Charged $15 for service call for tech to install dish on a pole

[mikonos]

Hi all,

I just checked my bill and DISH charged me $15 because digital dish didn't permanently install the dish on a pole when they installed everything else. The tech scheduled a visit the next weekend for them to come dig the hole and mount the dish. I checked my bill today and there was a $15 charge for the sunday they came out. Is this a normal business practice? I IM'd DISH today and they couldn't refund the whole $15 so they are refunding $5 for 6 months, so I am making out with $15. However I think this is a terrible business practice and am kinda disappointed because if i wouldn't have checked my bill i would have lost out.

Should I just take my $15 and forget about it? Or would this irritate you too?

Josh

 

[dvrexpander]

Consider that cheap - and depending on how far away from home on the pole be it if you should have gotten charged more for "Trenching". As a tech I'll tell ya that anything beyond 50feet and we are supposed to contact Dish directly and have additional charges applied - this normally gets resolved by the customer finishing the remainder of the trench. You do the math on how much the pole is, concrete, time to remove dish from home then put it on the pole which could be an hour+ easy.

What it boils down to here is you got charged $15 for the tech visit but that a Pole Mount Work Order was setup to come back and plant the pole and line after dig safe is marked around the home as it is the law. If the customer digs the hole and buries the cable then you wouldn't have to worry about this later visit but most customers are lazy and snub the idea.

 

[boba]

Are you complaining about a $15 charge for a service call to mount your dish on a pole? The $15 charge is a standard service call for the protection plan and very cheap for a pole mounting.

 

[KE4EST]

Should I just take my $15 and forget about it? Or would this irritate you too?

Josh

$15 bucks to do what they did is nothing. You are very fortunate.

 

[JSheridan]

I'm glad I didn't have to do that service call!

 

[Claude Greiner]

I'm glad I didn't have to do that service call!

Yea watch the installer who gets assigned to it find some reason to blow off the job and get out of doing it.

Not to be negative, but I have seen this exact same scenario play out probably 100 times and its never pretty, especially with a pole mount.

I doubt an installer will do this job and basically do a re- install with a pole mount for what they get paid for a basic service call.

 

[mikonos]

Ok so sounds like I got off easy. But it still seems wrong that I got charged because the tech didn't finish the job the first time. He just put the dish on a plywood square and set it on the ground.


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[RT-Cat]

Ok so sounds like I got off easy. But it still seems wrong that I got charged because the tech didn't finish the job the first time. He just put the dish on a plywood square and set it on the ground.

As was stated, they can't just dig a hole without (in my area) misdig flagging the spot first. They did the same thing with my install over two years ago. The dish was mounted on a block of concrete and they came back a week later and planted the pole, setup the dish and left. I did not find any extra charge on my bill back then. Maybe something new to charge for pole installation.
.
RT

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Wow $15 is cheap for a pole mount. Normally its a lot more.

 

[oldengineer]

I was lucky on my install. I wanted a pole mount and the tech told me that he'd have to get the site checked for underground utilities before digging. The pole was going into the back yard of a rural home with no possible underground obstructions so he took my word and put it in without the check. It was the start of a great 2+ year experience with Dish.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Yes $15.00 is a great deal for a dish install on a pole. I wouldn't say anything to DISH or they will bill you for the other $80.00 of the install.

 

[king3pj]

Yes $15.00 is a great deal for a dish install on a pole. I wouldn't say anything to DISH or they will bill you for the other $80.00 of the install.

$15 might be a good deal for an install but that seems a little ridiculous. Dish isn't gonna say "you didn't like that $15 charge? Well here's an $80 charge punk."

I also understand that pole mount isn't the standard install and people often get charged more than $15 for it. I would be totally fine with them telling him that this isn't the standard roof install so there will be a fee. It isn't right that they advertise free installation and then charged him to complete it without telling him that they would though.

 

[patmurphey]

What is the big deal. The OP said he was charged $15, Dish rep agreed it was wrong and is refunding $30 in credits. A lot of whining about nothing going on here.

 

[Skee7ix]

Oh, I have that done for free

 

[Dishman1978]

Hi all,

I just checked my bill and DISH charged me $15 because digital dish didn't permanently install the dish on a pole when they installed everything else. The tech scheduled a visit the next weekend for them to come dig the hole and mount the dish. I checked my bill today and there was a $15 charge for the sunday they came out. Is this a normal business practice? I IM'd DISH today and they couldn't refund the whole $15 so they are refunding $5 for 6 months, so I am making out with $15. However I think this is a terrible business practice and am kinda disappointed because if i wouldn't have checked my bill i would have lost out.

Should I just take my $15 and forget about it? Or would this irritate you too?

Josh

Seriously? You think 15 bucks is too much for somebody to come out. Dig a hole, provide a pole and concrete (hope they used concrete) and remount your dish and peak it using tools to do the job (satellite meter) that you yourself more than likely don't have anyways? Plus the gas for the vehicle required to drive to your house and deliver the equipment.

I guess the skill and labor of the tech really is beneath you.

You may not have intended it that way but your post is offensive to those of us who have to feed our families servicing TV equipment.

 

[king3pj]

Seriously? You think 15 bucks is too much for somebody to come out. Dig a hole, provide a pole and concrete (hope they used concrete) and remount your dish and peak it using tools to do the job (satellite meter) that you yourself more than likely don't have anyways?

I guess the skill and labor and the tech really is beneath you.

Very insulting post. It really is.

Oh come on man. Lay off the guy. The posts in this thread have been ridiculous. He isn't insulting your profession. He was told he would get a free install as part of his new customer promotion. The installer didn't notify him that a pole mount would cost any additional money and actually didn't charge him for the pole mount. The installer didn't finish the installation on the original date so a service call had to be set up. The $15 charge came from the additional service call to finish his installation. That wasn't a fee the installer charged for the pole mount. You shouldn't have to pay for a service call to finish your first time installation.

How is the average customer supposed to know that a pole mount costs more? If I was told that I had a free installation and then saw a $15 charge on my bill I would question it too.

 

[Dishman1978]

Oh come on man. Lay off the guy. The posts in this thread have been ridiculous. He isn't insulting your profession. He was told he would get a free install as part of his new customer promotion. The installer didn't notify him that a pole mount would cost any additional money and actually didn't charge him for the pole mount. The installer didn't finish the installation on the original date so a service call had to be set up. The $15 charge came from the additional service call to finish his installation. That wasn't a fee the installer charged for the pole mount. You shouldn't have to pay for a service call to finish your first time installation.

How is the average customer supposed to know that a pole mount costs more? If I was told that I had a free installation and then saw a $15 charge on my bill I would question it too.

You are right, he should of been informed a head of time. Apologies for speaking out my rear....


Before reading the whole thread.

And somehow my post was reposted whilst editing.

 

[Ziptied]

This is DISH's list of what is included in SPI (Standard Professional Installation).

Standard Professional Installation includes:
• A pre-installation site survey.
• A signal strength test.
• Installation of dish(s), receiver(s), and connection(s) per the customer’s plan agreement.
• An exterior cable run.
• Penetration of one exterior wall with necessary wiring to the receivers and televisions.
• Sealing and weatherproofing of all exterior penetrations.
• Connection of one television, one VCR/DVD player and one phone line to the receiver for single tuner configurations.
• An additional connection of a standard definition signal to a second television and VCR/DVD player that may not be located in
the same room as the receiver for dual tuner configurations.
• Integration of receivers with existing customer A/V equipment, if compatible. Upon completion of the installation, the customer’s
system should operate the same as when the tech arrived.
• “DISH Approved as Compatible Accessories” as listed on DISH Portal.
• Installation of up to 150 feet of RG-6 cable.
• Wall plates, bushings and fittings, as needed.
• System peaking – obtaining an optimum signal for the best picture reception.
• Grounding of system components per National Electric Code (NEC) specifications.
• Wall fish to interior or exterior wall (may require an attic crawl). The number of receivers in the installation will determine how
many are necessary.
• MPEG-4 receivers ONLY: Installation of an appropriate HDMI or Component cable, which will provide the best picture quality
when receiver is hooked up to an SD or HD TV. .
• Home network broadband-connection for ViP® 612, ViP 622, ViP 722, ViP 722k, ViP 922 or Hopper receiver models.
• Signal access from either 110° and 119° or 61.5° and 72.7° orbital locations for all receiver models.
• Customer education on all receivers and programming.
• An 180-day installation warranty, which covers work completed during each installation.


What is included with custom installations?
Custom Installation not requiring additional fees include:
• Attic crawl
• Pole mounts with up to 50ft of trenching (trenching beyond 50ft is subject to additional fees, required at time of install)
• Eave mount
• Chimney mount
• Tripod installation

Custom work not listed here may require an additional charge, as determined by the Installer.

 

[king3pj]

This is DISH's list of what is included in SPI (Standard Professional Installation).

Standard Professional Installation includes:
• A pre-installation site survey.
• A signal strength test.
• Installation of dish(s), receiver(s), and connection(s) per the customer’s plan agreement.
• An exterior cable run.
• Penetration of one exterior wall with necessary wiring to the receivers and televisions.
• Sealing and weatherproofing of all exterior penetrations.
• Connection of one television, one VCR/DVD player and one phone line to the receiver for single tuner configurations.
• An additional connection of a standard definition signal to a second television and VCR/DVD player that may not be located in
the same room as the receiver for dual tuner configurations.
• Integration of receivers with existing customer A/V equipment, if compatible. Upon completion of the installation, the customer’s
system should operate the same as when the tech arrived.
• “DISH Approved as Compatible Accessories” as listed on DISH Portal.
• Installation of up to 150 feet of RG-6 cable.
• Wall plates, bushings and fittings, as needed.
• System peaking – obtaining an optimum signal for the best picture reception.
• Grounding of system components per National Electric Code (NEC) specifications.
• Wall fish to interior or exterior wall (may require an attic crawl). The number of receivers in the installation will determine how
many are necessary.
• MPEG-4 receivers ONLY: Installation of an appropriate HDMI or Component cable, which will provide the best picture quality
when receiver is hooked up to an SD or HD TV. .
• Home network broadband-connection for ViP® 612, ViP 622, ViP 722, ViP 722k, ViP 922 or Hopper receiver models.
• Signal access from either 110° and 119° or 61.5° and 72.7° orbital locations for all receiver models.
• Customer education on all receivers and programming.
• An 180-day installation warranty, which covers work completed during each installation.


What is included with custom installations?
Custom Installation not requiring additional fees include:
• Attic crawl
• Pole mounts with up to 50ft of trenching (trenching beyond 50ft is subject to additional fees, required at time of install)
• Eave mount
• Chimney mount
• Tripod installation

Custom work not listed here may require an additional charge, as determined by the Installer.

He wasn't charged for custom work by the installer. He was charged by Dish for a service call because the installation wasn't finished the first day. Again, It would have been totally fine if the installer said you need a pole mount and it costs $x for that custom job. That isn't what happened though. The installer was being a nice guy and doing the pole mount for free. The customer was then charged by Dish because he had to come out a second time to finish the initial installation.

The whole thing seems silly over $15 and the fact that Dish covered him with credits makes it a non issue. A customer still shouldn't be charged for a service call to finish a first time installation though especially when they weren't told that they would be.

 

[dvrexpander]

What is included with custom installations?
Custom Installation not requiring additional fees include:
• Attic crawl
• Pole mounts with up to 50ft of trenching (trenching beyond 50ft is subject to additional fees, required at time of install)
• Eave mount
• Chimney mount
• Tripod installation

Custom work not listed here may require an additional charge, as determined by the Installer.

Yep this covers what I said earlier, there are many fee's to be added here and normally when I bring them up the customer starts digging the trench to save the money or will find someone later to bury the cable. I did have a laugh at the part about hooking up to other devices like VCR's and such, we don't do that. If you have one we use another input to the TV if possible and inform you which one is which and that is it - to go thru the device like a VCR only invites a Trouble Call down the road so unless I absolutely have to in order to get programming to the TV I won't touch other devices.