I am scheduled to get a slimline dish installed on 9/8.. My current 3 lnb dish is installed on the side of my house on a wall mounted pole.. They will not be able to use this since the mounts will not accept a 2" pole. They should be able to use a normal wall mount with monopoles on the back of my house, not the best way, but i can live with it. I heard of a new kind of mount for the slimline, it is call an S mount and it goes on the corner of your house. Some installers on other sites say it is a great way to mount the slimline. I called D* and asked them to make sure the installer had one of these mounts with them. They said they would make a note on the order, but could not guarntee it, nor could they assure me it would not cost extra to use this mount. I asked the rep on the phone, why not.. Isn't the installer contracted to D*, aren't they paying them to do this. It makes no sense to me why D* says they have no control over their install contractors.. I told them since they would not give me the dish and let me arrange in installation, they were responsible for what their contractor did and if they could not do a proper install, I would consider my contract with D* invalid and would be free to cancel service with no penalty.. We will see what happens when they get here next week..
Upcoming slimline install
- Thread starter bigbw
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First of all, the S-Tube mount is NOT considered to be part of your standard installation. Nor can D* dictate to their contractors what they can charge for and what they can't charge for on anything that is NOT part of your standard installation. The S-Tube is not the only way to mount the dish, and if the installer mounts it in any way that is approved by D*, that is considered to be a "proper" install. You don't like it then you are free to tell the installer when he arrives that you are cancelling the order.
In addition, the S-tube is a fairly recent addition to the equipment inventory, and not all companies/installers are carrying them yet.
It is because of people like you that I make all of my customers sign the lease agreement BEFORE I will start the install. No signature, no install. That simple.
You would never do an installation for me then. I would never sign any paper work prior to the installation being completed. You would have to be stupid to do that.
I guess I wouldn't either. Too many people at the end of the job try to act like they want to change their minds about stuff.
I used to do it the other way, until I got burned by a couple of customers that suddenly decided, after 2 & 4.5 hours of work, that they didn't want to agree to the lease terms and I had to remove the systems, all without being paid.
sounds like D* should be advising consumers what the "standard installation" includes.. Is the S mount that much different then the 4 bolt wall mount the dish comes with ?? It did not look like it to me, but I don't have the experience you do. My hope was that D* would just send me the S mount so I would have it when the installer arrived but they will not do that. I would have no problem signing the lease agreement before you started the install, because you and I would have agreed on how you were to going to do it before you started. I am not an unreasonable person, but I have a lot of money invested in my house and anything attached to it is going to be done the way I want it, or not done at all..
It get really frustrating when we have to deal with customers like you. Everything should be free free free! As far as I'm concerned just get cable or have mastec come out and do the install. Now I do agree that the sales person should tell ALL customers the its only the standard install is free and explain what that includes. Its not up to the customer to tell us how to do the install. You can tell us how you would like it done and we will do what we can to do it that way but the bottom line is we do it like it needs to be done so we dont have to come out on our own time to fix it.
Sorry if this come out like I'm being a jerk but this kind of crap gets real old.
Sorry if this come out like I'm being a jerk but this kind of crap gets real old.
WOW! Who died and made you king? Actually it's people like YOU sir, that give installers a bad name! When you pull that crap on a long time Directv customer, Directv would know about it.
I reread my message and don't see anything about asking for anything to be done for free.. I got a call from D* asking me to call in and setup a "FREE" installation of a new dish. I assumed this meant they would send somebody out to bolt a new dish to the side/back of the house, conect the two wires (that are already there) and aim the dish correctly. After I set this up, I read about a new kind of mount that worked better for wall mounts then the old one.. I called D* and told them I would prefer this type of mount if possible. Their comment was they could not guarantee the installer would have one.. I asked if they would send me one, they said no, they don't do that. My original post was a comment that since the installers are contracted to D*, they should be able to make sure they have what is needed to do the job in the best way possible. If this S mount is truly more difficult to install then a normal wall mount, I have no problem paying extra for it.. The pictures I have seen don't indicate this. I would prefer that D* just send me the stuff and let me arrange installation anyway. I did not mean to offend any installers, but just as there are good and bad customers, there are good and bad installers..
I used to do it the other way, until I got burned by a couple of customers that suddenly decided, after 2 & 4.5 hours of work, that they didn't want to agree to the lease terms and I had to remove the systems, all without being paid.
This may sound a bit cold but I’m an installer, not an uninstaller. If sub changes their mind when the job is complete, the job gets closed and I advise them to call and schedule a un-installation.
I was not aware of that and D* did not mention it.. I have no problem paying for it if it meets my needs..
However, the company I work for makes us uninstall it if the job can't be completed and the customer refuses to sign the lease agreement/work order.
Really? How am I giving installers a bad name, by explaining to the customer upfront that they are going to be leasing the receivers from D*, will have a 1 or 2 year contract commitment, and will pay an early termination fee if they break their contract? I've had customers refuse to sign the contract, therefore I can not do the install because I would have no equipment to give them. Why waste my time, their time, and drill holes in their home if they are not going to agree to the contract?
I only get paid for completed jobs, not ones where I do the work then have to remove the equipment because the customer changes their mind halfway through the install.
BTW, the HSP I work for now trains all of us to have the customer sign the lease agreement before we start work. My guess would be that D* already knows about this, but feel free to tell them if you want.
I would certainly agree that installers need to protect themselfs and I would hope they agree that homeowners have the same right.. when my installer comes, we will discuss what needs to be done and if we not in agreement, the install will not be done..
The apt for my install was last sat.. they were scheduled between 8 and noon.. around 12:30 I had not heard from them, so I left a note on the door and we left to run some errands.. We got back around 2 and the note was still there.. Around 2:30 he called to say he was on his way over.. When he got there, i asked if he had the S-tube mount I requested.. he didn't have a clue what i was talking about.. He looked at where my current dish was installed, (side of the house) and said their company policy was no installs on stuco walls.. I asked him what were the options.. He said a pole mount in the ground, this was included in the normal install.. He did say he could just leave the dish if i wanted to install on the house myself, but i figured I might as well have him do the install and I could move it later if i wanted.. I told him to go ahead and put the pole in a corner of my yard about 50 feet from where the wires went into the wall.. I also told him I would handle burying the wires myself and just run the cable into the house to make sure it was aimed right.. He buried the pole about 2 feet and put in one sack of quikrete.. Does not feel too sturdy to me.. I had him leave me the two braces and i am going to brace it to my back fence.. He said it did not need it, but i will feel better if i do it.. I have to say the installer was real nice and willing to work with me.. I went out Sunday and buried the cable and hooked it into the wires going into the house.. I ran a piece of conduit up the side of the house and will paint it to match so it looks ok.. All in all it was a good experience, except for how I felt Sunday afternoon after burying the cable..
I just had the slimline dish installed , there's another way that's been posted at another website, buy a length 1 1/2" ABS Black Plastic Pipe from Lowes , (I got a 5' length for $3.34) cut it the length of the exposed pipe then cut a split on the back side so it slide over the existing pipe, use a little water & liquid soap to help it slide over the old pipe. I had to use a large screw driver to pry the abs open to help get it started, then I just tapped it down with a rubber mallet. Worked like a charm and gives you right at a 2" OD.
In the pictures below the split on the backside of the pipe is the same size, it appears smaller because the cables are covering it.
In the pictures below the split on the backside of the pipe is the same size, it appears smaller because the cables are covering it.
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