Horror Story: 622 & Dish 1000 Install (Mpls)

[MNHTUG]

I've documented some of our install nightmare in detail. If your interested, read on.

What you do not see below is that I asked the first installer at my home if he could simply activate my receiver. He said no. I asked him why we could not use my current set-up. He claimed that legacy lnbs were not compatible with the 622. I had done zero research so I assumed he knew what he was talking about. Needless to say, had I connected the 622 myself and activated the receiver myself, I could have saved a minimum of 9 hours of my time wasted dealing with installs and tech support calls. FRUSTRATING. My setup of a Voom 20" Dish pointed at 61.5 and a Dish 500 on 110/119 pulls in signal at 110 percent or higher on all sats. The Dish 1000 never acheived greater than 45 percent on 129 and 90 percent on 110/119. Dish left me without required parts to get my Dish 500 up and running. I am awaiting one more install visit on 7-17-06. Think a field service rep will make it out this time? I doubt it.

Message sent to Dish after initial install (6-30-06):

Tech Support --

Good evening, we had our 622 and Dish 1000 installed today. The install went poorly at best. Our previous install was near perfect. All cable connections were inside the attic of our garage. No excess cables outside the house. Very clean. I pleaded with Dish to let us install components ourself or let me choose my own installer. Phone support refused. They said the only way to get a 622 was to have a Dish appointed technician do the install.

The technician showed up at my home today with components that looked like they had been rolling around the back of his truck for months. The lnb's had visible scratches and scuffs. The technician had already installed cables to the lnbs. Cable lengths were of various length. The cables are now strapped to the outside of my home and look terrible. Connections are exposed to the weather. Calking from my previous install was torn away from the siding. No calking was used to replace what was torn away. Bare, unused cables are exposed and hanging outside the house near the dish. Inside the attic of my garage, the technician neglected to use existing junctions with proper ground. Instead he saved himself 20 seconds and used cheap female to female coax connectors. The ground was disconnected. Cables that had once been nicely zip tied and carefully placed no lay on the attic floor like spaghetti. Plastic bags and connectors lay outside my home, in my attic and at various locations around my entertainment center inside the house.

During the install, I asked numerous times if we could hook up my second dish which is pointed towards 61.5. He claimed we could not do that, I didn't need it, my equipment was old, there was no need for it. Point is, it was part of my existing install, I asked for it, I wanted it, he refused.

After the install, the technician said nothing. He asked me to sign papers which I did. I wanted this man out of my home. While I was signing papers and as the technician was leaving my home, I asked numerous times why the unit was not getting channels and why the unit would not respond when hitting the guide button. He said to give the unit 30 minutes for download. Thirty minutes later I called tech support. We spent about 45 minutes on the phone. We finally got the unit to work but it was flaky. I checked signal strength and all sats 110, 119 and 129 range from 40-60. Needless to say, we can't watch much tv. The technician did nothing to optimize signal strength. A breeze or clouds of any kind and satellite is unwatchable due to break-up and pixelation.

This install was a disaster. My previous install was done by a caring professional and this guy trashed it. I refuse to allow anyone from Galaxy1 in my home again. I called tech support to complain, they want to send someone out on monday. My wife is scheduled for c-section at 7:00am. We've been waiting for this install for months. I could have easily done it myself. Better yet, hire someone I trust to do quality work.

We've been faithful Dish Network customers for years. When something like this happens, I ask myself why.

Steven Benson
Minnesota Home Theater User Group (MNHTUG)

Message sent to Dish after initial install (7-7-06):

Dish --

This is getting rediculous...

1st) I've called four times to have a reciever removed from our account. That receiver should have been removed the day we placed our order for the 622 in May. I've triple confirmed with numurous representatives that only one receiver is on our account. My wife had a call tonight from Dish and a second receiver remains our account. How is this possible?

2nd) An installer arrived as scheduled on Thursday June 29. He trashed our home and left us with poor reception. If there is so much as a cloud in the sky we lose reception. I spoke with a customer satisfaction representative on Friday June 30th. He promised to have a tech to our home friday or saturday to work on our satellite dish. Never heard back from him. We had a service call scheduled for monday July 3rd. Nothing. No calls. Nobody at our home to fix the signal. Nada.

My wife had a baby on Monday. I've had a precious few minutes to climb up a ladder and tweak in the satellite dish but it is not optimal. We paid for installation of the 622. The installer trashed our home and left us with no tv. I've talked to numerous representatives. What needs to happen to get things taken care of?

HELP

UPDATE: Operator ID 3SK has been helpful. Very nice on the phone. We'll see what happens on our third scheduled service call for July 13th. Again, Laurie (Operator ID 3SK) was great. Our fingers are crossed, for the forth time.

Steven Benson
Minnesota Home Theater User Group (MNHTUG)

Notes from second visit from Galaxy1 (7-13-06):
No field service representative is present. We requested one, we were promised one, no deal. We said that the previous company Galaxy1 would not be allowed into our home. Two hours into the install I realize the installer is with Galaxy1. Rather than kick him out, we continue to see where things go. Installer appears competent. He has added a better ground on the outside of the house versus the previous ground inside the attic. He spends no less than three hours at our home. Reception is better on 110/119 but no change on 129. Installer said 129 is operating at half power and that 40 is about the best you can get. I'm not present when the installer leaves. Not that it matters, I haven't spent hours reading up on the best solution yet because I didn't realize I had to.

Notes from research at Satelliteguys (7-14-06):
Looks like I can get everything I need of 61.5. We don't need locals via satellite, we have them already via local digital antenna. Looks like legacy equipment will work fine with the 622. I'll install what I can on saturday and see where things go.

Notes from putting in some ladder time myself (7-15-06):
Put my legacy quad lnb onto the Dish 1000. Scrounged up some DP21 switches (my installer took the old ones). Plugged in the 622. I'm now hitting 110 percent on 61.5 versus 40 percent on 129. Went to re-install my Dish 500. My installer took my old 500 and left parts for a new one. He forgot to include a plastic Y-adapter. He also neglected to verify the hardware for skew. I got a Dish 1000 skew adapter instead of a 500. They are not compatible. The installer can figure that out on his own when he arrives with a field service rep on monday. Total of nine hours of my time for what should have been five minutes had Dish Network allowed me to do the install myself. This requirement for Dish rep to install these receivers is a waste of everyones time. Most importantly, mine. I know more than any of the three reps that have been here.

 

[SmityWhity]

Guess now you won't be naming the baby after them, and to think "Dish N. Benson" would of had a nice ring to it.

I can't help you with your install, but congratulations on the new baby and hope mom and baby are doing well.

 

[MNHTUG]

We're doing better now that we can watch HD without reception problems. Thanks!

 

[BigTVSteve]

I had a similar uninformed, but neater, installer to my house recently as part of 211 and 622 installation. The installer was to have used my existing 61.5 dish as part of the installation but didn't bring the necessary parts to do this. He only brought a new Dish 1000 triple LNBF antenna.

When he called his "back at the shop expert" about using my existing 61.5 dish in connection with the new Dish 1000 antenna he was told completely incorrect information about what was needed to hook up the 61.5 dish. Again, parts were not available. I let him complete the installation, which was done cleanly, but with no grounds of any kind (not a big deal for my SoCal, no lightning storm location).

Via this forum, I have since found that the 61.5 antenna connection would have been as simple as connecting a wire from its LNBF assembly to the LNB input on the Dish 1000 antenna, disconnecting the 129 LNBF feed on the Dish 1000 antenna. Had that been done, I would have had a 97-99 signal for the VOOM channels on the 61.5 satellite vs the 59-64 signal that I currently have for the same channels from the Dish 1000 antenna 129 satellite LNBF.


I have 30 days in which to really accept or reject this installation. Since I think winter rain storms are likely to cause problems with the much lower 129 satellite signal levels , I am going to reject the installation. I may mellow out and just re-cable things myself as it should have been in the first place, but I don't think the local installers and DishNetwork will get the message unless they suffer a little financial pain. BTW, my installation was from a local, highly recommended installer in the San Diego area, not from a crap shoot installer obtained by just working through the DishNetwork web site or 800 number.

As you so correctly state, it is amazing that you have to become your own technical expert in order to receive a quality installation. I now know that I should have demanded a Dish 500 dual LNBF antenna to receive the 110 and 119 satellite signals, and a DP34 switch with which to add the third LNBF signal input and feed it to my two receivers (note: the DP34 switch is not needed if you have the DishPro Plus Twin LNBF on the Dish 1000 antenna; it has a built in switch for the third orbital location).

One very important tip for new/upgraded installations: DO NOT sign off on the acceptance paperwork until you have looked a few of your essential channels or those new HD channels that the installation was to provide. This will require complete software downloads if you are getting new receivers installed. The download process can be time consuming for the installers, but do not let them escape without going through the process and showing you video from your essential channels.

 

[gdarwin]

BigTVSteve just get the 61.5 hooked back up. Call them back in.

 

[drjdan]

I had an 622 install replacing a 301. Already had a 942 and 501. Had 500 pointed to 110/119 and 500 to 61/5. Installer said ok to leave and not have to use 1000. My switch was a DP34 and he wanted to put another DP34 in since I needed 5 feeds. I said no and I wanted a DPP44 so can use spilters with the 622 and 942. He said he was suppose to change out to DPP44 only if put in 1000 and needed to get to 4 sats. I said no and that the person who took my order said installer would change out 34 for a 44. After a little quite time on both our parts, he agreed to put in the 44.

 

[tnale]

YEE GODS!
I have yet to upgrade, was waiting for the 611 to come out, but now I'm Paranoid to have anyone touch my setup as it works great.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Just another thread that says: Get your Dish from a GOOD local guy!

 

[drjdan]

If you are in a city that has actual Dish employees, I think that is the more reliable. I live in Dallas and have them out when I upgraded to 811, then 942 and now 622. Each time I was very happy with the service.