Disappointed in upgrade process

[CopyChief]

Here's a question that I am sure I will get a huge range of answers on. What level of service is typically included on an upgrade to the HD service? Let me tell you the story of my HD upgrade and see if this sounds kosher. I'm going to call to complain anyway, but:

On Friday, an installer came to my house to take out my 522 and bring in a 722. Of course, this also meant he had to upgrade the Dish, etc. I could not be home, but my wife was home. I left specific instructions how I wanted the install completed, based on what I had read here. In particular, I left him instructions to use the component cables that were already hooked into my TV only if no HDMI cable was included with the install (since it seems to go either way).

The installer told my wife that this would not provide HD, but that he'd do it. When I asked my wife about the picture quality, she said it was worse than the old box. Ugh. When I got home, it turns out he used composite cables. No wonder it was worse.

That's really no biggie, it may have been a simple misunderstanding if not for all of the other little detail points. Of course, in using the composite cable, he didn't set the box up properly to output HD to my TV.

He unhooked EVERYTHING that had been hooked up to my TV -- component cables (that were hooked up to my DVD player, but I planned on repurposing temporarily for the STB). And he didn't hook anything but the satellite box back up. He just left the cables there behind my system, all tangled up in the new stuff he installed. This included a power inserter -- which seems strange to me since I only have one box, but things seem to work OK.

He also did not hook up the optical audio cable to the satellite box, which had been hooked into the 522 he removed.

On TV2, he did not set up the remote address properly. Although it would control the TV, it wouldn't work to control the box.

Outside, there were cable snips and ties all over the ground.

I know my stuff well enough that I was able to fix all of the nittle niggly things that this guy did wrong, but I'm also frustrated because it's something he's supposed to do. That's what the upgrade fee is for, I thought.

Am I wrong for being a little put off?

 

[WiCkeDuDe]

Welcome to todays sorry standard of customer service. Dish overworks their techs so this is not uncommon. When they burn out they will just hire a new bunch of clowns until they burn out too.

I loved going to jobs where there had been 5 trouble calls with no problems found and the whole job was done in RG59. Imcompentance at its best!

 

[Jerryinvirginia]

Your example is another reason to do business with a local dealer that provides in house service. Your example is not just with E*. Take the time to locate this dealer. You should find that your service requests will be handled properly. There's no excuse for shoddy work.

 

[shy_guy]

Your example is another reason to do business with a local dealer that provides in house service. Your example is not just with E*. Take the time to locate this dealer. You should find that your service requests will be handled properly. There's no excuse for shoddy work.

I really think it's a crap shoot either way. I have always called Dish for my installs/upgrades, while my mother-in-law has always used the local installer. Out of the many times I have dealt with Dish directly, I only had one experience like yours (and it was my HD upgrade). My mother-in-law, however, has had 2 out of 2 bad experiences with the local guy. (The biggest problem being that he wouldn't accept her club Dish offer on the initial install.)

 

[Jerryinvirginia]

Sorry that your relative didn't select a full service local dealer. As popular as satellite tv has become, it's a good bet that more than 1 local dealer would have been serving the area. It pays to be a wise shopper and quiz ANY prospective source for the product or service that you need.

 

[z3540]

CopyChief,
Sorry for your bad experience. I've had one bad and one good experience:

The Bad: three years ago, I signed up to upgrade from an 811 to a ViP622. I set everything up thru Dish. They sent me the 622 and a few days later, the installer came (I took time off from work to be present for the install). He asked where the new dish was. I said they just sent me the 622. He showed me his paperwork saying that the dish and the 622 were both to have been sent to me. Needless to say, I cancelled the whole thing (I couldn't take another day off from work). The installer was nice and we were both PO'd at Dish for the poor communication.

The Good: In Oct 2007, I upgraded from an 811 to a ViP722 and added a ViP211. Two installers came and they were very couteous. I told them where I wanted the STB's and they went to work. I watched them closely because I get paranoid when someone drills holes in my house and when they touch my equipment. Based on the information I gathered from this site, I could follow what they were doing and they seemed to have done everything by the book. In the end, they made sure everything was working and they cleaned up after themselves. I had them do a basic install (ie. STB to the TV only). I rewired the connections to the rest of my system when they left. Everything went smoothly this time and everything still works.

My only advice: BE THERE FOR THE INSTALL AND WATCH THEM CLOSELY. You have no control on who Dish sends to do the install (ie. competency), so, if you see something wrong, you can say something. If you can check out your local installer and choose your installer, that may be the way to go. Either way, BE THERE FOR THE INSTALL.

As Jerryinvirginia says: "there's no excuse for shoddy work"

 

[rcdallas]

Could of been inexperienced installer. I'm sure lots of good ones that have left found a new career for various reasons that are rhetoric here.

Being there does help, going through a third party adds a nice mixture in the factor.

As far as watching closely and leaving notes and such, me personally to avoid issues the install/upgrade could get rescheduled/cancelled thus depending on certain factors, building a rapport between the customer/installer is essential, being annoying and untrustful is another.
I rarely ran into it as I treated it like how I would want it if I was the customer.

In the OP situation, yeah he should of done better... maybe you can get some credits for the shoddy service, depends on what you want.

 

[Scroll]

Welcome to todays sorry standard of customer service. Dish overworks their techs so this is not uncommon. When they burn out they will just hire a new bunch of clowns until they burn out too.

I loved going to jobs where there had been 5 trouble calls with no problems found and the whole job was done in RG59. Imcompentance at its best!

That raises a question for me. Is it more important to use RG6 for HD?

Right now I just have SD and my cables are a hodge podge of the old better insulated cable lines mostly, with a combination of RG6 & RG59 in shorter runs. Direct TV (101 only) has no problem at all even during most storms while Dish seems to be a lot more fussy, which I have mostly attributed to the use of 3 positions and multi switches and the receiver freaking out when on position is temporarily blocked.

It didn't really dawn on me that Dish might be objecting to the cable selection since Direct TV doesn't seem to mind. But if this may be a problem that will be magnified by a HD upgrade looks like I may had to upgrade the lines.

 

[CopyChief]

Thanks all for the replies and letting me vent. I'm dismayed to see that my experience is not atypical. Unfortunately, my initial install three years ago was pretty similar -- with similar, wonderful (and I'm not being sarcastic) follow-up.

Funny part: On my install last week, the guy was TRAINING someone! Ugh.

Anyway, a Dish quality control team showed up today at the house and wanted to check the install. He looked things over, checked the signal levels and determined several things were not quite right. My wife showed him my list of issues we had with the initial install. I wasn't there to see his reaction, but he did say I had some genuine gripes with things that should have been done at the outset.

So this is a customer service story that actually has a good ending!

 

[TerryK]

These stories are the reasons I have done all my installs myself. I have always used RG6Quad with high quality connectors. If something goes wrong I can only blame myself and then go out and fix it right.

 

[WiCkeDuDe]

That raises a question for me. Is it more important to use RG6 for HD?

Right now I just have SD and my cables are a hodge podge of the old better insulated cable lines mostly, with a combination of RG6 & RG59 in shorter runs. Direct TV (101 only) has no problem at all even during most storms while Dish seems to be a lot more fussy, which I have mostly attributed to the use of 3 positions and multi switches and the receiver freaking out when on position is temporarily blocked.

It didn't really dawn on me that Dish might be objecting to the cable selection since Direct TV doesn't seem to mind. But if this may be a problem that will be magnified by a HD upgrade looks like I may had to upgrade the lines.

Dish uses higher frequencies in thier system so yes RG6 is required. Swept test to 3000 mhz is best. Will it work with Rg59? Sorta, but with problems. Old legacy equipment seems to do okay for awhile, its a lower frequency, but can have problems. Most new installs for HD will be DPP equipment which absolutely needs RG6.

 

[Scroll]

Thanks. Well with a Dish 508 I guess I count as legacy.

 

[Pepper]

508 is a dishpro receiver.

 

[Scroll]

I never knew that! I have the Dish 500 antenna with quad LNB connected to 61.5 by an SW-21 and have sporadic issues with reception. That may explain a few things.