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seattlesatelliter
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Original poster
It's posted under Installation on Satelliteguys.us in a thread titled:
"reluctant and uninformed installers"
bookwalk bookwalk is offline
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9
Default Installer from Hades--worse than I feared--NO VOOM today!
Quote:
Originally Posted by bookwalk
I ordered VOOM last week and told the CSR that I needed an upgraded
OTA and dish (for rain fade)--the Installer came out to get a line of
sight and then started getting a little beligerent about the
install--I have no idea why. He could see we live in a dip and are 45
miles from the 2 Locals we will get and about 20 miles from the PBS
local (but in the opposite direction).
He then tried to tell me that running cable that will be buried later
(not by him, but by us) would be $20 extra and I said, no--not if it
does not go over 125', which it should not, as our house is only 44'
wide and only 40' from where the antenna will go to where it will
finally go into the house and then another 40' back through the house
to the room with HD tv.
He then changed the original install date we had set for Mar 7 (we
needed time to get a HDTV, phone line changed, etc, etc and my husband
needed to be here to help run it through the basement) and said --no
he could not wait that long and had to do it next week. I said
no--that will not work.
He then went into a tirade about how VOOM will be gone in a month--FCC
will shut it down and there will be no more VOOM--he wanted to make
sure I knew that.
I felt like I should apologize to him for ordering VOOm, which I will
never do.
When he left, I called VOOM and explained what happened and they
checked and sure enough he did not upgrade me to the better OTA
antenna and had changed the install date to Feb 17. I asked them if
they knew something I didn't based on his assumptions of VOOM's DOOM.
They said they knew of the buy-out, etc, but reading this forum--VOOm
in some form will be around.
So, anyway--I hope I can endure this installer's practices and wanted
to make sure there would be no hidden extras. The antennas will go on
the corner of the house--he said that using a corner brace or bracket
would cost me $100--I was surprised--I told him it had to go on the
corner as there was no plywood underneath.
I just want to get VOOM installed and am now shopping for HDTV. I am
glad there is this forum--if I didn't know better from today's posts,
I would have been intimidated by him and cancelled my order.
I don't understand how an independent installer like this can be so
beligerent about VOOM--he installs other dishes and it is very strange.
I am new to this forum and again, I hope my neighbors ask me about
it--I plan to have a VOOM party when this is all done--and then tell
them all about it and hope this installer from H----- will find
another job!
I posted the above about 10 days ago and I tried to be cooperative
with the installer--he wanted to install before March 7. So, we stayed
home today, Feb 21, to make sure everything was in order for the
install--luckily both my husband and I were home.
What a nightmare! He came with no upgrade for the OTA and since we
bought our HDTV, we found that an omni-directional antenna would
easily pull in a PBS-HD station 25 miles away. So I called VOOM and
they said it had to be the low-grade Winegard Sensor had to be
installed first and then he would come back.
Also, he did not install it where he first said he would--which was on
the corner of the house--and where he did the line of sight. Before we
knew it, he had drilled holes into various places in our vinyl siding
and then installed several feet from the corner, in a very unsightly
position on our house and then left holes visible drilled in the
siding of our house!!!!
We pointed out that he was not installing it where he promised from
his advance visit--and that we would have to pay extra for any
multi-directional antenna (Antenna webs says that, for the stations we
need, we can use the (red-highlighted) most basic omni directional.
He then became irate and said that he was leaving and taking the
equipment back off the house (leaving many gaping holes)--we argued
with him as to why in the world would he do something like that? He
said he has the option to not do the install if he likes.
We then went inside to call 1800 Get Voom and explained all this to
the CSR. My husband had also helped him out by drilling the hole into
the access point to the inside of the house.
He continued to assure us that VOOM would be out of business March 1
and that no more installs would be done after that. I asked him how
many VOOM he had installed-he said 150 and the latest one was day
before yesterday.
I can't believe this!
He finally finished installing, after we told him that the CSR said
that another trip would be made to upgrade the OTA, once we determine
that the basic Winegard Sensor would not pull in the HD stations
within 45 miles.
He continued to be argumentative, beligerent, irate and we had
prepared to tip him nicely when he finished.
WELL, no VOOM today--after his install, he could not get the VOOM
receiver satellite icon to turn green--he kept turning it off and on,
maybe a dozen times. It's as if he planned for this to be a
failure--and it was.
He finally did some troubleshooting with Installers, Inc (I guess) and
found that power was not going from the receiver to the dish.
A diplexer was installed I noticed.
So, he said--well, too bad--you will have to call VOOM about the
receiver and then he left!!!
So, we called VOOM and the CSR said--ok--you'll have to wait another
10 business days to get a replacement and it will be sent to that same
installer.
DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW I CAN GET A DIFFERENT INSTALLER--or can we get
the receiver sent to us to install ourselves?
This is a horrible nightmare--I highly doubt the second receiver will
work either--
So--we have a bum receiver and no VOOM or HD tv--and a dish installed
where we didn't want it and holes in our house he did not patch up.
I would say, for South East South Dakota (where the largest city Sioux
Falls lies), there needs to be another alternative for installation of
VOOM.
My blood pressure has risen about 100 points and no matter what we
said to this character, he became defensive and I am really afraid to
be here alone when he comes back to try to put the receiver 2nd
receiver in.
OH, and on top of everything--he refused to ground the entire
satellite system!!!!! Maybe that's why the VOOM receiver blew its top
before it even was activated!
Last edited by bookwalk : Today at 03:27 PM. Reason: Add additional
comment
Reply With Quote
And further:
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9
Default
Nightmares must have an end--I guess I am about to give up on getting
VOOM. It turns out the installer turned in a malicious (outright lies
and libel) report to his supervisor about our "abusing" him, which, as
my husband is a witness I or he did not do.
Anyway--they are, according to Install, inc, refusing to come out and
replace the bad VOOM receiver or finish the install.
Also found out the satellite is not properly aligned, as signal of 82
is not enough, yet he went ahead and finished the install with that
lack of peaking.
Also, we found out the VOOM box is an old one--with a serial number
not of the new vintage of 0859, so my question is--is there someway
for VOOM to trace whether a certain serial number VOOM box sent to an
installer is actually the one installed?
So, unless somebody can pull some strings, we are stuck with this VOOM
system--holes in the house, bad VOOM box . I have made repeated calls
to VOOM CSR and Installs, Inc and Install, Inc has in their notes not
to let the previous installer return to finish the job and that a new
installer probably would not finish someone else's install--the
replacement receiver "may" be sent to the original installer, but no
guarantees.
A VOOM rep tried to create a new install, but, his computer will not
allow that because the old one is not complete and can't generate a
repair work order, because we are not yet activated.
Does ANYONE have any suggestions? What is Charlie Dolan's email address?
VOOM party cancelled for our neck of the woods. Back to my C-band.
Still enjoying HDTV via VOOM since Dec. '03 even if the skies in
Seattle are rainless, Gill
------------------------
"reluctant and uninformed installers"
bookwalk bookwalk is offline
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9
Default Installer from Hades--worse than I feared--NO VOOM today!
Quote:
Originally Posted by bookwalk
I ordered VOOM last week and told the CSR that I needed an upgraded
OTA and dish (for rain fade)--the Installer came out to get a line of
sight and then started getting a little beligerent about the
install--I have no idea why. He could see we live in a dip and are 45
miles from the 2 Locals we will get and about 20 miles from the PBS
local (but in the opposite direction).
He then tried to tell me that running cable that will be buried later
(not by him, but by us) would be $20 extra and I said, no--not if it
does not go over 125', which it should not, as our house is only 44'
wide and only 40' from where the antenna will go to where it will
finally go into the house and then another 40' back through the house
to the room with HD tv.
He then changed the original install date we had set for Mar 7 (we
needed time to get a HDTV, phone line changed, etc, etc and my husband
needed to be here to help run it through the basement) and said --no
he could not wait that long and had to do it next week. I said
no--that will not work.
He then went into a tirade about how VOOM will be gone in a month--FCC
will shut it down and there will be no more VOOM--he wanted to make
sure I knew that.
I felt like I should apologize to him for ordering VOOm, which I will
never do.
When he left, I called VOOM and explained what happened and they
checked and sure enough he did not upgrade me to the better OTA
antenna and had changed the install date to Feb 17. I asked them if
they knew something I didn't based on his assumptions of VOOM's DOOM.
They said they knew of the buy-out, etc, but reading this forum--VOOm
in some form will be around.
So, anyway--I hope I can endure this installer's practices and wanted
to make sure there would be no hidden extras. The antennas will go on
the corner of the house--he said that using a corner brace or bracket
would cost me $100--I was surprised--I told him it had to go on the
corner as there was no plywood underneath.
I just want to get VOOM installed and am now shopping for HDTV. I am
glad there is this forum--if I didn't know better from today's posts,
I would have been intimidated by him and cancelled my order.
I don't understand how an independent installer like this can be so
beligerent about VOOM--he installs other dishes and it is very strange.
I am new to this forum and again, I hope my neighbors ask me about
it--I plan to have a VOOM party when this is all done--and then tell
them all about it and hope this installer from H----- will find
another job!
I posted the above about 10 days ago and I tried to be cooperative
with the installer--he wanted to install before March 7. So, we stayed
home today, Feb 21, to make sure everything was in order for the
install--luckily both my husband and I were home.
What a nightmare! He came with no upgrade for the OTA and since we
bought our HDTV, we found that an omni-directional antenna would
easily pull in a PBS-HD station 25 miles away. So I called VOOM and
they said it had to be the low-grade Winegard Sensor had to be
installed first and then he would come back.
Also, he did not install it where he first said he would--which was on
the corner of the house--and where he did the line of sight. Before we
knew it, he had drilled holes into various places in our vinyl siding
and then installed several feet from the corner, in a very unsightly
position on our house and then left holes visible drilled in the
siding of our house!!!!
We pointed out that he was not installing it where he promised from
his advance visit--and that we would have to pay extra for any
multi-directional antenna (Antenna webs says that, for the stations we
need, we can use the (red-highlighted) most basic omni directional.
He then became irate and said that he was leaving and taking the
equipment back off the house (leaving many gaping holes)--we argued
with him as to why in the world would he do something like that? He
said he has the option to not do the install if he likes.
We then went inside to call 1800 Get Voom and explained all this to
the CSR. My husband had also helped him out by drilling the hole into
the access point to the inside of the house.
He continued to assure us that VOOM would be out of business March 1
and that no more installs would be done after that. I asked him how
many VOOM he had installed-he said 150 and the latest one was day
before yesterday.
I can't believe this!
He finally finished installing, after we told him that the CSR said
that another trip would be made to upgrade the OTA, once we determine
that the basic Winegard Sensor would not pull in the HD stations
within 45 miles.
He continued to be argumentative, beligerent, irate and we had
prepared to tip him nicely when he finished.
WELL, no VOOM today--after his install, he could not get the VOOM
receiver satellite icon to turn green--he kept turning it off and on,
maybe a dozen times. It's as if he planned for this to be a
failure--and it was.
He finally did some troubleshooting with Installers, Inc (I guess) and
found that power was not going from the receiver to the dish.
A diplexer was installed I noticed.
So, he said--well, too bad--you will have to call VOOM about the
receiver and then he left!!!
So, we called VOOM and the CSR said--ok--you'll have to wait another
10 business days to get a replacement and it will be sent to that same
installer.
DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW I CAN GET A DIFFERENT INSTALLER--or can we get
the receiver sent to us to install ourselves?
This is a horrible nightmare--I highly doubt the second receiver will
work either--
So--we have a bum receiver and no VOOM or HD tv--and a dish installed
where we didn't want it and holes in our house he did not patch up.
I would say, for South East South Dakota (where the largest city Sioux
Falls lies), there needs to be another alternative for installation of
VOOM.
My blood pressure has risen about 100 points and no matter what we
said to this character, he became defensive and I am really afraid to
be here alone when he comes back to try to put the receiver 2nd
receiver in.
OH, and on top of everything--he refused to ground the entire
satellite system!!!!! Maybe that's why the VOOM receiver blew its top
before it even was activated!
Last edited by bookwalk : Today at 03:27 PM. Reason: Add additional
comment
Reply With Quote
And further:
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 9
Default
Nightmares must have an end--I guess I am about to give up on getting
VOOM. It turns out the installer turned in a malicious (outright lies
and libel) report to his supervisor about our "abusing" him, which, as
my husband is a witness I or he did not do.
Anyway--they are, according to Install, inc, refusing to come out and
replace the bad VOOM receiver or finish the install.
Also found out the satellite is not properly aligned, as signal of 82
is not enough, yet he went ahead and finished the install with that
lack of peaking.
Also, we found out the VOOM box is an old one--with a serial number
not of the new vintage of 0859, so my question is--is there someway
for VOOM to trace whether a certain serial number VOOM box sent to an
installer is actually the one installed?
So, unless somebody can pull some strings, we are stuck with this VOOM
system--holes in the house, bad VOOM box . I have made repeated calls
to VOOM CSR and Installs, Inc and Install, Inc has in their notes not
to let the previous installer return to finish the job and that a new
installer probably would not finish someone else's install--the
replacement receiver "may" be sent to the original installer, but no
guarantees.
A VOOM rep tried to create a new install, but, his computer will not
allow that because the old one is not complete and can't generate a
repair work order, because we are not yet activated.
Does ANYONE have any suggestions? What is Charlie Dolan's email address?
VOOM party cancelled for our neck of the woods. Back to my C-band.
Still enjoying HDTV via VOOM since Dec. '03 even if the skies in
Seattle are rainless, Gill
------------------------
