tale of woe continued(semirant)

Eastern OR

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Mar 14, 2004
56
0
What follows is from a 3/14/03 post to another thread.
We thought we were the only ones to have 522 woes.

History...

Late November 2003. Setup installation date for three 301's and 1 522 to run 4 TV's. Package we were sold specified three 301's to run three tV'S independently and 1 522 PVR to run 1 TV on TV1 side and use TV2 side to record other stuff(Watch 1 thing and record something else). Switching from direct TV to Dish to get local channels and PVR.

December 10 or so.
Installer reschedules

December 15 or so.
Installer shows up with 3 301's and 1 501. Tears out direct TV and installs Dish equipment. Realizes he can't activate because promo code calls for three 301's and 1 522. Tears out Dish installation and replaces Direct installation then quits company.

January 10 or so
Next installer shows up with a repair order but without a 522 unit. Leaves after 5 minutes

January 20 or so
Installer mails us a 522 but mails to wrong address so next installer calls but moves on to next job without installing

January 30 or so
Installer never shows for appointment

February 10 or so
Installer shows up, we have the 522(We found it at a neighbor's house). He installs 3 301's.
Installs 522 with only one wire to it from 500 dish.(Should have installed two 301's with one wire each and one 522 with two wires). Can't get a check switch completed on TV1 so changes wiring to TV 2 input. Get's a check switch and a picture but we are on TV2 using the UHF pro signals. TV1 has no inputs. He seems to think this is fine and quickly leaves the premises. This is when we notice that with remote 2 you get random info screens. I fix this by rewiring 522 unit to TV/Sat 1 and rerunning check switch myself. Works fine on TV1/Sat 1 side. No more random info screens.

Dumb Question of the day? Shouldn't a 522 be wired with two inputs in and two inputs out so you can watch different programming on two TV's or watch one thing and record another? Installation company says a software upgrade will fix this. Can this be fixed by inserting a splitter or switch in the one wire going to the 522?

Within 1/2 hour after installer leaves we notice that 522 tends to lose signal on the 110 stations. 301's are fine. I fix this by finding proper coordinates for dish and reinstalling the dish myself. Partially fixes problem

Dish technical support says that we must have a tree which is obscuring signal from 110 sat. Like any good eastern Oregon farmer I locate the only likely tree and my chainsaw. I remove the likely offender. No better.

Second dumb question of the day?When do we get PIP service out of our 522?

Other bugs:
1. 522 sometimes freezes up and nothing you can do beyond a hard boot or even having to unplug unit fixes it. Really annoying!
2. At random times unit will decide not to record programmed events or to stop recording in the middle of events
3. Caller ID only works intermittently. Usually works for a few hours after units have been off but eventually displays garbage and then stops working.
4. 522 displays annoying pop up message on some mornings that we don't have a phone line connected to it when there is a good phone connection hooked to it.
5. With the 62 software upgrade(received a couple days ago) we now have Dish Home but most of the choices do nothing. Dish Home works fine on the 301s.
6. Receiver turning off at 3:00AM every day for software upgrades and then rebooting to a 'Dish' screen is really annoying. Software upgrades should be transparent and in the background.
7. Ironically, 'Customer Support' is blacked out in the 522's menu system

What follows now is an update after we had an installer do a 'service call' on this system. I don't know whether this falls under the category of stupid installer tricks, stupid csr tricks, or just plain stupid.

3/23/03. Appointment with installer to work on proper dish placement/installation and get 522 properly wired.

9:30AM-installer calls my wife to say that he will be there at 1:30 to replace our faulty 522 receiver. Our installer comes from the Portland OR area which is a 3.5 hour drive away. My wife takes a deep breath and explains that our 522 is fine it just needs to be installed correctly. It needs two wire feeds to it rather than one. Installer tells her that a 522 is not supposed to record and only needs one wire to feed it. My wife takes another, larger deep breath and say's again 'a 522 is a PVR which counts as two receivers and requires two wires to feed it'. Installer asks 'What is a PVR?'. My wife takes yet another larger deep breath and explains the inner workings of a PVR to this guy. He then says 'no, maam you're wrong. A 522 only needs one wire to feed it.

10:00AM Wife calls me and relays above info. I tell her to call this guy's home office immediately to let them know that the guy has neither the correct equipment nor the mental ability to solve our problem.(Remember-he is traveling 3.5 hours to get here).

10:05AM Wife speaks with a minor CSR who says that she has every confidence in the installer's ability to solve our problem. Wife demands to be transfered up the food chain of CSR's. Wife explains problem to higher level CSR who agrees with wife about the arcane intricacies of 522's and PVR's and says that we have a firm grasp of situation. Luckily problem is now documented.

1:30PM Installer shows up. At some point between 10:05 and now he has become an expert on 522's, PVR's and Dishpro LNB's. He looks at the wiring on the 522 and at the dish and say's 'I don't have what I need to make this work' DUH! Luckily he knew what he needed.

For those of you who may be out there with a similar problem resulting from a similar promotion here is the skinny.

Specifications-3 301's to 3 TV's completely independent of 522(equals three wires from dish)
-1 522 to run 1 TV capable of watching 1 program and recording a different program completely independent of all 301's(equals 2 wires from dish)

total wires from dish needed equals five.

Equipment provided with initial install. 3 301's, 1 522. Dish 500 antennae, Dishpro quad LNB.

This equipment only provides 4 feeds from dish. Big problem.

Fix.--replace Dishpro quad LNB with a Legacy quad. Add a SW62 switch.
You now have enough feeds to feed the equivalent of 5 receivers.

2:00PM-Back to installer. To give him credit he knew what he needed. Now to work out who the guilty party is and who pays. 'By the way, he says, who was the meathead who did the initial install'

'Your company' I tell him.

He gets on the phone with whatever people he talks to.

They then want to speak to me. I take a deep breath.

Their first line of defense is that this was not the system we were sold. I read to them from the first install paperwork which describes the system which was supposed to be installed. Apparantly they have the same paperwork in front of them also because I get put on hold with 'Muskrat love' playing in the background. I take a deep breath.

CSR 'After consulting with my boss we have solved your problem. If you pay for the new legacy quad LNB and the SW64 switch we'll have you up and running in a couple weeks.'

Me(after another deep breath). 'No--we are not paying for equipment which should be provided on the initial install(my reply was longer and not nearly as nice but has been edited for content)'

CSR after long pause 'Let me talk to my boss again'(More 'Muskrat love')

CSR returning to line 'After consulting with my boss we have solved your problem. You don't need to pay for anything. All you need to do is give back one of your 301's and run that TV from the 522.

Me(after another deep breath). 'No--this is not the system we were sold. We were sold 3 completely independent 301's and a completely independent 522(again my reply is edited for content).

CSR after another long pause 'Let me talk to my boss again'(More 'Muskrat love') Shortly returns to line-can I call you back in ten minutes?

Me(after another deep breath). 'I'll be here'

2:20PM
CSR calls back 'After speaking with my boss we've solved your problem' Temporarily give back one of your 301's until we get the switch and LNB to give you the number of inputs you need to run 5 receivers. We'll temporarily run one of your 301 tV's off of your 522. (I know that I would never see that 301 again).

Me(after another deep breath). No--you have not solved my problem despite telling me 3 times in the last 30 minutes that you have solved my problem.(Again-edited for content). Here is what we are going to do.

1. You are going to provide free the correct LNB, switches, wiring to make this system operable as specified.(This also includes relocating the dish to a good location rather then behind a bunch of trees. The first series of installers placed the dish behind a series of trees which is most of our problem with losing the 110 sat.)
2. You are going to set up an install date, personally make sure the installer has the correct information and equipment to do the job. All of this at now charge to me.
3. You are now going to give me your name, direct line phone number and e-mail adress and the same info for your boss otherwise I am now calling the better business bureau and anyone else I can think of.

CSR-after very long pause 'OK' and he complied.

I documented all of this on the installers work order and we'll see where this goes.

By the way-the 522 works great on TV1/Sat1. This is the neatest way to record ever. Hope we someday get to use it's TV2/Sat2 side.

cheers and apologies for the maxi-rant.
 
All you need is a DP34 switch, hooked up to two of your lines, run the 2 other tuners from the DPquad, 3 from the DP34 switch... and presto.. all set.

That, by the way, is rediculous. If you don't get any satisfaction the next time around, call the Executive Office 866-443-5162 or Email them at ceo@dishnetwork.com. Their sole purpose is to fix problems like yours.

Unbelieveable....
 
thanks. Will pass this information along to installers. This fix would be cheaper for them than a new legacy quad and an sw64. There are always several ways to do something but what really makes a person take a deep breath is when people tell you something is impossible which you know has an easy fix. Now as a new morning dawns I feel a little bad for the four or five guys who have driven 4 hours here at different times just to tell me they don't have the equipment they need.---NOT.

Cheers.
 
Sometimes the obvious solution is overlooked. No idea if it would work for your situation, but depending on TV locations and house line-of-sight and such, it might even be an easier install. How about a second dish with a DP Twin LNB? Depending on the installer's buying power, it might even be cheaper for them.
 
Update

Have had two suggestions from this forum that would work to solve the problem of getting 5 outputs from a quad 500 to run 3 301's and 1 522 correctly. The installer's plan also seems like it will work but cost them more money Installer has scheduled April 8th as D-Day for finally getting this install correct. At this point I don't care what is cheapest for them. Just that they get the correct function out of the 522 like they promised and correctly relocate the dish to avoid trees. I think if I offer them alternative solutions to their problems it will only confuse them. Luckily because of this forum I am now an informed consumer but with patience stretching thin.

By the way. The 522 is a very nice way to do television.

Install started in November
First activation in February
Last service call-March 24th
Next and hopefully final service call April 8th.

Let's hear a cheer for the promptness, technical expertise, and on the job performance of Direct Broadcasting Sat Center of Portland Oregon and Cascade Callworks of Vancouver WA

If anyone from Dish corporate is reading this do I deserve a small credit on my bill?

Cheers
 
update-good news

I now promise to stop ranting.

On the 8th a very knowledgeable and competent installer(Troy) showed up on time from Direct Broadcast in Portland. He knew what needed to be done, had a plan, and even brought the hardware and tools to do it.

We moved the dish to a correct line of sight where we now have very good signal on both 110 and 119. We traded the DP quad LNB for a DPtwin LNB and ran all new wiring to the new dish. Each line from the DPtwin now connects to a DP34 switch(two total). Each DP34 switch has the capability to run 4 receivers. One DP34 runs 3 301's and 1 feed to the 522. The other DP34 runs 1 other feed to the 522 with 3 extra slots for expansion. He even did all the wiring and installing in a visually attractive and professional manner. He replaced one piece of substandard cable inside the house.

We ran a check switch on all 3 301's and the 522 and...presto--Dish network like it is supposed to be with a fully functional 522. No more loss of signal on the 522, no more freeze up's, no more recording glitches. Best of all we can now watch one thing and record another thing.

cheers.
 
Wow!...that was one hell of an ordeal. I got lucky the first time and got an actual "Dish" employee do my install. He and his helper were excellent and knew their stuff. He told me that Dish (in my area) owns and runs the install operations now (taking over were a sub-contractor left off). He said that Dish was losing too many customers from bad install service. He also said that some of his buddies that he worked with were fired because their installer work history was not acceptable by Dish.
 
"I can see clearly now"

It's all behind us now. :) :) :)
522's are an amazing thing when they work correctly.

cheers
 
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