The local DNS guys are under pressure to produce # and quality suffers alot for this. Like I have always said you get what you pay for. So go ask you mechanic to work for $10-15 an hour and see what kind of work he does. I wouldn't be surprised to find your car back in the shop more than once. The coin has two sides to it remember that. I've seen this industry at its best , and at its worst.
Poor Service
- Thread starter yelraek
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DNS guys under pressure to produce numbers? No way...........
A DNS tech depends every month 40% of their numbers on trouble calls within 12 days, alot of it for the longest time was a damn pole mount, if the tech didn't want to start digging 3 feet into the ground in fear of striking a gas line he'd put it up on a temp mount, contact miss dig and when the customer calls up within the first 12 days the tech gets nailed for it. 3 trouble calls in one month that tech is basically screwed. About a week or two after I left dish finally resolved that so the tech doesn't get dinged.
Customer can't get their remote to operate their DVD player, DNS tech gets screwed again, kid takes remote and takes the battery out, customer calls complaining they don't have any batteries, bam DNS tech gets screwed again....... reciever takes a crap, again same scenario.
DISH does that to their tech's, they bitch and bitch and bitch saying something like 26 million dollars last year was spent on customer education issues, so they put the blame on the techs when one could spend all day trying to explain how a DVR works, still comes back and bites them.
The pole mount was probably one of the most ignorant things Charlie could have ever done, basically forcing the tech to dig that hole in order to keep their "SCORE" in par. Then again the whole trouble call issue as far as TV2 going off channel is another. Like I said 3 trouble calls and your down in the pits.
I always found a way to complete more jobs by working the system so my trouble call percentage would be far less below and I would end up at the top.
They need to stop changing things every week and stick with one thing and go with it.
That would help some, but it's not going to solve all the issues that float around.
A DNS tech depends every month 40% of their numbers on trouble calls within 12 days, alot of it for the longest time was a damn pole mount, if the tech didn't want to start digging 3 feet into the ground in fear of striking a gas line he'd put it up on a temp mount, contact miss dig and when the customer calls up within the first 12 days the tech gets nailed for it. 3 trouble calls in one month that tech is basically screwed. About a week or two after I left dish finally resolved that so the tech doesn't get dinged.
Customer can't get their remote to operate their DVD player, DNS tech gets screwed again, kid takes remote and takes the battery out, customer calls complaining they don't have any batteries, bam DNS tech gets screwed again....... reciever takes a crap, again same scenario.
DISH does that to their tech's, they bitch and bitch and bitch saying something like 26 million dollars last year was spent on customer education issues, so they put the blame on the techs when one could spend all day trying to explain how a DVR works, still comes back and bites them.
The pole mount was probably one of the most ignorant things Charlie could have ever done, basically forcing the tech to dig that hole in order to keep their "SCORE" in par. Then again the whole trouble call issue as far as TV2 going off channel is another. Like I said 3 trouble calls and your down in the pits.
I always found a way to complete more jobs by working the system so my trouble call percentage would be far less below and I would end up at the top.
They need to stop changing things every week and stick with one thing and go with it.
That would help some, but it's not going to solve all the issues that float around.
i was a 7 month gold tech. that is i WAS a gold tech till all this new #s crap came down.. all the jobs and points are killing us. and it all falls on deaf ears...
bringing all jobs we touch to code. 65-75 points per day (often more when short handed) with 250 miles of driving and all jobs being AM, fairly low pay and long hours for pissed off customers and pissed offf managers, tons of paper work, no time off, the dish widow telling you your job sucks, needing to making all kinds of phone calls just to satiisfy one job, not being provided cell phones or no cell phone service in ruarl areas, needing to be knowlegeable in many techinical and physical vocations to be good at it installing, no health insurance, doing more at the install for less, equipment that doesnt work right out of the box, shady retailers promising what cant be delivered. customers want everything free, newbie managers, newbie dispatchers, newbie csrs, newbie techs,,,,,etc etc etc Its a wonder that any of it works at all.
its hard to keep good intelligent people interested in installing. burn out occurs quickly, newbies are overwhelemed, oldies just say screw it - not worth it any more. its takes a year or more to become a really "good" "experianced" installer, if anyone makes it that long.
the attrition rate at our shop is ghastly so they must hire any warm body.
its a tough business and hard for your average installer to keep anyone happy. calling your customers when you are a noob is the last thing on your mind when its 3 pm and your still stuck at your 1st of 6 jobs for the day and you cant make the damn thing work because you just dont know whats wrong.....call the shop,,,,,newbie trouble shooter doesnt know either ands says your on your own. crazy business.
I guess I was lucky then..I had a great installer, and he had a trainee with him, who had been a Comcast guy for years, but hated them so he came over to the satalite world.
Between the 2 of them, they hooked up everything the way I wanted, showed me how they had wired tied/bundled everything properly, even with drip loops, got everything working in under 2 hours..Of course, as I do with all service people, I gave them drinks, cookies, and offerred them anything else I could think of, but when all was said and done, they were 100 times better than any of the folks that Comcast had sent to me over the years.
Maybe its because I am near a major city,(Chicago), but I have had satalite dishes installed 3 times in the last 15 years, and every time the job was done well.
My problems have allways been with the Customer service people at either Dish or Direct, never the installers...
Between the 2 of them, they hooked up everything the way I wanted, showed me how they had wired tied/bundled everything properly, even with drip loops, got everything working in under 2 hours..Of course, as I do with all service people, I gave them drinks, cookies, and offerred them anything else I could think of, but when all was said and done, they were 100 times better than any of the folks that Comcast had sent to me over the years.
Maybe its because I am near a major city,(Chicago), but I have had satalite dishes installed 3 times in the last 15 years, and every time the job was done well.
My problems have allways been with the Customer service people at either Dish or Direct, never the installers...
Because Dish is a multi million dollar company..As far as the tech in concenred IMO there is NO excuse for non comunication..If I am running late, I cal my other customers to let them know. If I am unablle to call, my office wil do that for me. We don't leave customers hanging...
Now just a minute..I am going to be bery direct..MIssing work or a tee time or whatveer is not a legitimatye complaint. If you are bsuy on a certain day then schedule oytur appointment for a day when you are NOT busy. I get this complaint on occasion even when even though I make sure I am on time without fail. People still complain about not geting ot the hair dresser or havving to take a day off.. The issue is no one has to miss anything. THe customer has a choice to not take the earliest appointment available..The customer can also take a convenient appoinment time as well.
This is not to excuse the non communication. On my watch this does not happen.. I always call if I am running late. If a customer requests a heads up call, they get it..100%...Communication eleiminates 99% o fthe headaches..Never underestimate the value of a phone call
WB makes promises they have no bsuiness doing so..Forutunately I have full support from the office staff. We stick to our guns..If WB or anyone else promises custom work or other work that what's on the order we will not do the work without payment..Fortunately I haven't run into this much at all.
If a customer tells me' "well they said"..I stop th customer right there and let them know that I do not work for "they". Usually when a customer invokes "they" , the customer is trying pt pull a fast one..I know when this is happening and I will tell them in no uncertain terms that if it isn't on the w/o ,it isn't getting done..At least without additional payment and If I have time and I feel like doing it..if it's going to be a big hassle and the money isn't worth it, I decline the opportunity. I look at things foprm all angles., The fiorst consideration is what I call the "aggrevation factor'..In other words I look at what I am about to get myself into..If it looks like a headache, I pass...The money isn't that important
"My point is that in general, customer service has been really bad as of late. In my opinion the problem is with management, poor training, total miscommunication and not setting realistic goals for the number of installations has lead to this debacle as of late"
GReat post!!!!!...the sad part is the situation with overloading techs with 18 hrs worth of work and demand that the work is ot be finshed at all costs is having an adverse effect on customer service..Techs get burned out. They blow of jobs that can get done. But becaus eof the long hours, soem get left out. Yes customers are befcomeing more shall we say, "aware" of the free stuff. They are also making demands for extra free services that thye are not entitled to . The satco's are becoming more and more willing to bend over and grab their ankles when it comes to customer complaints. So it;s a two way street....
My old office would get 6 - 8 trouble calls a day to fix sub contractor work for customers who were tired of dealing with subs, to put it bluntly there are problem techs on both sides but I'll say that I see it more on the subs side when a tech gets paid by the job and increasing on dns side when routes are increased past what is an acceptable level to allow the technician time to do a proper install and demonstration on how to use the system.
Try 14 phone calls
I made the worst mistake. I tried to switch a 942 for a 722 and a bad 622 for another 622. I am serious 14 phone calls and finally two months later i have the 722 and just today got my 622. The are a bunch of nincompops, my bill a month is over $250, i get lot of international channels. I is unreal when you make 9 phone calls to get a 722 and get told your receiver is on its way,to finally find out 7 phone calls later that they forgot to have you do a telephone disclaimer, finally to do it and still have to make 3 phone calls to finally get the 722.
Then to make another5 phone calls to make them realize that yes i have got the 722, but there is a 622 at issue leased with a bad hdmi ports. They keep inisting i have received the receiver, dah its a 722 not my bad 622. I have 4 receivers in my house. With dish i have learnt the csr's are a joke, if you want to get it done, have a tech support bring a receiver to your doorstep. That is what i finally did to get my 722.
I made the worst mistake. I tried to switch a 942 for a 722 and a bad 622 for another 622. I am serious 14 phone calls and finally two months later i have the 722 and just today got my 622. The are a bunch of nincompops, my bill a month is over $250, i get lot of international channels. I is unreal when you make 9 phone calls to get a 722 and get told your receiver is on its way,to finally find out 7 phone calls later that they forgot to have you do a telephone disclaimer, finally to do it and still have to make 3 phone calls to finally get the 722.
Then to make another5 phone calls to make them realize that yes i have got the 722, but there is a 622 at issue leased with a bad hdmi ports. They keep inisting i have received the receiver, dah its a 722 not my bad 622. I have 4 receivers in my house. With dish i have learnt the csr's are a joke, if you want to get it done, have a tech support bring a receiver to your doorstep. That is what i finally did to get my 722.
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as a what you call "staco" i, a dns tech bend forward nor backward for anyone!
rules is rules ma'am/sir ... aint happening
rules is rules ma'am/sir ... aint happening
this used to be a fun and rewarding occupation. Now it's drudgery..I Can't get out of this miserable business soon enough. Dish is making the job bigger and bigger and we are spending more an more time on jobs making sure the customers understand to cal us rather than Dish( to cdut down on troble calls) and they STILL hit the panic button and call Dish. it's gotten to the point where very job I do is an automatic trouble call. People will call dish for anything. For example. I have one tomorrow (9/28) . The customers's dog chewed the cable. The system was installed about 10 days ago. Ther CSR was too much of a chicken sh*t to charge the customer so we get hit with a TC since it was our install.
I prdict thta within 5 yrs or so, the satellite install business will have very few qulaified techs. Very few who really care, give good customer service, do nat clean installs and when faced with a challenge do what they can to get the job done. Within 5 yrs the customers will be dealing with inexperinced hacks making garbage money and could not care less about the customers. Turnover in the DNS office here is tremenodous. My suoervisor and i were cghatting the other day. He told me he spoke ot the GM at the locval DNS office and he said that office was down by 10 techs. That's 20% below target. That office is constantly hiring and I guess firing people. One thing that prevents quality applicants form seeking work is the paltry hourly wage. $11.75 /hr . The top pay rate is only $14/hr...Every tech no matter how much or little experience starts at the bottom rate. The FSM's get abused as well. These people must stay in the office until all techs have returned to the office. The FSM's here start at $30k per year, draw no overtime and work as much as 70 hrs per week.
It gets better. Accrding to my employer Dish has LOWERED the pay to DNS subs twice in the 3 yrs I have worked at this one company. These people are nice enough to eat that and have not lowered the pay we get per job. They could easily do that. But they know that some of us would not tolerate a pay cut. Of course our costs keep going up and we have to eat that. GAs is $2,80 a gallon 1000 feet of UL listed 3 gig MHZ swept cabe is up to $50 and single with ground about $70 per 1000ft spool. Connectors cost more. Everything. It's getting very expesive to do this job and there's not much more breating room. Something has to give. Either the customers are going to have to kick in more per month or Dish is going to run techs out of this business. The good ones will leave first.
Update
My problem has been fixed. The appointment was for 8:00 to 12:00 today. About 9:30 the tech called me and said he was running a little late and would be here by 11:30. At 11:30 he was here. He determined that my problem could be solved by adding a second dish pointed at 61.5. The signal from 129 was too weak. The signal from 61.5 is almost 3 times stronger than 129. I should not experience any more unusual signal losses. I was very impressed with the tech that came today. They must have called the wrong tech last week.
My problem has been fixed. The appointment was for 8:00 to 12:00 today. About 9:30 the tech called me and said he was running a little late and would be here by 11:30. At 11:30 he was here. He determined that my problem could be solved by adding a second dish pointed at 61.5. The signal from 129 was too weak. The signal from 61.5 is almost 3 times stronger than 129. I should not experience any more unusual signal losses. I was very impressed with the tech that came today. They must have called the wrong tech last week.
You seem to have a very poor attitude! Maybe you should find a different job.... :shocked
its not that he has a poor attitude... it just gets soooo old being run in the ground at work.. it was fun... then the $ got to dish
His attitude shows up in his posts. It's this type of attitude that could cost *E customers.
OK..I run into this all the time. The customer schedules fro a day when they know they have to make special arrangements to be there. Examples are missing work, having to take the kids to school or pick them up, go shopping, get their hair done, etc.
Keep in mind while thre is no excuse for a no call no show, ther are always factors in that effect the techs work day. One which is most prominent is getting stuck on a difficult or time consuming job. Too many times customers get angry with us over stuff that is out of our control. The job you scheduled is most likely the only on ethat tech has that day.
Now , just because Dish tells customers the earliest day doesn't mean the cust MUST choose that day. A customer is always free to choose a day farther out that is most convenient for them. Another example is when the tech arrives within the time frame and the customer says they have an hour before they have to leave. We can't work like that. When appointments ar eset there is a time frame in which the tech is allowed to arrive and be on time. 8-12 or 12-5. Contrary to popular thgought, that means we must arrive between those hrs. Not have the job complete between those hrs.
I try to work my jobs geographically first. Then I prioritize by time frame. I do this because on some days I get all AM or all PM jobs. Since I cannot be in three places at once I must ask customers to be flexible. 95% are flexible.
You got screwed by a no call no show. That's wrong. But you have to be aware that giving just a half day isn't the best idea. Suppose you shceduled for an 8-12 arrical. The tech gets there at say 11am. You have to be realistic and give the tech ample time complete the job. Suppose there is a mega issue that requires a couple hrs of work time. Would you still then get pissed because it took longer than you anticpated and as a result missed a half days work?..It's the same thing. Missed work is missed work, is it not?.
