Repossed Dish Real Property

[telxon]

Im gonna start by saying, I install commercial satellite systems (spacenet, verizon business, viasat)

My exwife had directv installed by a local retailer here in arkansas approx 1 year ago, at a residence outside of town. 6 mo ago, she moved to a place in town. Dtv and the retailer wanted some kind of money for a "mover", I told her i would just grab an old dish and hook it up. sometime in november her account became past due.

No big deal, shes getting it all caught up w tax money. and told DTV as much.
But then she calls me today, when she walked out to leave this morning, noticed her dish was gone. she called retailer, they had "repossed" it. would be reinstalled once her bill was payed.

Well my first problem, i have been in this business for over 10 years, I have always understood that once u install a dish on someones property it becomes "real property" and is permanent until the homeowner decides otherwise.

I am in Arkansas, if someone could please clarify this, I would appreciate it.

2nd problem is that they took MY DISH.. the dish they installed is still on the first residence. I see this as theft and she has filed a police report as such.
I also contacted the ACC dept at DTV and filed a complaint. Monday, i will proceed with calling DSI or P10, whoever their distributor is, to file complaints too...

i have always heard about this retailer doing such "repos" and thought it was wrong. But now, they really messed up. My Dish, not the property where they installed "their" dish. when i called ACC, they did tell me that the retailer had called in to verify her address. retailers can do this,to verify workorders ONLY. NOT to find out where a customer has moved to so they can go "repo" their dish. Also,DTV fully assured me that they do not condone repossessing dishes (they just want the electonics).

Im quite disturbed by all this. I believe that this is nothing but THEFT!
My dish, wrong residence, "repo'd" while she was at work...

Come on, i can see where the company would want equipment back. I understand the chargeback system. Nobody wants to loose.
But, what are they going to do with this used dish? cant use it on a new job (last time i saw business rules anyways). So whats the point of the repo? dishes are cheap, cheaper than me driving to a house and pulling a dish.

Any input will be appreciated. Im upset at the legalities of this deal, not my dish, that i have 20 of pilled up in the backyard. Criminal charges have been filled and am trying to decide if i want a civil decision too. To me this is a matter of Right vs Wrong...

Any advise?

 

[Joe Diamond]

Keep doin what you are doin,

They are guilty of trespassing & theft + some kind of property damage. But the amount is so small you will be out more than another dish is worth if you start with a lawyer. The cops are free nd putting some heat on Directv or their HSP office should do it. I think this is a time when the use of force will be a waste of time but the threat of the use of force will do it.

Joe

 

[stonecold]

All I can say is OMG.... I handled some wierd calls but that would take the cake.

 

[Joe Diamond]

All I can say is OMG.... I handled some wierd calls but that would take the cake.

Pretty rare!

I have heard of cable companies that paid a "bounty" for dead sat dishes. Then, you never know what a POed spouse will do. This could be an unpaid tech that just started harvesting his gear as a ploy to get paid...but this one doesn't quite fit that.

More will be revealed.

Joe

 

[Claude Greiner]

As far as im concerned its leased equipment, and if the bill has not been paid then the retailer has every right to get their equipment back especially if they are getting charged back for it.

I know here in Michigan there is a law on the books that allows you to remove your property if it can be done in a peacefull way.

I have done repos like this before, and usually I will knock on the door first and ask for the equipment first and get permission. If nobody is home, then I usually will go and remove my equipment so I don't have to waste my time coming back again.

I doubt anything is going to come out of this, Directv, Perfect 10 don't care because your no longer a paying Directv subscriber. As far as the police are concerned its a civil matter.

Pay your Directv bill and the retailer will come put it back up

 

[telxon]

Joe
agree with ur first post very much. its not for $. I am hoping for a big lesson learned. This retailer has had these procedures for years. Always reminds me of a buy here pay here car lot The dishes all end up in a junk pile behind their store. I personally know the tech that installed it, no longer works there and lives in Colorado working for cable company, so lets hope not lol..

Claude,
I agree that it is all leased equipment. Pretty sure tho, 2 dvr's and a d11 greatly outweighs the 40 bucks for a dishkit. And they didnt even ask for the recievers..
BUT the dish they took, was not what they installed. they knew this because they had to call DTV for new address. They knew they didnt move it.

If your customer buys a new home with dish already installed and just plugs their recievers in, and then disconnects, would you take that dish??? I would hope not. Your dish is where you installed it, RIGHT???

Both companies ask for the electronics ONLY back in a default. the rest is too much liability. I dont remember if the cost of the dish is included in chargeback, but if it is, that includes the $7 mast. Does that give you the right to remove a mast bolted to a roof, just because bought it? Oh, what about the wire you put into the wall? you paid for that too..

 

[Claude Greiner]

It wouldn't surprise me if the retailer went to the old house also and took that Dish too. I had a lady once cost me $1000 on a chargeback, took the Dish off the old house when I saw it was vacant on the first attempt to retrieve my equipment, and when I finally tracked her down to her new address I took the Dish she got when she did the Dishmover. Customer don't know any better, considering they are never going to get DISH Network again at that address when they owe a previous bill and the Dish was given to them for free when they moved. They way I justify it is that I had a 3rd party contract and the customer never paid me what I was owed on the cancellation so I took the Dish to help off set the costs.

I do see your point on some things. From a retailers point of view, the Dish can be reused on another installation if its been in the field for a few months and does not show any signs of weathering.

Everytime I have taken a Dish off of a customers home, I always leave the mast. We have so many left over masts from doing pole mounts, its not worth the effort involved to remove it and properly seal the holes. If I leave the mast, all you need is a 7/16 wrench and a pair of wire cutters and you can have the Dish down in less than a minute. If you remove the mast, you got about 10 minutes and a few extra trips up and down the ladder.

As far as both companies requiring the electronics back, they only do that because it aint worth them to pay the shipping to return the Dish. Directv doesn't ask for the Dish back, but DISH Network will require the LNB and switch.

When a retailer does a repo, its almost impossible to get a customer to ship anything back to you and if your going to go out there, you might as well take the Dish when your there.

One thing that does puzzle me, what type of Dish did they take? If it was a slimline Dish I could see why, but if it was a standard 18 inch Dish its worth less than $10.

 

[stonecold]

Dish told me they wanted the lnb and switches back 2x dpp44 1xdp34 by there records but 3 lnbs I old them if they wanted them so badly to send somone out as I was not running up a latter for some fadded lnbs and I was not getting poked by my boxwoods to un mount my switches.

they said no problem just have a good day ... ( I owned all my equipment so they did not ask for anything back )

 

[Jimbo]

Directv came to remove the dish or the retailer.

I have always believed that the dish is the subs property once it's been installed.
MOST installers refuse to remove OLD dishes when updating services.

I can understand that they might want the recvrs back, but not the dish.

I think you have a pissed retailer, not D*, as D* would NOT need to come out to turn your service off, all they need to do it pull up your account and shut it down.

I think D* would let you slide for 2-3 months (maybe more) before shutting down your service.... never been in that situation, so I don't know for sure.

None the less, I think it's the retailer that you have an issue with.

 

[SamCdbs]

sometime in november her account became past due.

I have always understood that once u install a dish on someones property it becomes "real property" and is permanent until the homeowner decides otherwise.

I see this as theft and she has filed a police report as such.

Im quite disturbed by all this. I believe that this is nothing but THEFT!
My dish, wrong residence, "repo'd" while she was at work...

Any advise?

Advice:

Pay your bills. If you owe somebody money it is up to them, not you to decide that it is "no big deal".

Call the police and tell them you are very sorry you wasted their time and hopefully you will get out of filing a false police report charges.

Read your contract. The dish is leased and the personal property of the corporation and never becomes "real property".

Nothing happened here. Move along.

 

[NotMe546]

I know in NY doing plumbing (in the past) once I installed something it was no longer mine, where or not it was paid for didn't matter.
Call your local District Attorney office and ask.
I always say in life what goes around comes around but sometime it needs a helping hand.

 

[stonecold]

As far as im concerned its leased equipment, and if the bill has not been paid then the retailer has every right to get their equipment back especially if they are getting charged back for it.

I know here in Michigan there is a law on the books that allows you to remove your property if it can be done in a peacefull way.

I have done repos like this before, and usually I will knock on the door first and ask for the equipment first and get permission. If nobody is home, then I usually will go and remove my equipment so I don't have to waste my time coming back again.

I doubt anything is going to come out of this, Directv, Perfect 10 don't care because your no longer a paying Directv subscriber. As far as the police are concerned its a civil matter.

Pay your Directv bill and the retailer will come put it back up

Lucky you dont live in FL... If I caught you trying to touch anything on my house I would shoot you and get away with it. Assuming I shot you in the front.

It is stupid and pointless to steal back a dish. It not a repo it is stealing. In most states to have a "Legal" repo a note has to be involve. There is no note agreement between you and the customer, stating if they go past due you have the right to repo a piece of sheet metal for crying out loud.

 

[wildbill129]

Advice:

Pay your bills. If you owe somebody money it is up to them, not you to decide that it is "no big deal".

Call the police and tell them you are very sorry you wasted their time and hopefully you will get out of filing a false police report charges.

Read your contract. The dish is leased and the personal property of the corporation and never becomes "real property".

Nothing happened here. Move along.

Not true. The Dish is not leased with DirecTV only the receivers. That is why they won't service it unless you have the protection plan or you pay a fee. Once it is installed on your property, it is yours, as well as the wiring.

You are also missing the point. The OP bought that dish himself!

Yes, the OP's ex needs to pay her bills, but they still don't have a right to do what they did. There has to be more to the story here. DirecTV would never send out an installer to remove a dish. Why would they? If they want to turn you off, they just disable your receivers.

Why an installer would get in the middle of a customer service billing issue I don't know. It doesn't make sense.

 

[deathmetal]

Advice:

Pay your bills. If you owe somebody money it is up to them, not you to decide that it is "no big deal".

Call the police and tell them you are very sorry you wasted their time and hopefully you will get out of filing a false police report charges.

Read your contract. The dish is leased and the personal property of the corporation and never becomes "real property".

Nothing happened here. Move along.

read the post-it was HIS dish,they stole the wrong dish(and most likely the original one).I think an apology is warranted.

 

[telxon]

I am glad to see both sides of this

This was a used triple lnb dish that had been laying in my yard for several years.
you could have used it on a new install only if your customer was blind..

The retailer repo'd the dish. there is no issue w DTV, except for the fact that they let this retailer represent them.

claude
if this was a truck repo, you cant take his other car also, just bc u lost money...
its not right to take 2 dishes from a customer when YOU only installed 1. that is THEFT anyway you look at it. How do you sleep at night?

stonecold
He would have been shot in AR too...

wildbill129
thats the way i always have understood the lease to be.
The retailer is protecting its investment, going about it in all the wrong ways..

 

[Jimbo]

btw, Telxon ....
I would say "Welcome to the Site", but you've been here awhile ....

So "Welcome to the Posting" side of the site

 

[Stargazer]

I side with Claude on this IF the retailer has a contract with the customer stating that it is the retailer's property until the equipment has been active for twelve consecutive months and that the hardware has been paid in full if the customer is making payments. I have had to do some repo's myself due to non-payment and disconnects. The customer signed the contract agreeing that I had a right to come onto the premises and remove the equipment if they broke the contract.

If the customer did not sign a contract or it did not state anything about returning the dish then I would have to side with the customer. I also think that if it is not just like the original dish then I would leave that dish alone.

 

[wildbill129]

Telxon, I would look at your wife's contract she signed with the original installer. It might shed some light on this. You might find a sentence in the contract authorizing the retailer to come back and remove the dish. It would specifically have to allow them to access her "private" property to do the repossession. Barring that caveat in the contract, they are trespassing. A roof is clearly private property and it is not normally accessible to the public like a driveway or front walkway would be. (which is were car repossessors are limited too)

 

[Claude Greiner]

Look at the car repo guys, if the car is parked in your driveway its fair game. The only time you can't take the car is if its behind a locked gate, inside a garage, or would require that you move another parked vehicle.

Reguardless of everything, lets look at the facts here...

#1 The customer knows they where wrong by not paying the bill

#2 The retailer did not get caught while removing the Dish.

#3 Directv or Perfect 10 or whoever really could care less since this is no longer a paying subscriber.

#4 As far as the Police are concerned its another civil matter, and they got more important things to do.

Did the retailer tresspass on the customers property? Probably yes

Did the retailer know that the Dish was installed by the customer? Probably Not

Did the retailer own the Dish that they repod? No, they thought it was owned by Directv

Will Directv ever ask for the Dish back? NO

Does the typical customer know who owns their Dish? More than likely no, and don't care because they will probably never pay their bill and get Directv again.

Was the retailer right in what they did? No, based on the situation

Does the retailer have the right to recover lost commissions by taking the Dish? Yes

Does the retailer care that they where not right in what they did? No, because they got charged back by Directv

 

[Jimbo]

Look at the car repo guys, if the car is parked in your driveway its fair game. The only time you can't take the car is if its behind a locked gate, inside a garage, or would require that you move another parked vehicle.

Reguardless of everything, lets look at the facts here...

#1 The customer knows they where wrong by not paying the bill

#2 The retailer did not get caught while removing the Dish.

#3 Directv or Perfect 10 or whoever really could care less since this is no longer a paying subscriber.

#4 As far as the Police are concerned its another civil matter, and they got more important things to do.

Did the retailer tresspass on the customers property? Probably yes

Did the retailer know that the Dish was installed by the customer? Probably Not

Did the retailer own the Dish that they repod? No, they thought it was owned by Directv

Will Directv ever ask for the Dish back? NO

Does the typical customer know who owns their Dish? More than likely no, and don't care because they will probably never pay their bill and get Directv again.

Was the retailer right in what they did? No, based on the situation

Does the retailer have the right to recover lost commissions by taking the Dish? Yes

Does the retailer care that they where not right in what they did? No, because they got charged back by Directv

Why the Retailer in the first place, had they went right thru D* none of this would have happened.

otoh, why would a retailer have anything to do with the billing end of this anyways, they got paid to do the set up, end of discussion.
The sub gets the service thru D* not a third party.

Claude, when you sell Dish or D* do you sell the programming, doesn't it all go thru the provider ?
Would you send someone from your company out to remove a dish for a non payment of programing services ?

btw, wouldn't it be MUCH easier to just disconnect the coax at the ground block (cut the connector if necessary) than to remove the DISH from the roof ?

They MUST have reneged on payment to the retailer for something pertaining to them, NOT D*.

As Paul Harvey use to say we need "The REST of the Story"