Has DirecTV issued any kind of public statement saying the phone lines were the reason or is that just rumor?
With all the other crap BCK was pulling, phone line installations seem to be a bit trivial.
BCK Gone?
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Has DirecTV issued any kind of public statement saying the phone lines were the reason or is that just rumor?
With all the other crap BCK was pulling, phone line installations seem to be a bit trivial.
well this is what directv issued to a tampa newspaper. even so i still would not believe this. our operations manager from pittsburgh was a cool girl and i know for a fact she told us everything they told her in her conference call with corporate. and from what she said phone lines were the big issue, not chargebacks. of course a company who's attempting to strongarm retailers out of business would say its chargebacks to make them look like the goodguys for leaving a bunch of people without work.
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/01/08/daily13.html
a short summation of that article was chargebacks. i never got one single chargeback the entire time i installed for them. to me this is a total crock, but then agan the phone line connectivity is a total crock also but it is also very real. chargebacks also existed and i wont sya they didnt. a couple guys i know in our office got chargebacks for things that where always questionable. most common seemed to be
1.) bad fitting at IRD
2.) peak dish
3. customer education
so i guess when a customers 3 year old kid rips the wire out of the back of the reciever or an hsp tech can get a s/n of 12.0 instead of 11.9 or the 70 year old customer forgets how to use thier remote it makes us all bad installers....
oh btw, if you think the big issue over phone lines doesnt exist read this.
http://satelliteworld.com/cablesux/docs/phonelines.pdf
look what it all boils down to is directv wants all of thier operations to move in house and thier installs to thier puppet companies. in other words, they want all installs to be hsp/msp. a buddy of mine who sub'd for another company told me that when that companies contract came up for renewel directv told them they would only renew the contract if they agreed to have ironwood do the installs here locally. they really sweetened the deal for it to happen too, 175 paid to this retailer for the sale and not having to deal with the installation.
again i am really not trying to stick up for bck because they did run thier company pretty bad. alot of thier salesman were a joke at best. and some of thier local offices may have had some corrupt managers or bad installers but as a whole it was as normal of operations as any other large company. when i did electrical work i worked for a couple large companies and in every one there were a handfull of hacks. its inevitable that when you have so many people working for you that it will happen.
sorry you got a bad installer, but dont think that everyone or even a majority of the 2000-3000 installers that sub'd for them are that way. if your in pittsburgh i'll come fix your lines, i just went on a service call yesterday for a lady who coudlnt remember how to do pay per view. will i get paid? no the company doesnt exist anymore. but it is my personal guarantee and thats why i left my personal number with everyone i installed.
I appreciate your offer. It means a lot because it is sincere. However, I live in SC and that is a long, long drive to fix a couple lines. In the 4 years they've been like that I've yet to have a problem. The install might not have been perfect, but then again I never noticed an issue either.
I'm having a 5 lnb dish installed next Friday. We'll see how that one goes.
Kind'a bites that so many folks have to deal with the ramifications of a few people's actions and decisions.
you arent the only one, it wasnt enough that i sub'd for them but then everyday all day i had to see eleventy bazillion flyers for them everywhere.
thier advertising was a bit overkill. im suprised greenpeace didnt try running them out of business for deforestation.
I would believe the chargebacks were a bigger issue than the phone lines.
Also I know of much smaller retailers that have been in business for longer than BCK with no problems with DirecTV. You generally get better service from smaller retailers. Smaller retailers also are not as greed driven like BCK was.
The chargebacks were not just from poor installations (although poor installations were rampant at least here in Houston.)
Remember all satellite service providers, DirecTV included, issue chargebacks to dealers if a customer cancels their service before their contract ends. These types of chargebacks are just a part of the business and can even have nothing to do with the quality of installation. Some people are just poor customers.
BCK chargebacks also stem directly from the corrupt and criminally fraudulent business practices BCK was engaging in.
For example:
Imagine a customer that doesn't pay their DirecTV bill and gets this service cut. Now imagine a BCK sales rep, whom just wants to make a sale, tells the customer to submit a new installation under someone else's name in the household and under a different phone number. This circumvents DirecTV's credit check system and it was rampant after DirecTV initiated the $150 activation fee. BCK sales tanked when that happened and they were desperate to do anything to increase sales and number of installations.
I was receiving work orders almost daily of pre-existing DirecTV customers with canceled service due to outstanding bills. These were work orders for a new installation. This is outright fraud.
Customers like this are high risks for even further chargebacks.
Most BCK Sale reps just wanted their sales commissions.
BCK regional mangers also get more commissions for higher installation rates.
Most installers would go along with this as it was just another paycheck and an easy install as the dish and wiring were already run. All the installers had to do was plug in new receivers and call DirecTV for activation.
This was RAMPANT with BCK Communications.
You speak of the greed of DirecTV but greed was rampant throughout all levels of BCK and apparently it finally sank their ship.
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I am ok now working with a local retailer.
I was excited with BCK doing the 100 buck commission for installer's outside sales, but all four of my sales I was on 3 way with the customer and all four of them the phone operator tried to snipe the sale and not give me credit until I chimed in right before they hung up.
I put out 1000s of flyers for them in the last 2 months. Not one sale off those 1000s of flyers that I wasn't on 3way for.
I was excited with BCK doing the 100 buck commission for installer's outside sales, but all four of my sales I was on 3 way with the customer and all four of them the phone operator tried to snipe the sale and not give me credit until I chimed in right before they hung up.
I put out 1000s of flyers for them in the last 2 months. Not one sale off those 1000s of flyers that I wasn't on 3way for.
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