(I posted this to DBSTalk but wanted to share with you all, too...)
Well, there I was... (a good beginning to any story)
Like others, I had an appointment on Saturday but was cancelled (family "thing"--yeah right, Labor Day weekend) less than an hour before he was to show up.... was rescheduled for Tuesday.
Tech called, and in slurred speech says, "I need you to show me your house."
I say, "Excuse me?"
(he repeats his statement and laughs)
I ask, "Do you need directions?"
He says, "Oh, I'll find it and call you if I get lost" and hangs up.
20 minutes later, he barrels down my driveway in a beat up old pick up truck. Two ladders hanging out the back, and miscellaneous boxes banging around in the bed of the truck (all opened and unprotected/unsealed). Instead of coming to the front door, these two guys walk around the side of my house.
I go outside, they ignore me. I ask one of them if I could help them, and he doesn't speak English. He says "Dish" and points to the other guy. I approach the other guy, and he ignores me. He and the first guy talk back and forth in Spanish and laugh like they have some hidden secret. I ask him for the paperwork from Dish--he shows me an invoice that simply says "622 receiver". I told him that they were supposed to install a 1000.2 dish, 622 receiver and all new switches, etc... he says "It's not on my invoice" the guy who ordered it screwed up. Both men speak in Spanish and laugh again.
Well, since it was the Executive Offices at Echostar that actually ordered this for me, I called this guy directly--and he talked to the tech. The techs blew him off and laughed--and got on their radio with "dispatch". The Executive said to me that they were calling their dispatch to get the dish brought to them, so they could complete the job.
I went out and talked to them--they said "Didn't dispatch call you?" I said "no." They get back on their radio, and I get a "beep" on the phone... I put the exectutive on hold, and take the call from dispatch.
No sooner did I say "Hello" than the guys jumped into their trucks and flew out of my driveway like a bat outta h*ll, spinning tires and dust everywhere. I was stunned--I had been standing not 2 feet from their truck--and the dispatch person said "I told them to leave". I was so shocked, I told the dispatch person that I didn't want these two men here again. She said, "Fine." and hung up the phone on me.
The call switched back to the executive. I told him what happened--he was very upset. Said he'd call back.
I received a call from someone who represented himself as a "Dish Network Representative" a few hours later. Turns out he was not a representative of Dish, but the "boss" of the two men who were at my house.
When I told him what happened, he said, (get this) "Things happen. So what if they had a couple of beers before coming on a service call? You have to understand that things happen."
When I told him that I didn't appreciate the way his technicians treated me, and that I felt that their behavior was aggresive, and told him how they sped out of my driveway, he said "I find that hard to believe--they don't even go in the driveway." LOL! Yeah, I made it up. What-ever! He said that since they speak Spanish, they couldn't have said anything to me that was aggressive--because they couldn't talk to me.
During the call, I heard him in the bathroom, the toilet flush, etc. Wow, what professionalism!
I asked him if these guys were insured and bonded. He told me that it was none of my business. He got confrontational with me, demanding to know if I ask for Southern California Edison's insurance and bonding papers when they come out for a service call--I told him that I trusted that company, and I had no trust in his now--so he had to earn it back. He told me that he would not supply any insurance papers/bonding papers for his technicians. Again, he said it was none of my business. I told him that it was not only my business, but my responsibility as a homeowner to be sure that subcontractors/contractors are licensed, insured, and bonded before they set foot on my property. He did not understand what I was talking about.
He tried to pressure me into making an appointment to have the job done by him. I refused.
Now I sit and wait again. I have no appointment. I have no DishNetwork. DishNetwork was supposed to call me last night, but they didn't.
All I want is my stupid tv to work.
If this sort of technical support is acceptable to DishNetwork, then I wonder what they are thinking??? They don't "allow" people to install the systems themselves (my husband is an aerospace engineer and had to set it up last time because the techs had NO idea how to do it) but they send out drunk technicians? Where is the sense in this???
What should I do????
I can't believe DishNetwork isn't busting their hump to make this better--to make it right--and make ME happy. I am this close to calling the local television stations to bring their consumer people on this.
Thanks for listening to me rant
(I did email
ceo@echostar.com with a more detailed description of what happened, but have had no answer.)