Condo/Apartment Cable Lock Box Access

[Wylwrk]

I think the issue retailers/contractors have with DNS is the low hourly rates. If DNS actually paid their installers better, a whole lot of them would care more. I mean...c'mon, $11 or $12 hour? Awfully hard to put your all into a job at those rates

By the same token, it's awfully easy for retailers/contractors to have the "hook-n-book" mentality. Even more so on days when you are completely swamped with 3 or 4, 4-room installs. Granted, I may not be the fastest installer, but I would dare say the average tech is going to take 2 or 3 hours for a 4-roomer; a good part of that is customer education or correcting botched workorders.

I see your point but, in my area DNS techs are supplied with much more than subs... tools / equipment / materials / van and gas etc... Nothing out of pocket on their end to speak of. All profit, no?

I suppose it's all relative.

Anyway sorry for the thread derail... back on subject.

I created a database of all the MDU's in my zone and their install requirements (or lack thereof). Before routing I pull all MDU's aside check the database and simply chose to accept or not.

 

[ZandarKoad]

I created a database of all the MDU's in my zone and their install requirements (or lack thereof). Before routing I pull all MDU's aside check the database and simply chose to accept or not.

Woah. How old are you? 'Cause that must have taken DECADES.

 

[Wylwrk]

Actually it was pretty easy... I get a NLOS report that I can filter for MDU's... I check reasons, if I have any ?'s I call the apt. office and inquire.

 

[dishcomm]

Not disagreeing with you one bit... the following is just an opinion.

DNS techs think the same thing about retail/sub contractors whether it's true or not.

The truth is there isn't much difference between the two really... it's the indiviual that decides the quality of the install whether he/she is a sub or DNS installer.

Ireally don't care what they think..I will take the guys that I work with and match them up with all 50 guys that work in DNS and we do it faster and with much higher quality..True there are crummy outside techs as well..I have fixed their garbage as well....There's god techs at DNS. But generally the DNS guys at the local office here are inexperienced and don't belong in the field....

 

[chadzx11]

I think the issue retailers/contractors have with DNS is the low hourly rates.

Its not only that. Here, they (DNS) have their guys running routes that throw quality out the window. They do that because they want their cheaper $12/hr guys doing the work and NOT the contractors. Then, at 10am one of their employees hasn't showed up, they try to dump all those AMs on us.

On top of that, they have that last man on the job thing. Why the hell should I have to go do all the hard work that Mr $12/hr didn't have time for? I wouldn't even cover for the other RSP guys I worked with. One day I had a service call on a crappy install done by one of my fellow RSP guys. Didn't ground it AT ALL, so I called the boss and told him to get the other guy out, because I wasn't touching it. I had already instructed dispatch to note that I refused the job. What bit my ass was that on the day it was installed, I didn't have ANY work.

The other guys were, basically, my competition. Why should I cover his ass? I told him if I wasn't worth of doing that customer's install, then I wouldn't be servicing it, either. Those people were chargeback happy.

In fact, I got charged back for a guy going out to hook up a DVD player for a customer. Nice. I should post that work order. Its a $40 giggle.

 

[webbydude]

You just hit the nail on the head. The ridiculous ways Dish charges back retailers and RSPs. On some of the dumbest things!!! And now that trouble-calls are being painted with an incredibly wide paint-brush, even something stupid like a customer complaining that his phoneline was not plugged in to his dual-tuner is enough to generate chargebacks!! I really do not blame you for jumping ship and working with WeQC.

 

[dishcomm]

Its not only that. Here, they (DNS) have their guys running routes that throw quality out the window. They do that because they want their cheaper $12/hr guys doing the work and NOT the contractors. Then, at 10am one of their employees hasn't showed up, they try to dump all those AMs on us.

On top of that, they have that last man on the job thing. Why the hell should I have to go do all the hard work that Mr $12/hr didn't have time for? I wouldn't even cover for the other RSP guys I worked with. One day I had a service call on a crappy install done by one of my fellow RSP guys. Didn't ground it AT ALL, so I called the boss and told him to get the other guy out, because I wasn't touching it. I had already instructed dispatch to note that I refused the job. What bit my ass was that on the day it was installed, I didn't have ANY work.

The other guys were, basically, my competition. Why should I cover his ass? I told him if I wasn't worth of doing that customer's install, then I wouldn't be servicing it, either. Those people were chargeback happy.

In fact, I got charged back for a guy going out to hook up a DVD player for a customer. Nice. I should post that work order. Its a $40 giggle.

The DNS guys aren't IMO necessarily in hurry, it's that most of them just either don't know what they are doing or they don't care..It's the contractors that usually rush thru their jobs..
I guess you are with DNS...I would never work for them. They tell their people to violate the rukles that Dish set up juts to mak ethe numbers look good. I know this 'cause we get TC's on DNS installs...DNS tosses the TC's to the contractors to keep the TC numbers looking good..
Unfortunately you as a DNS tech do not have the luxury of getting to a TC and fixing the problem..I understand you guys have to fix the job no matter what..SO if it's sloppy/not grounded you could find yourself doing a reinstall....I don't do that anymore.We get the tv working and if the job is a mess or customer self install we have dispatch put those notes on the account to that effect..We don't get paid for the reinstall or to straighten out someone else's junk..So we don't do it..After all the reason for presence was not how the job looked but rather because the cust was not getting service..WE fix that...
BTW if my employer had backchraged me because some dopey customer could hook up a dvd player, there would be a very short fistfight in the parking lot..Hooking up equipemnt that was not on the job when I was there it not my problem.also, if the component was not hooked up when I go tthere then it's no tgetting hooked up by me..Unless the cust asks. And then if I see it as not difficult or would cause me to not be liable for the condition/ function of the component I'll hook it up..Otherwise I'm not touching it..I'm not obligated to do so other than just to be courteous...I'v eheard too many horro stories of techs gettting blamed by" well it worked fine before you touched it"....I had one the other dar..Cust tried pulling a fast one on an old tv..Claimed it worked fine...They had just moved..The pic sucked..I looked at the tv closely and noticed the case was cracked..he tv had been dropped..She first tried to deny it but when I pointed out to ther that the damage was fresh, no dust or dirt in the cracks, she let it go....Word of advice do not ever put yourself in a position to accept liabilty for ANYTHING!.....

 

[keeletronix]

You techs that unhook cable customers should think of the end users. If the costumers find out that a sat guy unhooked them, they may not want to go to dish because of your bad actions. Instead go to the custumers and conveince them to go to dish. Then they are better off, the cable guys lose and you get all those comissions and the installs.

 

[ZandarKoad]

You techs that unhook cable customers should think of the end users. If the costumers find out that a sat guy unhooked them, they may not want to go to dish because of your bad actions. Instead go to the custumers and conveince them to go to dish. Then they are better off, the cable guys lose and you get all those comissions and the installs.

Yeah, I agree that it's extremely bad form to cut off others from whatever service they are subscribing to. It's tantamount to damaging someone else's property for no reason. Not that very many people here do that... Though some do retaliate against other technicians. Yet we need to consider that it's a bad bad thing to inconvenience other techs, because in the end you're just hurting the customer. I always leave the local cable company's main lines intact from the outside to their junction in the basement. That way it's a SNAP to hook back up should the customer change their mind, or want services from the cable company that Dish can't provide.

 

[dishcomm]

You techs that unhook cable customers should think of the end users. If the costumers find out that a sat guy unhooked them, they may not want to go to dish because of your bad actions. Instead go to the custumers and conveince them to go to dish. Then they are better off, the cable guys lose and you get all those comissions and the installs.

I agree..Integrity must be maintained. Or the entire satellite industry is tainted.

 

[rcdallas]

Not all DNS techs are bad, but I do see a turnover and I have seen some pictures of some quality crap work from former co-workers. There are bad contractors and there are bad in house techs vice versa. All in all satellite is not for everyone.

There are some things that I've read that are not true, at least not in my area. I don't care to go into them as I really could care less who thinks what.

As far as the last man rule goes, the customer wanted it that way.

 

[srs913]

To get back to the cable lock box, heres what I do as an installer. In the back of my van i have a nice and shiny crowbar, it acts as two purposes. One and the most important is to pry open those damn pesky cable boxes to use exisiting cable runs, and two which is almost as important as number one is to defend yourself from the landlord if he or she shows up while your in the middle of number one.

 

[Smith P.]

Oh man ! That's scary - you and the crowbar against apartment manager.

 

[ZandarKoad]

Oh man ! That's scary - you and the crowbar against apartment manager.

My money is on the manager.

 

[webbydude]

To get back to the cable lock box, heres what I do as an installer. In the back of my van i have a nice and shiny crowbar, it acts as two purposes. One and the most important is to pry open those damn pesky cable boxes to use exisiting cable runs, and two which is almost as important as number one is to defend yourself from the landlord if he or she shows up while your in the middle of number one.

ROFL!! Thank-you..! I needed to read that. The morning cup of joe just wasn't doing it. Actually, with some of the neighborhoods I work in, if I did that, I'd probably be surrounded by a horde of greedy FORMER cable customers (ya know the type, non-pay/disconnect) either asking me to hook them back up to cable or...*better for me*...asking if they can hook their own up.

 

[dishcomm]

Not all DNS techs are bad, but I do see a turnover and I have seen some pictures of some quality crap work from former co-workers. There are bad contractors and there are bad in house techs vice versa. All in all satellite is not for everyone.

There are some things that I've read that are not true, at least not in my area. I don't care to go into them as I really could care less who thinks what.

As far as the last man rule goes, the customer wanted it that way.

The customer wanted it that way?...I don't think so...half the time the customer doesn't even re,eber the phone conversation I had with them the day before on pre call...Trust me., they don't give a sh*t...
I have previuosly stwed that there are bad techs all over..It is that DNS here is hampered by high turnover..The wages are too low to attract skilled people or those with good aptitude..Conractors/independents have their own picadillos..many of them are chronic whiners..They want every job to be prewired..They don't don't like pulling cable(imagine that) ...Some have very poor interpersonal skills,don't like having to do demos or reamin on site until activation is complete....oh yeah, there's trouble on both sides...
sinmce you brought it up please offer up two examples of inaccurate posts you have read on here...

 

[mkmkmk13]

My best tool for that problem is my 18v DEWALT DRILL AND A VERY NICE STEEL DRILL BIT

 

[catedav]

Condos are bought and sold like homes, but for under houses for the most part. Despite all the good parts of apartment life and home ownership in one for less money than a house, there are a few condominium disadvantages one should know about.

 

[Scherrman]

Condos are bought and sold like homes, but for under houses for the most part. Despite all the good parts of apartment life and home ownership in one for less money than a house, there are a few condominium disadvantages one should know about.

You do realize that this thread is almost 8 years old right?

 

[Bobby]

Awww, it's his first post. He needed to get his feet wet!