New Dish installer needs help!!

[Liquidforce88]

Where their names AL & ED. Sounds like a pair of idiots I fired in Saginaw Mi a few years ago.

 

[vegassatellite]

They worked for us for about 2 weeks... I had to go back and fix EVERY job they did in that time frame.
Half of them were pointing into trees, NO grounds on ANY job, every customer I talked to had only bad things to say about them... hell, one of them said the installers lit up a cig in the older gentlemans house.
When the customer asked him to take it outside, he looked at him like he was offended or something.
In that 2 week time period, we also had 4 tree mounts that I had to move.
And one of them they did the tv2 backfeed through existing flat antenna wire... yeah, it worked, but it was fuzzy as hell. They just told the customer there was nothing they could do about it.

They didn't know how to use a diplexer, and would run all kinds of unnecessary wire, which made the installs look like crap. Mosts of the new installs we do are new contructions, that are all pre-wired... and we provide the diplexers, so there was no reason for any extra wiring.

Basically, they had absolutely no common sense, and didn't care about the customer, or their home.... at all.

So you hired these two DirecTV installers and didn't give them any training on DISH? The two systems are different enough now that a DTV installer is rarely going to be proficient on a DISH system without some form of comprehensive training. Also, it is foolish to draw some kind of relationship between a person's quality of work and their meter of choice. To even mention these installers as a reply to someone vouching for Birdogs is just grasping for straws.

 

[Skibum]

Try doing that in a market where the skew is 89. There is something to be said for Positive ID on a satellite.

The skew on our 500 dishes is 92 (but 90 is just fine), on the 1000.2 it's 97. So yes, I pick up 5-6 birds in a very small window. I just happen to know which is which. You're definitely right about positive ID and some more advanced tools, but again, it's just what I'm used to.

I probably could have gotten a SuperBuddy, but I'm more stoked for my new bed to come next week. :up

 

[dishcomm]

They worked for us for about 2 weeks... I had to go back and fix EVERY job they did in that time frame.
Half of them were pointing into trees, NO grounds on ANY job, every customer I talked to had only bad things to say about them... hell, one of them said the installers lit up a cig in the older gentlemans house.
When the customer asked him to take it outside, he looked at him like he was offended or something.
In that 2 week time period, we also had 4 tree mounts that I had to move.
And one of them they did the tv2 backfeed through existing flat antenna wire... yeah, it worked, but it was fuzzy as hell. They just told the customer there was nothing they could do about it.

They didn't know how to use a diplexer, and would run all kinds of unnecessary wire, which made the installs look like crap. Mosts of the new installs we do are new contructions, that are all pre-wired... and we provide the diplexers, so there was no reason for any extra wiring.

Basically, they had absolutely no common sense, and didn't care about the customer, or their home.... at all.

It is a miracle they made it as far as working for you. I cannot begin to guess how it is these so called installers are in this business.

 

[markon3]

Not to step on anyone's toes or anything, but I find this thread extremely ironic!! I work for a D* HSP locally, and if you were to come here and check out OUR quality of work compared to that of the local subs for E*, I think you would be mildly surprised. The quality of work from these local E* subs is HORRENDOUS!! I'd be willing to bet MONEY that 7 out of 10 E* installs here are NOT grounded. 90% of these have 1 single wire running off of the dish to said location... that, I'll never understand. Another thing I see a lot of is the switch being zip-tied to the back assembly... why is that? Wouldn't it be a lot more practical to place it in the basement (or at least somewhere close to a ground source) to a.) protect it from the enviroment, and b.) to make future upgrades a lot easier. Not to mention, it would probably make it LOOK a lot nicer... considering if you DID have to upgrade such a system, you'd have to zip-tie the cable or tack up a brand-new run ALL the way back to the dish?! I don't know.

From what I've read here in the past couple of months since joining the site, it does seem like a majority of "us" are Dish Net related, and more than a number of you actually KNOW what the hell you're doing... which leads me to wonder - where the f*ck is Dish getting their subs from locally???

As for the diplexer thing, I can (almost) attest to the former D* employees not knowing what they were doing... use of a diplexer is almost non-existent working for D*. Rarely EVER are they used to backfeed through a cable. IMHO, it doesn't seem very complicated, and it leads me to wonder how much training was provided to these two before sending them out in the field? I would think if they actually had any IDEA what it was for (in regards to an E* setup) that they would've GLADLY installed a couple o' diplexers as opposed to running a brand new line (through a flat-cable no-less... LOL) from the receiver. Maybe it's just me...

Either way, I'm not here to ruffle any feathers... just stating my opinion and getting some of YOURS while I'm at it.

~ Mark

 

[dishcomm]

Not to step on anyone's toes or anything, but I find this thread extremely ironic!! I work for a D* HSP locally, and if you were to come here and check out OUR quality of work compared to that of the local subs for E*, I think you would be mildly surprised. The quality of work from these local E* subs is HORRENDOUS!! I'd be willing to bet MONEY that 7 out of 10 E* installs here are NOT grounded. 90% of these have 1 single wire running off of the dish to said location... that, I'll never understand. Another thing I see a lot of is the switch being zip-tied to the back assembly... why is that? Wouldn't it be a lot more practical to place it in the basement (or at least somewhere close to a ground source) to a.) protect it from the enviroment, and b.) to make future upgrades a lot easier. Not to mention, it would probably make it LOOK a lot nicer... considering if you DID have to upgrade such a system, you'd have to zip-tie the cable or tack up a brand-new run ALL the way back to the dish?! I don't know.

From what I've read here in the past couple of months since joining the site, it does seem like a majority of "us" are Dish Net related, and more than a number of you actually KNOW what the hell you're doing... which leads me to wonder - where the f*ck is Dish getting their subs from locally???

As for the diplexer thing, I can (almost) attest to the former D* employees not knowing what they were doing... use of a diplexer is almost non-existent working for D*. Rarely EVER are they used to backfeed through a cable. IMHO, it doesn't seem very complicated, and it leads me to wonder how much training was provided to these two before sending them out in the field? I would think if they actually had any IDEA what it was for (in regards to an E* setup) that they would've GLADLY installed a couple o' diplexers as opposed to running a brand new line (through a flat-cable no-less... LOL) from the receiver. Maybe it's just me...

Either way, I'm not here to ruffle any feathers... just stating my opinion and getting some of YOURS while I'm at it.

~ Mark

The issue of poor work is most likely a issue from contractor to contractor. My employers insist upon exemplory work. If a tech does not meet standards, he won't for for us .Period

On to placement of switches. There is nothing wrong with this. As long as UV protected tie wraps are used , the thing is jst fine. This is doen for two main reasons.One is the exyra runs of cabel . On a large home where th dish is on anopther part of the home form the d-mark , sveral hundred feet of cable would be required to install just one dual tuner receiver. Sorry, I am not some rich guy that I can burn up a spool of coax in two jobs.. Another point.. Most I would say 75% of customers do not want all that cable attached to their home. No way.
These switches are designed to be out in the weather. Says it right in the installation guide.
Who knows wherre these so called contractors are comiong form. Most of them are fly by nioght peopel looking for a quick buck. They get these contracts, hire the dregs of society and bang out as much work as they can.
There is one on our area which has lost several techs to us.
The techs that have come over here have told us of 7 day work weeks. One day off per month. Mega chargeback ripoffs.
Anoither thunbg this company does is over hire. They use core people and have guys that wil get maybe two jobs one day and none the next. This is done to keep the fear in the guys that get the majority of the work.
If a tech gets pissed off , they would jyst tell him there's someone waiting to take their job right now.
This company has very high turnover. In fact they hire such crappy people with bad habits, we will no longer hire anyone who has worked for that company as their only satellite employer. Their work is that bad.
Yes, diplexers are a wonderful piece of equipment. They save lots of time and money.

 

[markon3]

The issue of poor work is most likely a issue from contractor to contractor. My employers insist upon exemplory work. If a tech does not meet standards, he won't for for us .Period

On to placement of switches. There is nothing wrong with this. As long as UV protected tie wraps are used , the thing is jst fine. This is doen for two main reasons.One is the exyra runs of cabel . On a large home where th dish is on anopther part of the home form the d-mark , sveral hundred feet of cable would be required to install just one dual tuner receiver. Sorry, I am not some rich guy that I can burn up a spool of coax in two jobs.. Another point.. Most I would say 75% of customers do not want all that cable attached to their home. No way.
These switches are designed to be out in the weather. Says it right in the installation guide.
Who knows wherre these so called contractors are comiong form. Most of them are fly by nioght peopel looking for a quick buck. They get these contracts, hire the dregs of society and bang out as much work as they can.
There is one on our area which has lost several techs to us.
The techs that have come over here have told us of 7 day work weeks. One day off per month. Mega chargeback ripoffs.
Anoither thunbg this company does is over hire. They use core people and have guys that wil get maybe two jobs one day and none the next. This is done to keep the fear in the guys that get the majority of the work.
If a tech gets pissed off , they would jyst tell him there's someone waiting to take their job right now.
This company has very high turnover. In fact they hire such crappy people with bad habits, we will no longer hire anyone who has worked for that company as their only satellite employer. Their work is that bad.
Yes, diplexers are a wonderful piece of equipment. They save lots of time and money.

Thanks you for the clarification, DishComm I guess I can see where you're coming from... especially considering you're a sub and most of your supplies are out of pocket. Makes a lot of sense really. I thought maybe they were kept by the dish so that tuning could done from one output on the switch rather than individually.

As for your local D* company, I can relate to most of that as well... we're a relatively small market by comparison, and by being such, we have only a handful of techs that cover our region. That said, we're a pretty tight-knit bunch, and wouldn't think twice to jump on one another for a crappy job. Nothing worse than rolling up to a job, and finding out you have to clean up the last guys mess On the other hand, there are rare occassions when workload is too heavy for us to manage independently, and we have to bring subs in from other areas to help complete pending w/o's. These yahoo's fit your description to a TEE!! They come in it, ready to bang out as many jobs as possible, make the money, and they're gone... leaving US to fix their mistakes/laziness.

So yeah, I can relate. It's nice to meet some guys on here from the other side of the fence though... I enjoy reading up some of the issues you E* guys are facing out in the field, and to get a better understanding of how guys operate. I just wish there were a few more D* techs around here... I feel like I stick out like a sore :up here in the installer zone!!

 

[DTVTech50051]

Thanks you for the clarification, DishComm I guess I can see where you're coming from... especially considering you're a sub and most of your supplies are out of pocket. Makes a lot of sense really. I thought maybe they were kept by the dish so that tuning could done from one output on the switch rather than individually.

As for your local D* company, I can relate to most of that as well... we're a relatively small market by comparison, and by being such, we have only a handful of techs that cover our region. That said, we're a pretty tight-knit bunch, and wouldn't think twice to jump on one another for a crappy job. Nothing worse than rolling up to a job, and finding out you have to clean up the last guys mess On the other hand, there are rare occassions when workload is too heavy for us to manage independently, and we have to bring subs in from other areas to help complete pending w/o's. These yahoo's fit your description to a TEE!! They come in it, ready to bang out as many jobs as possible, make the money, and they're gone... leaving US to fix their mistakes/laziness.

So yeah, I can relate. It's nice to meet some guys on here from the other side of the fence though... I enjoy reading up some of the issues you E* guys are facing out in the field, and to get a better understanding of how guys operate. I just wish there were a few more D* techs around here... I feel like I stick out like a sore :up here in the installer zone!!

Not alone brother, just the e* guys outnumber us here as this site was skewed more towards dish net till reciently when scott saw the light and added directv at home.