When you are contracted to go to upgrade a receiver for an existing customer do you have a way to know what equipment they have currently or Do you just have lnbs and switches for every application on your truck?
Question for *E Installers
- Thread starter SatelliteGAL
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We only know what receivers you have, dish does not supply us with any information as to what lnbfs or switches, I work directly for dish however as BretTRay has put forth its possible that dish may have at one or still does supply this information to RSP's.
You guys got lucky then, I dont know how many "500" upgrades Ive went out on only to find that the customer is pointed at a wing sat and they need a dish 500 installed. I know its symantics but there is a diference between an upgrade and an install.
Brett, the situation you described is occuring still with the RSP here in Ohio. The only information we have on our workorders are the type of receiver that is currently installed. No info about switches, LNBs, mirror-imaged outlets, etc. If the upgrade looks to be a nightmare in the making, I'll generally pre-call the customer the night before to get an overall picture of what I'm walking into.
I ALWAYS pre call, I have had to many Suprises, work orders which are wrong, etc. I have never gotten any info on the dish configuration from the work orders except that if you look at the customers programing and how long they have been a customer you can generaly guess the dish configuration and what switches they have. I try to keep most of the parts on my truck at all times.
I do the same I pre-call every customer 95% of the time. There are too many variables these days with Dishnet customers. Also I will say I have called a couple that I can think of off hand and the customer said they had a dish 500, which raised my eyebrow, and in fact they had a superdish or 300.
I now ask questions as explain to me what the dish looks like or what local channels are you receiving etc.
I now ask questions as explain to me what the dish looks like or what local channels are you receiving etc.
I wish that I could have all the equipment I need on my van to cover any variable but dishnetwork has decided that they need to get rid of a warehouse or 2 full of legacy lnbfs and switches so for the last 6 months I've had almost nothing but legacy dual's, twin's, quad's, 21's, 64's, and 44's. I havent seen a dishpro twin or quad in months unless Im having to replace a bad one on an existing system. We have been lucky enough to get dishpro plus twin's and 44's and dp34's but theres only so much that you can us the dpp stuff on and the 34 is useless on anything except a d1000 wich isnt rolled out yet here in michigan, a superdish install, or on a service call or an add a 5th or 6th receiver. Generaly speaking we are also out of needed supplies every week since some idiot in upper management decided that the company should go to a 2 week supply system. Theres stuff that we havent seen in 4 - 9 months because of this and the fact that our inventory software doesnt work right and that our regional hub in chicago wont send the stuff we need either.
Van said:
Wow
I didn't realize Dish treated their direct employees that bad, with regards to supplies. The push for installs is SO great here that I pretty much will not only carry what I need for that particular day of work, but will ALSO carry EACH kind of receiver (ok...except the 921/942...but c'mon! that's a specialty order) as well as every type of LNB that is out there. It makes for a really full truck! Consequently, a person almost HAS to have a full sized van, or in my case, a full sized truck with contractor cap, to carry all the necessary equipment. What Dish is doing to you Van is what Time Warner did to me when I worked directly for them. It's crazy! "Just in time" warehousing is nice for the bookkeepers, but murder for everyone else.
We are provided the details of the receivers on site in the w/o..also a quick call to DN advanced tech is a good idea if I'm not sure what the cust has there...Also a pre call to the cust works as well..SatelliteGAL said:
"never underestimate the value of a timley phone call".
Geez.. Yopu're working too hard..I do my precalls..If the custs responses to my queries don't jive, I call advanced tech...I then take what I know I need and something I think i need thne hit it..If I can't get it done, then I have the cust reschedule....This rarely happens BTW. ANd if I'm within 30 mins of the office, I'll get all the other stuff doen, go get what I need and finish.....If I'm too far, I have the cust reched.......DN hates rescheds, Yes they do..But if the w/o is wrong and the cust is not sure and advanced tech doesn't know anything, the notes are in the system and we have a leg to stand on.....Again this RARELY happens...webbydude said:Wow
It makes for a really full truck! Consequently, a person almost HAS to have a full sized van, or in my case, a full sized truck with contractor cap, to carry all the necessary equipment. What Dish is doing to you Van is what Time Warner did to me when I worked directly for them. It's crazy! "Just in time" warehousing is nice for the bookkeepers, but murder for everyone else.
There is no need to carry all that stuff to do straight installs....only if you run into an older system where the w/o calls for an add on...These are the toughest jobs to do..Because you are getttng into someone elses work..And it's usually a non spec garbage install.Now I don't know baout anyone elses rules, but we are REQUIRED by DN to bring each job up to specs..So If we go to an add on and it's not grounded, we have to rewire it to spec..This happens way too much.. But we have been told by DN they have a "last guy there policy"....In other words if you get paid on it, you own it.....I think it's a horseshit deal..Butt hey want completeions and they want quality..of course if a job looks like a disaster I will call my dispatch and let them knw that it's a crappy DN job or cust installed..Get a huge amount of notes in there and just do the add on and not bring it to specs....
I think the folks coming to my new place on 12/17 are gonna have fun. I have this nice ON-Q 3GHZ RG6U wire in the house already, but getting the LNB cables from the back of the house (south facing) to the ON-Q box is gonna be fun, in the confucian sense of the word.
However, it'll be ONE time.
I'm asking to get the Sat's I'll need for HD NOW, and the DPP44 switch with sep's for the Dual Tuners.
I just hope the W/O is right
LER
Any of you E* guys here in Round Rock?
However, it'll be ONE time
.I'm asking to get the Sat's I'll need for HD NOW, and the DPP44 switch with sep's for the Dual Tuners
.I just hope the W/O is right
LER
Any of you E* guys here in Round Rock?
dishcomm said:
Your probably right about the "working too hard" bit
, but the whole "last guy policy" is a real PITA. And I'd say 40 percent of my work is trouble-calls or add ons. It's just much easier to have a full set of LNBs onhand instead of creating a potential P.R. fiasco (not that I would blame a customer for being upset because he happens to have a 64 Switch that went bad in the middle of winter).
Getting the time to fix a system that isnt up to date is nearly impossible, if you do take the time then your now running behind and the odds of someone else covering you are not so great. If you spend to much time on the job then your work performance will get questioned after a while, you cant even spend the amount of time that used to be listed on the work orders, if you spend say 4 hours doing a 4 tv hookup on a 2 story brick because there is no prewire at all then they see it as to much time wasted.
You're absolutely right Van! And that's the root cause as to why many new installers take short cuts (forget to ground...not addressing remotes properly...sealing up points of entry...etc). And from your perspective, I'm sure it has to be worse since you get paid per hour and not by the job.
I am hoping that they do call me. I have a 942 on the way and my system is an older legacy. We did have the upgrade to the Dish 500 and I have a 300 at the 61.5. My biggest concern is the dpp44 switch. The lnbs I figure they probably will have. There are 4 lines run into the house and there will be 4 receivers 942, 811, 6000, 510.
You're right...that would be the biggest issue...with any tech. If you feel it's a legit complaint, call Dish and ask them to add the DPP44 as part of the hardware required.
webbydude said:Wow
It makes for a really full truck! Consequently, a person almost HAS to have a full sized van, or in my case, a full sized truck with contractor cap, to carry all the necessary equipment. What Dish is doing to you Van is what Time Warner did to me when I worked directly for them. It's crazy! "Just in time" warehousing is nice for the bookkeepers, but murder for everyone else.
I do the same even though I pre-call most of the time. I have had several people say man u truck has a lot of junk on it(or in it). but I don't care how much you pre-call or talk to advanced tech there are times that there is something that you did not anticipate. I have been doing this for years and just have come to learn to be prepared for anything. I had one today for example that was a super dish and was supposed to be a 301. Yeah right I get there and it is a 2700. Guess what the prob was a bad dish pro adp. If I had not had one on the truck it would have been a wasted trip and I would have had to went back.
