I've had a 522 since the end of May . . . actually I've had three of them. The first one had most of the same problems as many people have posted here, plus we were getting a lot of lost signal interruptions. Even though I ordered service directly from Dish, they sent out a contractor from a local satellite company to install it. The same guy came to swap out the receiver after our first complaint and said they were having a lot of problems the 522. When the new receiver started having the same problems, I sent an email to DishQuality@echostar.com to let them know about it.
They replied saying they would send my email to the "Escalations Department". I then got a call from someone from Dish HQ. He said the problems were unique to me (yeah, right) and that they should be able to fix them.
The original installer then came out and swapped out the LNBF, which didn't solve the problem. So he came out again and switched out the 522 again. An interesting thing with the last two 522 units is that when we go to the Point Dish screen it seems to have trouble locking the signal. It will lock, then lose the signal, the lock again, then lose it again . . . two or three times before finally locking and staying locked. The installer didn't know why it did this but figured it must just be a glitch with the Point Dish screen.
A few days after each service call we would get a phone call from Dish asking if our problems were fixed (so they could close the trouble ticket). We would tell them the problems still exist, and they would set up another service call. This last time, I asked them to send someone who actually works for Dish, since the contractor had tried everything he could think of. So, last week they sent someone from a different satellite co. I pointed out the locking problem to him and he said it shouldn't be doing that and it looked like there was a break in the line somewhere. FYI, it happens on both tuners. He checked the connections, replaced the LNBF again and made sure the dish was properly grounded. All his efforts didn't solve the locked signal problem so he decided that there must be a problem with the cabling, thinking maybe a staple pierced the wire or something. He said we needed to call the original installer to have it re-cabled.
So I call the original satellite co. again and passed on the info. The manager had the original installer call me back. He said that I'm the only one who has problems (contrary to what he told me on other visits) and then started blaming it on electrical wiring or the phone line or something (grasping at straws). I reminded him that my 522 is connected to a UPS with an automatic voltage regulator so even if there was a problem with the electrical system the UPS would compensate. He also thought it might be because the box was getting too hot in the entertainment center. So I said I would put a fan blowing on it to make sure it was staying cool (I was willing to try anything at this point). Unfortunatly that didn't solve the problems (I was really hoping it would at least solve most of them). It still would lose audio during playback (where you have to stop and go to live TV to get audio back) and the usual audio/video freezing, etc. We had a timer set to record a 1 hour program run for over 13 hours before we finally noticed it and stoppend it manually. We also were still getting the occasional lost signal and the "guide of death."
Anyway, he came out this morning to run new cabling. I'm at work so my wife calls to tell me that he is steaming mad. He was really reluctant to do this because each time he swapped out our 522 he took it back to the shop and it would do the locked signal boucing thing there too. He said he would only do the cabling and would not replace the box again and said this is the last time he's coming out. If we still have problems he'll pay back the money Dish paid him to do the installation if he has to but he won't come out again.
I don't blame him for being frustrated but so are we. I wonder what's going to happen if we still have problems. I really don't want to have to go back to cable and lose the DVR but my wife is about ready give Dish the boot.
They replied saying they would send my email to the "Escalations Department". I then got a call from someone from Dish HQ. He said the problems were unique to me (yeah, right) and that they should be able to fix them.
The original installer then came out and swapped out the LNBF, which didn't solve the problem. So he came out again and switched out the 522 again. An interesting thing with the last two 522 units is that when we go to the Point Dish screen it seems to have trouble locking the signal. It will lock, then lose the signal, the lock again, then lose it again . . . two or three times before finally locking and staying locked. The installer didn't know why it did this but figured it must just be a glitch with the Point Dish screen.
A few days after each service call we would get a phone call from Dish asking if our problems were fixed (so they could close the trouble ticket). We would tell them the problems still exist, and they would set up another service call. This last time, I asked them to send someone who actually works for Dish, since the contractor had tried everything he could think of. So, last week they sent someone from a different satellite co. I pointed out the locking problem to him and he said it shouldn't be doing that and it looked like there was a break in the line somewhere. FYI, it happens on both tuners. He checked the connections, replaced the LNBF again and made sure the dish was properly grounded. All his efforts didn't solve the locked signal problem so he decided that there must be a problem with the cabling, thinking maybe a staple pierced the wire or something. He said we needed to call the original installer to have it re-cabled.
So I call the original satellite co. again and passed on the info. The manager had the original installer call me back. He said that I'm the only one who has problems (contrary to what he told me on other visits) and then started blaming it on electrical wiring or the phone line or something (grasping at straws). I reminded him that my 522 is connected to a UPS with an automatic voltage regulator so even if there was a problem with the electrical system the UPS would compensate. He also thought it might be because the box was getting too hot in the entertainment center. So I said I would put a fan blowing on it to make sure it was staying cool (I was willing to try anything at this point). Unfortunatly that didn't solve the problems (I was really hoping it would at least solve most of them). It still would lose audio during playback (where you have to stop and go to live TV to get audio back) and the usual audio/video freezing, etc. We had a timer set to record a 1 hour program run for over 13 hours before we finally noticed it and stoppend it manually. We also were still getting the occasional lost signal and the "guide of death."
Anyway, he came out this morning to run new cabling. I'm at work so my wife calls to tell me that he is steaming mad. He was really reluctant to do this because each time he swapped out our 522 he took it back to the shop and it would do the locked signal boucing thing there too. He said he would only do the cabling and would not replace the box again and said this is the last time he's coming out. If we still have problems he'll pay back the money Dish paid him to do the installation if he has to but he won't come out again.
I don't blame him for being frustrated but so are we. I wonder what's going to happen if we still have problems. I really don't want to have to go back to cable and lose the DVR but my wife is about ready give Dish the boot.
