If DirecTV is going to move towards the cable company model on equipment (leased receivers), they need to move towards a cable company model on the techs as well and hire their own installers/techs. I had a new install done yesterday, and the techs were actually very nice and competent, however it was very disorganized. My DirecTV order confirmation showed clearly HD DVR, HD receiver and SL5S dish (slimline/swm). They got there and just pulled out a random dish, LNB, and didn't even have an HD receiver on the truck. If they can't keep their own inventory straight, just send me the equipment to hold onto until the installer arrives. Luckily they had a SWM LNB and another installer a few miles away had an extra HD receiver that they were able to go get, but geez..very unprofessional.
Is installation always this bad?
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D* bought the worst performing HSPs? That's like saying they took over the unhealthiest people in the graveyard... guess what, the rest of the people in the graveyard are still dead!
D* needs to address this issue and quick, but they have been ignoring it for 6 years and I don't see them really addressing it any time soon.
HSPs routinely lie to customers, D*, and their employees. The HSP in the midwest has been in and out of court for 5 years because they gave union cards to all of their employees from a fraud union and told them it was only a life insurance card and to sign it or be fired. (This was to keep the employees from actually unionizing and I am happy to say it blew up in their face).(thank you tech 0249!)
Unfortunately D* thinks they have no choice because they can't get other HSPs to come in an take over areas from other HSPs and fix the problem because all of the HSPs are terrible. They appear to stuck with no alternative but are constantly ignoring their huge network of retailers that would be more than happy to compete with the HSPs for the cash register of D* generated work.
D* needs to use this network of retailers to keep the HSPs in check. If an HSP was doing bad work and they saw their work being given to local retailers they would HAVE TO get their ship righted and improve their work to the level where they could tell D* honestly "we can do it better, increase our workload".
However the HSPs love to go out and take pictures of self-installs and bad installs (regardless of who did the work) and send them into D* as "how horrible the retailers are".
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When I worked for an HSP they were almost always out of something at the warehouse (little things... like dishes and receivers). I don't know how many times I had to get to the warehouse at 7am, wait for them to work through the bottleneck of installers getting equipment and turning in payroll paperwork, wait until 8:30 for the 7:30 tech meeting and listen to why we need to use fiberglass ladders for the third time (meanwhile ever ladder on every truck in the parking lot was a fiberglass one) and then get told that they didn't have the equipment I needed for that day's installs yet alone for the whole week of installs I was supposed to stock up for... So I had to wait until 10am for the truck to come in that "might have it on it" or find a tech an hour away that happened to have one on his truck that he didn't need.... All this while they knew I was going to be at the warehouse that day, because it is the same day and time every week, but managed to schedule me three 8am-12am jobs anyhow...
This is just one of the smaller problems at an HSP, but is a HUGE reason why they can't show up on time or with the right equipment. Factor in the other days of the week when we are not at the warehouse and need the equipment so we have to spend 2 hours getting the equipment before we can even start the 6 hours of work they want us to wedge into a 4 hour timeframe (that's a decent workload).
Now, think of the vast amount of things an installer may need on his truck for a week's work... Stanard boxes, DVRs, HD boxes, HDDVRS, 18" dish, AU2, Slimline, SWM dishes, SWM switches, 3x4 switches, 4x4 switches, 6x8 switches, f-connectors, ect....
Let's top that off with the fact that all of the time and effort to get the equipment and manage your inventory, find equipment they didn't have, go to the warehouse, ect... is UNPAID TIME. On top of the instal workload these "employee" installers at the HSP have about 10 hours a week at work where they don't earn a nickle.
When I was at the HSP I proposed to the higher ups that they hire a "runner" for the techs. Meaning that you have at least one guy/gal in a D* van full of various equipment and if an installer has a job for which they don't have the equipment needed this runner can bring it to them.
Think about this...
I get to your house, the work order didn't say DVR. I don't have a DVR... I have to spend
15-30 minutes finding one
30-60 minutes driving to the warehouse to get it or to a tech that has an extra
30-60 minutes back to your house.
that's 1:15 to 2:30 that I just spent not installing anything!
If they had a runner in place I could have started the install and spent that time working while the runner, who already has the equipment, gets to me within the hour. Now my whole day isn't shift an hour or two, I can get to the next job earlier and possibly on time! The customer is confident because they just saw a well oiled machine taking care of them and not a flustered and confused technician scramble to get their equip or worse... reschedule them or have teh customer just flat out cancel...
From my experience I have seen many installs all out cancelled because of lateness and/or lack of equipment and if someone would finally actually address the problems they would probably make more than the cost of fixing the issue in customer service and less cancelled orders.... this isn't to mention how many "no line of sight" and "unable to locate" jobs are called in by techs who are desperately trying to not be installing until midnight.
Spize,
Exactly! Seen all that. There are bunches of installers that will not work for the HSPs for just the reasons you cited.
A most recent scam = a Craigslist ad for satellite installers.The prime requirement is to have a ss# and agree to work for $14.00. They won't state who the employer is.
It will be interesting to see how DTV fixed this.
Joe
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That HSP is living on borrowed time.
The State's "Wage and Hour" division will eventually sue them for "UNPAID OVERTIME." This is a direct violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA.)
WalMart gets sued all the time on this issue and ends up paying back wages.
Dish has had this model for years, and is expanding it. It's called DNS, and they're continuing to expand it. DirecTV should start doing this. I knowthey have been buying up some HSPs as of late, but they aren't managing them as well as Dish manages it's inhouse.
OOOOHHH I am sure that has the HSP shakin in it's boots. NOT
Was a case just settled it amounted to peanuts compared to what the should have paid, and the employee's got a joke of a pay out after the lawyers got done with it.
Yoy've got to remember that they've existed for the past 8 years under the Bush Administration.
Things will really change under the NEW Administration.
Both Congress and the Supreme Court have just made new worker's rights initiatives.
I signed up directly through Directv October 13 and was given a Oct 29 install. Called to have a Center Ice added to my package. My install moved to October 30th. I was told 12-4 on the install date. Installer showed up at 1150. All good until he said I need a 40FT ladder to put your dish on the roof.(two story town home). He said he would come back the next day to install October 31. Come 2PM not hearing from him I called his cell surprise no answer. I immediately called Direct. Was told they could not be out for a week. I was not happy as I followed the Directv install request and moved my Ent. Center. So I called Directsat the installer. After a total time of two hours with them and Directv I was given a install window of 8-12 on Nov. 1st. Installer showed up at 815. Very nice guy. In short he had to clean up the mess of a slack off. He said the installer just flat out wanted to avoid the install. He opted to tell me that he had 24HRS worth of installs to do from 8-4 that day. All installs but two and they were upgrades.
in the end the few days wait were worth. The installer who did the job was wonderful. He wanted to show me how to full operate everything and make sure the install was up to my standards. He felt is was the least he could do for what I went through.
in the end the few days wait were worth. The installer who did the job was wonderful. He wanted to show me how to full operate everything and make sure the install was up to my standards. He felt is was the least he could do for what I went through.
Robob.
You will be fine. Go with the FREE install from DTV. Most are ok because most are pretty straight forward. The "memorable" ones show up here.
Reading around on these sites is the best you can do. If things start to circle the bowel you can always ask the tech to stop...explain what he is doing..... and leave if it seems to be BS.
Joe
What kind of customer "service" do you think this tech will be performing? I'm not sure I want to hear much more.- Status
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