Have to vent about Bluegrass Sat Service..

[neff2k]

Having read this forum for a few months, we finally made the plunge and bought a new HDTV and decided to get rid of cable and go with D*. Well the thing is we have been a D* customer kind of since June. We bought a dish for our fifthwheel. (RV) So being an existing customer I went online and placed an order for an additional HD receiver setup for the house. They were to come out December 30th to install. I actually took the day off work so I could have the TV delivered and D* installed. So the installer calls and explains he is in route for the upgrade install. I mentioned to him that this wasn't an upgrade but an full install since the house doesn't have a dish. That is were it all went wrong. He arrived at the house and explained that they weren't going to be able to install it that day since it was a new install. It would take too much time. So I sat on the phone with a CSR at Bluegrass while she tried to straighten out this mess for about three or four hours. The best they could do was to reschedule me for Jan 12th which really stinks since I am out of town. But I figure there might be a way we can get it installed earlier, talked to the installer and explained the situation and he says that he will try to get me in Monday or Tuesday. That is when the snowstorm came through. Even though, no call or anything from him. So I called him back on Friday asking him why he didn't show up. He just simply said that they hadn't been installing any all week due to the snow. So explained my situation and reminded him of the mess up of the previous week. I asked him if there is anyway they can just drop off the equipment and let me install it. He said they didn't like to just drop off equipment, and he be able to squeeze me into his schedule this weekend. I also informed him that I had already run the cable, installed the mount for the dish, and everything. I even went as far as clearing off all the snow and making sure it was dry on the roof. All he had to do is install the dish and receiver. How much easier could that be. So here I sit Sunday night, no call all weekend, nothing. Now I am going to have to either reschedule or find a way to get back in town Wednesday in hopes that they even show up that day.

So now that I have vented. Isn't there anyway I can just get the equipment and install it myself? Who do I need to contact to do this?

I am sorry my first post has to be a rant, and please be sure that I am not cutting down D* only Bluegrass Satellite Service.

Thanks,
Darrell

 

[Alvarez]

e-mail Ray Edwards ( RDEdwards@directv.com)

Tell him the problem you are having with Bluegrass Satellite being unprofessional and don't rant... just tell him you took off the whole day and were given a date but the installer said he didn't have enough time.

He is not the main person at DTV to take care of this problem but he is high enough to make the owner of Bluegrass call you and install it himself or have his top guys do it for you ASAP. I had the Bluegrass owners cell number because of an issue I had with them and Ray took care of it.

Good Luck

 

[wobbie]

You should ahve told them from the start that it was an install and not an upgrade. I would have to say that the problem was started om you're end. Don't blame the installer for something that you started. If they had known that you needed an install and not an up grade I'm sure the installer would have been prepared the first time he came out. Another classic case of the customer valways being right. Shame on you.

 

[johninillinois]

got u beat

bluegrass came to my home is early sept to install my new tivo and to add a line for a third receiver in the house. i told them the tivo was to go into my living room and had dual rg-6 all ready in place for the tivo. so all we had to do was to put the tivo on both lines. while standing outside with one of the installers telling him where i would like to have the third receiver in the rear bedroom one went back into my modular home and cut a hole in the wall to the outside and ran wire thru to install the receiver without asking permission or anything i was shocked as i had no idea he was back inside.

when i asked why he just told me they would be done as i was the only appt that day and were on the way home . they showed up at about 8:30 that morning and done is record time i promise u

 

[CsrLiz344]

Came across this post, and I must say, with my experience with Bluegrass, they are the worst installers. I keep hoping D* finds somebody else to use in this area (Ohio/Kentucky), but they haven't yet. Of all the guys I've dealt with, only 1 knew what he was doing, and that was my last install of the R10-after they also tried to reschedule me from Dec.17th to the 30th. I managed to raise enough hell between them and D*, I got it done on the 19th.( Only cause it was the installer's fault it wasn't done when it was supposed to).Their customer service also seems pretty sucky.

 

[Raydr]

I cannot speak for Bluegrass, as I've never had any dealings with them, but as a supervisor for a major HSP, this IS a case of the customer being wrong.

If an upgrade work order is built, the technician expects your house to already have service, ie: a dish and wires already run. The technician will plans his equipment on the truck for the day around his work orders for the day. Granted that he should have extra equipment, but if your work order calls for an upgrade, he plans his time around an upgrade, not a full blown install.

In addition, techs get paid a LOT less for an upgrade than they do for a full install, and it's a shame that high def upgrades - half the time - end up a reinstall anyways (replace dish w/triple sat, run extra set of dual, re ground, replace multiswitch, run wires to new location).

What it comes down to: the tech was not in the wrong here - would you like to get paid $25 for $75 worth of work that you weren't expecting? (Example numbers)

 

[fkostyn]

So the customer is "wrong" when a tech doesn't even show up or call? I would LOVE a good explanation on that.

 

[wobbie]

In the original post it appears that the tech did show up on the original date, That's when all went bad as it was actually an install and not an upgrade. If I was the tech I would have rescheduled it too. Sounds like another customer being right - trying to get something for nothing - that is.

 

[fkostyn]

To quote:

"So I called him back on Friday asking him why he didn't show up."

 

[wobbie]

Read the original post, the installer did show up on the original date for the "upgrade" but it was actually a HDTV install at his house. Not an "upgrade" for the R.V. The no show no call was after the snow storm. As I said earlier, if Neff2k had set up an INSTALL for HDTV at his HOUSE I'm willing to bet that the service would have been provided December 30th when the tech showed up for the HDTV UPGRADE.

 

[neff2k]

Actually the tech did show up the first day. He called while in route and then once we were at the house he called back to the office to explain the situation. I do not believe it was their fault that the order was placed wrong, but I also do not believe it was my fault. I simply went online and ordered an additional HD receiver which included the new dish, the HD receiver and local dish, with professional installation. The only problem I had was the tech told me he would try to squeeze me in the following week, but never even received a call letting me know he wasn't going to be able to do it. Thus the "So I called him back on Friday" comment. Then I talked to him again and he was going to try and squeeze me in again last weekend. Again no call all weekend while we waited at home. Luckily I have found this board and had an idea that D* was having system issues so I kind of expected he wouldn't show up.

All in all it ended up working out for the best. I was able to reschedule my Jan 12th installation date to Saturday the 15th in which the hardware was installed. But service didn't get activated until I called this morning.

So for those of you blaming the customer, that is just bull crap. Sorry we aren't aware that there are two types of billings for the techs installation.

and Wobbie not sure where the heck you are coming from: "Sounds like another customer being right - trying to get something for nothing - that is." What exactly do you think I was trying to get for free? If I was trying to get anything for free why would I have went out and bought my own cable, installed it, bought a crimper tool and ends and had everything ready for him? I even installed the pipe through the roof for him, so all he had to do was mount the dishes on it. I haven't once blamed the tech himself for anything except not keeping me informed of when he wasn't going to show up. The order screw up is completely a misunderstanding.

And there were no choices for types of installation when I placed the order online.

 

[neff2k]

Oh and another free thing I didn't expect from them. In order to make sure the had a good ground at their grounding block, I actually ran 12-2 from the circuit breaker panel up to their grounding block. How many installations can you say have all of this work done for the installer before they get there. I am thinking not many. And the runs that I did weren't just through a wall, they were about 50ft runs through the house. Hate getting riled up, just hate when I try to help people out and still get bashed for it.