rules are certainly NOT there to "annoy customers" Where you got that idea is a mystery.

 

[dishcomm]

Another reason why I love doing my own stuff...I can mount my dish to the back of a dead squirrel if I want. I feel bad for the new customers these days, self install was a selling point for me all those years ago...

Oh I've seen them on trees, stumps, the bumper of an old car, the bumper of and old rv, many old C-Band poles, roof of a dog house...I actually installed one myself on a mast for a Ham Radio antenna. That one I did for a retailer. No rules to worry about there.

 

[dishcomm]

Granted i used to be a tech, and i still know alot of techs, when i moved into my new apartment, i put a dish on the porch roof, ran 4 wires to a ground block, ran 6 wires into my attic (extras) "obtained" a swm8, wallfished two lines to each bedroom, and 2 lines to two different walls in my living room, wired what i was using up, called in ordered, tech showed up im like yea u just need the boxes and 3jumpers lol

Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk 2

Yep..Me too...If a custy sets it up and it's outside specs, "sir just sign here that this is where it needs to go"...

 

[ZandarKoad]

Tut tut...."where the customer tells you to"....Not good. And let me tell you something. You will ALWAYS start that installer/customer relationship off on very rocky footing if you start barking out orders. You may be surprised, but based on the tone of your post, that a tech is well within his rights to walk off a job if the customer gets bossy.
Yes, the customer is the one who owns the property. But the tech owns his business. And he owns himself. He is not there to "serve your every need" and he is not your "hired help for the day".
He is a professional and like any professional would expect the same courtesy as any other trade that performed in-home service.
What you see on the customer website is there for customers. What the techs are told to do is kept from customers. Quite frankly because it is none of the customer's business.
The install rules set by the company are NOT arbitrary. In fact they are there in part to protect the property of the customer. They also exist for safety reasons. Safety for the homeowner and of course the technician.
Those rules are certainly NOT there to "annoy customers" Where you got that idea is a mystery.

While the rules are not necessarily arbitrary, they are based 100% on what is profitable in the long term for the service provider over hundreds of thousands of installs. It's not really about safety, or property protection, or anything else than the bottom line. The company believes they can limit liability (lawsuits and damage claims) by avoiding installs on certain types of siding, or believes that their installers are incompetent to find exterior studs on side mounts (thus jeopardizing the long term viability of the install). Any other rational behind these rules is just window dressing to make the technician and customer feel better about the fact that they do not have control over where the dish will be located. Corporate does.

So keep corporate (Dish Network or DirecTV) out of it as much as possible if you want something atypical. Order from a "local retailer" (though they may sell nationally or out of their market) and get a "local installer" (one who's paycheck IS NOT tied to corporate quality control checks).

Go to www.FTAInstall.com. Look on the list for someone who installs DirecTV, give them a call, and ask if they can order through them. If they can't, they should know someone who can. Or you could try to change the nearly inconsequential policies of multi-billion dollar company over the next several years.

 

[Neutron]

I've been chatting with the OP and he got his install done yesterday. He can post the details if he wants to. From the way he described the install I think he was satisfied with the outcome.

 

[raoul5788]

ZandarKoad, are you saying that corporations are driven by money and not safety? I am SHOCKED I tell you, SHOCKED!

 

[chaddux]

Got the situation resolved.

(1) The original technician was wrong on a couple of counts. First, the DirecTV corporate offices and the supervisor of the first technician confirmed that there are multiple other approved options besides the roof or a pole, specifically the side of the house (as long as it isn't vinyl siding). Second, the pole location suggested by the first technician was not the only possible location for a pole.

(2) After I spoke with DirecTV corporate (not an 800-number customer service rep), they sent the local company back out the next day. She gave me her direct number and said she would be in the office during the installation and to call her immediately if there were any issues. The above-mentioned supervisor and a veteran technician arrived at my house and confirmed that either the side of my house or a pole in the only place I was comfortable with a pole installation was possible. The location I was willing to allow a pole mount is about 15 feet from my neighbor's two-story house which is to the south of my home. Both the supervisor and technician confirmed LOS even with the house there. The first technician wanted to place a pole in my backyard right outside my master bedroom windows which is why I initially refused it. I showed the supervisor and the second technician where the first technician wanted to place a pole. They both chuckled and the supervisor said something like, "Yeah, he's new."

(3) The entire visit took about two hours and I was not charged for the pole installation. They even waited about a half-hour for me to arrive since I was at the ER with my child when they first arrived. The technician did an excellent job. He was very friendly and professional. Had I gotten him the first time, things would have gone differently.

(4) The supervisor still had no explanation of why no one showed up or called about my first appointment.

 

[raoul5788]

It sounds like they did a good job for you. I'm glad it all worked out.

 

[Neutron]

Now Chad has locals in HD, something DISH still does not offer.

 

[chaddux]

Now Chad has locals in HD, something DISH still does not offer.

The Dish rep I talked to do today when I cancelled had a great idea to solve that problem. Since I stated that as one of the reasons for cancelling, she suggested I go buy an antenna. What a great idea! Oh wait. No.

 

[Neutron]

The Dish rep I talked to do today when I cancelled had a great idea to solve that problem. Since I stated that as one of the reasons for cancelling, she suggested I go buy an antenna. What a great idea! Oh wait. No.

I'm still surprised that after all of these years DISH still does not have Tyler/Longview locals in HD. I know it's due to spotbeam space but still. Suddenlink and Directv have them in HD and have been for a while.

You should have told her you live far away from the towers and you need a $200 antenna up 30 feet to get them.

 

[stardust3]

(4) The supervisor still had no explanation of why no one showed up or called about my first appointment.[/QUOTE]

Blame it on the "cloud"

Glad it all worked out in the end.

These are guidelines & not set in stone but more a rule of thumb.

"Never install a mast mount on stucco, brick, asbestos, aluminum or vinyl siding, chimneys, trees, telephone poles, fence posts, or free standing wooden posts"

 

[chaddux]

I'm still surprised that after all of these years DISH still does not have Tyler/Longview locals in HD. I know it's due to spotbeam space but still. Suddenlink and Directv have them in HD and have been for a while.

You should have told her you live far away from the towers and you need a $200 antenna up 30 feet to get them.

What amazed me more than that is even in the face of imminent cancellation, she still wasn't willing to waive the technician fee for a receiver upgrade. After more than eight years with no receiver upgrade or equipment change ever, they couldn't even waive a $95 charge to keep a loyal customer? Sad. They made it too easy to leave.

 

[Hutch1814]

What amazed me more than that is even in the face of imminent cancellation, she still wasn't willing to waive the technician fee for a receiver upgrade. After more than eight years with no receiver upgrade or equipment change ever, they couldn't even waive a $95 charge to keep a loyal customer? Sad. They made it too easy to leave.

Both companies are notorious for it. I can say Directv is getting better but they'll still let customers leave for a small $49 charge for an upgrade.

 

[stardust3]

Without a doubt directv is better at retaining customers than dish & plan on doing more. Post #6 says it all..........http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads...nces-Q4-and-FY-2012-Results-w-Conf-Call-Notes.

Investing in existing subs is a new 1st for me, hats off to Directv.