Verifying "Can't see Satellite" from installer

[phillyphil]

I was assisting a friend that moved yesterday and I arranged to have the Dish network Tech there on the day of the move. The Tech was scheduled for an afternoon appointment (Noon - 5 PM) When we had not heard from the tech around 4:45 I called Dish Network and after 30 minutes we were told that the tech was running late on an install and he would be out ASAP. I had another thing scheduled so I left to go do that. According to my friend, the Dish tech arrived about 7:15 walked to the back of the house and came back up front and told him thatthat he couldn't have service here since he couldn't see the satellite.
My question is this since I wasn't there to confirm what the guy did or did not do. There is an existing Dish Network Dish 500 antenna on the house. There are no LNB's attached to the dish just a couple of coax cables. Apparently the previous owner of the house had Dish Service but now suddenly the satellite can't be seen. Did we just have a tired installation tech come out and he didn't want to have to try this? What can I do to help my friend with this?

TIA

 

[wobbie]

Call Dish or if you know thw company's name that the installer was with you can call them and ask them to send a supervisor or lead tech to confirm NLOS. If your friend is a new Dish customer look in the phone book and call a local Dish retailer ot dealer that does their own installs.

 

[KE4EST]

I would guess he didn't want to do it.

 

[Jared Twomey]

is there any tall trees in front of where that existing dish is pointing?
most likely just a lazy installer, I have been installing about 4 years or so now, and a good percentage of the time you can find somewhere to get a signal... usually

 

[Van]

I've rolled up on a few install sites to find directv dish's aimed at the east side of the tree just enough to clip the radius, I've also rolled up on more than my fair share of install sites to find that the previous tech placed the dish pointing smack dab into a tree and the location will not work, just a few things to keep in mind.

 

[boba]

If there is a DISH 500 on the house without a LNB that generally indicates the customer was a lease customer who cancelled service and had to return equipment. Loss of signal after trees leafed out could be a reason. If you have DISH equipment you can check the location by reinstalling a LNB on the dish and connecting a working receiver to a connected cable.

 

[chadzx11]

We've had a run on jackasses here installing dishes on homes they SHOULD have walked away from. I've had 2 that I've walked away from get installed. One of those I actually put a dish up and got a max signal of 70-ish (with NO leaves!!!). I pulled the equipment, but I guess that wasn't good enough for the customer. The next guy put the dish closer to the trees I couldn't clear. I don't screw with trees. If it is even close, I walk. The co. I work for has threatened to back charge installers so they can refund customers the cancelation fee. I don't want none of that, so I err on the conservative side.

 

[Van]

Theres an ugly truth to the reason why theres a run on bad installs.

 

[OkieTech]

The way it works at the company I work for is that if we call a no line of sight an FSM will come back to verify. If FSM discovers there's a line of sight after all then tech must complete job without pay!

I suspect the tech that came out at 7:15P was ready to go home. I carry a chainsaw to try and eliminate calling any no-lines. I've called in 4 in the 1.5 yrs. installing and all were verified by FSM.

 

[Van]

I suspect the tech that came out at 7:15P was ready to go home. I carry a chainsaw to try and eliminate calling any no-lines. I've called in 4 in the 1.5 yrs. installing and all were verified by FSM.

Heh, I hope you have more than 1.5 years of experience installing satellite to feel confident enough to start cutting on someones tree's, if Dish ever finds out about what your doing......

 

[chadzx11]

Heh, I hope you have more than 1.5 years of experience installing satellite to feel confident enough to start cutting on someones tree's, if Dish ever finds out about what your doing......

No joke. We were told specifically NOT to discuss cutting trees with customers. I had to move a dish yesterday. 100 ft of wire to wrap the house back to the groundblock. Not happy about that, given that it wasn't ME who installed it to begin with, and there was a tech out there on the 14th who just left without doing anything (yet they threaten to fire me for bitching about their Bullsh!t chargebacks).

 

[Claude Greiner]

Yea, I don't like discussing tree cutting either because if your wrong and the Dish still will not work then the customer expects to be re-imbursed for cutting the tree.

I have removed a few small branches, especially if there is a treee behind the Dish and the branch is hanging infront of the Dish, but thats about as far as I'll go.

As far as No line of site, you really need to have the right tools such as a good compass/inclinometor. In addition, just because there is no line of site on the ground, doesn't mean there is no line of site on the roof. I always will pull out a ladder just to make sure because things look different on the roof!

 

[OkieTech]

Heh, I hope you have more than 1.5 years of experience installing satellite to feel confident enough to start cutting on someones tree's, if Dish ever finds out about what your doing......

First off I don't just start cutting on my customers trees without there permission. Second, unlike most techs, I look for every reason in the world to do an install and not a way to weasil out like most techs do.

 

[technoguy]

Yea, I don't like discussing tree cutting either because if your wrong and the Dish still will not work then the customer expects to be re-imbursed for cutting the tree.

I have removed a few small branches, especially if there is a treee behind the Dish and the branch is hanging infront of the Dish, but thats about as far as I'll go.

As far as No line of site, you really need to have the right tools such as a good compass/inclinometor. In addition, just because there is no line of site on the ground, doesn't mean there is no line of site on the roof. I always will pull out a ladder just to make sure because things look different on the roof!

I totally agree with you Claude.
Without the propper tools you can call yourself a tech or installer,How can you says you don't have line of site without even try to get your azimuth from the area you expect to install?Here in Puerto Rico because our topographical conditions(We have a lot of Mountains)Probably you quit before you start to try this business if you don't know how this works.

 

[Van]

First off I don't just start cutting on my customers trees without there permission. Second, unlike most techs, I look for every reason in the world to do an install and not a way to weasil out like most techs do.

Its not your place to cut the customers tree's, second techs that look for every reason to not do a job will be out of a job in a month, dish has policies put in place inregard to tree's and you should really find out about it before you go any further.