bad sub contractor service

[chadzx11]

What all has been replaced?

Is there a barrell connector in the wall plate? If so, take the cable loose and tell us what color the plastic insert is.

Have they pulled the plate off and checked the cable behind it? What kind of connector is in there, is the center conductor long enough?

Are there any splices in the attic/basement? If so, what are the components? What about the connectors and center conductors there?

What about the ground block? Is it a 3 GHz model or one of the old zinc 1 GHz style?

All splices and their components need to be checked out. Dish told us the 1 GHz stuff wouldn't pass the higher frequencies (couldn't tell you, I only run 3GHz stuff). Dish also told us that on dual tuners running DPP this type of problem could be caused by the reciever not getting enough power through the surge protector. Hook it up directly to the outlet and see if that fixes it.

The simplest way to eliminate the wiring is by running a line straight from the reciever to the LNB. Bypass everything else. If the problem still exists, that would point toward the LNB, or the power strip.

 

[Peter Iowa]

That last sentence by Chad is really good advice ("Simplest way...")

 

[OkSatPro]

Hi all, first post here in what looks to be a great forum.

First let me say I am sorry for your troubles...

I wanted to coment about extra units carried by installers.... as an Installer in the Tulsa area I can say that in our area we are given extra units as a back up for our installs just in case we have a bad unit.


However, respectively, this installer maybe did not want to give up the extra unit just in case he did in fact have a bad unit on His installs.

I have run into this on service calls where I needed to replace the receiver..

I determined both receivers worked at the service call... which were 2 322 units 1 for the Install and one as a backup...

Replaced the reciever ....

However the installer You had may have also had a company policy keeping Him from doing such....


Stinks I know but each install company I am finding handles things different

 

[ronfelder]

differenct channels

Well Someone from Dish is coming out to torubleshoot the problem this coming Saturday. Didn't want to take off from work so it's the first Satturday. Should have scheduled today for i'm home do to the weather and a plumber coming out. Anyway there is ice on the cabling especially around the groundign block. Not sure if this is the cause now but i'm loosing different channels and the original channel that I lost is ok. I guess this is do to the lower grade of cabling.

Again I know all should be replaced but would like to keep on using the rg-6 that is in the wall. I truly don't want a line running over the roof and into the house.

Ron

 

[sksatellite]

I did work with the dish contractor before, yes, we can carry extra receiver and part, but the damn problem is, all our receivers are reman, either its under SBC, or dish or indenpence dealer's work orders, once the receiver been activated, its a pain in the butt to switch bad receiver from installer.

I did one installation for SBC customer, a 622, it work ok everything at first, on TV one, so the TV 2 should has no problem, it did show the both turner are in working condition, before activation, no problem on TV1 and TV2, but after activation, TV2 couldn't get a picture, TV1 start acting up, did soft reset, hard reset, switch test , all the test could think of, so good, although I try to replace a second 622, but when called, I have to tell customer report to SBC for bad receiver and issue another work order. So, even contractor could net be replace bad equipment at you wish.

 

[ronfelder]

found more channels

Good thing the tech is coming out this Saturday for my daughter found more missing channels. Channel 160 MTV, plus two HBO channels 301,301. Channel 343Encore Action seems to work most of the time. I hope you guys are right in saying I need the 3 Ghz cable rather than the old stuff i'm using to fix this problem. I have learned the cabling in the wall says "catv" , htough it is rg-6. That I know isn't up to the bandwidth spec according to what you've said. Also the cabling that goes through my bedroom to my bedroom tv and the other cable that feeds the house cable is labeled "Primestar". That i'm sure isn't up to spec either, is it? I just wish he could use the cabling in the wall, to feed the cabling he's going to have to feed it over the peaked roof and in through the wall at the sameplace the second tuner goes out. Wonder if he can go through the attic from one side of the roof to the other?

What's the difference between the 1Ghz and 3Ghz grounding block? That is from the original install too. My legacy 4900 has been working fine with this old cabling and so has my disconnected 510 worked ok with this cabling.

Comments and answers appreciated.

ron

 

[chadzx11]

I had a service call similar to yours today. The work order called for me to replace the LNB. That's unusual, but I did it anyway. I also replaced 3 connectors that were improperly installed, and a 1 GHz ground block with a 3 GHz ground block.

A 1 GHz ground block has white or clear inserts. 3 GHz is id'd by red or blue inserts. I've seen black (or maybe it was REALLY dark blue), too.

Are there any brand markings on your cable? You mentioned primestar. That cable was expensive and swept tested, though I don't recall the actual specs. Thing is, they didn't have 3 GHz stuff back then, or at least they didn't supply it for primestar installs.

Do they even make RG6 that isn't swept tested? I buy mine at dow for $27/1000ft and it is swept tested.

Has anybody chased it in the attic/crawlspace?

 

[dishcomm]

I have just received what I might consider the worse service ever from a
Dish subcontractor. This is my third in a month and am unhappy. First was
for a second dish install. Went well. Second is for an upgrade to a 522 dvr.
Third and the one I'm complaining about is for a replacement 522. CSR's were
ok btw.

It seems that I have a defective 522. The tech tried fixing it with a new
separator with no luck. It seems I only receive channel 343 on one of the
two tuners and it comes back saying no signal. I went through the normal
troubleshooting over the phone with no, and was told someone would come
out. I figured they'd come with a new separator and receiver for not knowing
which was bad. Well the tech today tried the separator with no luck. He
wouldn't change out the receiver for he said he had no spare 522s. The ones
on the truck were for new installs and he wasn't about to give them up for
me. I'm sure that's because he would have lost money on a new install and
I'm just warrantee work. I complained and wanted to talk to his boss but he
wouldn't let me talk to him. He left claiming he'd order me a replacement
one. Well I don't want to or feel I should have to wait for another unit.
Plus I truly don't trust him to place the order for a replacement unit. I
called Dish and eventually was told that installers don't carry extra
receivers. That makes no sense for he could have a bad one when he does his
new install. In fact this will make my third 522 for my first one when
installed was an out of box failure which was replaced immediately. I don't
know how you can make repairs with out all the parts.

The outcome of this is that Dish is sending directly to me a replacement
522. It's supposed to take 4 days to arrive. The alternative would be to way
another week when I could have another tech out here and have him replace
the unit. I don't feel I should have to do the install or setup either. BTW
I'm using the word tech for the person who came out here very loosely for I
don't feel he could trouble shoot his way out of a wet paper bag., and I've
been an electronic tech for some 30 years.

Opinion comments. Dish if you are monitoring this newsgroup I'd love to hear
your thoughts on this.

Ron Felder

That's terrible....I always carry extra receivers ,LNB's etc just in case..We are REQUIRED to have all needed materials to compete our assigned work.....in some instances the customer has changed their mind after pre call and truck roll and I don't have what they want, the cust must reschedule...
This tech had NO excuses!.....He should have been euipped...My first reaction as a consumeer would have been to call Dish while the tech was still there and let them tell the tech they must complete the job as scheduled..If he had to go back to his office to get what he needed that 's HIS problem.....Ifd I was his boss I would have told him to report to my office the next day and bring in his inventory because he would no longer be assigned any work by me.....I just will not tolerate this kind of incompetence....
Thsi crap makes us conscientious technicians look bad too. If it were up to me, all the schlubs should be run out of the business......
I satnd down form my soap box..
I hope your poor experiwence does not sour you on Dish...it really is a good product.....Good luck!

 

[iceondsom]

Ron,

Who is the subcontractor? What city & state are you in?

 

[dishcomm]

Well I understand your pain. When I was a subcontractor we did not get any extra equipment. You got what you needed for your installs that day and that was all you got. Now that I work for the RSP we get all the equipment we want to carry on our trucks.

So the guy is probably telling you the truth.

Perahps...
I work for a DNS sub and we ALWAYS have plenty of inventory..We must....DN leans on us very hard for completion rates...in fact our contract with Dish has in it a clause that requires us to have ANY necessary equipment to get all assigned jobs done.....
Personally i always have an extra receiver for each job on my trcuk in the AM....For example, If have three 301's to install that day, I carry at least 4....and so on.....If I have one 625, I bring two...Same applies to LNB's as well......If a tech doesn't have the stuff they must return to the office to get it and get the job done....
I subscribe to this method 100%. We are in the customer service business...Without the customer, we don't have work....

 

[chadzx11]

Dishcomm, you need to be my boss. I don't really understand the way the folks I work for do business. We have mad stacks of 301's that sit around, but we are continueously running out of 625's and 322's, and having to scramble around. They make us report in after every job with what we used, plus they want a daily inventory, and they still screw it all up, and sometimes they even manage to blame it on us.

We have a good crew, but are held back by the people we work for.

 

[dishcomm]

Ron, what your builder may have installed could very easily have been rg - 59 coax let alone the correct swept tested rg - 6 coax. Like wise rg - 6 from 2000 wont be the same rated coax as what is used today, swept tested coax during 2000 would have been on the range of 1800mhz if it was installed by a desh network technician and if it was a sub that installed it well your luck may very well be about as good as with what the builder may have used.

Tech should done whatever it took to diagnose the issue and fix it..That's what he is paid for..That is what the customer is expecting.....

I would have run a temp line from dish to reciver to eliminate that as a problem....
If the cable was bad, I would have replaced it.....
No offense intended here, but I see where techs use alot of what I consider lame assed excuses to get out of doing a job that takes more work.....We all like the easy ones but every so often we get the sh*t jobs..goes with the territory........

 

[ronfelder]

That's terrible....I always carry extra receivers ,LNB's etc just in case..We are REQUIRED to have all needed materials to compete our assigned work.....in some instances the customer has changed their mind after pre call and truck roll and I don't have what they want, the cust must reschedule...
This tech had NO excuses!.....He should have been euipped...My first reaction as a consumeer would have been to call Dish while the tech was still there and let them tell the tech they must complete the job as scheduled..If he had to go back to his office to get what he needed that 's HIS problem.....Ifd I was his boss I would have told him to report to my office the next day and bring in his inventory because he would no longer be assigned any work by me.....I just will not tolerate this kind of incompetence....
Thsi crap makes us conscientious technicians look bad too. If it were up to me, all the schlubs should be run out of the business......
I satnd down form my soap box..
I hope your poor experiwence does not sour you on Dish...it really is a good product.....Good luck!

tried calling Dish while he was there. was on hold and the tech just left.

 

[dishcomm]

Dishcomm, you need to be my boss. I don't really understand the way the folks I work for do business. We have mad stacks of 301's that sit around, but we are continueously running out of 625's and 322's, and having to scramble around. They make us report in after every job with what we used, plus they want a daily inventory, and they still screw it all up, and sometimes they even manage to blame it on us.

We have a good crew, but are held back by the people we work for.

well thanks....Question; do you return all of your inventory at the end of the day?.....If so, I imagine you have to run back to your office at the end of each day to do this...That's crap.....that is YOUR time thay are wasting...We take a monthly inventory....When issued equip I get a copy of the list I signed...Keep them all..For the entire year..Had one reciever the office could not reconcile....i looked through my stuff and found that I had it....Then looked at all of my payroll sheets which have the R00 numbers of every receiver I install or RA..It was there..I t was RA'd bad on a new connect.....Voila...Office problem.....
If your boss makes you come back to the office every day it's time to go get work elesewhere..
Do you get a printout of some kind when you take out equip?......If so. It is unecessary to do a daily inventory..Anyway,this is pointless. Obviously your employer has some pretty stupid operating policies..they will burn him bad in the end..Techs will not stick around very long if they think they are not trusted by their employer.....
As far as the receiver in stock sitaution is concerned,,that's easy..301's are alot cheaper than the other models....
Do you work for a DNS sub contractor?....If so,this guy is probably on thn ice with dish over low completion rates..Logic would tell me if you don't have the required stuff on your truck to finish every job, you have to reschedule jobs..Dish hates reschedules......

 

[dishcomm]

tried calling Dish while he was there. was on hold and the tech just left.

He left without completing the work order?!!!!!!!!
that's outrageous.....We could never get away with that! We are required to at least close the w/o...In this case the w/o could not be closed because it was not completted and the reason for reshedule was not valid....Of course this is assuming the tech was there on a DISH Network work order and not from a local retailer...Retailers work under their own set of rules..
Funny story.....Went to do a DN install on a condo..Got there well within my time frame...it was a Sat....The guy is washing his car in the drive so get out, greet the cust..I notice a fair mount of trees surrounding the builidng..ladder ,compass..Can't find a shot.....Mind you I always carry a 28' ext ladder.....told the guy he was out of luck but if I had a 36' ladder I may be able to get a shot off the peak of the roof...We had a 36 footer back at the office ..70 miles away. Cust got pretty salty...I told him he would have to pick another day so we could take look using the larger ladder..I had to get to my next job......He inisisted I drive the 70 miles back to our office and come back to with the big ladder and do HIS JOB FIRST......I just kind of looked at him and I said, ok fine..I'm going call my next customer and YOU can tell them why I'm not going ot get their job done today...Of course the guy went postal......when I went to get into my truck to leave he started screaming at me and tried to block my way.....I warned him he'd be sitting on his wallet if he didin't calm down....He got out of my way...This can be a very interesting business

 

[ronfelder]

He left without completing the work order?!!!!!!!!
that's outrageous.....We could never get away with that! We are required to at least close the w/o...In this case the w/o could not be closed because it was not completted and the reason for reshedule was not valid....Of course this is assuming the tech was there on a DISH Network work order and not from a local retailer...Retailers work under their own set of rules..
Funny story.....Went to do a DN install on a condo..Got there well within my time frame...it was a Sat....The guy is washing his car in the drive so get out, greet the cust..I notice a fair mount of trees surrounding the builidng..ladder ,compass..Can't find a shot.....Mind you I always carry a 28' ext ladder.....told the guy he was out of luck but if I had a 36' ladder I may be able to get a shot off the peak of the roof...We had a 36 footer back at the office ..70 miles away. Cust got pretty salty...I told him he would have to pick another day so we could take look using the larger ladder..I had to get to my next job......He inisisted I drive the 70 miles back to our office and come back to with the big ladder and do HIS JOB FIRST......I just kind of looked at him and I said, ok fine..I'm going call my next customer and YOU can tell them why I'm not going ot get their job done today...Of course the guy went postal......when I went to get into my truck to leave he started screaming at me and tried to block my way.....I warned him he'd be sitting on his wallet if he didin't calm down....He got out of my way...This can be a very interesting business

The tech was called out because i had spoken to Dish and the problem couldn't be resolved by phone. So he was sent out by them. Samething with the call that's happening this Saturday the 18th of February. I tried preventing him from leaving too, but really what could I do to stop him? He left being hollered at by me saying i'd cancel my account and his reply was "so what". After I calmed down I asked for him to place an order for a new receiver for at that time we hadn't eleminated that as the problem. As I previously stated he didn't and I had to call Dish to get a unit. dish was prompt in sending the unit out 2nd day air. Unfortunately it didn't solve the problem. Everyone here seems to think that my old cabling is the cause of the problem.

Wish I remembered the name of the shop but i've forgotten. I never signed anything for he said when I asked the job wasn't completed. At that point he drove away.

Ron

 

[dishcomm]

The tech was called out because i had spoken to Dish and the problem couldn't be resolved by phone. So he was sent out by them. Samething with the call that's happening this Saturday the 18th of February. I tried preventing him from leaving too, but really what could I do to stop him? He left being hollered at by me saying i'd cancel my account and his reply was "so what". After I calmed down I asked for him to place an order for a new receiver for at that time we hadn't eleminated that as the problem. As I previously stated he didn't and I had to call Dish to get a unit. dish was prompt in sending the unit out 2nd day air. Unfortunately it didn't solve the problem. Everyone here seems to think that my old cabling is the cause of the problem.

Wish I remembered the name of the shop but i've forgotten. I never signed anything for he said when I asked the job wasn't completed. At that point he drove away.

Ron

Sounds like a unique situation.....I would find out who the contractor is and call that company and tell them in your words what transpired....I would even go so far as to file a complaint with Dish..Call 1-800-333-3474, get the CSR to forward your call to "escalations"....This dept deals with scenarios like this...
I am distressed that you have had to put up with an unprofessional installer...This kind of crap makes all of us techs look bad.....
It sounds to me like the issue is an LNB or the cabling....In any event the problem shpuld have been diagnosed and corrected by the tech on the first visit....No excuses..That's what we get paid for...Hope this works out for you..I would definitely file that complaint with Dish...

 

[digitaldogger]

We Are Currently A Dns Subcontractor, So Our Business Gets Corporate Work, We Have To Have All Inventory On Hand, And The Radius That We Cover Allows The Techs To Carry Everything Needed,so We Always Have Backups Or Replacements, If We Don't , We Are Suppose To Report It Back To Dispatching To Delay Work Order Or Give It To Someone Else, Now If It Was A Corporate Tech Right From Dish That Is Not A Subcontractor, I Have Heard And Seen, They Don't Have Back Ups And In Most Service Calls Don't Carry Replacements, And They Call In To Get You The Customer, One Sent. There Is Another Subcontractor Situation Where A Retailer Is A Dns Subcontractor And They Sub Out Their Techs, Who Are Suppose To Buy Their Own Inventory. Therefore, Don't Have What Is Needed In Some Situations, I Don't Know If That Is Legal To Sub Underneath Being A Dns Subcontractor, It Is Easier If All Techs Are Company Employee's, Than They Can Carry What They Need. We Have Been A Retailer For 7 Years And A Dns Sub For 4 And This Has Been Our Practice, I Hope It Helps You Either Way.

 

[dishcomm]

We Are Currently A Dns Subcontractor, So Our Business Gets Corporate Work, We Have To Have All Inventory On Hand, And The Radius That We Cover Allows The Techs To Carry Everything Needed,so We Always Have Backups Or Replacements, If We Don't , We Are Suppose To Report It Back To Dispatching To Delay Work Order Or Give It To Someone Else, Now If It Was A Corporate Tech Right From Dish That Is Not A Subcontractor, I Have Heard And Seen, They Don't Have Back Ups And In Most Service Calls Don't Carry Replacements, And They Call In To Get You The Customer, One Sent. There Is Another Subcontractor Situation Where A Retailer Is A Dns Subcontractor And They Sub Out Their Techs, Who Are Suppose To Buy Their Own Inventory. Therefore, Don't Have What Is Needed In Some Situations, I Don't Know If That Is Legal To Sub Underneath Being A Dns Subcontractor, It Is Easier If All Techs Are Company Employee's, Than They Can Carry What They Need. We Have Been A Retailer For 7 Years And A Dns Sub For 4 And This Has Been Our Practice, I Hope It Helps You Either Way.

I work for a Dish retailer and we are also a DNS sub.....the inventories for the retail and DNS sides are seperate..We too are required to have all neccessaries on our truck to comlete all jobs asignd on a given day..
I read with incredulty that a DNS sub makes their conractors BUY the equipment! That's outrageous!
We have one worker that has three guys worming fo him..the employee is resposible for looking after his sub's jobs and their proper completion..It seems to work out ok for him.....The employee gets athe regualr rate and he pays his people that minus a cut for himself..I don't know what he charges his people but it's probably worth it....DBS company techs are another ball game..They are paid hourl and to my undrstanding they do not get extra equip on their trucks in the AM..That creates problems....The pay rates are so low($10 or $11/hr to start)DNS has problems getting good workers who can be trained to be good techs....I have gone behind some their jobs for service issues..What a mess!...These guys are not grond the systems. They do sloppy work etc......What really bugs th4e crap out of me is when DNS assigns us a service call on a customer installed system that DNS says must be brought to spec..DNS has this silly "last giy ther owns the job "rule.....If I run into this i just make have dispatch put notes into the account that the job is a POS and we just get their system working..In theory Dish is supposed ot add a "reinstall code" to the work order so we gat paid for that..But we have to fight for the extra $$..SO now none of us will do reinstalls...We just chance it that DNS won't QC the job...And ususally they don't....
Many iof the rules Dish makes up are to cover the crap the company techs pull...Most of the guys I work with do neat,clean and spec work...

 

[ronfelder]

Sounds like a unique situation.....I would find out who the contractor is and call that company and tell them in your words what transpired....I would even go so far as to file a complaint with Dish..Call 1-800-333-3474, get the CSR to forward your call to "escalations"....This dept deals with scenarios like this...
I am distressed that you have had to put up with an unprofessional installer...This kind of crap makes all of us techs look bad.....
It sounds to me like the issue is an LNB or the cabling....In any event the problem shpuld have been diagnosed and corrected by the tech on the first visit....No excuses..That's what we get paid for...Hope this works out for you..I would definitely file that complaint with Dish...

I had the name memorized of the sub contractor, but have since forgotten. I would think though wouldn't Dish know who the sub contractor was for they were the ones who they faxed the work order to, true?

I called to make sure that they Dish knew the problems I was having and that they passed it on to the tech for this Saturday. They told me they were sending what I would call, don't remember his words a "super tech." Will do another post after he finishes letting you know the outcome.


OH!! Soemone had asked about the wallplates , as to what kind. To the best of my knowledge they are the knid you'd get at Radio Shack. Two were installed by the builder and one by the Dish installer back in 2000.

I'm going to tell for the billionth time the entire story to the tech when he comes.

Question. I have noticed now that things have warmed up and ice has melted from the cabling the new channels that I have found, missing, 160, 301, 302 have come back on tv 2. Does that suggest the cabling is bad or just not up to par?
Ron