My H3 is scheduled for this Wed AM, when the high temp (for the day) will be 17. I would not surprised if they call to reschedule, and I wouldn't blame them.
Bad experience today for Hopper 3 install..
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"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these installers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." 
As I understand it, these folks are paid by the job - turn down work = no pay. He/she will be there. How much outside work is involved in a Hopper 3 upgrade anyway, 10 minutes (changing the LNB) ? Just have some coffee or hot chocolate available and offer it to them after they complete the outside work.
Mine included taking the dish off of the chimney and resetting it, changing the LNB, and replacing the 17 year old coax from the LNB to the hub location. That took him an hour....
Some cases require changing the dish as well as the LNB, but he just moved yours ? The coax cable worked for the previous Hopper so it would work for the Hopper 3 as well. I think your tech is paid by the hour. 
Actually, no, he didn't 'move' the dish, he just reset it. The lags that were holding it in were getting pretty rusty and deteriorating. The coax cable was also deteriorating in one area where it transcended from the roof to under the eaves. He showed it to me, it needed replacement now or sometime in the near future. He was diligent enough to take care of a future issue today instead of walking away. BTW, he was a dish employee, not a contractor.Some cases require changing the dish as well as the LNB, but he just moved yours ? The coax cable worked for the previous Hopper so it would work for the Hopper 3 as well. I think your tech is paid by the hour.
If I'm not mistaken, Dish employees are in fact paid by the hour 
He did the right thing(s) though, don't get me wrong. Right or wrong, the way Dish operates is, if your dish shifted enough because of the lag bolt problem, it would be his "fault". A contractor actually gets penalized but not sure how it works for Dish's direct employees. Same with the coaxial cable - cable rarely fails but every time a tech has been here, they snip off the connectors and replace every single one. Your cable is a different story though as it sounds like chafing.
By the way, how do you know he was an employee vs contractor ? In almost all of Ohio, unless you use one of the few "retailers", all work is done by a company called "Digital Dish". Their vehicles are practically wrapped in Dish insignia, logos, etc, etc and unless there's some small lettering somewhere, you'd never know they were a contractor.
He did the right thing(s) though, don't get me wrong. Right or wrong, the way Dish operates is, if your dish shifted enough because of the lag bolt problem, it would be his "fault". A contractor actually gets penalized but not sure how it works for Dish's direct employees. Same with the coaxial cable - cable rarely fails but every time a tech has been here, they snip off the connectors and replace every single one. Your cable is a different story though as it sounds like chafing.
By the way, how do you know he was an employee vs contractor ? In almost all of Ohio, unless you use one of the few "retailers", all work is done by a company called "Digital Dish". Their vehicles are practically wrapped in Dish insignia, logos, etc, etc and unless there's some small lettering somewhere, you'd never know they were a contractor.
You can thank Dish policy. They will roll trucks in almost any weather condition except for major weather events or natural disasters. The status of the job is left to the tech to make the call as to safety.
Dish pushes their techs to get the jobs done weather be damned. its a stupid policy as it places undue stress on both the tech and customer. Typically if the roads are in bad shape due to snow, most folks are staying home so it would figure that this would apply to a satellite tech.
Anyway your experience deteriorated because the system is automated. I was a tech for 12 years. In my day, we precalled jobs. One question I would have asked is the location of your antenna. If you had said "roof", i would have asked if the Antenna is close to the edge accessible without having to step off the ladder. If the answers did not fit the safety protocol, I would have recommended a reschedule.
With the system of today, no person to person communication is even permitted.
As to your question why not call or communicate the day before......HA....The techs don't get their routes until the day of.
Dish policy regarding weather is dumb.
Techs are barred from getting off the ladder under normal conditions. Except where rigging can be used. This is the same equipment used by roofers. Includes anchors that must be bolted into your roof.
All of this must be confusing to customers.
Dish techs are under all kinds of rules and regulations that quite frankly work against themselves
Not blame. One of the issues tjhat chased me out of the business after 12 years was the complete an utter lack of responsibilities placed on customers.
for example...Customers that missed their appointments by not being at home then complaining to Dish as to why the tech could not return "right away" or that night.....or customers who did not think to communicate important information about their home/situation. Metal roof. Historic home. House full of sick kids. Have only an hour before they had to leave for the day. Boss told them they could not get off work.....All of which seems to become the tech's responsibility..
Its a never ending battle.
Dish, like other large firms is run by bean counters and market research people. They have determined it is advisable to keep ALL appointments because it is financially better for the company. Missed appointments/reschedules generate lots of complaints. And complaints generate phone calls to customer service which increases hold times for other customers attempting to contact customer service.
It literally feeds upon itself.
All of this costs money. That's where the bean counters come in to the equation.
I must ask what difference would where your Dish was located make because your complaint is the day before notice. Well, at that point there was a winter weather advisory for your area. This would not have triggered any delays in the next days scheduling.
I get pretty spun up about this work thing.
Some customers fail to understand that it is their responsibility to make sure they can be home on the day of their service appointment. Too often the customer may try to "squeeze in" work and their appointment thinking everything that particular day will go according to plan. Well in the OP's case, it didn't. But he's mad at the system for it. He should be somewhat upset with himself because he had high expectations that the day of his service appointment would go perfectly.
Umm...if you have no experience as a tech, please refrain from speculating..
Every upgrade is different. This particular job could have involved a relocation of the antenna. Or antenna replacement.
if the existing install was not to code, the entire install may have had to be started from scratch.
BULL...The cabling was old. And most likely not on Dish's list of approved coax. Therefore, it must be replaced even if in perfectly good working condition.Some cases require changing the dish as well as the LNB, but he just moved yours ? The coax cable worked for the previous Hopper so it would work for the Hopper 3 as well. I think your tech is paid by the hour.
Again, if you were not a tech, you just do not know. You may think you know. But you don't know. And you never will.
There is already a Dish up there that we did not install.
I already offered a pole mount but the customer says it's ok to mount to his metal roof.
Cold can suck. The cable jacket can crack. Makes it difficult to get the connectors to seat on the cable.
Dish techs( now this is really stupid) are barred from idling their trucks to keep warm or to warn the cable. Dish sees its better to put the tech through cold weather hell than burn a little extra gas to see that the job is done correctly.
If you get a contractor tech, it is his truck. He can idle with the heat on all he likes. Its his gas.
If that is the case, then .
1. the customer is going to sign off that he holds the tech 100% blameless for any damage or subsequent leaks in the roof or into the interior of the building.
2. The customer accepts 100% liability in case of accident where the tech is injured or worse.
if they won't sign, its not getting done.
I understand. However, jsheridan suggested that the customer should have made the call to cancel the install. How can the customer be expected to know what DISH policies are? If there was a question about the weather, then this could have been addressed in the multiple phone calls between DISH and the customer before the installer made the trip.
I'm not suggesting that there are not problems presented to the installer, many of which are caused by inconsiderate customers. But, to suggest that it was up to the customer to call off the install when everybody in the USA knew there was a snowstorm going on is crazy. In this specific case, the customer did everything that was asked of him and was in communication with DISH several times leading up to the install. Why didn't DISH ask the right questions? Why didn't the installer make a phone call before traveling 30 minutes? After all, it's the business they're in.
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